The Evil Witch

The Evil Witch

Once upon a time in Amman, Jordan a small family lived in a small apartment located on the outskirts of the city. The family consisted of five members; three daughters, eight-year-old Mariam, five-year-old Yarah, nine-month-old Basma and their parents, whom they called Mama and Baba.

One day, Mariam and Yarah came back from their school and daycare. “Mama! We’re home,” Mariam yelled as she always did.

Their mother walked into the kitchen with Basma in her arms, and behind her, a woman the girls had never in their lives. She looked different than them.

“Who’s she?” Yarah asked curiously.

“Well girls, remember how your Baba and I talked about me going back to work? We need someone to help us take care of the house. I cannot do it all by myself, so for the past few months, we have been arranging for a lady to come and stay with us for a while. This is Kelli, she’s from Sri Lanka,” the mother introduced. “Kelli, these are my other two daughters, Mariam and Yarah.”

Kelli did not seem very happy, “Mama, why is she upset?” Yarah asked

“We’ll just give her sometime to adjust. We are not the first family she has helped in Syria, but she’s a little shy, and she misses her son in Sri Lanka,” the mother explained.

The girls tried to make Kelli smile throughout the day, but she wouldn’t budge. In the end, Mariam gave up trying, but Yarah still wanted to be friends with Kelli.

That night, Yarah had trouble trying to sleep, while her sisters slept peacefully beside her. Her mother was out, and wouldn’t be back for a while.

“Kelli, tell me a story! Please? I promise I will go to sleep!” Yarah asked her new nanny.

“Go to sleep. I have a son your age back in Sri Lanka; he behaves better than you do. Be a good girl and don’t give me any trouble!”

“But I can’t! Please? Just one!”

“Yarah, do you know the story of the Zabbal ? Every night, the Zabbal comes around, he listens very carefully, and if he hears any kids being naughty and crying, he sneaks in and snatches them away. The kids disappear. Poof!”

         Not able to sleep, and scared of the Zabbal, Yarah began to cry loudly. Her mother was still not home, and she really wanted a story. As Yarah was crying, there was the sound of the key being put into the doorway. Kelli knew that Yarah’s parents were back.

“Khalas ! I don’t want your Mama to hear you crying.” She tried to shut Yarah up before her mom came into the room. “Fine, I’ll tell you a story, just like I tell my son back in Sri Lanka every night,” Kelly sighed.

“Tell me one about flowers! I love flowers! Pretty ones!” Yarah exclaimed as she settled down under her covers.

“In a land far away, there was once a little fairy, her name was Daffodeelia. She had a magical power that everyone in the land was jealous of. She could bring life to flowers and make them dance, by painting them in pretty colours. One day, she was flying about, and she saw a plain garden. There was one flower there, put it was very plain. She swooped down to paint it, but as she was painting, she felt a pull on her leg. Daffodeelia turned around to see a hideous evil witch pulling her…”

“What happened next?” Yarah gasped scared.

“I’ll let you to figure that one out, I’m going to sleep.”

“But Kelli, I’m scared of witches!”

“Be a brave girl. My son is brave, so you can be brave to.” With that, Kelly turned off the light and walked towards the door. Before she closed it, she turned her head back, “Yarah, don’t tell your mother I told you this, or else the Zabbal will come and get you.” Kelly said tauntingly.

         An hour later, Yarah woke up from a nightmare. She dreamt that she had entered the witch’s garden, and saw the witch with a boiling pot of water with Daffodeelia hanging on top of it.

Yarah was on her way to her parents’ room when she thought to herself, “Kelli told me that if I tell Mama and Baba, the Zabbal would come and get me.” Yarah went back to sit on her bed, and started crying. Five minutes later, the door of the room creaked open.

“MAMA!!!” Yarah, scared it was the witch, screamed as she woke both Mariam and Basma woke up, while Kelli rushed out of her room and  ran into the girls’ bedroom. Yarah’s mother walked into the room and after she calmed Basma down, and put her back to sleep, she went to Yarah and held her up close.

“Yarah, what’s wrong? Why are you so scared?”

Yarah looked at Kelli, then back at her Mama, “Mama, I can’t tell you,” Yarah sobbed, “I’m really scared but Kelly told me not to tell you. I don’t want the Zabbal to come and get me.”

Once that was said, Yarah’s mother gave Kelli a look, that Kelli knew, was her signal to leave the room, and she was to be dealt with later.

“Yarah, habibti , calm down, the Zabbal will not come and get you. Tell me what happened, why are you scared?”

“Kelly told me a story about how a fairy was painting a witch’s flower, and the witch caught her!” Yarah sobbed, “I keep dreaming of that witch. She’s scary; I want her to go away. Kelli told me that if I told you, the Zabbal was going to come and steal me.” Yarah explained the story to her mother, as she hugged her tightly.

“Yarah, there are no such thing as witches. Do you know what you should do? Whenever you see that witch again, you tell her, ‘Evil witch, god will put you in the fire’. She will not scare you again. You are safe here with us,” the mother reassured her five-year old. Yarah went back to sleep. In her dream this time, however, she was not alone. Mariam was with her.

The girls went down the same path that Yarah had gone down in her previous dream, until they reached the gates of the witch’s garden.

“Mariam! Don’t go in there! That’s the witch’s garden!” Yarah screamed.

“Yarah, come on, don’t be scared, it’s a nice garden,” Mariam encouraged her sister. As she turned around however, she found the evil witch standing right in front of here.

“My dinner tonight is going to be filling! Not only do I get a fairy, but I also get two young girls!” The witch crackled as she walked towards Yarah and Mariam.

“Yarah! Do something! She’s going to eat me!” Mariam screamed.

“Evil witch, god will put you in the fire!” Yarah screamed, but nothing happened.

“YARAH! She’s going to boil me!” Mariam screamed as the witch reached out for her.

“Nothing’s working! Mama’s words are not making her disappear!” Yarah screamed, just as a can of paint caught her eye. Panicked, Yarah grabbed the can of paint and again said “Evil witch, god will put you in fire!” but this time, she threw the paint at the witch. Taken by surprise, the witch couldn’t react, Mariam released herself and escaped and the paint splattered all over the witch.

“I’m melting! Help me!” the witch exclaimed, as the toxic paint killed her.

         Yarah woke up at that moment, breathing heavily. She could not believe that she had been brave enough to kill the witch. After that night, the witch never came to haunt Yarah’s dreams again. As for Kelli, within a month, she was on a plane back to Sri Lanka.

“We don’t need Kelli. I’ll just stay home and take care of you myself,” Yarah’s mother concluded as she hugged her three children.