Flash Fiction Monday

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Unedited Scene

Adult Content

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M/M Content

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I tapped the required letters, praying that I was doing the right thing. I’d debated it for weeks upon weeks. Each pro and con list I made came out with more pros than cons. Surely, that meant it I made the best choice possible to me. What else could I have done? It was do as my father asked, or be exiled from the Coven. A witch could not . . . wrong. A witch could survive on their own, but none wanted to. The group aspect increased their powers. The connection with the Coven was all that gave me the ability to cast simple spells.

“You are wrong.” Ralph wrapped his arms around my neck, resting his chin on my head.

I picked up my notebook and communicated the only way I’d been able to since I was twelve years old. A day that would never be forgotten. The day that I became a disgrace to my parents. I’d yet came into my ability to cast spells, but the neighboring Coven did not care. All they cared about was making an example of me. Ensuring that no other child wondered too far into the woods and came across their territory. My punishment had not fit the innocent childlike crime I’d accidently committed.

Ralph tossed the pad down and shook his head at me. “You are wrong.”

Why? I mouthed, knowing that Ralph hated when I used the notepad. He swore I should learn the sign language that most mute people used. My parents had nixed that idea the day I received my punishment. I’d been lucky in the grand scheme of things. They could have disowned me then and there, but they’d swore that the day would come that I’d learn to cast spells with written words. A fact I disagreed with, and openly refused to try when I came into my powers on my twenty-first birthday.

“You do not have to have be forced into using magic at all, although . . .” Ralph pulled the table chair over to sit beside me. “I do believe that your magic is lurking under your skin. It just needs a way to free itself. Written words might do it, but . . .” he cupped my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. “Your voice, like everyone else like you, comes in the form of fingers.” He picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Put those fingers to work. I know you know how to use them.”

Ralph!

“What? You do. They make me sing every thing they touch my body.”

You really think my voice comes from my fingers?

“I do. Always have. You are just too . . . scared to try them.”

I wasn’t scared. Okay, I was, but not for the reason that Ralph thought. My parents punishment for my failure to obey our Coven’s law was to forbid me from using any form of sign language. Even when I was around other Coven members I was not allowed to use the notepad. I simply was told to stand and keep my mouth shut. It’s what I’d done for the last nine years.

“You have paid enough for an innocent child’s mistake. They have no right to keep punishing you.”

Ralph was right. I had paid long enough. My form of rebelling was refusal to try and cast spell by written words. If I didn’t then I was going to be disowned. Once again punished. A three-fold punishment for an innocent child’s mistake. It wasn’t fair. Ralph had told my dad that if he would allow him to learn sign language then I would be able to cast spells easier. My father’s response was that if I cared about the family that I would prove to the Coven leader that the written word could cast a spell. Other words, I had to give into his desire, or be on my own.

Ralph had tried to convince me to do what I thought best. There was no such option. I wasn’t allowed to use sign language. Wasn’t even sure that it would allow me to cast a spell. Wasn’t even sure that writing a spell would work either. That’s was yet another reason that I refused to give into my father’s order. If I tried it and it failed then the Coven leader had the right to kick me out of the Coven. A Witch who could not give to the collective magic was useless.

“Honey, you do not deserve what they have done to you over the years. Take a stand for yourself and do what would be in your best interest in the long run.”

In the long run?

“If neither method works then at least you have another way to communicate with others.”

Not everyone knows sign language.

“No, but more than you know do. It would be great for you to see how other deaf people live their lives. My cousin, you’ve met him, has lived a normal life his entire life. You could do the same. You do not have to be stuck in this house, working from a computer. You do not have to have me order food for you, because you are not allowed to use your notebook. Not that I like you doing such to start with.”

Was such a life within my grasp? I knew Ralph’s cousin worked as a lawyer. He was one of the top paid one in Kentucky. Could he do such? If he learned sign language then he could attend college like a normal person. Who was he kidding? He would have no money to do so. Least that mean he’d have to reach out for help. Ralph’s cousin had given him all kinds of addresses and names of places that would aid him in finding jobs and educating him. It was doable. All he had to do was step out on faith. Was it worth it? Yes. It was. It was time I stood up for myself, yet . . . doing so did not mean I couldn’t try the written spell. I could try and if it worked then I’d still have my inheritance. Then I could keep my learning of sign language a secret. If the written spell did not work, I’d be right where I was going to be once I tried the sign language.

Okay.