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It was the 2nd of August when Kitty met the witch. It was Kitty’s birthday and it would probably be her most miserable birthday yet, as she was now an orphan and had no family to celebrate with. And no one at the orphanage would be kind enough to make a cake for her.
She woke up that morning, excited that her birthday was here. She ran down the stairs and into the orphanage kitchens where she was greeted by a very angry cook. “What do you think you're doing here, young lady?” Kitty stared up at her, ignoring what she said and walked searching for something. The cook grabbed her by the arm, and gripped, “You are forbidden in these kitchens young lady, and what on earth are you looking for!?!!!!”
Kitty turned, realising what mistakes she’d made, “I’m sorry, it’s my birthday and I thought Mama was down here, she always is in the kitchens on my birthday. I’m turning twelve. But, oh!! I’m not at home, am I?”
The cook replied angrily, “No!” then through her out the servants door onto the street, “Happy Birthday!”
And Kitty was alone, with two grazed knees. And that’s when she spotted the house, old, grey and haunted looking. Kitty grinned, forgetting her sorrows. She trotted across the road and opened the door, it creaked. And a loud voice echoed through the house. “Who goes there?!”
“I do!” replied Kitty bravely, “and I’m not afraid!”
Kitty moved further into the house and sat by the crackling fire. She began breathing again as she relaxed into the warmth.
“BOO!” A voice from behind her cried.
Kitty screamed with fear. And a figure came out from behind the chair, a girl, about her height, with ebony-black hair and eyes and the palest skin. The girl quite reminded Kitty of Snow White. “I thought you said you weren’t afraid.” The girl teased, then put out a hand, “I’m Olive, and you’re Kitty, I presume.”
“Yes, but how do you know that?” Kitty asked, stepping farther away from this girl.
“I’m a witch.” The girl said. Kitty screamed again. And the witch just laughed. “Do you like adventure?”
Kitty nodded weakly. She loved adventure. The witch smiled, “Alright then, pack your bags and come back tomorrow.”
Kitty returned the next day, the day she set out on her adventure. She knocked three times on Olive’s door, everyone staring at her with great confusion as they passed, they obviously all believed that the house was abandoned.
After about 6 more knocks and ten trillion more confused looks, Kitty began to become impatient. The witch had told her never to enter the house again without permission or else, and she didn’t want to know what “or else” was. “Olive!” She hissed through the keyhole, “People are staring!” No one responded.
Kitty shrank into the corner, hoping that sometime soon Olive would open the door and let her in. Then, 10 minutes later, an old woman stumbled through the crowd. She walked up to the door, then, noticing Kitty moping in the corner, “Come in.” Kitty was startled, Olive had never mentioned anything about someone else living in the house. Yet the woman looked quite a bit like her, so Kitty thought that she must be her grandmother. She nodded and followed the old woman in.
“You know, it’s quite funny how Olive never told me about having a grandmother living with her.” Kitty said as she sat down by the crackling fire. The old woman looked quite offended, and as she shouted her reply, she became younger, “I have no such Grandmother, why on Earth would you think that!”
Suddenly instead of a wrinkly old woman standing in front of her, the witch, Olive stood there completely utterly horrified. “Oh! It was you!” Kitty exclaimed, clearly shocked.
“Alright, Katie, or - whatever your name is, I don’t really care,” Then Olive took out what looked like an old stick and waved it about.
“My name’s Kitty. Is that a wand?!” Kitty asked, would she actually get to see a real witch using a real magic wand. But instead of seeing magic sparks come out of the wand, all she saw was Olive laughing her heart out. The witch was rolling on the floor by the time she could speak again, “You think this is a wand! Oh my, what things humans come up with! Witches don’t use wands, Silly!”
Kitty stared at Olive in disbelief, if there was no such thing as wands, then what was the thing she was holding in her hand. “Then what’s that then!” Kitty shouted pointing at the stick.
Olive laughed again, “It’s just a stick I found on the way here.”
Kitty nodded. Then Olive spoke again, “Alright so you're going on a mission for me, right? And what mission was that? Oh, yes! This will be fun. Here’s a bag, here's food and here's a warm jumper. Alright, Bye, Have fun!” The witch pushed Kitty out the door.
It was almost closed when Kitty turned around, “Wait! Where am I meant to be going!!” Olive’s face poked out the door, and the witch handed her a yellow train ticket, “North!” Then she was gone.
Gone. Without even saying a word about what she was meant to be doing, and how on Earth would Kitty be able to know which way was north.
Kitty trudged back to the orphanage, she couldn’t go on this adventure if she didn’t know what she was doing. But then Olive would probably turn her into a frog of something. She had to do it, she had to.
She thanked the train driver and stepped into the train station. Now all she needed to do was to go North.
Kitty thought for a moment, all she had was a magnet from the train, a jumper and food. And none of those could help her, they were all useless objects, or were they. Then a memory blossomed in Kitty’s mind, “The Magnet!” she cried, to no one in particular. Magnets, She thought, They always point to which way is north. It was a scientific breakthrough, well, for Kitty at least. She’d never paid attention to anything her science teacher had told her when she went to school, and back then she never thought that it would help her, well, it did. “Thank you, Mr Spencer, I’m sorry I never really paid attention to anything in science.” Kitty whispered under her breath.
Then Kitty placed the magnet on the concrete train station, it turned several times, trying to figure out which way was North. Then it stopped, and Kitty stood up, staring in the direction that the magnet was pointing at, and this is what she saw:
Snow, white, cold, empty snow. There were mountains too, tall, white, lonely mountains, “No,” She said to herself in disbelief, “No, Olive can’t have thought me to go there, just No.” Kitty turned and headed back to where the train had dropped her off. But there was no train to be seen. She staggered over to the bench and lay there, crying her heart out, “Mama! Papa!” she cried, but her dead parents couldn’t help her now.
After a while, Kitty was sleeping soundly, dreaming of her old life, where she was happy. She slept through the night, through the rain and snow, through the train arriving, through the loud sobs of a child. She only woke when the child's tears stopped.
She sat up, and wiped her own tears away, and there sitting on the edge of the concrete dangling their legs over the edge was a small girl, with dark-blonde hair and a small suitcase. “H-hello?” Kitty stuttered, nearing the little girl. “H-hi.” The girl stuttered back, turning to face Kitty, her piercing blue eyes full of sorrow.
“What is your name? Mine’s Kitty.” Kitty asked, sitting down next to the girl. The girl turned to look at Kitty once again, “M-my name is Jana”
“Why are you here? Where are your parents?” Kitty asked, looking around searching for Jana’s family. Jana’s eyes began to flood and she leaned into Kitty, burying her face in Kitty’s cardigan, “I don’t have parents, they died 2 years ago. I’ve been hiding out behind a bakery for years, but the baker found me and sent me here!” Jana cried, sobbing loudly into Kitty’s cardigan.
“There, there, it’s alright, you can stay with me, but - but first I have to complete a mission. Would you like to come with me?” Kitty put her arms around the child, hoping to comfort her. Jana’s little head nodded, “Will you be my Mama?” she asked hopefully. Kitty smiled and nodded back. “Let’s go.” And the two girls stepped into the crackly snow.
The two had talked all day, Jana was quite the talker, she told Kitty about her pets and her humongous family tree. Until the sun began to set and Kitty had to stop her, “Jana, why don’t we find a place to stay tonight, Yes?” Jana nodded. Then pointed at the closest mountain and happily said, “Can we sleep there?”
Kitty almost fainted when she saw the cave. What if there was a bear in there, or bat’s, anything would be better than bats, but she had to agree, there were no other caves anywhere nearby. “Can you climb?” Kitty asked, looking down at the 7-year old. She nodded. And they began to climb, slipping at any movement they made, but finally they reached the cave, and lucky for them, it was bear free.
Kitty laid out the soft blanket she’d taken from the orphanage, and the thin pillow. Then she searched around for sticks and once they’d been found, she lit a fire, as her dad had taught her when she was five. Then she took out the food. One cheese and jam sandwich, Kitty ripped it in half and gave the bigger half to Jana. They both ate hungrily and then they tucked themselves into bed while Jana sang one of her favorite lullabies,
“Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening,
Steal across the sky.
Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begins to peep,
Birds and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.”
Jana didn’t wake the next morning, her cheeks were flushed, and her forehead was literally on fire. “Jana,” Kitty shook her, “Jana, please wake up.”
Tears rolled down Kitty’s face, “Jana, please.”
Jana’s eyes fluttered but didn’t open, “K-kitty. I-I want t-to go home.”
Kitty smiled, and sighed with relief, tears in her eyes, “Oh, Jana.”
Jana slept half that day, when she spoke her voice was a whisper, but she would get better, at least that was what Kitty told herself. Jana needed warmth to get better, but the sticks and twigs were running out and there was nothing to block the icy wind from venturing into the cave.
Jana wasn’t getting better.
Kitty stayed though, she had to, she couldn’t leave a sick seven-year-old all alone in a white mountainous nowhere. She had to stay, she had to betray the witch. And she would never forgive herself.
That night as Jana slept soundly on the stone ground of the cave, Kitty sent a letter to Olive in her mind, Dear Olive, I am sorry. But I cannot go on. Jana has fallen ill and she certainly can’t continue, I know I have to continue, but Jana needs me. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I will return to the orphanage and will not bother you any more. From Kitty
Then she slept, dreaming about the horrid punishment she’d get when she returned, if she ever returned.
The next morning, Olive woke, she’d received a letter that night in her sleep, one from Kitty, the girl she’d sent on her mission, the mission to find her sister, who was trapped somewhere in this world, hidden by a family, her sister, Jana.
“Jana!” She exclaimed, “She’s alive! Oh, Kitty thankyou!” But Kitty couldn’t hear her, as she was shivering in a cave 10,000 miles away.
Jana didn’t wake. Her eyes were frozen shut, her breath was shallow, she was cold.
Kitty had nothing. She couldn’t make a fire, there was nothing to burn, nothing at all. She had already lost her backpack in the flames, her shoes and cardigan, she was freezing.
“Jana, I’m sorry.” She whispered, her throat stinging from the icy cold.
Jana shook her head, but her eyes didn’t open, she had no energy to open them.
Kitty began talking, “The truth is, Jana. I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing. I mean, Olive never told me, she just said to go north.”
She was interrupted by a hoarse squeaky voice, “Olive.” it whispered.
“Yeah, she’s a witch. I failed though, so she’s probably gonna turn me into a frog when I return.”
“Olive.” Jana said again, “My big sister.”
Kitty froze in shock and coldness, “What!!!”
She thought for ten seconds, if Olive was Jana’s sister, and Olive was a witch, Jana could save them. But why hadn’t she yet.
“You’re a witch.”
Jana shook her head tiredly, “No. She took magic. Killed Ma and Pa. She's evil.”
Kitty stayed frozen in the corner, for two reasons, one, she had trusted a witch, a witch that had killed her own parents, a witch that had taken her sisters magic, a witch who definitely couldn’t be trusted, two, she couldn't move. “We’re not going home.”
Kitty coughed, and fell to the floor.
Jana opened her icy eyes, “Kitty,” She whispered hoarsely, “Thank you.” Then she was gone.
A tear dripped down Kitty’s cheek, it froze against her. “Your Welcome.” She coughed again, then everything disappeared, the cave, the orphanage, Olive, her life. She was gone, following Jana to the end.
She woke up that morning, excited that her birthday was here. She ran down the stairs and into the orphanage kitchens where she was greeted by a very angry cook. “What do you think you're doing here, young lady?” Kitty stared up at her, ignoring what she said and walked searching for something. The cook grabbed her by the arm, and gripped, “You are forbidden in these kitchens young lady, and what on earth are you looking for!?!!!!”
Kitty turned, realising what mistakes she’d made, “I’m sorry, it’s my birthday and I thought Mama was down here, she always is in the kitchens on my birthday. I’m turning twelve. But, oh!! I’m not at home, am I?”
The cook replied angrily, “No!” then through her out the servants door onto the street, “Happy Birthday!”
And Kitty was alone, with two grazed knees. And that’s when she spotted the house, old, grey and haunted looking. Kitty grinned, forgetting her sorrows. She trotted across the road and opened the door, it creaked. And a loud voice echoed through the house. “Who goes there?!”
“I do!” replied Kitty bravely, “and I’m not afraid!”
Kitty moved further into the house and sat by the crackling fire. She began breathing again as she relaxed into the warmth.
“BOO!” A voice from behind her cried.
Kitty screamed with fear. And a figure came out from behind the chair, a girl, about her height, with ebony-black hair and eyes and the palest skin. The girl quite reminded Kitty of Snow White. “I thought you said you weren’t afraid.” The girl teased, then put out a hand, “I’m Olive, and you’re Kitty, I presume.”
“Yes, but how do you know that?” Kitty asked, stepping farther away from this girl.
“I’m a witch.” The girl said. Kitty screamed again. And the witch just laughed. “Do you like adventure?”
Kitty nodded weakly. She loved adventure. The witch smiled, “Alright then, pack your bags and come back tomorrow.”
Kitty returned the next day, the day she set out on her adventure. She knocked three times on Olive’s door, everyone staring at her with great confusion as they passed, they obviously all believed that the house was abandoned.
After about 6 more knocks and ten trillion more confused looks, Kitty began to become impatient. The witch had told her never to enter the house again without permission or else, and she didn’t want to know what “or else” was. “Olive!” She hissed through the keyhole, “People are staring!” No one responded.
Kitty shrank into the corner, hoping that sometime soon Olive would open the door and let her in. Then, 10 minutes later, an old woman stumbled through the crowd. She walked up to the door, then, noticing Kitty moping in the corner, “Come in.” Kitty was startled, Olive had never mentioned anything about someone else living in the house. Yet the woman looked quite a bit like her, so Kitty thought that she must be her grandmother. She nodded and followed the old woman in.
“You know, it’s quite funny how Olive never told me about having a grandmother living with her.” Kitty said as she sat down by the crackling fire. The old woman looked quite offended, and as she shouted her reply, she became younger, “I have no such Grandmother, why on Earth would you think that!”
Suddenly instead of a wrinkly old woman standing in front of her, the witch, Olive stood there completely utterly horrified. “Oh! It was you!” Kitty exclaimed, clearly shocked.
“Alright, Katie, or - whatever your name is, I don’t really care,” Then Olive took out what looked like an old stick and waved it about.
“My name’s Kitty. Is that a wand?!” Kitty asked, would she actually get to see a real witch using a real magic wand. But instead of seeing magic sparks come out of the wand, all she saw was Olive laughing her heart out. The witch was rolling on the floor by the time she could speak again, “You think this is a wand! Oh my, what things humans come up with! Witches don’t use wands, Silly!”
Kitty stared at Olive in disbelief, if there was no such thing as wands, then what was the thing she was holding in her hand. “Then what’s that then!” Kitty shouted pointing at the stick.
Olive laughed again, “It’s just a stick I found on the way here.”
Kitty nodded. Then Olive spoke again, “Alright so you're going on a mission for me, right? And what mission was that? Oh, yes! This will be fun. Here’s a bag, here's food and here's a warm jumper. Alright, Bye, Have fun!” The witch pushed Kitty out the door.
It was almost closed when Kitty turned around, “Wait! Where am I meant to be going!!” Olive’s face poked out the door, and the witch handed her a yellow train ticket, “North!” Then she was gone.
Gone. Without even saying a word about what she was meant to be doing, and how on Earth would Kitty be able to know which way was north.
Kitty trudged back to the orphanage, she couldn’t go on this adventure if she didn’t know what she was doing. But then Olive would probably turn her into a frog of something. She had to do it, she had to.
She thanked the train driver and stepped into the train station. Now all she needed to do was to go North.
Kitty thought for a moment, all she had was a magnet from the train, a jumper and food. And none of those could help her, they were all useless objects, or were they. Then a memory blossomed in Kitty’s mind, “The Magnet!” she cried, to no one in particular. Magnets, She thought, They always point to which way is north. It was a scientific breakthrough, well, for Kitty at least. She’d never paid attention to anything her science teacher had told her when she went to school, and back then she never thought that it would help her, well, it did. “Thank you, Mr Spencer, I’m sorry I never really paid attention to anything in science.” Kitty whispered under her breath.
Then Kitty placed the magnet on the concrete train station, it turned several times, trying to figure out which way was North. Then it stopped, and Kitty stood up, staring in the direction that the magnet was pointing at, and this is what she saw:
Snow, white, cold, empty snow. There were mountains too, tall, white, lonely mountains, “No,” She said to herself in disbelief, “No, Olive can’t have thought me to go there, just No.” Kitty turned and headed back to where the train had dropped her off. But there was no train to be seen. She staggered over to the bench and lay there, crying her heart out, “Mama! Papa!” she cried, but her dead parents couldn’t help her now.
After a while, Kitty was sleeping soundly, dreaming of her old life, where she was happy. She slept through the night, through the rain and snow, through the train arriving, through the loud sobs of a child. She only woke when the child's tears stopped.
She sat up, and wiped her own tears away, and there sitting on the edge of the concrete dangling their legs over the edge was a small girl, with dark-blonde hair and a small suitcase. “H-hello?” Kitty stuttered, nearing the little girl. “H-hi.” The girl stuttered back, turning to face Kitty, her piercing blue eyes full of sorrow.
“What is your name? Mine’s Kitty.” Kitty asked, sitting down next to the girl. The girl turned to look at Kitty once again, “M-my name is Jana”
“Why are you here? Where are your parents?” Kitty asked, looking around searching for Jana’s family. Jana’s eyes began to flood and she leaned into Kitty, burying her face in Kitty’s cardigan, “I don’t have parents, they died 2 years ago. I’ve been hiding out behind a bakery for years, but the baker found me and sent me here!” Jana cried, sobbing loudly into Kitty’s cardigan.
“There, there, it’s alright, you can stay with me, but - but first I have to complete a mission. Would you like to come with me?” Kitty put her arms around the child, hoping to comfort her. Jana’s little head nodded, “Will you be my Mama?” she asked hopefully. Kitty smiled and nodded back. “Let’s go.” And the two girls stepped into the crackly snow.
The two had talked all day, Jana was quite the talker, she told Kitty about her pets and her humongous family tree. Until the sun began to set and Kitty had to stop her, “Jana, why don’t we find a place to stay tonight, Yes?” Jana nodded. Then pointed at the closest mountain and happily said, “Can we sleep there?”
Kitty almost fainted when she saw the cave. What if there was a bear in there, or bat’s, anything would be better than bats, but she had to agree, there were no other caves anywhere nearby. “Can you climb?” Kitty asked, looking down at the 7-year old. She nodded. And they began to climb, slipping at any movement they made, but finally they reached the cave, and lucky for them, it was bear free.
Kitty laid out the soft blanket she’d taken from the orphanage, and the thin pillow. Then she searched around for sticks and once they’d been found, she lit a fire, as her dad had taught her when she was five. Then she took out the food. One cheese and jam sandwich, Kitty ripped it in half and gave the bigger half to Jana. They both ate hungrily and then they tucked themselves into bed while Jana sang one of her favorite lullabies,
“Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening,
Steal across the sky.
Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begins to peep,
Birds and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.”
Jana didn’t wake the next morning, her cheeks were flushed, and her forehead was literally on fire. “Jana,” Kitty shook her, “Jana, please wake up.”
Tears rolled down Kitty’s face, “Jana, please.”
Jana’s eyes fluttered but didn’t open, “K-kitty. I-I want t-to go home.”
Kitty smiled, and sighed with relief, tears in her eyes, “Oh, Jana.”
Jana slept half that day, when she spoke her voice was a whisper, but she would get better, at least that was what Kitty told herself. Jana needed warmth to get better, but the sticks and twigs were running out and there was nothing to block the icy wind from venturing into the cave.
Jana wasn’t getting better.
Kitty stayed though, she had to, she couldn’t leave a sick seven-year-old all alone in a white mountainous nowhere. She had to stay, she had to betray the witch. And she would never forgive herself.
That night as Jana slept soundly on the stone ground of the cave, Kitty sent a letter to Olive in her mind, Dear Olive, I am sorry. But I cannot go on. Jana has fallen ill and she certainly can’t continue, I know I have to continue, but Jana needs me. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I will return to the orphanage and will not bother you any more. From Kitty
Then she slept, dreaming about the horrid punishment she’d get when she returned, if she ever returned.
The next morning, Olive woke, she’d received a letter that night in her sleep, one from Kitty, the girl she’d sent on her mission, the mission to find her sister, who was trapped somewhere in this world, hidden by a family, her sister, Jana.
“Jana!” She exclaimed, “She’s alive! Oh, Kitty thankyou!” But Kitty couldn’t hear her, as she was shivering in a cave 10,000 miles away.
Jana didn’t wake. Her eyes were frozen shut, her breath was shallow, she was cold.
Kitty had nothing. She couldn’t make a fire, there was nothing to burn, nothing at all. She had already lost her backpack in the flames, her shoes and cardigan, she was freezing.
“Jana, I’m sorry.” She whispered, her throat stinging from the icy cold.
Jana shook her head, but her eyes didn’t open, she had no energy to open them.
Kitty began talking, “The truth is, Jana. I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing. I mean, Olive never told me, she just said to go north.”
She was interrupted by a hoarse squeaky voice, “Olive.” it whispered.
“Yeah, she’s a witch. I failed though, so she’s probably gonna turn me into a frog when I return.”
“Olive.” Jana said again, “My big sister.”
Kitty froze in shock and coldness, “What!!!”
She thought for ten seconds, if Olive was Jana’s sister, and Olive was a witch, Jana could save them. But why hadn’t she yet.
“You’re a witch.”
Jana shook her head tiredly, “No. She took magic. Killed Ma and Pa. She's evil.”
Kitty stayed frozen in the corner, for two reasons, one, she had trusted a witch, a witch that had killed her own parents, a witch that had taken her sisters magic, a witch who definitely couldn’t be trusted, two, she couldn't move. “We’re not going home.”
Kitty coughed, and fell to the floor.
Jana opened her icy eyes, “Kitty,” She whispered hoarsely, “Thank you.” Then she was gone.
A tear dripped down Kitty’s cheek, it froze against her. “Your Welcome.” She coughed again, then everything disappeared, the cave, the orphanage, Olive, her life. She was gone, following Jana to the end.