Witch

- Maive's POV -

"Witch! Stay away from our village!" I heard someone yelling at me as I walked on the sidewalk toward our home.

"You should never exist!" Another one from the left yelled at me as I felt an egg thrown at my back.

"Witches shall die!"

Words kept being thrown at me, but I remained walking, heading home. My head hung low, my eyes were watery, and my heart was squeezed from all of the hurtful words coming from my community. And... knowing that my family... my dad suffers the same as me.

No, I'll take back what I said because Dad suffers more than I do. No parent would want their children to be bullied. I have a little brother, 2 years younger than me, yet he was bullied at a young age. I have had only my dad and my younger brother as a family ever since Zonen was born... I have never seen my mom... she just disappeared for no reason. She never even bid her farewell, it was as if she just vanished out of thin air.

According to Dad, Mom went far away... to protect us. I don't understand it though, if she wanted to protect us, she should have stayed with us, with Dad. But I think... it was a good thing that she had gone far away, so people wouldn't hurt her... she wouldn't suffer, she wouldn't experience the way that we did.

"Get the fuck out of here!"

All of a sudden, someone pushed me down to the ground as she yelled those words at me. I looked at that person and discovered that it was Amber, the girl who used to bully me even though I never touched her. It seemed like she was always mad at me for no reason. "You don't deserve this place, you deserve hell! I don't know why you're still in this village. You should die!" she madly exclaimed.

I bit my lip as I was about to cry, but I tried my best not to. I don't want to break down in front of them... of these people who think of us as evil. If I cry, they will just think of me as weak... I am not weak. No matter how many times they throw us in the mud, I will never give up. Because I believe that one day, we will get out of this situation.

It is what Father always said... one day, we won't experience being bullied, we just have to believe in the fate that God has bestowed upon us.

I sighed as I stood on my feet and continued walking home, this time faster than earlier... I just didn't want to stumble into some other bullies.

I don't understand though why they think that we're products of evil. Maybe because of all the misfortunes that happened to this village. There was a sudden emergence of calamities that started last week. Animals were slowly dying with unexplained bites as if done by a monster. Crops were destroyed at night and drought had begun. However, I don't understand why those events were blamed on us... how could we do that? We don't even have the power to do those terrible things.

My father is just a simple farmer and a carpenter. We live a simple and honest life without taking someone else's. My mom left us the moment she bore Zonen, that is when I was two years old. Father told us that she's a kind-hearted woman, however, people think Mom is a witch, and that is why she left us.

What an unacceptable reason, right? Maybe one of the reasons was the howling heard at night near our house, but when I tried to see what that was... I could see no one. The howling isn't just near our house but also inside the cave known as the Ghost Cave. The most terrifying cave in our place. No one dared to get inside it because they said that once a person gets in... no one ever gets out.

"Hey! I was talking to you!" I felt someone pull my hair, making me step back.

I tried taking her hand out of my hair, but she grasped it tighter. "Don't you dare mess with me, Freak?" she stated in a dark voice.

Suddenly, my eyes caught Sheon, my little pet, flying in the distance, heading toward me. However, my eyes widened when I saw her speed turn faster than the speed she normally used. Oh damn!

When she was getting nearer, even though Amber was grasping my hair, I bowed down and that's when Sheon attacked Amber. She unguardedly let go of my hair as she screamed in frustration and pain.

I then took the chance to escape as I ran away. I ran fast, not minding the others, and since the attention of most of them was on Amber, who was currently being attacked by Sheon, no one stopped me or even badmouthed me, which they always do when I am around.

Sheon is a rare creature, she's a different kind of bird as if... a hybrid type of dragon. Right now, she's 1 foot long since she just turned 4 months old yesterday, and because she's not yet fully developed, I couldn't identify what type of bird she is or what family she belongs to. At her age, she could already fly and I was amazed by that. For all flying creatures, Sheon is advanced.

I found Sheon near the volcano outside the Easternmost border of the village. My village is called Hachigo Village, but it is a closed village with patrols on every border except the Easternmost. No patrol stayed there, which is why I could go in and out of the village through that way. I just wanted to find a place where my family could live peacefully without anyone bullying us. The moment I found Sheon, I thought her mother would come back to take good care of her, however, when I touched the egg, it was getting cold and the rain was about to fall, so I decided to bring her home and take good care of her.

My father approved of it. At first, he was shocked as to how I found Sheon, but when I explained everything, he seemed to be at ease. He told me that it was a pet given from above. Someone should own it to take good care of, because one day, it would take good care of me in return.

I was confused at that part, but when I saw how Sheon protected me, I fully understood.

"Maive? Are you okay?" I was brought back to the present when I heard Dad talking in front of me. I didn't realize I was already home.

"Oh Dad, I'm good. Don't worry," I said to him with a smile.

However, he turned me around and then faced me with worry and guilt. "You're not okay, Maive. I... I'm so sorry. It was all my fault," he said as tears began to form in his eyes.