2|| The Witch Of Ashpoint
1903 Words
I didn’t stop running until I reached Ashpoint, one of those neighborhoods people warn their kids to stay away from.
I grew up here. In a crumbling, almost run down apartment complex, with my father, my younger sister Lily, my stepmother, and her son Marcus.
I stopped in front of the door, almost falling to my knees taking deep breaths as I rubbed my swollen eyes trying hard to stop crying. My chest had this dull aching pain, my throat was on fire. I felt exhausted until I heard it.
Screaming.
Lily.
My heart dropped.
Without thinking, I shoved the door open, the cheap wood banging against the wall.
And there she was. My little sister was on the floor, sobbing.
Mama Lin—my stepmother, my father’s second wife—held Lily by her hair, her knuckles white as she yanked hard, dragging Lily toward the door.
“You think you won’t do what I asked you to do? Worthless Brat, I’ll make you useful TODAY!”
Lily screamed louder, holding Mama Lin’s wrist, trying to pry her fingers off. She was just a kid.
A f*****g kid!
But the most gut-wrenching part?
My father was right there.
Sitting on the worn-out couch, doing nothing.
His eyes were fixed on the television, a beer bottle in his hand, completely indifferent.
And beside him, my stepbrother Marcus sat lazily scrolling on his phone, as if my sister wasn’t being thrown out like garbage.
Like she didn’t matter.
Like we never had.
A cold rage shot through me, stronger than the humiliation, hotter than the exhaustion.
I had nothing. No job. No dignity. But I would die before I let them take Lily from me too.
I screamed.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
I didn’t give Mama Lin a chance to react before shoving her away from Lily. My sister clung to me, sobbing so hard like her life depended on it.
“Selene! Help me!” she wailed, burying her face against my body. “She wants to sell me!”
Sell her?
My stomach dropped.
I turned to Mama Lin, shoving Lily behind me, my blood boiling.
“Have you lost your damn mind?!”
Mama Lin straightened, dusting off her shirt like my push meant nothing.
She was a short, stout woman with a mouth as vicious as her temper. People in the neighborhood called her a witch and not the kind from fairy tales. She terrorized people for sport.
She had once been our neighbor when my parents first moved into this apartment complex. My mother had been pregnant with me back then.
Then came the ugly coincidence.
Somehow, Mama Lin got pregnant around the same time my mother did with Lily. And when my mother died in childbirth, she moved in within a week.
As if she had been waiting.
From that moment on, I never knew peace again.
Mama Lin scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Lost my mind? Ha! Maybe I should be asking you that, Selene!”
She pointed her finger at my father “Your pathetic excuse of a father has gambled away all our family savings!” Mama Lin screeched, her face twisting with rage. “Loan sharks are after us, and they’ve given us until tomorrow to pay up! Over my dead body will I suffer for his stupidity. I’d rather sell that useless brat to them and be done with it!”
Lily turned to me shaking her head frantically, her small hands gripping my shirt like a lifeline. “Sister, please! Don’t let her take me away! Please!”
The thought of what could have happened to Lily if I had come any later…
It made my stomach twist violently.
I turned to Mama Lin, horrified.
“You’ve lost your damn mind, you evil woman!” I spat, fury burning in my veins. “How dare you try to sell my sister to those brutes?! Do you even realize what you’re doing?! You’d ruin her life!”
I couldn’t even bear to imagine what those monsters would have done to Lily if they got their hands on her.
“Ruin her life?” Mama sneered. “Oh, please! What life? That brat is just another useless mouth to feed! She should be grateful I even let her stay this long!”
Lily flinched, gripping my arm tighter.
“I won’t let you sell Lily!”
Mama Lin glared at me. “If you’re so concerned about the girl, then you pay the damn debt!”
She jabbed a finger into my chest, voice dripping with anger and malice.
“Five thousand dollars, Selene. By tomorrow. Or you can kiss your precious sister goodbye.”
I turned to my father, my heart pounding. He was still sitting on the couch watching the Tv, his fingers lazily drumming against his beer bottle.
“Dad, You won’t actually let this happen, will you?”
He sighed heavily, finally looking at me. His eyes were tired. Empty.
“Selene, just let it go,” he muttered. “The money is already gone, someone has to take responsibility.”
My breath hitched. “Someone? You mean Lily?”
He took a sip of his beer and shrugged. “She’s going to sacrifice herself for the good of the family. The loan sharks will leave us alone for a while, it’s a good deal, what do you want me to do?”
“Be a father!” I yelled.
He flinched at that, just barely. But instead of answering, he looked away.
Mama Lin clicked her tongue. “Tsk, tsk. See how disrespectful she is?”
Lily sobbed harder. “Please don’t sell me Mama Lin, I will clean all the house, do all the chores..”
Mama Lin screamed rasing her hand to hit Lily. “You worthless little brat. I should’ve thrown you out years ago.”
I almost went crazy.
“If you touch her again,” I hissed, walking forward, blocking Lily completely behind, “I swear to God, Mama Lin, you’ll regret it.”
Mama Lin’s eyes darkened, her face twisting in anger. Then, suddenly—
She turned and screamed.
“Oh, look at you! Neighbors! Neighbors!” Her voice rang through the thin walls, shrill and dramatic. “The bastard sisters want to drive me from my own home! After I raised them when their mother DIED! These ungrateful, wretched bastards!”
Doors creaked open in the hallway. Neighbors' faces peeked out.
A few murmurs started—the neighborhood gossip mill already warming up.
But this time I didn’t care.
I had taken enough of this woman’s cruelty.
“The family savings?” I spat, anger burning through my veins. “That’s half my salary since the day I started working! And yet, you want to sell Lily?! Like she’s the only one in this house?”
I glared at her, my hands shaking. “What of your stupid son-”
SLAP!
The impact snapped my head to the side.
“Selene!” Lily gasped.
“Don’t you dare talk about my precious son with that filthy mouth of yours or I’ll rip it apart!” Mama Lin screeched.
“What do you have, huh?” she sneered. “Except being a w***e—just like your mother! My son is going to be a wealthy man. He’s going to take me out of Ashpoint!” she raised her head proudly like Marcus was some golden ticket out of poverty.
She took a step forward, eyes flashing with pure hatred.
“And what about you, Selene?” she mocked. “What are YOU going to do? Huh?!” Her lip curled. “Sell your body to the first man who offers you money?”
Then she spun on my father, jabbing a finger at him.
“Michael! Grab that b***h and take her to the loan sharks now!”
“Lily, just endure it for the family”
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, trying—desperately—not to vomit right then and there.
I felt sick.
My body ached badly, I wanted nothing but to jump into a river and disappear but even then, even when I felt all hope was lost. That my failure of a father would never support me no matter what I did, even then I couldn’t give up. I had to protect Lily.
If I let them take her, I would never forgive myself and if we ran away from the house, we’d have nowhere to go.
Nowhere.
No money. No safety. Nothing.
I took a deep breath, pushing down my anger. “I’ll get it to you tomorrow. Unfailing.”
Before she could say anything else, I grabbed Lily’s hand, dragging her inside the tiny room we shared since she was born.
I locked the door behind us instantly.
Lily sank to the floor holding my hands tightly as she cried. “Five thousand dollars?” she choked out, her voice cracking. “Where would you even find five thousand dollars?”
She sobbed as she buried her head in my shoulder. “This is all my fault!”
Her hands gently brushing my cheek, her fingers trembling over the red marks.
Then she froze.
Her wide eyes flicked over my torn clothes, the bruises, the way I was barely holding myself up.
“Big sister… Are you okay?”
Her voice was small. Fragile.
The weight of it almost broke me.
I wanted to sob too. To scream into the depths of the universe. To let all the pain, the exhaustion, and the helplessness crash over me.
But I couldn’t.
Not when Lily was right there.
Not when she needed me to be strong.
I tried to smile, brushing her tangled hair back. “I’m okay,” I whispered, lying through my teeth. “I’m going to find the money.”
Her dark hair was a mess. Red patches where Mama Lin had yanked too hard.
I swallowed down the anger.
She was too skinny for thirteen. Her clothes were worn, faded, sleeves too short for her growing arms.
Unlike Marcus.
Marcus, who always had new shoes and clothes, they were in the same class but the state of their uniforms were so different.
I felt sick with guilt.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
She blinked back her tears, then slowly, pressed her head into my lap.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you too, Big Sis.”
I sat there until Lily fell asleep, my mind reeling with fear.
How the hell was I supposed to come up with five thousand dollars by tomorrow?
Mama Lin’s cruel voice rang in my head.
“And what about you, Selene?” she mocked, her voice dripping with scorn. “What are YOU going to do, huh?”
Sell my body to the first man who offers me money?
My stomach twisted.
I clenched my fists, forcing myself to breathe.
Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled out my phone with trembling fingers.
“Hello, Sarah? Yes, Yes, I’m fine.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“I need to ask you for a favor…” I hesitated, my grip tightening on the phone.
“It’s about that escort business you told me about.”
- Writer
