THE BRUJA IN ME

I flew in fear; the dark of the night surrounded me. The tree branches were hitting my skin and a burning sensation with each stroke. The cold air touched my face and the tingling feeling of my hair as the wind hit it. There was light approaching and the dark forest fell behind. A familiar place that knew my secrets, my comfort and my sanctuary, home. I ran inside and cried on my bed waiting for it to all end. If I was this Amazing person changing the world why must I feel this anger? Why haven’t things happened the way I was told they would. To get to this moment you need to know my past and to know my past you need to know me.

My name is Ileana Jade Crisanto, I am the only daughter of Petra Crisanto and for Petra, to know more than her name is to know too much of her. Yet, this is just as much her story as it is mine. She raised me alone, with no family in sight, a strong independent woman who had to overcome many obstacles alone. Judge for being a single woman as long as I can remember, judged for not being social, for never smiling. The things people noticed and not by the hard worker that she was.

Inside my humble home, it was amazing growing up. I had everything I could possibly need. She always wanted the best for me and was tough but as she was tough she was gentle. She went out some night and got back late, she swore she wasn’t seeing anyone she just needed time for herself and so I never questioned her. She would come back sad and exhausted. But I took care of her and she said she would do the same whenever I needed it.

All my school years I was picked on and laughed at, my clothing choices weren’t the best, my hair was not as clean as I would like it be. But when mom was gone I did what I could. Sometime right after my senior graduation, I started to have terrible nightmares that I soon lost sleep. I was a mess during the day and miserable at night, I kept telling mom but she said it was normal. After a few months I started community college I developed anger issues and would fight and argue with whoever crossed my path. There was this group of girls that seemed to want to belittle anyone. I thought once we graduated we would act adults. One day after Chemistry class I felt irritated and one of the girls bumped into me I felt this burning sensation all over my body, and I yelled at her “stop” as loud as I could. She stood there like she was frozen. Then she passed out. The ambulance took her and she was in Hospital for 3 days. To this day I don’t know why or what happened to her. Another occasion one of them bumped into me passing each other in the gym and I was so upset a few seconds later she peed her pants. It bothered me because a lot of small incidents like that happened and my mom was always just trying to comfort me.

My mind thought something and it happened, my anger wished something and it happened. I was scared half the time but mom only just comforted me. One day I was so late that I practically flew from the front door to the car. Did you hear that, I practically flew. I stopped and turned around in fear if someone saw me. There by the window was my mom's concerned face. Like did she notice. So I went inside and asked her “did you see that”? She just looked at me with her huge tea cup in hand and turned and walked away. She sat on the couch and said “ we need to talk”.

She went dark, she talked about ancestors and promises made, she spoke of curses. She never looked away and stared deep into my eyes. She spoke of a man whom she said was my father, a man with power. Promising her a life of extraordinary power. I didn’t understand what she was talking about. She said “we are witches”. I wanted to laugh but she looked so serious, “a what”? I asked. “We are witches and protectors,” she continued. “We hunt, and we kill creatures in the night”. She said.

How am I sitting here listening to my mother speak of witches and killing creatures? I got up in anger and like 7 plates flew off the table. “You need to calm down,” mom said. I screamed “calm down”! Here I was listening to this bizarre story of what I am and what I do. How can I sit and listen? She continued and I sat there listening but how can any of this be real? How can I be a witch? This is the real world, there is no such thing.

We were given this gift as part of the punishment of our ancestors. They created creatures of the night, to scare the folk people many years ago. So that the folk people would go looking for help in witches and wizards and warlocks. But when the creator of those night creatures died, the secret to killing the night creatures died with him. So now they have to wait for the chosen one to come of age and figure out how to kill these night creatures for good and forgive us for what our ancestors did.

There are specific night when the creatures come out, they are created to attack anyone they see. Our bodies feel it and that is when she went out and hunted. We continue to be judged when all we do is try to help human kind. They don’t see that we are not the villain here. But someone like us will never be considered a hero. Here I was saddened by my mothers words and as hard as I tried to push it aside and want to laugh. The serious look on my mothers face broke my heart because she was serious. I walked away I couldn’t think, I could process this was insane.

Days passed and I had avoided my mother but my body started to feel anxious, I felt my body vibrate. I walked and I floated and it scared me. I breathed deeply and called out to my mother. She ran in my room and held me, she apologized for everything but she never thought it would happen like this. She said “your gift is calling you, you need to face what creatures are coming through”. “Your body can sense them and it will take you to the creatures.” I wanted to cry, I was shaking, I wanted to just lay down and curl up. I turned to my mother and with tears in my eyes I said, “what else do I need to know and what do I need to do?”

“We are amazing warriors and we can fight for long periods, you have strength, you have powers and most definitely you can fly.” “Your body will do everything you think”. If you didn’t hear the sound of my heart by this time you weren’t paying attention to anything my mother said. “Where is my broom”? I asked. My mother laughed like I have never heard her. She said we don’t fly on brooms, we simply fly. She went on saying it could be one creature or multiples but I would never be alone. She would be with me and all the other witches nearby. To say I was petrified is an understatement. “Who is the chosen one who will be able to destroy these creatures?” I asked. She said she didn’t know, but with time the chosen one would reveal his or herself. So there we were staring at each other until I said I didn’t know what the hell to do. But if this is what she knew and I trusted her then let's go.

She grabbed my hand and I felt her vibration, I felt her anger with mine. I felt the history the reason we fight these creatures. To protect the people from the mistakes of the past. We took responsibility and I felt the power. We walked out and instantly, our bodies rose and wherever she went I followed and I felt the rage. My body tingles and I feel different. My body looked different. I felt strong. Along the way, we encountered more witches and warlocks and deep into the forest I heard a growl. There we started to go down to the ground. Some continued to fly, others went to the ground. In the middle of a forest stood an army of witches and warlocks face to face with creatures in the night. We all ran and collided in a fight.

Hundreds of creatures, strong with claws and sharp teeth, glowing eyes some in human form, other in animal form. We fought and we fought until they were all defeated. Everyone turned to check on each other and then they flew away. My mother grabbed my hand and we flew back home. Not a word was said after that, but somehow my body felt everything that was going on. Weeks passed by and then again we took off to fight these creatures. I finally understood why my mom would be so tired at times. There were times we would go two, three days in a row. Others just one day. Our body felt it and we just flew and we just fought.

The fights were longer and forceful, the anger grew. I remember one day I had seen my mother fighting and she was not handling herself well I had never seen her like that. At least not since I started fighting with her. I did my best to get to her but I couldn’t and my fear of her getting hurt was consuming me and my rage grew. I felt this power so immense I trembled and vibrated. My skin glowed and I felt my body change. A bright light consumed me and I sent out an explosion. All the creatures were dead. The silence was eerie only feeling the breeze on our face. I flew to my mother to make sure she was ok, and as I held her up she stared at me as if she had seen a ghost. I heard gasping I looked around and the witches and warlocks starred at me. I turned to my mother and she whispered. “You’re the chosen one”.

The End