ROA - Season of the Witch (part 3 posted 10/26)
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 4:51 pm
Melissa hated going to school.
She wasn’t stupid, she did alright at school, mostly B’s and C’s, nor was she all that unattractive, sure she wasn’t a ten out of ten cheerleader caliber of beauty, but she got her own share of dates, nothing too serious, however, she was still a virgin.
All of this only made it that much more frustrating that Amber, one of the prettiest (and bitchiest) girls in school apparently made it her sole mission in her life to make Melissa’s as miserable as possible; the fact was that Melissa had no idea why Amber was so fixated on her, everyone at school suffered her ire at some point, but never to the level that Melissa did.
The worst of it was when Amber had a couple of her friends help her to grab Melissa after Gym class and drag her out of the locker room last week, as you can imagine, Melissa wasn’t wearing much of anything beyond the towel she had on after showering, and that would have been taken away as well if it weren’t for an incoming teacher.
The girls bolted back into the locker room before he’d seen who was responsible, and nobody dared to snitch; they didn’t want to find themselves in the same situation Melissa was in.
Melissa often buried her face in her pillow, crying and wondering what to do about the situation, she didn’t know what to do, she feared telling her parents would only worsen the situation by angering Amber even more, her friends wouldn’t do anything to help her and the teachers were downright useless unless they had proof.
And then the ring showed up.
Melissa had no idea where it came from, as far as she could remember, she went to bed one day and woke up with it on her ring finger the next, it was a silver engraved ring in the shape of two demonic claws grasping an emerald colored jewel, but the jewel couldn’t be emerald; for one, it was extremely smooth to the touch, flawlessly so, much more transparent than any emerald she’d ever seen, but it wasn’t a solid color, it was flecked with dark streaks of color that gave it the appearance of a demonic cornea.
Speaking of a demonic cornea, there was the matter of the demonic pupil in the center of the jewel, Melissa had stared at it for what seemed like so long a time; there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the ring (beyond what was apparent, that is), but for some reason, Melissa had a distinct feeling that the eye was staring back at her, and maybe it was just her imagining things, but she swore that sometimes… The eye would blink.
At first, the ring gave Melissa the creeps, she took it off and left it on her desk when she woke up and went to take a shower, but that didn’t last long, she had it back on before she left for school.
—
It was lunchtime and Melissa sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, her friends had gotten scared and chose to sit elsewhere today, she could spot her tormentor, Amber, from the corner of her eye, that was about as clearly as she dared to look at Amber, worried she might make eye-contact with the bully and attract her unwanted attention.
“I wish she was as afraid of me as everyone’s afraid of her…” Melissa lamented under her breath, not wanting or expecting anyone to console her or even reply, at that.
"Well, then why don’t you make it so?"
Melissa’s head jerked up, expecting to see the person who replied to her, for a moment she panicked, half expecting it to be Amber who had overheard her and came over to dole out more misery to her favorite target.
…
But there was no one there.
For that matter, she didn’t know whose voice that was, scratch that, now that she thought about it harder, she couldn’t be sure if that voice was human, she couldn’t tell if it was male or female, old or young, loud as a shout or quieter than a whisper, a chill ran down Melissa’s spine.
“H-hello?” She tried calling to the voice, not too loud, she didn’t want the people around her to think she was crazy, it was bad enough she had the unwanted attention of a bully, she didn’t want the rest of the school to turn on her.
…
No reply.
A cold sweat formed on Melissa’s neck, she didn’t want the rest of the school to think she was crazy… But she wasn’t sure if she was sure of her own sanity at this point, her eye was drawn down to the new ring she’d found.
That creeping chill persisted as the eye didn’t move.
She wasn’t stupid, she did alright at school, mostly B’s and C’s, nor was she all that unattractive, sure she wasn’t a ten out of ten cheerleader caliber of beauty, but she got her own share of dates, nothing too serious, however, she was still a virgin.
All of this only made it that much more frustrating that Amber, one of the prettiest (and bitchiest) girls in school apparently made it her sole mission in her life to make Melissa’s as miserable as possible; the fact was that Melissa had no idea why Amber was so fixated on her, everyone at school suffered her ire at some point, but never to the level that Melissa did.
The worst of it was when Amber had a couple of her friends help her to grab Melissa after Gym class and drag her out of the locker room last week, as you can imagine, Melissa wasn’t wearing much of anything beyond the towel she had on after showering, and that would have been taken away as well if it weren’t for an incoming teacher.
The girls bolted back into the locker room before he’d seen who was responsible, and nobody dared to snitch; they didn’t want to find themselves in the same situation Melissa was in.
Melissa often buried her face in her pillow, crying and wondering what to do about the situation, she didn’t know what to do, she feared telling her parents would only worsen the situation by angering Amber even more, her friends wouldn’t do anything to help her and the teachers were downright useless unless they had proof.
And then the ring showed up.
Melissa had no idea where it came from, as far as she could remember, she went to bed one day and woke up with it on her ring finger the next, it was a silver engraved ring in the shape of two demonic claws grasping an emerald colored jewel, but the jewel couldn’t be emerald; for one, it was extremely smooth to the touch, flawlessly so, much more transparent than any emerald she’d ever seen, but it wasn’t a solid color, it was flecked with dark streaks of color that gave it the appearance of a demonic cornea.
Speaking of a demonic cornea, there was the matter of the demonic pupil in the center of the jewel, Melissa had stared at it for what seemed like so long a time; there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the ring (beyond what was apparent, that is), but for some reason, Melissa had a distinct feeling that the eye was staring back at her, and maybe it was just her imagining things, but she swore that sometimes… The eye would blink.
At first, the ring gave Melissa the creeps, she took it off and left it on her desk when she woke up and went to take a shower, but that didn’t last long, she had it back on before she left for school.
—
It was lunchtime and Melissa sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, her friends had gotten scared and chose to sit elsewhere today, she could spot her tormentor, Amber, from the corner of her eye, that was about as clearly as she dared to look at Amber, worried she might make eye-contact with the bully and attract her unwanted attention.
“I wish she was as afraid of me as everyone’s afraid of her…” Melissa lamented under her breath, not wanting or expecting anyone to console her or even reply, at that.
"Well, then why don’t you make it so?"
Melissa’s head jerked up, expecting to see the person who replied to her, for a moment she panicked, half expecting it to be Amber who had overheard her and came over to dole out more misery to her favorite target.
…
But there was no one there.
For that matter, she didn’t know whose voice that was, scratch that, now that she thought about it harder, she couldn’t be sure if that voice was human, she couldn’t tell if it was male or female, old or young, loud as a shout or quieter than a whisper, a chill ran down Melissa’s spine.
“H-hello?” She tried calling to the voice, not too loud, she didn’t want the people around her to think she was crazy, it was bad enough she had the unwanted attention of a bully, she didn’t want the rest of the school to turn on her.
…
No reply.
A cold sweat formed on Melissa’s neck, she didn’t want the rest of the school to think she was crazy… But she wasn’t sure if she was sure of her own sanity at this point, her eye was drawn down to the new ring she’d found.
That creeping chill persisted as the eye didn’t move.