"They Burn" - The Sister

      Eryn waited anxiously outside the courtroom doors on this Thursday afternoon; she had been pacing for the past hour, and her legs were starting to cramp. Behind her was a sea of reporters, onlookers, and protestors who had gathered to hear the court’s decision. The person they all waited for, Eryn’s younger sister Nicole, had been arrested three weeks earlier for possible involvement in a double homicide.

      Sometime one Sunday evening almost one month ago, two people had been murdered; a night-time security guard for a local warehouse company, and a young male student who attended the same school as Nicole. The student’s name was Daniel Adkins, and his murder seemed to be what caught the public’s interest. His body was outstretched, forming a star on the floor, and he lay in the middle of a circle surrounded by burning candles. Both of his wrists had been cut, spilling crimson liquid across his body and the floor. Outside the circle, was a note, hand written on a piece of paper later found to be from his notebook, it told of his hardship and the many reasons he felt he wanted his life to be over. While all this seems to lead to one conclusion, the investigator noticed strange facts that put the case on a special status. The security guard had been bound and stabbed, the surveillance videos for the parking lot had been missing three hours of footage, and the knife in both deaths had been purchased weeks before, by Nicole herself.

      Nicole wasn’t the most popular girl in school, usually wearing black, the most inappropriate taste in jewelry, and listening to all the wrong kinds of music. Strange symbols adorned her locker, tablets, and room; occult symbols, unknown to the small church going community. Nicole was a practicing witch, and very open about her choices in life. This came as much displeasure to her Christian family, and the community in whole.

      Once the body was found, Nicole was the immediate suspect. It took less than a day for the local law enforcement to find substantial evidence in order to arrest Nicole. The trial had been a short one, not even three weeks, mainly because the community wanted the Pavarotti’s eye turned away from their quiet township. During the trail, the defense made the case that Daniel had sought out Nicole, showing interest in what she represented. She had tried to help him as much as possible, including buying such gifts as the knife used at the slaying. The District Attorney made another story come alive; a world where Nicole had seduced young Daniel, and killed him in fear of abandonment, despite the fact that Daniel had recently been rejected by his girlfriend of two years. In the end, it appeared that the prosecution had made the stronger case, but for now only time would tell.

      Another half hour had passed since the vociferous crowd had been forced to leave the courtroom, and Eryn knew it did not go well for her sister. Eryn’s image was a solid one within the social structure. Softball team, youth leadership, Junior Class Vice President, and she never missed a day of school or church if she could help it. Despite Eryn’s Christian tendencies and Nicole’s show of magicks, Eryn was the only sister to posses any sort of gift. Nicole had always been envious of Eryn’s accurate predictions, and perhaps that is what sparked her interest in all this. Eryn could feel her sister’s despair, radiating throughout the courthouse, flooding the entire area with pain and dread. Finally the doors opened, and the crowd went silent.

      A young man stepped out, dressed in a worn cotton suit, and in his right hand he held a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he read the verdict aloud for the crowd to hear.
      “We the people, of Coles Point Virginia, find Nicole Cathleen Spencer, guilty of two counts pre-meditated murder, one count of aggravated burglary, and one count of witch craft.”
      The crowd gasped, as mixed sounds of crying and cheers slowly began to build across the group. Then, raising one hand to quiet the crowd, the young man continued.
      “In accordance to Virginia state law, in meditated murder offences the option of lethal punishment is available. Also, abiding by a 200 year old law, all counts of witchcraft must be lethally dealt with within one week’s time. Therefore it is the court’s decision to hold Nicole’s execution this coming Sunday.”

      Eryn couldn’t believe it; her body felt as if it would give out, her legs began to shake as she watched her sister being lead out of the courtroom in shackles. She reached out for Nicole’s arm, but an odd sensation of cold and sweat consumed her body, and before she could reach her sister she blacked out.

      Eryn awoke on a bench, surrounded by people, not out of concern, but all of them had gathered to take pictures of the grief stricken sister or to try to catch a sound byte. She got up from the bench, frantically looking around for some clue as to where they had taken her little sister. She ran from the courthouse, but found no trace of her sister, instead the media rushed her from all sides. She tried to make her escape, but all of her exits were cut. She pushed her way back into the courthouse, ignoring the reporters’ questions as she made her path.

      Once inside she found a young deputy, and asked, “Where have they taken my sister?!”
      “To the police station of course,” he replied, “but you shouldn’t worry about her anymore, this really is for the best.”
      And then the young man turned around to walk away. She was shocked, how could someone say that to her face? Did they hate her sister that much, and if so, how could they be so nonchalant about it to her.

      Nicole was alone now, locked in a plastic isolation booth, out of fear that she would start a conflict with the other prisoners. But that didn’t bother her much, she felt that she had always been alone; her parents had both been killed in a gang shooting when she was twelve, she never had an friends, and despite the heritage the two sisters didn’t get along very well. She preferred being alone now, away from the judging eyes of her peers, and out of reach of their hateful words. It was getting late, but she didn’t know the exact time for they had taken her watch; however she knew it was sometime late Thursday night or early Friday morning. They had told her of the fate they had sentenced her to in the courtroom. Sitting there in shackles and that pale blue uniform, they told her that she deserved to die for a crime she hadn’t committed. She thought it was odd, the circumstances of Daniel’s death, but she had nothing to do with it. It seemed too easy to her, the sloppy evidence amassed against her, she was much smarter than that, and if she had planned to kill someone it would have been much harder to solve.

      “What am I thinking?” she asked herself aloud. “I would never kill anyone, much less plan it out.”

      Meanwhile, Eryn had made her way to the police station, having to walk because none of her so called friends would help her anymore. For now she stood in the lobby, waiting for them to let her talk to her sister, but she had been waiting for almost three hours. It was getting close to four in the morning, and Eryn hadn’t slept since Tuesday. Her body was exhausted, and she thought she would lay down until she was finally called into her sister’s room. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep on the uncomfortable bench, and her busy mind raced with dreams.

      In this dream, she saw her parents arguing with another man, someone she had never seen before. Her mother was crying, while her father tried to force the stranger to leave. After the door closed, her father wrapped his arms around his wife and ran his hand down the length of her hair. He took her face in both of his hands and lifted her eyes up to his. He opened his mouth, as if he was gathering the courage to speak, when suddenly pieces of glass and paint started to move across the room. The windows were shattering, the door was being shot at, their house was under fire. Eryn knew she was dreaming, she was conscience of what was happening, she was watching her parents’ death in her mind.

      She was awoke to a tapping on her shoulder, it was a guard, and once Eryn had opened her eyes he just motioned to a door and then walked away. Eryn sat up, rubbing her eyes, she tried to look at her watch, and she realised that she had been asleep for over ten hours, it was now Friday afternoon. She walked over to the door the guard had motioned to, turned the handle and walked into the room. It was a small room, white brick with a Plexiglas barrier dividing it in half. On the other side of the barrier sat Nicole.

      “Nicole!” Eryn shouted, “are you alright?”
      “I’m fine.” said Nicole.
      Eryn took a seat, and an awkward silence filled the room. They looked at each other, not really knowing what to say. Finally Eryn asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
      “No.” replied Nicole.
      “I’m sorry,” Eryn said looking down at the dirty tile floor. “I wish there was something I could do for you.”
      “I know.”
      Nicole’s curt responses were starting to wear thin on Eryn’s patience. “Don’t be like this, it isn’t my fault, I am trying to help you.”
      Nicole smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. Nicole stood from her chair and shouted, “Fuck you! You never tried to help me, you have always been too preoccupied in your own little world to give a damn about me!”
      Nicole was beating on the door to be let out now, and Eryn tried to protest, “No, please, don’t leave, I want to talk to you, I need to...”

      But it was too late, the guard had opened the door and Nicole walked out giving no attention to Eryn’s pleading. Eryn sat there for a moment, trying to keep herself from crying, because she knew that looking good would be important to everyone watching. The people here were a superficial bunch and might well change their mind for a pretty face in a nice dress. She stood up from her seat, when she suddenly remembered her dream, the one of her parent’s death. She could see it again now, in her mind, watching them be shot down again and again. The police had ruled her parents’ death an accidental gang slaying, saying the drive by must have hit the wrong address, but she had always known it was something different. She had learned to trust her dreams, because she had been having them since she was young. Dreams about events that hadn’t yet happened, dreams relating to events that she herself did not witness, it had always seemed that she knew information she had no reason of knowing.

      Eryn left the station, she wanted to go home and clean up, to continue putting on the show for the town’s people. She finished showering, walked about the house a little trying to clear her mind of upcoming events. She couldn’t take it anymore, she wanted to help her sister, and she thought maybe she could find something to help her little sister. But she would have to wait, until the darkness came, until she could hide in plain sight.