Arabelle

Chapter 20 - Ian I

Ian’ POV

14 years ago

I woke up to the sound of my mother screaming in her sleep for the third time this week, she had been crying and calling out to someone I didn’t know, she would cry and call out to someone called Arabelle and anytime I went to wake her, she will wake feeling very lost and unaware of her surrounding, then after a few minutes, she will come back to her senses and then she will hold me tight and tell me that she will protect me, that she will always keep safe,

I got up from my bed and rushed to her room which was down the hall from my room, I pushed the door open and ran in, I found her struggling on the bed like she was trying to fight off something or someone, she was screaming and calling out to this Arabelle again, I rushed to her bed side and sat on the bed,

I tried shaking her so that she might wake up, but she didn’t wake up, I shook her again, a little harder than I had done before “Mum please open your eyes” I said as I shook her,

Her sprang open and she sat upright on the bed, she looked around, her eyes were wild, her hair was a complete mess and she had tears running down her cheeks, I placed my hand on hers and squeezed gently, she turned to look at me and I saw recognition register in her eyes,

She pulled me close and hugged me “Ian, I am sorry, I am so sorry that you have to see me like this, I am so sorry my dear” she said,

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her warmly “Don’t worry about me mother, just take care of yourself” I said against her hair,

She pulled back from me and looked into my eyes, I saw how tired she looked and how much whatever it was that was bothering her was weighing her down, whatever it was, it really had her stressed out,

“What is mum? What keeps bothering you?” I asked,

She blinked and looked away “You have to worry about me Ian, it’s nothing” she said,

She didn’t want to tell me, maybe because she thought I was still a child that couldn’t handle whatever it was that was bothering her, I was 14 for goodness sake, before dad died 2 years ago, he had asked me to look after her and that I was now the head of the family and I had promised I wasn’t going to let him down.

“Mum, you can tell me what’s bothering you, you know I will understand” I said, of course I will understand, she and dad always said I was too smart for my age,

She turned to look at me, I could see the struggle in her eyes, she was deliberating on whether to tell me or not,

 I looked into her eyes and said “Just tell me Mum, it’s better than letting it bother you so much, you know what they say about a problem being half solved once it’s shared” I managed to smile at her,

She pulled me close and hugged me “You don’t deserve all of this my dear, it’s not your burden to bear, this is something will be hard for even you to understand, I can hardly understand it myself” she said,

I pulled away from her and said “We will never know if we don’t try”

Mum managed a small smile and then she said “Well it all began 400 hundred years ago, a time when magic still existed and witches roamed the earth”

This was turning out to be something that was beginning to sound like a bedtime story she had told me once when I was much younger, it was the story of the young who was burnt at the stake by the man she loved,

“Mum, this is just a bed time story you had told me when I was younger, the beautiful witch who was betrayed and then killed by her husband on their wedding day” I said,

Mum smiled but I could see the sadness behind her smile “I wish that is all it was, just a bedtime story but sadly it’s not just a story, it’s the real life event that had happened before my very eyes, I watched the young witch burn at the stake that day, I had Arabelle burn that day” she said and a tear drop slipped from her eye, she couldn’t wiped it away,

I was beginning to find this story very confusing, according to the story I had been told, this was something that happened almost 400 years ago and my mum was saying she had seen it happen, it made no sense,

“Mum you are not making any sense, you told me that this happened 400 years ago and now you say that you were there when it happened 400 years ago” I said,

She smiled and said “Not as smart you thought you I see”

“Maybe if you speak clearly, I will understand” I said,

Mum smiled and said “let’s leave this discussion for a later time or perhaps we shouldn’t have the discussion at all, it’s not important, it’s something that happened in the past and is of no importance to the present”

I tried to argue with her but she simply smiled and said “It’s late Ian, you should go back to bed now, and I am sure you wouldn’t want to be late for school”

It was obvious this discussion was over, she wasn’t going to say anything again no matter how much I tried, I knew when to let go, she will tell me when she was ready,

I stood and smiled “Whatever you say Mum” I said,

She smiled and said “Good boy”

“I will let you try to get some sleep now” I said,

Mum simply nodded her head, I smiled and walked out of the room, I stood outside for a few minutes, I heard her exhale softly before she settled down into the bed again, I pulled the door and it closed with a soft click behind me.

As I walked back to my room, I promised myself that I will not ask mum about it again until she was ready to tell me, I will not bother her about it again.

********************

12 Years ago

“Good morning mum” I said as I joined her on the breakfast table,

She smiled brightly and said “Good morning dear, hope you slept well?”

“Like a happy well fed baby” I answered,

Mum rolled her eyes at me and said “You are still a baby, so just say you slept well and it’s okay”

I fixed a hurt expression on my face and said “You just called me a baby mum, never have I been so insulted in my entire life”

Mum ignored me and continued with her breakfast, a smile tugging at the corners of her lip,

I smiled and placed some pancakes on my plate, I could smell the rich aroma of the coffee from the pot, I poured it into my cup with a smile on my face, how I loved good coffee in the morning.

I settled down to enjoy my breakfast, looking around the breakfast table, I saw that the butter was a lot closer to where mum was sitting,

“Mum could you be a darling and pass me the butter please?” I said,

Mum took her time answering me, she placed a piece of toast in her mouth then drank some coffee before she turned towards my direction and said “Get it yourself, quit being so lazy”

“So, this was how she wanted breakfast to go, huh? Well two could play that game” I thought, mum loved to throw silly tantrums during breakfast, I believe she found it funny and I, well I just normally played along,

I stood up to get the butter from mum’s side of the table when I mistakenly knocked my cup of coffee, mum quickly turned towards my direction and I stretched out my hand in an attempt to catch the falling tea cup but to my surprise, the tea cup froze mid-air along with the coffee inside it,

my eyes went as wide as saucers and when I looked at mum, her eyes were just as wide as mine, I looked back to the floating tea cup and back to my mother and then to my out stretched hand, I quickly drew my hand back and almost immediately, the tea cup came crashing to the floor and the coffee spilled on the carpet,

“What the hell just happened?” I asked no one in particular, at this moment, I couldn’t care if mum scolded me for using bad language in her presence,

But when I looked at mum, she had the most shocked expression on her face, she looked she had seen a ghost and I couldn’t understand what the bloody hell just happened,

“It’s not possible, it’s possible at all” I heard mum say,

I looked at her, she was not looking surprised again, she was now looking bewildered, it seemed like she knew what was happening,

“Mum, are you okay?” I asked, I had to mentally pat myself on the back since I could ask that question considering the fact that I had just somehow managed to make a falling tea cup float in the air,

Mum stood up from the table like a mechanical robot, I don’t know what prompted me but I stood up as well

“Follow me” mum said and walked out of the dining room like someone was chasing her,

I stood and followed after her, still not understanding what was going on,

I followed mum all the way to her room, she opened the door and hurried me in, once we were inside, she locked the door behind her and quickly rushed to her closet, she began going through drawers frantically like she was searching for something, whatever it was she was looking for must be very important because she was searching like her life depended on it,

“Mum what are you looking for? Perhaps I can help you find it?” I said,

But she completely ignored me, she kept searching, so I kept quiet and let her search on her own, after a frantic search for the next 5 minutes, she pulled out something that closely resembled a glass ball, I thought it was a crystal ball, she walked over to me and held it to my face, I was finding the whole situation a bit comical because of the way was behaving, I was the one supposed to be feeling frantic and whatever, like I had just frozen a freaking tea cup mid-air but the reverse was obviously the case,

I looked at the crystal ball and saw that it was slowly changing colour, it was changing into the green of my eyes, the colour crept slowly until it covered the entire ball and then finally, a bright light erupted, I suddenly a sensation I had never felt before, I felt like my blood was singing and tiny electric sparks were flying in front of my eyes,

I heard mum take a sharp intake of breath, I looked at her and saw that the ball had fallen from her hands, it lay on the floor glowing so bright I thought it will explode at any time, I bent down slowly and picked the ball up, it slowly dimmed until it faded and the glass ball returned to its original and the sensation I was feeling in my blood and eyes dimmed along with the light,

I turned to look at mum, who looked like she had a ghost, she was muttering something, I listened closely and I realized it was the same words she had said at the dining table,

 She kept repeating the words “It’s not possible”

Now, I was really confused, what just happened now was something that could be explained logically, I had held a crystal ball and it had glowed magically, I felt something deep inside me, I had a kind of power or maybe an energy of some sort, it felt like it was a part of me I didn’t know existed, it was warm and peaceful,

“Mum, what just happened?”  I asked,

Mum walked over to her bed and sat down, she looked like someone in a daze, then she said the words that would have made me burst out in a laughing fit had I not seen what just happened before my eyes,

“It will seem you are a witch and a very powerful one at that” she said

 And the only thing I could say at that moment was “Oh crap!”