Lucy cried. Up in the high tree. She always loved it to climb in this tree. From here you could see the entire village without being seen. She saw it. How a woman was tied to a pole. Even from this long distance she saw that it was her mother. Clearly. She cried and saw how the people but branches around her feet and put them on fire. She saw how the fire finally also got to her mother. How she was screaming and she finally died and how her corpse kept burning. until there was nothing left then a pile of ashes.
She cried her eyes dry. She felt exhausted. What now. She had no dad. People probably thought she was a witch. Just like her mother. The witches child. Even if they did't burn her... then what? living on the street? Perhaps being stuffed in a orphan home? Or on the market finding someone who was willing to take her in home?
Four different options. All four not really something you would look forward too. The only other option was... run away. That seemed the best option. She knew very well which plants you could eat. She was used to eat small meals. Her mother lately had trouble making money. She climbed down. Whipped her tears away and started walking.
"I guess I can be lucky that it's nice weather. Also that I was away looking for spices an heard those men talking.... Why did they burn my mother. She was't a witch. She was a christen. She went to the church. Just like me. It does't make any sense."
At the other hand she saw many other ways how to kill witches. She had seen other people who got burned. She water test. Throw someone in the water with a heavy stone. If she came floating to the surface she was a witch.
"Now I'm thinking about this, no one ever came floating to the surface."
She also heard something about a scale some where else. People needed to be weighed. If you did't weigh enough you soul had no weight and you got burned. A lot of people moved over there,
"We should have also moved over there too. At the other hand my mother was kind of skinny."
She herself had a normal weight for a girl of her age and size. However she loved eating. At least she loved eating good food. Like the food her mother made... what she would now never make again. Tears started running again. She did't cared. She was all alone. She had no one. Not even a pet or far relative. At least not one she knew about.
"What can I do now. Just walk until I can't walk anymore?"
She looked up at the sky. It was getting dark. Perhaps it was better to find some shelter. But where? That was a good question. She moaned. She did't really thought this through. Well she did't thought people would look for her. Just a helpless eight year old girl... what could she do? Not much. That's for sure.
Everyone was scared of witches. Even the priests were scared of them.
"Perhaps I can go to another village. Far from here. Where they don't know who I am, and then I...." her voice trailed of. No matter in which village she ended up the options were the same. Living on the street, in a orphan home or asking if someone was willing enough to take her in home. Or perhaps they thought a kid that came out of the woods was a witch and they would burn her.
"I don't really get a choice. What then? Stay here in the forest until I die of starvation. It was fine now but... What when it get's winter? I can find fruits, vegetables and nuts but what about meat and fish. I don't know how to hunt for my food. What can I do?"
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