My father is a Witch Hunter

Prolouge There will always be a part of me that wants to be seen, and then thereafter that part of me that just wants to live in the shadows. My name is Niah and this is the story about the day I died and was reborn. I lived in a small town not too far from the city. It was mostly quiet and the only thing that was really dangerous was how dark it gets at night. All of the kids in the neighborhood knew each other, but I for one was a "special case" as the elderly in the neighborhood like to call me. You see I was quiet, not exactly shy but I didn't have any friends. I kept to myself most of the time and that is actually how I liked it… well most of the time. Sometimes I wished I had friends and maybe a boyfriend, but that feeling would just go away when I think about what it takes to get them. You know going out, actually having fun and meeting new people. Yeah not going to happen. The reason I was called a special case by the older people around here is simply because they couldn’t figure out why someone so attractive couldn't make friends or my awkwardness around others (their words not mine). There is an explanation for that, and it's because I'm an empath. If you don't know what that is, it just means I can feel everyone's emotions around me. Their auras pour into me like an empty cup and it drains me like a battery. So most of the time I just go to school, work at the diner after and come home. Most of the time when I come home my father sits on the porch to greet me, I wave to my neighbors (the elderly couple who lives next door) and give my father a kiss on the forehead as he asks me how my day was. My answer is always the same. "Draining," I sigh out as I crash next to him on the bench on our porch and lay my head against his strong shoulders. His response to mine is always. "It'll get better I promise." As he strokes my head and kisses it gently. Tonight was different though. Usually I get off of work in time to catch my father on the porch waiting for me to get home. I texted him before my shift was over. "Thank goodness it's 8:30!" I thought to myself as I was ready to clock out. "Niah, would you be dear and come to my office?" My boss blurted out. I breathed in deeply. "This can't be good," I thought to myself. I walked to the back of my boss's office to see what she wanted. I knocked first and poked my head in. "You wanted to see me ma'am?" I asked politely. "Yes honey please sit down, don't worry you're not in trouble." She said with a smile. My boss' aura was always warm, I could tell that she really cared for her workers. But I know she was my boss and business is business and she was good at what she does. "I just wanted to ask if you can work an extra three hours? Mariah's car is in the shop and she has to get a ride here. I know you have a curfew but I'll make sure you get home safely tonight, plus bonus tips for doing this huge favor. "Damn I didn't want to stay an extra three hours!" I was thinking to myself. Before I could get it out she added "I also talked to your father about it he said it was OK as long as you got home safe he said he was going to send you a text." I grabbed my phone to confirm if it was true, and it was. The text read: Your boss called if you want to stay a few more hours it's OK with me, make sure they give you an Uber or drive you home themselves. I ordered pizza so when you get here youll have something to eat. I'll be waiting for you to get home. I love you. ?❤️ "That's odd, when did my dad learn to use emojis? Oh well I guess I can use the extra money." I thought. "OK I'll do it,'' I said meekly. My boss thanked me and I went back out to my shift. After work my boss drove me home and thanked me again for staying extra. She gave me the tip money that was in the jar at work which was 200$ (Saturdays were the busiest days). I thanked her and got out of the car. As I was approaching my house I noticed my father was not outside. He usually waits for me to get home no matter how late it is. "Maybe he was just tired and went to bed." I thought I should’ve texted him. As I was putting the key in the door, I found out that it was unlocked. Funny Dad never forgets to lock the door. I was a little nervous now, I pushed the door open and saw my dad sitting on the couch watching TV. I was relieved, he must've fallen asleep watching TV waiting for me. I called out to him. "Dad I'm home, I hope you saved some of that pizza you were talking about. I'm starving!" He didn't respond. He must be really tired. I tapped him on the shoulder. "Dad I….." before I could get the whole sentence out I stood in horror. My Dad slumped over blood all over his sweater and jeans with his mouth open. His eyes were gouged out, his hands cut and his throat slit from ear to ear. My blood drained from me, my body went numb and I couldn't move. I stood there in pure horror for a few minutes looking at the grotesque corpse that used to be my father dead on the couch. After a few minutes I let out a piercing scream that could wake up the dead. I was horrified I couldn't believe it. All of a sudden all of the emotions came rushing in as I fainted on the ground. Chapter 1 I woke up from the flashing red lights and police that were surrounding me. Feeling dizzy and faint, one of the officers helped me off the floor. "Are you alright, do you need any medical help?" I looked around confused, was it a dream? It had to be my father couldn't be…. Dead. I looked up at the couch where the bloody stains remained. It wasn't a dream, it actually happened. Tears streamed from my eyes. My throat had a huge lump in it. I couldn't believe what was going on. The only person that ever loved me, cared for me, and made sure I was OK was gone. "Can you hear me miss?" The officer asked. I looked at him and blinked the tears out my eyes that made him a blurry image. "Y, yes I can hear you," my voice cracked. "Listen, my name is officer Reeves. I know this is hard for you but I need to know what happened here tonight, can you try?" The officer asked. I nodded, wiped the tears out my eyes and the snot streaming out my nose with my sleeve. "I, I don't know, all I know is I came home and opened the door and saw him lying there. I thought he was asleep at first but when I went to tap him on his shoulder I saw…. I couldn't finish the sentence, I knew if I finished that sentence it would've been real, but I couldn't get over the fact that he was gone. The officer was jotting down the information, I could feel his emotions and I could tell he was horrified by what he had seen. "Where were you coming from before you came here?" He asked "My job, I work at the diner in town, it's called the Moon and Sun diner." "Do you have anyone that can confirm this?" "Yes my boss, she's the one that drove me home." He nodded and jotted it down. He looked back up at me and asked, "One more question, do you know if your father had any enemies, you know people that may want to do anything to him?" My Dad was the sweetest man in the world, he helped out the community in every way, he was always there for others. "No never." I said my voice was still trembling. I couldn't get over the emotions in this room, it was so intense, the energy from everyone I was surprised I could still stand. "I'm very sorry for what had happened here tonight, I can't imagine what you're going through." He placed his hand on my shoulder. I felt his energy was so strong but caring. "In the meantime we're going to place you somewhere safe, I promise. I do want you to get your head checked by the EMT, ok?" I nodded. As the officer walked me to the ambulance. There were so many people outside watching. I felt their stares and also their energies. Some felt pity, some felt disgust. I couldn't handle all the energy that was rushing at me at once. I felt dizzy, before I knew it I fainted again. When I woke up I was in the ambulance getting rushed to the hospital. The EMT was working overtime, checking my vitals, my blood pressure, making sure I was still alive. One of them saw me open my eyes as I tried to quickly sit up and they caught me. "She's awake! It's OK, it's OK, you're safe, please get some rest. "What happened?" I asked. "You fainted, hit your head pretty hard on the pavement. Just relax, everything is going to be OK. We sat in silence for the rest of the ride, checking my vitals as we rode. When we got to the hospital, they checked me into a room and I sat there waiting for the doctors to come in. As I lay there my mind kept replaying the gruesome picture of my father's corpse over, and over again. I couldn't shake the images out of my head, his body decapitated like someone had hunted him down for sport. My eyes filled with tears then I got scared, what if someone comes after me, what if it really was personal? I never knew my father to do anything to anyone before, like I said earlier my father was a good man and he never harmed anyone. A few minutes later a doctor came into my room. She was slender, pretty and had long natural hair. She looked pretty tired but she gave me a warm smile and said, "Niah Cunnings?" I nodded as she wrote something down on her pad and pushed the curl that cascaded down her forehead behind her ear. "My name is doctor Jacobs, I'll be taking care of you this evening." I smiled a little and her aura was very caring. "Well you gave us quite a scare!" She said, " you do have a concussion, we're going to have to keep you overnight and take some ex-rays. I want you to rest, no stress, we're going to take you to the ex Ray soon but in the meantime if you need anything just call for any of the nurses they'll be able to help you?" "Ok." I nodded, she smiled and closed the door behind her. The rest of the night I couldn't sleep, the fear crept into my body and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't take it anymore so I turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels I came across one of my Dad's favorite shows, he loved detective shows, I watched it until I started to drift off to sleep. I woke up after what seemed like decades trying to find the nurse. My head was killing me, so I pressed the button on the side of the bed to call in a nurse. After a few minutes no one appeared so I pressed it again. Still no one, "What's going on?" I thought as I got up from the bed approaching the door. Hospitals always seemed to erie to me but for some reason I knew something was not right. As I opened the door, I was freaked out by what I saw. There was no one there, no nurses, doctors, patients, no one. That cold eerie feeling started to creep across my body as I walked through the halls trying to find someone. And then I saw it, a dark hallway with one little girl standing there crying. My instincts started to kick in and I wanted to run away as fast as I could but something pulled me toward her. "Um, are you okay?" I asked in a concerned voice, walking up to her with caution. She didn't say anything but wept. Then I noticed something. She had a doll in her hand. The very same doll that my father gave to me on my 5th birthday. "Impossible!" I thought that doll was custom made just for me, so how did she get it? I knew I still had it at my house. I knew what I had to do. "Just stop being a baby and see who it is!" I thought to myself. I gained all the courage I could muster and turned the girl around. When I did you were in shock! The little girl looked just like me! Actually it was me, she looked up at me and said, "Where's Daddy? I can't find him, I'm lost! I didn't know what to say, so I took her hand and followed her back to my room. Before we could get there there was a man standing by my room. At first I thought he was a nurse but as I came closer, I was horrified at what I saw. It was my Dad, and he was bloody head to toe. He looked the same way from when he was brutally murdered. He stared at me with cold dead eyes, blood splattering from his neck. He reached out at me with the nubs that used to have hands and started walking towards me. I was about to run as I tugged on the little girl. She didn't budge, actually she had a smile on her face reaching back out calling to him. I tried to get her to run with me but he was getting closer. I left her there and ran for my life. down the halls. As I looked back, I saw them both walking towards me, Calling out to me. "Niah! Niah!" They screamed as I kept running through the dark hallways with flickering lights. They were getting closer so I dove for the nearest room and slammed the door shut and locked the doors. I heard them banging on the door screaming my name. "Niah! Niah! Its not too late we can save you!" What are they talking about? I thought I went into the bed and put the covers over my head. I didn't know what else to do. I sat there with tears streaming down my eyes with fear. I just wanted it to stop after a few minutes the banging ceased, but I didn't want to let my head out the covers. After a few more minutes passed I heard whispering. "Niah, Niah,Niah. Went the whispers I don't want to take my head out of the covers, I didn't want to be terrified of what I would see next. But I wanted this to end so I ripped the covers off my head and there they were, right by my bed. But this time the little girl was also covered in blood, with her neck cut open and her hands cut off just like my father. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. They stared at me with dead eyes saying, "DON'T TRUST THEM! DON'T TRUST THEM! DON'T TRUST THEM!" I tried to scream but no sound came out as they got closer to scream those chilling words in my face. "DONT TRUST THEM! DON'T TRUST THEM! DON'T TRUST THEM" I tried to let out another howling scream and still nothing came out. Then my dead father lifted me out of my bed and said "Come see what they did to me!" I couldn't take it anymore and I screamed with all my might. "NOOOOOO!" I woke up the next day in a cold sweat and I jumped up out of my bed breathing hard. Thank goodness it was just a nightmare. I touched my face and looked around the room at a bunch of flowers next to me with a card that read: Sorry for your loss, hope you feel better! I was so thankful to be alive this morning as tears started to stream again. "Dammit I hate crying!" I thought. But I knew it was necessary, my father is dead and I'm alone in the world. "Hello sleepyhead!" Said a voice behind the big bouquet of flowers. I peek behind them to see my boss standing there. I smiled with tears in my eyes. My boss was so awesome, she was almost like a second mother to me. "Thank you for coming." I said with my voice cracking a little bit. She got up out of the chair she was sitting in and hugged me. "Oh angel this must be so hard for you, I can't even imagine!" She looked at me with caring eyes. "I just want you to know that I am here for you, and don't worry I'm not going to rush you back to work." I smiled trying to hold all my emotions together. "Thank you, so much." She sat with me and then a nurse came in with the same detective from last night. The nurse checked my vitals while the detective asked me a question. Hello Mrs Cunnings I just wanted to follow up with a few questions. Do you mind? "No, ask away." I was curious about what he was going to ask. "Well we did find some placements for you for a new home, but before we put you there, I just want to know if you have any family in the area that is willing to take you in?" All the family I've known was with my father, I mean I did have an uncle but I only saw him maybe once when I was 7 at my mother's funeral. And the rest of my family lived far away, but I didn't want to burden them. "No it was just me and my Dad." He nodded and jotted it down in his notebook. He looked back up at me. "Now the family I'm taking you to lives on the other part of town just on the other side of the city. You'll still be able to attend the same high-school, and the diner is actually closer. I will have a social worker come out there to check on you from time to time for at least 6 months to see how you are doing." I nodded taking it all in, this was my life now. I would never be able to walk home from the diner and my father is just sitting there on the porch, never be able to lie about his terrible cooking, or drive home to the hardware store to help him buy the latest project for the community, never share inside jokes, never cringe every time he tries to talk like the younger kids, nothing. All of that was gone, a memory that would follow with the gruesome way he was murdered burnt in my mind for the rest of my life. "Listen," said the detective, "I know it's hard now but I promise you it will get better." I didn't know what to say, it didn't feel like it was going to get better, I sat there wondering how anyone recovers from situations like these. I can see things like a break up losing friends, of a puppy, even losing money, but murder, how do you get over that? How does anyone see the light at the end of the tunnel after what I saw? I frowned I didn't want to hear anymore about my situation, my father being murdered nothing, I just wanted everything to go back to normal. Officer Reeves saw the hurt look on my face, I could tell he came over to me and sat down. "I never told anyone this but I knew your father, very well I might add." I looked at him and scoffed. "Is this some kind of way to get me to feel better because it's not working." He chuckled "No it's the truth, your father and I went to school together, he was on the same football team when we were in high school. Let me tell you something: your father was the strongest and fastest quarterback I saw ever on that team. The whole 4 years we played in high-school we never lost because of him." I knew Officer Reeves was telling the truth, I could feel it. The care and passion behind the words his aura glowed brighter than before like it was taking him back to a nostalgic time. He patted my hand and said "This is how I know you're going to be in good hands. Your father was strong, not only physically mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and I know you have it in you too." I shook my head. I knew I wasn't my father, I couldn't even bear being in the same room as people because of their auras. I barely make it through school let alone the world and now I have to wander it alone. I mean yes I will have a new family but it will still feel like I'm alone in the world. "I'm nothing like my father, I'm not strong enough for this!" I started to cry, but Officer Reeves hugged me and said, "Trust me you are, you just don't know it yet. Later that evening I was wheeled out to the parking lot and taken to my new home in a cop car. As I sat in the back silently I wondered, what the people I'll be living with will be like. Will they be acceptable to me, loving and caring like my father, or will they be harsh and abusive? Officer Reeves must've read my mind because he looked at me and said. "Don't worry, the people you're staying with are good people, I've known them for years. Trust me I picked these people out myself." I felt somewhat of a relief but it wasn't enough to console me. I sat in silence for the rest of the ride until we arrived. As I got out with my luggage I looked at the house I was staying in. It was beautiful, it was a big house, probably 5 to 6 bedrooms easily. It had a white picket fence and the porch was huge with a sitting area. There were zinnias and daffodils around the perimeter of the house with a few hints of lavender flowers. It looked like something out of a movie. We walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. The doorbell sounded a little old fashioned. I held my breath as the door was opening. Chapter 2 It's been 4 months since everything has happened. I'm still depressed about it, but I have come to terms with my living arrangements. The family I'm living with is not so bad, the mother who I first saw when I arrived is very sweet and the father although we don't speak much he's very kind as well. They have three children, one of them is in college now, and the oldest that lives here is in 12th grade like me. So Mostly this is a close knit, traditional family. My first day here however was pretty strange. I couldn't sleep for the first week here, everything just seemed so… off. Maybe it's because my father's gone. I told myself, pushing the strange thoughts out of my head. Tossing and turning at night I kept having the same same recurring nightmare, with my father in the hospital chasing after me with my younger self. This went on for weeks, I tried hard to push the nightmare out of my head each morning as I woke up with a cold sweat. High-school wasn't the same after my father was murdered, I was getting alot of sympathy from people who I talked to on a daily basis to people I barley knew. Except the popular kids of course, they always had to be cruel at every turn. I tried to ignore them for the first week when I was going through it but after a two weeks it was getting redundant. Katie, the most popular girl in the clique and her army of brainless bandits came up to me at lunch looking down on me with a disgusted sneering look on thier faces. I looked back up at them while pushing the rest of my pb&J sandwich in my mouth. I chewed a few times and swallowed. "Can I help you?" I said sarcastically, I really wasn't in the mood for them today. "Move, you orphan freak!" Kaite said at the top of her lungs for everyone to hear. A couple of people gasped and a couple of people snickered. So much for thier condolences about my father. "There's plenty of other tables." I said waving my hand around to show her all the empty spots. "How come you can't sit there?"