I am a Witch, not a bitch

Third call, third call, is the only thing Aura could hear as she entered the theater and tried to find her seat, in row E section 10. I wish I can find my seat before they turn off the lights, I hate to walk in the dark, praying not to step on anyone, think Aura, just as the lights stared to twinkle she managed to get comfortable.

The curtain went up and revel a podium with a huge sign that says “I’m a witch not a bitch” which was the name of the play, and 4 chairs, but only 3 of them were taken, all by women in black clothes with typical witches hats.

The woman in the first chair stood up, as she walked to the podium, something about her somehow felt familiar to Aura.

Welcome my sisters, to your home , to your safe space, my name is Koha, I have traveled a great distance, not only by kilometers but also through time, to be able to bring these wonderful women to talk to you.

My first stop was in May 1812 in German , where I meet Muriel , a sweet witch, whose only crime was loving two children.

Koha stepped back as Muriel reached the podium, when the bright light illuminated her face, Aura could only focus on the horrible scars that covered all her body.

I always wanted to have kids, said Muriel, with a soft and sad voice , however that was impossible for me, after I had my last miscarriage and my husband left me, I isolated myself from everyone, I stayed alone in that small house, which could have been a home. It was only a matter of time before the forest took over my house, I was too tired to do anything about it.

Until one day I heard the voices of a girl and a boy who were lost and sacred , so I took the last of my strength to get up and look for them, the image of those two siblings hugging, on the threshold of my door, completely covered in sweat and dirt, moved my heart so much that I couldn't help but cry, when two of my tears touched my hands they turned into 2 small butter cookies.

I couldn’t believe my eyes , before I could comprehend what had happen the cookies

were devoured by the starving kids, I invited them in , I was worried that I couldn’t offer them much, at least they cleaned their faces and drank some water.

Once they recovered a little of their strength they tell me their names, which I will keep as a secret, it’s still painful for me to said it out loud, nevertheless I can tell you that the bigger sister was 12 years old , while the little brother was only 4 years old, both of them had such a tender look, Muriel stop talking for a second and took a moment to recovered, Aura could feel her sorrow in that last breath.

They algo told me , continued Muriel, how they got separated from their parents by chasing a little hare, I felt so sorry, I wanted to help, so I went outside with them, shouting their parents name , fortunately they were close, also looking for their precious children, I stayed in the back of the tree and watched how the family was reunited.

When I was inside my house I had time to thought of the two cookies how appear out of nowhere, like magic, when I realized I had in my hand another pair of those delicious cookies , I closed my eye and imaged a big fudge cake and it appeared in front of me, just like this, Muriel extended her arms towards the audience and in the blink of an eye a chocolate cake appeared in her hands.

What a great visual effect, Aura thought in amazement.

Long story short, continued Muriel, I realized after some more practice that I could materialized any dessert just by thinking about it.

Those siblings kept visiting me every weekend, for four years in a row, I have never been so happy, we ate all kind of cookies , pies and cakes while we played games and laughed at nonsense.

Until one weekend they show up with some men dressed in a kind of brown tunic they accused me of doing black magic, they didn’t let me explain, it all happened so fast, they nock me up , I fainted hearing my sweet children crying, those men took them away and as they leave they set my home on fire.

Thanks to Kora is that I’m alive today, she managed to rescued me just in time, she took care of me until I recovered.

Only to realized that all the people in my town thought that I was trying to eat those siblings, that I made my house out of candy just to fool them, they even make a story about it, I was so angry, I’m still angry but Kora convinced me to find more witches to make this right.

That’s how we meet Alice , a witch that did everything to protect her family, but her story isn’t mine to tell.

Muriel got back to her sit, Alice took her place in the center of the podium Aura could feel Alice gaze on her, only on her.

I was born in Italy, Alice finally said, in the year of 1616, I was the fourth daughter, and likewise the fourth witch of the family, well the fifth counting my mother, although at that time we were called fairy godmothers.

When my aunt, how was the queen , had her first daughter we were all invited to the castle to celebrated her arrival.                                                                                                        Since this baby was born without powers, my aunt asked us to transmit her any gift we could conjure, and so we did, my mother grant her strength and my sisters gave her the gift of beauty and justice.

At that time I was only 12 years old, I didn't have the ability to conjure something as powerful, so the only thing I could give her was my company whenever she needed it.

From that day forward we were inseparable, every one call her Aurora, but for me was pumpkin, because of her pretty big head decorated with her ginger curls.

Once I had a better control of my powers I discovered that my specialty was something we called skin shifter, in others words, it is the ability to transform in any animal, however something extraordinary happen, I could also transform Aurora into the same animals as me, maybe it was as a result of the gift I tried to give her as a baby, but the truth is that I never discovered why was that possible.

I bet you can imagine what a fun time pumpkin and I had, chasing us around the castle like cats, playing hide and seek as mice, jumping in the trees of the

garden like squirrels or owls.

While Alice was naming the animals she transformed herself in each one of them, Aura was so amazed and so confused, How is that possible? She thought, it look so real.

We had 16 years of absolute joy, continued Alice, until one day, while I was strolling through the kingdom, transformed into a butterfly, looking for a especial gift for my pumpkin, cause it was her sixteen birthday, I noticed two very mysterious men talking in an alley, I could only recognize one of them, Francesco, who was a specialist in making potions.

Are you sure these will work ? Said the other man , Trust me Philip, said Francesco, you only need to brake this bottle at the castle’s main entrance, in less of  10 seconds all of them will enter in a deep sleep that will last only a few minutes, but when they waked up , their mind will be so confused that it will be easy to persuade them of anything you want, what you say, will become a reality for them, and don’t forget this rune, it will function as magic repellent, it will help if you in case you encounter a fairy godmother.

When I heard this I tried to transform in a faster animal, or something more dangerous to stop Philip, but his rune was really powerful, I was stock in that form, only when he was really far, I was able to  transformed my self in a dragon , I flew as fast as I could, beside my best effort, when I arrived to the castle, I was to late, they were all asleep, I fought Philip, but once away the rune make me weak, there was no one to help me , all of my family were already in the castle to celebrate Aurora, when they finally woke up they only saw a huge angry dragon being defeated by a “brave knight”.

By now you should know what was the story that he told them, he never knew my name, but he made sure to make me the villain and made him the hero, we became king by getting married to pumpkin. They got me banished, as all the memories that Aur had created with me. As she finished this last sentence, Aura noticed a kind of fire in Alice's eyes.

Koha approached Alice and gave her a hug. Alice went back to her seat.

 Koha spoke in a serious voice, we have to stop spreading these false stories, and even more importantly we have to prevent them from happening, I am not only talking about the past ones but also those than can happen in the future, that’s why we need your help, we need to find all the witches.

Aura thought that this was the end of the play, so she stood up to applaud with all her might, something about this play moved her heart in a way she couldn’t explain.

It only took Aura a moment to notice that not only she was the sonly one making notice, she was the only one left in the theater.

Where did everybody went ? Said Aura.

There have never been more people in this theater than your Aura, answered Koha, it was all an illusion that we created.

We need your help.

My help? Asked Aura, how can I help you? What’s happening? Why you know my name? Is this a prank for YouTube ?

Take it easy Aura, said Muriel calmly , you already know our story, everything we said is true, we are witches as you.

I know, continue saying Alice , that you don’t believe that you are one of us, but please just take a moment to remember all the time that you said “oh, I wish “ and that phrase became a reality, it not always worked in a good way, for example when you wish you didn’t have to work for a few days and suddenly the bus you were on crash and you got a broken leg.

Or the time you wish to have a pool and it rain for 2 days in a row.

We believe you have the ability to control the immediate present, we will teach you to reach your full potential, and you will help a lot of people, trust us.

Aura felt so confused while confident about her decision at the same time.

Koha noticed that determination and said to Aura come , we need to go with Merlin, she is expecting us.

Merlin is a woman? Asked Aura astonishment

We will tell you all about her in the road.

The four witches left the theatre, to try to make us realize that human’s wickedness does not lie in our differences but in the inability to respect them, safe travel witches I hope we soon hear from you.