The Witch's Deal

I didn’t always hate my life. I used to think it was nice having maids, chefs, and servants. That was before my twin sister died, though. We had the highest level of medical care you could get in our kingdom, but when my sister Sally got the plague there was no helping her. At least that’s what they said. I was twelve at the time, so I didn’t understand the whole medical story, but basically, she developed a cough one day and then next thing I knew she was gone. Now I am nineteen and alone. I even try to refuse the servants who are paid to help me, which my parents greatly frown upon. I am Prince Thomas and I want nothing more than to escape this so-called life.

I plan to leave the castle grounds this afternoon to visit the local witch. Most people say that she is a fraud, but she is my only hope in getting away from this place. My parents, the King and Queen, don’t usually let me leave the castle, but today is Wednesday and that is their brunch day. When they are having brunch with the Duke, they forget that they have a son, I think. Today, however, I am ever so grateful because it gives me a chance to start my new life. As I walk down to the witch’s den, I nervously twist my royal ring around and around on my finger. I have refused to wear my crown ever since Sally died, but I never take off my gold royal ring with a red ruby gem. I don’t cherish it because it’s expensive or anything like that. I cherish it because when we were younger, Sally and I engraved our initials in our matching rings. It is the only item I have left to remind me of her. Before I realize, I am standing in front of the dirty wooden door of the witch’s den. I bring my fist up and knock three times, shaking the whole frail door frame. A little old woman with graying hair and wrinkly skin, but with a magical sparkle in her eyes, answers the door.

“Oh, Prince Thomas!” she says, “What could I possibly help you with?”

The little old witch moved aside so I could walk in her cluttered home. “I want to escape the castle and this life and just live like a normal nineteen-year-old boy!” I blurted out breathlessly. She was speechless for a second and just looked at me with her mouth slightly ajar. Then, she glanced down at my hands, which were nervously twisting my royal ring.

“I can do this for you. However, magic always comes with a price,” she finally replied. Without thinking I quickly replied with, “Anything! I will pay any price!” The witch once again glanced down at my hands and I realized what she was thinking. “No, no I will give you anything besides this ring. It means too much,” I said in a slight whisper.

“Oh, this spell is much too powerful for simple riches to be received in exchange. I will need something much, much more valuable,” she answered.

Slightly confused I asked, “Like what?”

She gave me a long, grave look. “Your sight.”

My sight?! How am I to give up my sight? I want to leave this life and see what is out there in the normal world. How would I do that without my sense of sight? Should I stay confined in my royal life or leave it, but as a blind man?

“Okay. Let’s do it,” I answered.

I never realized how many noises there were in the forest before. The birds, crickets, rush of water in the distance. I guess with my sight impaired I have a new way of “looking” at the world. The journey that I am taking is designed to take me to a land far from the castle to a place where I won’t ever be found. The witch conjured up a horse for me that will take me to this place and conceal me from my parents and the guards that will come looking. This in exchange for the permanent loss of my sight. That was the deal.

For what seemed like about three days of traveling, my horse stopped walking. When he didn’t continue, I assumed it was time to get off. I jumped off, excited to explore what was to be my new home, where I could live a normal life. I put my hands out in front of me and with just two steps, my hands hit a door. I opened it and the fresh smell of a garden of flowers and the soft sound of chirping birds hits me. But there is another noise in the distance. Tentatively, I call out. “Hello? Is someone there?” The noise suddenly stops for a moment, then I hear light footsteps walking hesitantly closer.

“Thomas?” a familiar, musical voice asks. But it can’t be. She is dead.

“Sally?! Is that you?”

“Yes! Yes, it is me, Thomas! How are you here?

“Me?! How are you here? I thought you were dead?”

“Is that what they told you? It was a lie. When I got sick, they banished me off the grounds because they were afraid of me. They left me out here to die, but a witch came and cured me. I made a deal with her to save my life in exchange for not ever being able to leave here.”

Oh, how I wanted to believe this was Sally. But how could my parents lie to me? They wouldn’t lie and tell me that my twin sister was dead, would they? I tentatively stretched out both of my hands, which Sally took. My royal ring clicked with something. Her ring. This was really Sally. Though I will never have my valuable sight back, I am reunited with my twin sister who is more valuable than any price I would have to pay.