Faint memory

As Kyla stepped into the restaurant, the smell of patties grilling hit her, it took her by surprise, the aroma of the buttered buns added another pleasant touch, she felt she was engulfed in smells that created a familiar and calm atmosphere, it made her faintly remember things she felt she had completely forgotten.

These aromas, this atmosphere was what made her come back to this place again and again, they had such an affect on her that she had kept coming to this place since the past five years and no matter how many times she came, the smells intertwining with each other always took her by surprise.

She went and sat in a corner by the window, she loved to sit by the window, it added another level of comfort to the already pleasant atmosphere and this was where she had met Alicia, a chance meeting that she felt was led by fate, turned into a friendship, but Alicia wasn't just her friend, she was also her mentor.

She could vividly remember how Alicia had tripped and spilled her soda all over Kyla, Kyla was so shocked that she didn't know how to react but Alicia sprang quickly into action and tried to clean her jacket with a tissue although it was of no use.

Alicia was full of sorries which Kyla felt were totally unnecessary but Alicia refused to let it go without compensation, she offered to buy Kyla a burger to which Kyla reluctantly agreed.

That memory made Kyla chuckle, this place surely had a weird way of making her memories spill out all at once but maybe it was also because Alicia had become such an important part of her life, the one who made her realize that life was so much bigger than she had ever imagined, the one who made her foray into the unknown.

Witchcraft was something she had never imagined getting into, the spells and the charms scared her initially but they also amazed her at the same time. Alicia was amused by her reaction, she admitted to never seeing someone with as strange an expression as her.

She found the task of learning spells daunting, they would always slip from her mind and she was scared if she made an error, it would lead to something else but Alicia guided her with patience that made her learn things faster than she had thought she could.

From spells they moved on to portions, some were easy while others were hard but the most challenging were the ones that were downright weird, they required gross items that made her feel disgusted and uneasy but Alicia's encouragement made her overcome her disgust.

The waitress placed her usual order, the homestyle burger on the table which made her snap back into the present, she looked at the burger for a while before taking a bite, the burger had always brought her delight with it's deliciousness but seeing the ketchup drip from it made her remember things she badly wished she could forget.

"We should move on to the next level!", Alicia had said randomly one day with the same aura of mystery that had always surrounded her.

"Next level?", Kyla had replied, unable to understand what those words meant, hadn't they learnt everything there was to learn?

Alicia smiled as she sipped her soda, it was a smile she knew meant just wait and watch, there is much more. Rather than providing her relief, it had always sent jolts of nervousness through her, there was an air of mystery about this woman that Kyla felt difficult to pierce.

Blood, that was the next level Alicia meant and that was what would define them as witches, she had thought being a witch meant spells and portions and after learning them, she could use them to solve tasks and help people but there was something darker and sinister to being a witch, something that wasn't there even in the worst of her nightmares.

They had to collect human blood to gain power, Alicia would select the targets and Kyla was meant to hunt them, Alicia had taught her everything but it still made her tremble but it wasn't just fear coursing through her, she felt she was loosing a part of herself!

The hunting, the killing, the sheer violence of it all, the collecting blood in the vial, made her feel less and less human, she reached a point where she even lost sympathy for her victims, she couldn't feel anything inside her as she watched them squirm or struggle or plead with them.

Every month there was a new target, a new victim to hunt and kill, she had gotten used to the violence with time, it had become some sort of a routine but the nagging feel inside her refused to quell.

Horror took over her, whenever she went out in a crowded place, she felt lost among the sea of humans, she felt she was a monster roaming around pretending to be a human, a wolf in sheep's skin.

To quell the terror inside her, she tried to read through all the resources she could find, trying to take in every detail whether it felt important or not, the more she read, the more she found how important power was to witches and the violence that accompanied in acquiring it, she realized there was no stopping and going back now

As she dipped the wedges in the ketchup, she couldn't help admiring how crisp and golden they were, perfect on a level she always found hard to replicate, as she bit into them she was reminded of that day.

She brought out a plate of almost perfectly fried golden wedges and laid it out on a table as she and Alicia watched a movie together, Alicia praised her cooking skills, a compliment she humbly brushed off.

She got up to drink water and slowly took out the knife from the drawer, she nearly froze in fear, she wanted to do this but at the same time didn't want to do it. She walked slowly towards Alicia who was engrossed in the movie, before she could turn around and see, Kyla quickly slit her throat.

Her hands were trembling but she knew she had no time to waste, it could all be over for her if she didn't react quickly, she stabbed Alicia as many times as she could until she was no longer moving, the blood pooled around did not bother her, she had done what she wanted and that's all she cared about.

As she finished the last piece of her burger, she felt no remorse over her action even after a year, remorse was something that had become a thing of the past, she knew how important power was for witches and mere humans couldn't satisfy that need alone.