Playing in the cemetery was always fun. Sometimes I don’t even need to dig for bones! But I’m always shoo’d away by mother. Other people stay away from her and I can’t understand why. I’m not particularly big, perhaps my breath stinks.

I’m not afraid of her though. I get the feeling she’s troubled by something and she has this peculiar scent, the kind I pick up in the cemetery. Her friends don’t last very long, it starts off well and I sense she’s happy for a few months until the yelling starts and I never see them again. She’s really really cuddly whenever that happens and I’m always happy to comfort her.

We live in a really scary house by the lake. At night the forest wails and it scares me but mother always says not to fear because nothing can harm me. How silly she is.

Over the years I’ve learned to understand her better. I don’t know how it just…happened. One day her human friend cried and stormed off, she chased him with tears in her eyes. That’s all I saw before I went to sleep. I was really tired that day. When I woke up her human gibberish made sense.

Every now and then my body starts aching and I can’t see past the big tree in front of our house. Whenever that happens I go to sleep for a really long time. But I always wake up in mother’s arms.

Yesterday a group of humans came with big scary sticks and orange lights. The light hurts me if I get too close. I fell asleep in it once. When I woke up, mother told me to stop being silly and stay away from it. The humans yelled at mother and she got rid of them. The forest wailed louder that night.

Mother makes the most delicious food for me when humans come to her home. She lets me eat meat and plants on special days like those. That’s why I like when humans come. But I never see them again. It’s always a different face. Many faces. I remember all of them. Human faces always change, they get wrinkly like smelly meat. But mother’s face never gets wrinkly.

Today I learned how to read. I don’t know how. I went to sleep and then I could. Mother left books on the floor for me and gave me biscuits every time I paid attention. I finally read that sign in front of mother’s home. She always tears down the signs.

It said, “Beware of Witch STAY AWAY.”