Chapter 9

Brady's Story

They were still 10 years of age. They were just kids. Charles was the most outspoken and assertive kind in his class. The teachers loved him. The girls fell in love with him. Some of the boys looked up to him. Some of the boys were a part of his clique. Those boys were Brady, Pete, Alex and Thomas. They were the coolest kids of the primary education grade.

Charles and his gang often hang out by the diners, the woods, the hills, the cliffs and even the beaches. But there was one particular beach where they never hang out on. It was a beach that was close to a cliff that stood beside it and towered over it. From the beach, people could walk all the way up to the hilly woods, until they finally reached the same height as the cliffs.

As the story goes, those parts were supposedly haunted. Charles and his gang had cycled all the way to that same beach next to that cliff but dared not cycle all the way up the hills. All they knew, or rather heard from rumours, was that that hill was full of all kinds of supernatural evil.

It was one day in September when Charles and his gang went to Graham, who was a shopkeeper. Graham sold all kinds of things, including magazines. The boys would sometimes buy comic book magazines. Sometimes they bought local British ones like 2000AD but they preferred the American ones like Marvel Comics' The Ultimates or DC's Superman/Batman series. Charles and Brady brought up the subject about that beach next to that cliff and asked Graham what the commotion was all about or was it true that that hill that adjoined to that cliff really was haunted.

All Graham told him was that there was a house up there and that a group of women lived there with their daughters. From what Graham knew, he said that they were a family of witches. He claimed that at night they practiced the dark arts. He warned the boys not to go up there and bring trouble to themselves.

Few days later, Charles and his gang cycled towards that same beach. They cycled up the wooded hills but at one point, they had to leave their bikes behind and hike on their own. The boys climbed the hills until they finally were on top. It was a hill full of trees. Charles and gang went out for an explore. The boys kept on exploring until they finally saw a large mansion from a distance. Also not far from the where the boys could see were three girls playing. Charles and his gang walked towards where the girls were playing. He did not recognize any of the girls as none of them went to his school. As Charles and the four boys were closing in on where the girls were, the three girls started noticing them. Two were Brunettes but one was a Redhead. All three girls were dressed in what looked like rags. Charles thought they must be poor.

"Who are you boys? What are you doing up in our hill?" one of the Brunettes asked them in a rude angry tone.

"We don't like trespassers in our land!" taunted the redhead.

"Your land? Do you own this land?" Charles spoke back.

It wasn't much a question but that Charles was shocked.

"Are you from Constantinople's Lot? We haven't seen you before!" exclaimed Alex.

"What is Constantinople's Lot?" the second Brunette asked...

Charles and the four boys laughed at that girl's ignorance.

"These girls are stupid. Can't you see how stupid they are. I mean look at their clothes. They are some poor beggars living up here. Perhaps they live next to that house, begging for food and money," Charles happily making fun of the three girls.

"That is our home!" responded the first Brunette.

"Yeah right," Thomas snorted.

The five boys continued laughing, making fun of the three girls. The house was so big and looked as if rich people lived in them. These three girls looked so poor that there was no way they could have been living in that house. To live in that house, those girls would be wealthy and wealthy people dressed nicely and spoke more intelligently.

"Don't laugh at us!" screamed the first Brunette. "Stop laughing or I'll put a curse on all of you."

The five boys stopped laughing. They just heard her threatening them with a curse. Charles gulped.

"Yup. That is right. We are witches. You heard those stories what they say about us. It's all true," the redhead smiled wickedly.

Charles and the other boys felt uncomfortable. They believed the stories now. Graham said that the women who lived in that house had daughters. He never said what they looked like. From what Charles and the kids read about witches was that they had ragged clothes. These three girls were indeed young witches

"Look. We didn't know anyone lived up here. If this is your land then we are sorry. We didn't know. We will just go now. We promise never to come back again," Charles spoke in a scared tone.

He was sweating. He would hate it if these girls did put hexes on them.

We should have listened to Graham. We should have stayed away, all the boys collectively thought.

Before Charles and the other four boys could walk away, the first Brunette walked forward.

"Wait. Stop. There is penalty for just even coming up here. You boys have to be punished," the first Brunette spoke.

"That's not fair," Thomas sighed in fear.

"Just shut up fatty!" the redhead scolded Thomas.

Thomas hated being reminded about how fat he was but being called fatty really hurt. Thomas looked upset and felt hurt. The girls just kept on insulting him.

"Fat pig! Fat pig! Fat pig!" they cruelly taunted the poor boy.

The way the girls were taunting Thomas was scaring even the other boys. It was the way they were bravely making fun of him. It was if they did not care and knew they could get away with it.

Thomas then started crying.

"Leave him alone!" screamed Pete.

"Or you'll do what?? Are you that stupid to fight a couple of witches," the second Brunette spoke like a smartass.

"The punishment is that you boys would now have to be our slaves!" the first Brunette chuckled wickedly.

"Slaves?? I don't want to be a slave," panicked Brady.

"I don't want to be a slave! I want to go home," cried Alex.

All five boys started crying, with tears flowing down their eyes. They didn't want to be slaves to a bunch of witches who were about the same age as they were. In fact they didn't want to be slaves to a bunch of girls period.

"How long are you going to keep us as slaves??" Thomas cried.

"For the rest of your lives. Now I want all of you to shut up and kneel!" the first Brunette ordering them.

The five boys did not want to be humiliated like this. To be degraded like this.

"No!! You can't make us!! That's not right! That's not fair!" Charles crying out to all three girls defiantly.

Charles was the gang leader. His friends were more than just friends. They were his best friends. They were the closest thing he had to having brothers. Since it was his idea that they should come up here, it was only right that he should take responsibility and speak out on their behalf.

The First Brunette looked angrily at Charles. She then had a wicked smile. A very wicked smile. Charles and the boys saw her walked towards where a snail was crawling.

"If you don't do what I say I will transfer all your souls into the bodies of these snails. You will all become repulsive. You will never see your parents again. I mean your parents won't even recognize you as their own children. No one is going to want any of you anymore," the first brunette cruelly taunted all of them.

"No one except us. Once you are snails, we are going to keep you as pets. We might even play with you. But when we are bored with you..." the second Brunette speaking cruelly.

The Redhead stomped the ground next to where the snail was.

All three girls gave all five boys their most wicked looks.

"Now kneel," the first Brunette screamed towards them.

Charles and the boys were scared that these girls meant business. They were scared that if they did not surrender and sacrifice their pride, these girl-witches would be nasty enough to turn them all into snails.

Charles and the other boys dropped to their knees. The three girls just laughed at them.

"Now I want you all to walk around like dogs. I want to hear you all start barking!" ordered the first Brunette.

Charles and his friends were crawling on all fours, making barking sounds.

"Woof woof," the boys barked altogether.

The three girls had all sorts of fun with Charles and his friends. Now that they were their slaves. All three girls used three of the boys as human chairs, sitting on their backs. As for the other two boys, the girls just rested their feet on their backs, as if they were stools. The boys could hear the girls making fun of them. They said all kinds of things.

"Now we have nice chairs."

"Why are boys so stupid sometimes."

"They make god resting stools."