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?

hand moved over my face to tuck my hair behind my ear, prying the

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

allowed to use them. It was one of the rules. One of the many rules. My parents said

the house or be seen by anyone. The only people who knew about me were the people

silently crying, next to my father as she watched another

against their restraints as I frantically tried to get to my parents

understand why

I followed the rules!" I screamed as the stranger dug the tip of the blade into my skin.

pain shot up my arm as the woman dragged the metal across my skin, chanting loudly in a language I didn't understand. My scream

my body. I could feel them burrowing and moving through my bloodstream. I didn't like it. I

almost every inch of my flesh. The only thing I could feel were the string-like tethers stemming from the witches holding and

dear. We are going to get this out of you." The

out of me. My parents may have seen my gift as evil, but I loved having it. My

out of me had never come close. But they had also never done anything like this. They never

witches... these witches scared me. They hurt me. I didn't understand why they needed to draw

felt like they were a part of me now.

let

a door, one I unknowingly could never close again. The bright and strong feeling of magic washed over me, and I focused on it, pulling from it to get the

grabbing my jaw and forcing me to look at her. My eyes opened, and

hand away, but I tightened my hold on

wasn't a doubt in my mind that if I could get to that ball of light, I would be

strings started growing thicker, burning brighter in my mind, and I pulled them to me faster as I tried to follow them to the source. I

this punishment. I had followed

than anything I had ever seen before. Then, it faded to black. I didn't move for several minutes,

opened to see the moon had moved further across the sky. The metal chains suddenly went slack with

father were still standing 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 and a shaking hand over her

I ignored him as I stepped forward

flinched back against my dad's side, and he quickly drew his gun from his waistband. The

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

was followed by me taking another step closer