The Beast And The Blessed

The Warrior and The Witch - One: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V. 11 years old

Everything hurt.

The throbbing in my head forced a whimper from my lips, and the cold night air made me shiver as it grazed over my body.

I had never fallen asleep with my window open before. My parents would have killed me if they knew I had managed to pry the nails free of the wood for fresh air. I had always been vigilant in ensuring I only left it open for a few minutes at a time so they would never catch me. Yet, the smell of fresh pine on the breeze told me I had failed tonight.

My body fought against me, wanting to return to my deep slumber where there was no cold or pain. Only my blanket was gone, and my mattress was hard and freezing. My eyes shot open with panic as I felt someone pulling on my leg.

My vision was blurry, and my head spun as I grimaced from the blinding agony that crippled me when I tried to move. The pain only worsened when I attempted to look down, unable to see who was touching me. Very few ever did.

Their rough hands gripped my calf tightly, and I kicked in an attempt to free myself from their hold. Their hands were too large to be my mother's, and my father hadn't ever touched me. I was their cursed child.

He called me the devil.

I was their curse to carry and their secret to bury.

’Stop moving!" A voice snapped, and my head shot back painfully against the solid surface beneath me, hitting an already sensitive spot that I hadn't remembered injuring.

I had an idea of what was happening. My parents used to call in men dressed in black who told me they were there to purge me of the demon in my body. They would tie me to my bed frame, chant and yell while splashing me with water.

But this was different.

The cold metal dug into my skin as the woman clasped the object around my ankle, pulling my leg until it was straight. I blinked several times as the world around me started to become clear. The dark night sky was illuminated by the bright glow of the moon above us, and I froze in a moment of panic when I realized I was outside and not in my bed as I had assumed.

I wasn't allowed outside.

I remembered my mother walking in to tell me it was lights out like she always did, and then there was nothing. No memory of getting ready for bed or lying down under my blanket.

Had I been sleepwalking? Was this to be my punishment for disobeying the rules?

old, wrinkled hand moved over my face to tuck my hair

trying to press it into the flat rock beneath me. But I had nowhere to go as she used her thumb to lift my eyelid as far up as she could, exposing the pure white underneath. It

use them. It was one of the rules. One of the many rules. My

allowed to leave the house or be seen by anyone. The only people who knew about me were the people who came to fight the demon.

my eye as she stood, silently crying, next to my father as she watched another woman grab my head and force me to

against their restraints as I frantically tried to get to my parents and away from the women surrounding me.

didn't understand why

as the stranger dug the tip of the blade into

loudly in a language I didn't understand. My scream echoed into the night for hours, drowning out the women performing their ritual. Until it stopped, and I was left panting

for freedom and forgiveness was ignored as the women placed both hands on my body. I could feel them burrowing

went numb, blocking out the searing pain that covered almost every inch of my flesh. The only thing I could feel were the string-like tethers stemming from the witches holding and invading

of you." The old woman croaked,

didn't want them to get it out of me. My parents may have seen my gift as evil, but I loved having it. My powers had been given to me for

me had never come close. But they had also

witches... these witches scared me. They hurt me.

and soul. My eyes stayed shut tight as I tried to resist, but it felt like they were a part of me now. No matter how hard

let

again. The bright and strong feeling of magic washed over me, and I focused on it, pulling from it

grabbing my jaw and forcing me to look at her. My eyes opened, and I gasped as I could see the darkness of her greedy soul in

I tightened my

with magic. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that if I

pulled them to me faster as I tried to follow them to the

didn't deserve this punishment. I

the strings. The light grew brighter than anything I had ever seen before. Then, it faded to black.

The metal chains suddenly went slack with the sound of

there staring in horror. I had expected my mother to run to me, happy that I was okay. But she just stood there with her wide eyes

possible," My father whispered, but I ignored him as

flinched back against my dad's side, and he quickly drew his gun from his waistband. The barrel was pointed at me, and

as the cold night air hit my wet skin, and I glanced down to see my pale body covered in blood. "I was

insistence that I didn't deserve my punishment this time was followed by me taking another step