When I was five years old, I fell into a pool and I nearly drowned. Ever since that day, I’ve been too afraid to go near the water. A few years ago, my parents bought a vacation house that has a pool because they hoped I would be over it. But I still wouldn’t go near it. It was out of fear that I would almost drown again.

I can only watch as my friends walked together toward the community pool that’s next to our local park. I wanted to join them, but I was frozen in place as a million thoughts went through my head. If I tell my friends that I’m afraid of water, would they make fun of me? Will they help me get over my fear? I took a deep breath as I made my decision: I was going to face my fear of the water.

I open the gate to the community pool and stepped through.

Your hands begin to shake as she sits next to you. You don’t know what to say to her. You have to tell her tonight. You rub the back of your neck as you at least try to say something.

“So, what kind of music do you like?” you ask.

“I like New Age music,” she says.

“Really?” you say. “Like the one that plays on the Spa music channel?”

“Yeah,” she answers.

“Cool,” you say in return.

You and Lily continue to sit on the ground as you both stare at the lake. Moonlight shines brightly on the water, giving it a soft glow. After a moment of silence, you speak up again.

“Nice night,” you say.

“Yeah, it is,” Lily agrees.

Lily turns her head to look at you.

“I’m really enjoying our date so far,” she says.

“Really?” you ask.

“Yeah,” she replies. “We should do this again sometime.”

You smile and nod in agreement. “Yeah, yeah, we should.”

It was never supposed to happen, but it did.

It all started when an innocent man was about to be executed for being a heretic. So, I stopped it. Lucien, the leader of The Order saw it as an act of defiance. That didn’t matter to me, all I did was save that man from being killed for having a voice. Lucien ended up sparing that man and told me that I would regret what I did. I only did what I thought was right, but I didn’t think that he would actually do it.

It wasn’t until I was in the cathedral, that Lucien followed through with his threat. What really made my blood boil was that Lucien said that people like me “don’t do well behind iron bars.” If it wasn’t for the archdeacon who came to my defense, I would have clobbered the guy. The archdeacon told Lucien that I had claimed Sanctuary. I never actually said that, but he did it to save me. He drove The Order away because soldiers were not allowed inside of the cathedral. However, Lucien had a final say in the matter; he said if I ever set foot outside of the cathedral, he would have me arrested. At first, I didn’t believe him. I ran over to the door to open it. Once I did that, I found out that Lucien was true to his word. He had every soldier stationed at every door. I got frustrated and slammed the door, before I pressed my body against it and slumped down.

Now, I’m stuck in here, inside of the cathedral. If those guys think that they can keep me in here, they’re dead wrong.

Right there standing right in front of me is the tower where the witch lives. I know that she has been kidnapping the children in my village. One day, they would be there and then on the next day, they would be gone. The parents of the missing children are beside themselves with worry. I can’t say that I don’t blame them. They have every right to be. It’s because of that wicked witch. She is responsible for taking those children. She has done something like this before. Once she steals a certain child, she takes them into her tower, never to be seen again.

You see, long ago there was a witch who was notorious for stealing children from small villages. One by one, the children would disappear. People who travel the woods have reported seeing a tower in the middle of a clearing. They believe that is where the witch has been taking the children to. An angry mob was form to rescue the children from the witch. A lot of them were the parents of the missing children. As soon as they reached the clearing, the tower...it mysteriously disappeared. The villagers were stunned. Where did the witch go? And more importantly, what happened to the children inside of the tower?

The villagers wouldn’t know the answer to that question until a few days later. The children that were taken by witch had emerged from the woods. When the children were asked what witch had done to them, they absolutely had no memory of being taken or of the witch herself. To this day, nobody knows where the witch went or why she took those children. This happened long before I was born.

Now, the same thing is happening all over again. The children of my village are disappearing one by one. Everyone knows that it’s the witch that’s doing this. She is taking the children to her tower. She has to be stopped.

Why am I telling you this, you ask? My brother is one of the children that has been taken by the witch, and I’m going to stop her.

Cold and unforgiving Icicles that look like teeth It calls to me, like a mother calling to her child Like a statue, I just stand there Should I answer its call or not?

I wanted to believe Jared, but I didn’t how to. Growing up, he was always there for me when I needed him the most. But for me to be doubtful of his story, Jared felt totally alone. Jared tried to convince our parents that he was being followed, but they just told him that there was nobody there. That wasn’t good enough for Jared. He just wanted someone, anyone, to listen to him, but everyone believed that Jared was just being paranoid. Now, Jared has disappeared.

Nobody knew why. Nobody knew where he went. The police did everything that they could to find Jared, but they never found him. As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Jared’s whereabouts remain unknown. My parents were desperate for answers. They couldn’t understand how their fifteen year old son could just vanish into thin air. He tried to warn us, but we didn’t listen.

By the time December came, the case went cold. My parents have all but given up hope that my brother will be found. I was ready to give up as well...until something strange happened. Two days ago, I received a phone call. I answered by saying “Hello?”, but nobody responded. The silence lasted for a full minute when I decided to hang up. Before I did that, a voice called out to me.

“Ashley?”