Haunted By Us - Chapter 1

Can Annabelle confront her own emotions and forgive herself and save the day

Stone is falling all around me, I know I need to keep running, but I look back. I can't see my parents, where are they? they should be right behind me. I stop, I'm so close to the exit, where are they? A tremor shakes the ground, the walls around me start to shake and parts of the roof are falling down around me. I need to go back, I need to find them. Hands grab me pulling me backwards.

'No' I cry out as I bolt upright in my bed, tears streaming down my face. I breathe deeply trying to calm down, I'm not in Sandur, I'm home in my bed, it was just a nightmare. If only I could wake from the nightmare that is my life, my parents are dead and it was my fault.

They were excavating a temple in one of the many deserts of Sandur, one of the 3 continents that make up Maleficarum. I just wanted them to notice me for a change, I didn't mean to distract them. I don't know what happened one minute we were arguing and the next the entire temple was shaking. Somehow I made it out and they didn't and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.

"Annabelle are you alright?" Millie my housekeeper calls from outside my door, "I thought I heard you cry out"

"I'm fine Millie, just a bad dream. Go back to bed" I reply. Millie has been my rock this last few weeks, I don't think I could have got through it all without her. She arranged our flight home, arranged the funerals for my parents and arranged with my legal guardians The Council of Argos for me to be able to stay here in Zemur where I grew up. The Council was created in 1805 at the end of the Witches War and is made up of representatives from the 5 witch covens: Hamamelis, Hebane, Vernain, Datura and Artemisa as well as a representative from the vampires and the werewolves, the 3 main supernatural species on Maleficarum. The other species is Humans.Tthey have no idea that the supernatural world exists and the Council's main aim is to make sure it stays that way.

"Are you sure you don't want me to make you some tea?". Tea is Millie's answer to everything, but then as she makes her own teas and imbues them with magic it's not really that surprising, she is an amazing witch and people come from all over the world to buy her teas.

"I'm good Millie, it's early I'm going to try and get some more sleep". I really need to start casting a silencing spell before bed so I don't disturb Millie with my nightmare. She believes like everyone else that my parents death was a tragic accident as the temple was old and unstable and I couldn't bear for her to find out the truth. I've had the same dream every night since my parents died. It's my punishment for not saving them, they were standing right next to me when the temple started to crumble. I should have got them out.

I pick up my phone from my bedside table to message Sam, my best friend to see if she is awake. Unlikely I know as it's 2:30am, but she has been known to stay up all night reading science journals. I load up Chat Circle to see if she is online. But before I can check I receive a message from Matt, my other best friend.

"Hey Anna, what are you doing up?"

"Bad dreams. What's your excuse?"

"History assignment, not all of us have been granted extension on all our assignments!"

Quickly followed by:

"Sorry that was harsh, you've been through hell these last few weeks. Mr Fernsby's assignment on the history of Vampires and Werewolves is tedious"

"It's fine Matt, not looking forward to that. Do you think I can convince Millie to write it for me?" I type not letting him know that I have already completed it. Matt can be very competitive and hates it when he's not the best at something, sometimes it's easier to let him think he is rather than deal with one of his moods..

"No chance" Matt replied

"Is this a private chat or can anyone join?" Sam asked, I guess that answers the question as to whether she is awake.

"Well technically it is a private chat unless like you, you know how to hack into them" I replied. Sam is brilliant when it comes to computers; she puts most adults to shame.

"Well when you've got the ability you have to use it" was Sam's reply.

"As long as you don't hack into The Council of Argos' servers again, you nearly got arrested last time" Matt typed.

"I so did not nearly get arrested, in fact they offered me a job in their IT department" Sam responded

"A job offer you turned down, it was all anyone could talk about for weeks" I messaged back. The Council are still not sure how she managed to breach their firewalls, they had the entire IT department working on it for months afterwards. I think the only reason they didn't arrest her is that they haven't given up on the idea of her working for them, also they have no idea how she did it they can't actually prove that she hacked the system.

"It's not what I want to do, I want to be an astronaut and go to space, that would be way more fun that sitting in an office on a computer all day" Sam explained "anyway talking of The Council have you had any assignment from them recently?" She enquired

"No nothing recently, they have placed me on compassionate leave and have said I can take as much time as I need". I was one of The Council's enforcers, though they prefer we use the title Arithor, we investigate claims of people breaking supernatural laws or any activities that could expose the supernatural world to the Humans.

"That sucks you could use something to keep you occupied, though I guess you could work on your school assignment, though knowing you, you've probably finished them all already", Sam typed back.

I smiled. She was right I was up to date with them though I would never admit, Millie kept me on a strict schedule when I wasn't attending school to make sure I didn't fall behind. She's a firm believer that everyone should have access to a good education. I'm luckier than most and am able to mix homeschooling with attending Whitsite High School, the local high school, depending on my schedule as an Arithor and whether my parents were in the country or on a dig site. Whilst my parents were travelling I would often stay at home in the care of Millie, but there were times when it was necessary for me to go with them. I only went on this last trip because they were worried about my behaviour which they said was not becoming of someone of my status. Like anyone cares what I do in my free time, I know I'm the High Priestess of my coven, but we are a coven of 16 and 17 old witches, it's not like the world is watching our every move.

"Is the coven still planning on meeting up tomorrow night at Laurel Bay?" I asked rather than respond to Sam's comment. Our coven is called Lucis and carries the same name as my parents coven, which was the last remaining Hamamelis coven in existence. It was destroyed before I was born, so I never got the chance to meet any of them. Our Coven is made up of a mix of descendants of the 5 witch original covens, however only myself, Sam and Matt can trace our ancestry directly to a Hamamelis coven. The other members in our coven are called Trixie. Kiernan, Teo, Wynn, Katana, Farren, Suki, Neva, Thorm and Ina.

"Yes", Matt replied.

"Cool, looking forward to seeing everyone, speak to you guys later" I closed the chat down, I haven't seen the other members of my coven since the funerals, I just haven't been able to face being around people. They have all been amazing sending me messages of support and allowing me to have my space, but as the High Priestess of our Coven I am considered to be the covens spiritual centre, offering emotional, spiritual and mental healing not the other way round. I get up and walk to the window, the grounds of our house cover several acres, the gardens have always been a sanctuary to me, a place where I could commune with the Goddess Gaia, but I have been avoiding them as I'm terrified of how Gaia will react to seeing me after I caused my parent death. She has one rule: "Harm None". I am meant to be her Goddess Incarnate, her eyes and ears on this plane and I have broken her only rule, how am I meant to face her. Gaia is the creator of all living things and is considered the protector of the other gods and goddesses.
I turn away from the window, closing the curtains. Sam was right. I could do with a distraction to keep my mind off the events of the last few weeks. I grabbed my laptop and sent a email to my boss Cyrus Fellowes, Head Arithor asking him if there were any assignments going locally. Hopefully he will come back with something in the morning.


I glance at the clock, urgh its only 3.30am, I climb into bed and pull the covers over my head and attempt to get some more sleep