The Green Witch

It was a Saturday. Ben woke up and sat up in bed. He peered through his bedside window. There it was. It was always there. The abandoned castle. Ben had always wanted to explore the castle but his parents forbid it.

  All he knew about the castle was that it belonged to Peter Green. He found out that Peter’s wife, Cordelia had given birth to a baby girl called Jessica. But that was years ago.

  The green family had lived peacefully until one night, there was a huge, furious thunderstorm. Ben and his family were sleeping soundly and didn’t know there was a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning struck the top of the castle. After that, Peter and Cordelia’s body was found on the floor, dead. But Jessica’s body was nowhere to be found.

  Someone had taken a photo of the lightning strike on the castle and it appeared in the newspapers. Ben had to admit that it looked kind of cool.

  Ben rushed downstairs after cleaning his teeth and taking a shower. He went to the kitchen and shook some cornflakes into a bowl with milk. He ate his cereal hurriedly.

  After breakfast, he made sure that his parents were still sleeping before stepping out of the house. Ben climbed the gigantic hill on which the abandoned castle stood.

  Once he got to the top of the hill, he walked up to the castle and knocked on the drawbridge. The drawbridge came down by itself. Ben was a little spooked. Nevertheless, he entered. As soon as he did that, the drawbridge closed up, blocking his only way out.

“Help!” shouted Ben, banging on the door. It was pointless. No one was around to hear him.

  Sssss…

  Ben heard the hissing of a snake. He looked wildly for one. There wasn’t a snake in sight.

 “Who’s there?” he called.

  A lady in a long black gown stepped out of the shadows. A green snake around her neck flicked its orange tongue. The lady introduced herself as the Green witch.

  Ben thought her face looked familiar. Then he remembered that he had seen her face before in newspapers. 

“You’re Jessica Green!” he exclaimed.

“Not anymore. I am the Green Witch.”

“What happened? Your body couldn’t be found after the thunderstorm.”

“Ah, the thunderstorm.” The Green Witch closed her eyes as if remembering something painful.

“After the thunderstorm, I became the Green Witch,” she said shortly.

  Ben stared at the snake around the Green Witch’s neck. The snake was moving its head weirdly.

“Since you came into my castle, I am going to make you my servant,” said the Green Witch.

“No!” said Ben.

  The Green Witch said, “Fine, I’ll take you to two doors. You have to pick one of them. If you pick the right one, you’ll find yourself outside the castle. However, if you pick the wrong one, you’ll find yourself standing right in this spot. And I’ll make you my servant forever,”

“Okay,” said Ben.

  The Green Witch took Ben to a room with two doors. One was rusty with the paint chipping out. Another looked like it was made out of gold. 

“Make your decision,” said the Green Witch with a cackle.

  Ben thought carefully. The Green Witch was obviously trying to trick him. He knew that things that didn’t look pretty were always the solution- he read about them in his adventure books.

  Ben yanked the rusty door open. He saw a whirl of colours. He stepped through and blinked. He was back in the place where he first saw the Green Witch. He was back in the castle. He had picked the wrong door! Ben stared around in horror. The Green Witch came out from the room and smiled at him.