• The black emptiness swirled in the darkness, forming an invisible sketch. A girl with midnight black hair and blood red eyes with pale skin remained within the darkness, wearing a black outfit that she cannot seem to figure out what it looked like. Ashlen stood in the middle of the nothingness, looking over her shoulders in sheer panic and fright, as if something wanted to terrorize her. Something had caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. At first, she thought it was just a few glows of light, until the lights turned into something more. Two pairs of eyes stared at her blankly on either side of her. One pair of eyes was like that of the silver full moon, the other like emerald stones. Voices started to chant a horrifying phrase that was burned into her mind.
    “Join us…” chanted the voices in an emotionless tone, “Come join us, Ashlen… The Witch….”
    “I AM NOT A WITCH!!” screamed Ashlen as she sat up quickly in her bed, still dreaming.
    She panted as she slowly regained her surroundings. She sighed, placing a hand on her forehead that was covered in cold sweat.
    A dream, she thought to herself reassuringly. It was just a dream. That’s it. There’s no way that I’m a Witch, or that those eyes or voices were real. It was only a dream…
    She slowly and tiredly crawled out of bed as her pale blue nightgown flowed down her thighs as they stop in the middle of her calf. She tiredly walked around her white and red bed, as she approached the worn ivory dresser with a rounded mirror attached to the top of the dresser. As if moving like a zombie, she slowly took out a lavender and white sleeveless top, and slowly took out a pair of dark violet torque pants, an imitation of cargo pants. She also slowly took out a nude-colored strapless bra and a black belt. She slid on the pants under the nightgown, zipping and buttoning the pants. Slowly sliding on the belt, she adjusted the belt to fit to her waist, then slowly sliding off her nightgown.
    Ashlen hooked on the strapless bra, and slid on her lavender and white sleeveless shirt, slowly forcing herself to wake up. She grabbed her hairbrush from on top of the dresser, and brushed her hair slowly, but firmly, watching herself in the mirror.
    I still can’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t a dream, thought Ashlen worryingly, Maybe it was a sign… But of what? I can’t think about that now. An audition for my scholarship is today.
    Ashlen put down the hairbrush, and stared at herself in the mirror with determined blood red eyes. Assuming that it was only a dream and nothing more, she took out a pair of socks and slid them on as she sat down on her bed. She soon sat on the other side of her bed, sliding on her black cargo boots. Suddenly, she felt her fear return to her, as her eyes darted from corner to corner around the room. She quickly opened the closet, grabbed her dark violet jacket, and dashed out of the room. Sighing to try to calm herself down, she slowly walked down the ivory hallway, hardly excited to leave for school.
    She stopped by the doorway, with her backpack slung over her shoulders. She stared over toward the kitchen, watching her mother, Mrs. Robbin, walk out from the back hallway from her bedroom. Ashlen’s mother had short blonde hair with frail, forest green eyes. Her mother was a bit more pale than normal, and she wore pale pink long-sleeved pajama shirt and pale pink pajama pants. Ashlen suddenly felt very guilty about leaving her mother for school.
    Mrs. Robbin smiled frailly at Ashlen to try to brighten her day. With a happy tone in her frail voice, she spoke to her daughter.
    “Oh, Ashlen, are you leaving for school?”
    Ashlen sighed, feeling more guilty, “Yes, Mom,” said Ashlen, sounding guilty. “I promise I’ll be home right after school.”
    “Ashlen, honey, it’s okay if you go to school. You have nothing to worry about,” Mrs. Robbin smiled brightly. “I promise I’ll be alright. I’m glad you’re going to be able to go to college if you get the scholarship. I’m so very proud of you.”
    Ashlen smiled feeling better that her mother understands how she is feeling, then ran up to her, and hugged her mother tightly.
    “Thank you, Mom,” she whispered as her eyes welled up with tears.
    Her mother hugged her back gently. “Now run off to school before you’re late.”
    Ashlen nodded at her mother, and ran out the door toward school. As she walked down the sidewalk, the trees surrounding both sides of the sidewalk with maple colored leaves float down toward the Earth as autumn was rolling around the corner for the season. After about ten minutes of walking, Ashlen arrived at the school.
    The school in the town of Dark Falls was very tall, made of red bricks of different shades, with a few tall towers that loomed high over her like a chapel. Dark Falls High School sat on the edge of the woods that has a small sidewalk path and a small asphalt road leading toward Ashlen’s small three-bedroom house. The high school itself seemed to have a more ominous aura surrounding it than normal
    As Ashlen walked up the stone steps to the entrance of the school, someone ran passed her, bumping into her shoulder, and making her fall backwards off the steps.
    Great, thought Ashlen, I’m gonna get hurt because someone didn’t even notice me!
    Suddenly, in a flash, a pair of arms caught her, holding her up in the air as if she had sprained her ankle. She kept her eyes closed tightly as a warm voice spoke to her as kindly as ever.
    “Are you alright, Miss?”
    Ashlen slowly opened her eyes to see a man holding her up in his arms. He wore a black suit, complete with a red tie and white gloves. His hair was blood red and his eyes were like emerald stones.
    His eyes…. thought Ashlen as she stared up at him in his eyes. His eyes are like emerald stones… I think I’ve seen them before…
    “Miss,” the man continued to speak softly to her. “are you alright? You don’t seem to look to well.”
    “Uh…” stammered Ashlen. “Y-Yes. Thank you so much for saving me.”
    “It’s no problem. It seems my friend here doesn’t have any manners for pretty ladies such as yourself,” the man looked over toward the woods. “Nick, you had better be careful next time. This young lady almost got hurt because of you.”
    To Ashlen’s surprise, the other man had pitch-black hair, and wore a grey thermal grey T-shirt with black jeans, black boots, and a black leather trench coat. She stared into his eyes to notice that his eyes were silver.
    Words soon came into her mind. Silver eyes like that of the full moon… She felt as if she should know it, until she noticed that the man that was called Nick was staring at her, into her own eyes. She felt her face flush with a warm blush, and couldn’t stop staring at him.
    The man’s voice broke her out of the trance, “Miss, are you sure, you’re alright?”
    “Y-Yes, I’m completely fine,” Ashlen managed to choke out a false laugh.
    The man gently set her down on the sidewalk as Nick spoke up with a cold voice.
    “I do not like to be called Nick, Michael. You know the rule.”
    Michael bowed courteously to Nick. “You’re quite right. I’m terribly sorry, Nickedemus.” He turned to Ashlen, and smile very gently, “Are you sure you’re fine?”
    Ashlen stammered again, “Y-Yes, I am. N-N-No need to worry about me.”
    Michael smiled more gently and bowed, “Well then, I very much hope to see you again,” With that, Michael turned his heel kindly and began to walk of toward town.
    Without noticing what was going on, Nickedemus stood beside her, leaning down as his mouth was close to her ear. He breathed softly on it, and softly whispered, “I will see you later… Ashlen Robbin.”
    Ashlen blushed hard as she watched him follow Michael to town.
    What was with him? Complained Ashlen to herself, The nerve of him to say something so rude! And how does he even know my name!?
    Suddenly, the bell of the school rang, and Ashlen ran inside to accomplish her dancing scholarship.

    As Ashlen sat in the waiting room of the dance practice room, she thought about both Michael and Nickedemus.
    It’s weird, thought Ashlen to herself quietly in a daze. Where did they come from, and why were they at the school? I bet it did have something to do with me. Why else would that Nickedemus guy know my name?
    A girl with dark brown hair and a pink training outfit came out sobbing. As Ashlen stared at her walk off, a girl’s voice caught her attention, directing to Ashlen.
    “Hey. Are you auditioning for the scholarship?”
    Ashlen looked up to see her enemy. The one who was like a demon in an angels form stood in front of her. Her name was Lina Asobi. She was a blonde-haired girl with long golden hair that hung right about her waist. Her eyes were like amethyst, and she wore a pristine white ballet dress with the skirt right below her pelvic bone, the same design of ballet uniform as Ashlen’s dark red violet ballet dress.
    Lina giggled mockingly at Ashlen, “I hope your uniform makes up for your lack of dancing.”
    Ashlen glared at her, “Yeah, well I hope your uniform makes up for the lack of manners you have, as well as the lack of dancing.”
    Lina glared at her as a woman popped her head out of the practice room, “Lina Asobi. You’re up.”
    As the woman returned to the practice room, Lina smirked at Ashlen, then walked off into the practice room.
    What is her problem?! Groaned Ashlen with disappointment, She had no right to talk to me like that at all.
    After a few minutes of waiting, Lina appeared out of the practice room giggling as she held a piece of pale blue paper in her hands. As she passed by Ashlen, she whispered mockingly, “Break a leg,” then continued walking off happily.
    Ashlen stood up to run after her and knock her around senselessly as the same woman popped her head out of the practice room.
    “Ashlen Robbin. You’re up.”
    Ashlen turned her heel surprisingly, “Oh, y-yes!”
    She trotted off to the practice room as the woman held the door open for her. She looked to see a long table that held three judges, who appeared to be old, sitting behind the table and stared sternly at her. Ashlen gulped feeling a bit intimidated, and stood in the middle of the room facing them.
    One of the judges, a woman, spoke first, “Which song are you going to be dancing to, Ms. Robbin?”
    Ashlen gulped again and stammered, “T-The Death of Love. By Cradle of Filth.”
    As the judges wrote down the song, Ashlen leaned down with one leg straight out in front of her, with her hands on her calf, and her bent over burying her face in her arms. With her eyes closed, she waited patiently for the song to begin and end.
    Within ten minutes, she bowed to the judges as they clapped and reviewed their notes on her performance. As she waited with anticipation, one of the judges sighed and looked up at her with disappointment.
    “I’m terribly sorry to say this,” the judge started to say, “but we cannot see your ability being a part of our college for your future.”
    Ashlen sighed and bowed to the judges one more time before she walked out of the room with a glooming aura surrounding her. She bumped into Lina as she walked out of the waiting room toward the locker room, and ignoring her as she ran to the locker room to change.
    As Ashlen started changing from her red violet ballet uniform into her violet clothing, she couldn’t help but wonder about the judges as well as the confrontation with Michael and Nickedemus earlier.
    The judges seemed kind of bummed to not let me get a scholarship, thought Ashlen curiously; I bet those guys had something to do with their decision. I bet that’s why that Nick guy, and Michael know my name. And that’s why they came out of the school. It HAS to be it.
    Without another glance, Ashlen ran out of the high school, and ran home as quickly as she could before anyone could stop her.

    Ashlen stopped by the sidewalk to her house, panting and trying hard to catch her breath. When she looked over to her house, she noticed that the wooden door was barely hanging on its hinges, as it stood lopsided to the side of the house. Without another breath, Ashlen quickly ran into her house to discover something terribly awful within the house.
    She looked around the living to see the cushions of the couch and chair were ripped to shreds, with cotton all over the room. Ashlen looked toward the kitchen to see the cabinet doors wide open, with long scratches running diagonally down the outside of the doors. As she tiptoed into the kitchen, she noticed a small trail of blood leading back to her mother’s bedroom. Without thinking, she ran toward her mother’s bedroom.
    “MOM!!” screamed Ashlen as she stopped in the doorway of her the bedroom.
    Her eyes stared at the massive bloodstain on the wall beside her mother’s torn up bed, and followed down to find her lifeless, and headless body leaning against the wall. She knelt down by her body, barely noticing the head in her mother’s lap.
    Tears welled up in Ashlen’s eyes as she slowly and shaking picked up her mother’s lifeless head, and held it against her as tears rolled down her cheeks.
    “Oh, Mom…” sobbed Ashlen, “I swear, I’ll find the person who did this to you, and kill them… I’ll rip their head off just as the person did to you… For your… Happiness…”
    She gently placed her mother’s head in her lap, and closed her eyes for her to rest in peace. Ashlen wiped away her tears, slowly rising from the ground, and walked slowly toward her untouched bedroom at the other end of the house. As she started packing clothes to leave, she looked around the room.
    Strange, thought Ashlen, How come my room is the only room here not messed up like everything else in the house? Was something really after me, and killed my mother because it couldn’t find me? What’s going on here?
    As soon as she finished packing clothes and money in her backpack, she ran out of the house, and toward the town of Dark Falls, which burnt a horrible image in her mind.
    The town of Dark Falls was a small town with a town center, one complete street for the market, a hotel, and many other buildings. Ashlen walked over to the hotel, which was owned by Lina Asobi’s family, and walked inside the dimly lit hotel. Mrs. Asobi was tall and thin, with barely any muscle in her body. She stood behind the dark oak counter wearing a pale pink kimono with hot pink cherry blossoms scattered as a design on her kimono. When she noticed Ashlen with a gloomed face, she walked around the counter with a warm and welcoming voice.
    “Ashlen, dearie, is something bothering you? Is your mother alright?”
    Tears welled up in Ashlen’s eyes again as she managed to choke out a sentence, “… Someone murdered my mother… Someone trashed the house…”
    Ashlen sobbed in her hands as Mrs. Asobi hugged her, gently speaking to her, “It’ll be alright, Ashlen. You can stay with us if you like. I’ll make sure Lina is on her best behavior while you stay here.”
    She nodded as Mrs. Asobi led her around the corner to their house made with three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living area. Mrs. Asobi let Ashlen keep the spare bedroom, and left her alone to unpack. As Ashlen sat on the bed, she heard Lina yelling at Mrs. Asobi in the living area of the house.
    “I don’t get it! Can’t she stay at a hotel?! Mother, you know how much I hate her!”
    “Lina, Ashlen’s mother was just murdered. Put behind your differences, and be kind to her. She’s in a lot of pain right now, and needs someone to take care of her while she’s here.”
    “I hate you, Mom! How could you let her in here?! Let her stay in the guest bedroom?!”
    “That’s precisely what that room is for,” Mrs. Asobi broke in, “A guest can use that room anyway they want, and Ashlen is our guest.”
    Lina stormed off to her room down the narrow hallway that had Lina and Ashlen’s bedrooms sitting right next to each other. Ashlen put her clothes in a small three-drawer dark oak dresser. As she set up the picture of her mother and her together on the dresser, she felt her eyes sting with warm tears as they rolled down her cheeks slowly.
    “Oh, Mom….” Sobbed Ashlen quietly, “I miss you so much… Mom… I wish you can answer me…”
    Lina opened the door, and stepped in to see Ashlen’s tears. Ashlen quickly looked away, wiped away her tears, and slowly looked at Lina who took a couple steps in the room. At first, there was nothing but silence, until Lina spoke to Ashlen in a kind way for the first time.
    “Ashlen…” Lina started to say, “I’m really sorry to hear about your mother. She was the only family you had left, right?”
    “Yes…” Ashlen said as she looked down.
    “If you don’t mind me asking…. How did she die?”
    Ashlen felt the tears sting her eyes again as she spoke, “She…. Her head…. There was so much blood…” Ashlen finally sobbed into her hands as she whispered quietly, “Her head was ripped off her shoulders… Oh God, Mom….”
    Lina then did something she never did before or could even think of doing before. She wrapped her arms around Ashlen tightly, and gently rubbed her back to soothe her.
    “Shh…” whispered Lina, “It’s okay… I’m sorry I asked…”
    Ashlen kept on sobbing until she closed her eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

    After dinner, Ashlen, Lina, and Lina’s family walked over to the church where the funeral took place. As Ashlen sat down in the very front row, two men sat down behind her in the next row. She peeked over her shoulder as the familiar voice of a man whispered in her ear.
    “Don’t turn around, Ashlen. We don’t want to cause a scene.”
    Ashlen whispered back, “Why are you guys…?”
    Michael whispered, “We heard about your mother. I’m terribly sorry you had to see her in that state. I promise, everything will be alright.”
    “What are you saying?” whispered Ashlen.
    “We’re saying,” spoke Nickedemus, “that we are here to protect you at all costs.”
    Ashlen turned to face them, “Just who exactly are you guys.”
    Before either of the boys could answer, the priest started the funeral service, talking about Ashlen’s mother, and how she was a wonderful woman. Ashlen couldn’t bear the pain of hearing the priest, so she shut her eyes, and let the ceremony commence quickly as time passed on hour after hour.

    Ashlen and Lina walked home from the church as Lina hugged her gently. Suddenly, Ashlen stopped, and looked over her shoulder toward an ally where a red eye peered out from the corner at her. She stared straight at it in a trance, when Lina’s voice broke in.
    “Ashlen, are you alright?”
    Ashlen turned to Lina and smiled, “Yeah. I think I need a walk. I’ll catch up with you later.”
    Lina’s eyes widened at her, “Walk? Alone? Why don’t I come with you?”
    “I just need to… You know, clear my mind. It’s been a long day for me, and I just need to be alone for a while.”
    Lina nodded, and quickly gave Ashlen a hug, and ran down the sidewalk going home. Ashlen smiled at Lina’s back, and turned her hell, walking toward the ally where the red eye was staring at her.
    I kind of have a bad feeling that something is here, thought Ashlen. If something awful is here, then I have to make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone… Whatever that something may be.
    She turned the corner into the ally to find that it was empty. She looked from wall to wall at the dark blue grey brick buildings and the wooden broken down fence post. Ashlen took a few steps inside as her feeling grew more and more inside her. Suddenly, she realized whatever she has been feeling was right under her feet. She stared down at her feet in confusion.
    I don’t like this… Thought Ashlen.
    Within a flash, she jumped over to the fence post, losing her balance as she fell back against the fence. She stared at the creature that was crawling out of the hole where she had been standing before. The creature had blood red eyes, devil horns upon its head, and its entire body was a dark tan color, stained with blood. As the creature crawled more out of the hole, Ashlen slid down against the fence, and sat on the ground, frozen in fear. The creature didn’t look like any man or woman, but a mass that stood in front of her, ready to attack with its giant bloodstained claws.
    The creature slowly opened its mouth to reveal sharp bloody canine teeth, with strands of fine blonde hair slithering out of its mouth. Ashlen suddenly realized the strands of hair came from her mother’s head.
    Ashlen opened her mouth to scream as her eyes stung with tears, then a blade of a samurai sword shot through the creature’s abdomen. The blade then slid to the side, slicing into the creature as the blade soon ripped free of the creature’s abdomen. As the creature fell to the ground, a pair of silver eyes glared down at the creature, and then looked over at Ashlen. She suddenly realized that those eyes belonged to Nickedemus. Nickedemus stepped over the creature, with his feet on either side of the creature’s rib cage.
    I can’t believe what I’m seeing… Thought Ashlen. A creature…. And Nickedemus is killing it… What could it possibly be…?
    Michael ran passed Nickedemus, and knelt down in front of Ashlen, shaking her gently to snap her to reality with his hands upon her shoulders.
    “Ashlen. Say something. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
    She looked up at Michael and shook her head as a response. He sighed with relief as he looked back to see Nickedemus unharmed, standing around a pile of sand.
    “Is she okay?”
    “She’s not talking to me, Nickedemus. What shall we do? She saw the creature, saw us kill it.”
    Nickedemus sighed and slowly shook his head, “It can’t be helped. She needs to see… Him.”
    Michael nodded, and stood up holding Ashlen in his arms like he had before. Ashlen then finally started to struggle.
    “Put me down! I want my questions answered now!”
    “We’ll answer them later, Ms. Robbin. Please calm yourself. We’re going.”
    “Going where?!”
    “Nickedemus gave her a cold stare that shut her voice, “To the Ministry of Hades.”

    Ashlen stared in awe at the long golden building that stood tall in front of her. The long hallway connected two of the entrances, with the clock tower rising over the building. The entrances both had rounded roofs, made of violet glass with a strange orange design ensnaring the roofs. Nickedemus opened the door as he carried the creature’s head in one hand by holding one of its horns. Michael then carried Ashlen inside the building, which gloomed with grey bricks everywhere. He rounded the corner down the long hallway, and stopped to an elevator, pressing a button that had the symbol of a blue flame.
    Michael and Ashlen walked in the red velvet elevator, and waited as the elevator rose upward. She peeked up at Michael as she lay in his arms.
    “You can put me down,” said Ashlen, “My legs aren’t broken.”
    Michael smiled, and gently set her down, “Yes, of course. I’m glad you finally decided to speak to me again. I figured you had gone mute.” He chuckled at his own joke, even though Ashlen had not found it the least bit funny.
    “Well, aren’t you going to tell me what in the hell that creature was?”
    “Oh, I’ll tell you later. It depends on what our boss says.”
    “Boss?”
    “Oh yes. Our boss is Lord of the Underworld. I believe he likes to go by his Greek name rather than his Roman name: Hades.”
    Ashlen then shut up, and stared at the velvet elevator wall as it came to a stop, and opened to a room with a dark solid rock path leading straight where Hades, himself, sat. Ashlen and Michael walked down the path, and she peeked over the edges of the path to see a large pit of fire that lay seven circles. She heard the many moans and screams originating from the circles, and she gulped, and stared down at her feet as she walked along the path to make sure she didn’t fall in.
    Michael and Ashlen stopped in front of the giant that sat in front of them. Michael bowed, and Ashlen just stared up at him. A large black skeleton wearing black, charred robes and sandals, with the skull burning in a large flame looked down upon them.
    This is definitely not like the Hades from the Disney movie, thought Ashlen.
    Hades lowered his hand down in front of Ashlen as she took a step back from instincts.
    “Come up onto my hand, child,” Hades said in a raspy voice.
    Ashlen gulped, and hesitated a bit before stepping on his large fingers that were as long as her entire body. She held onto the thumb as he raised his hand to be a closer look at her.
    “I hear that you survived an attack by a petty creature. It’s the first time any normal human faced one, and lived to tell about it,” he chuckled.
    Ashlen gulped again before stammering, “W-What are you going to do with me? I’m not dead yet, and I know for sure that thing killed my mother!”
    “You are just a normal human girl, so by law of the Ministry of Hades, I hereby erase your memory of Michael, Nickedemus, and that creature from your mind.”
    “You can’t! I have to keep these memories to know that the creature killed my mother!”
    Ashlen shut her eyes tightly to hold back tears as she felt a strong force being forced out of her. A loud crack was heard, and a loud thud as she opened her eyes to see that one of Hades’ boney fingers had be severed off by a bright blue force. She looked up at Hades, and he stared down at her, then smirked. Just as suddenly as she came up to face him, he lowered his hand down to let her down.
    “Michael,” Hades started, “Tell the others that we have found the one we have been searching for so long. Tell them we found the Witch, and she is now a part of the Ministry of Hades.”
    Ashlen looked over to Michael who had stood up to receive his order, and he stared at her. She looked back up at Hades in shock.
    “Welcome, child, to the Ministry of Hades.”
    As Michael led Ashlen to the elevator surprised by what happened, Ashlen thought to herself surprised.
    So it wasn’t a dream… Thought Ashlen shockingly, I AM a Witch!