The Witch and the Hell Hound

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. There had always been stories in these woods about old witches, Bigfoot and hell-hound type dogs that roam freely with no care or concern of those of us who have come to settle here.

I knew better than to believe that of the witches, for their purpose and magic was based in the cycles of nature, and no matter what they're personal desires, the balance of everything was essential to their work.

I presumed the light was a sign that one of the witches had chosen to come here for something. As I entered the woods and walked toward the cabin, I began to feel every hair on my body stand up and nervous tingles shoot down my spine into my butt and linger there. I hesitated for a moment, thinking perhaps that I was walking into my own demise. My curiosity won out, and I continued toward the flickering light of the candle.

When I had made it about twenty feet from the door, I heard footsteps coming up behind me, almost as if someone was following my steps. I stopped and turned, of course seeing nothing. I took a deep breath and turned again toward the cabin, and as I did, I felt what seemed like breathing on the back of my neck. I took a step forward, then another- taking every bit of my being to not cry and run away in terror. When I was about five feet from the door, I was startled by a voice breaking the air.

'Are you there?' It was a woman's voice, strong, confident and young sounding and I was sure it was the witch I had expected to find.

All of a sudden, I heard a loud **HUFF**, like a bear of a large dog from directly behind me. I froze stiff, waiting to be eaten from behind.

At the same time, so quickly that I screamed and peed myself all in the same moment, the door to the cabin flew open...

'You are there!' the voice exclaimed and I felt a large hand grasp around my waist as I was pulled inside quickly-almost transported- and the door slammed behind me.

I had been in this cabin many times since I was a child, and it had always been near empty, with only a rotting bench in the middle of the room and the ruins of what you could tell was an old wash station in the corner.

As I looked around, in both fear and astonishment, I saw a room filled with growing herbs, decorations adorned with symbols I knew nothing about and the entire ceiling covered with bundled herbs hanging to dry.

'You are a witch!' I exclaimed, my voice cracking a bit as the fear had not yet subsided enjoined with surprise and relief that I was right.

'Of course I am,' she replied, 'did you expect any less?'

I didn't answer, mostly because she was right. My mind swirled with questions about how she had gotten there and changed the cabin and brought in all these things as my eyes settles on a beautiful wooden table in the center of the room where the worn-out bench usually was.

'I've always been here,' she said, almost like she was reading my mind. 'You just couldn't see my world. I've watched you play in my house thinking it was empty for years. You've crossed the veil today, child.'

'How......and wwhy?' I stuttered, half angry she had called me child though at the same time knowing that I was somewhere I had no idea what was going on.

'Because of that thing out there' she motioned toward the door. 'The hellhound has run amok and decided he wants to be the king of the woods. Has taken it upon himself to try to kill everything instead of staying within the limits of those ready for dead. But you're here now, so we can take care of that!'

A wave of fear swept through me; did she mean to feed me to the creature, was I bait for some crazy plan? My brain went in circles with possibilities and my body shook as I began to scan the room for possible ways out of this trap, even though my nerves had me frozen stiff again.

She went to the window and hollered, 'Are you gonna show yourself this time?!' into the darkness outside, squinting her eyes to see what might be in the wood-line. Then she turned to me and asked, 'What in the world did you sow to bring him to this hill?'

I was perplexed at her question, having no idea what she was talking about. We kept a small garden, enough to feed the family for a portion of the year and we hadn't planted outside of the norm. There had been some pest weed we had been fighting, an orange vein like overgrowth that seemed to want to strangle out much of our garden.

'That?' she exclaimed. I was stopped mid-thought, surprised as I had not been speaking, she had apparently read my mind again. 'The demon's own hell-weed. Hmmmm, well then, I suppose it ain't your fault.' She let out a sharp sigh and turned to her collection of plants. As she did so, a loud bang came on the door with a growl. The hound was trying to break down the door!

I looked over at the witch who seemed unconcerned as the entire door frame shook, looking to come inches into the cabin.

'Are you going to do anything?!' I screamed at her as the door was hit again. I looked from the door to her as she sat mixing some things together, seeming a pointless task to me as the door was hit again. This time, a loud **crack** was heard of boards breaking, it would only take one or two more to bring the door crashing down.

She was uttering things quietly that I couldn't understand. I did catch her snip, 'Can't anyone be patient these days anymore, always a now thing.'

I almost opened my mouth to exclaim how that statement erred, as there was a hellhound at the door who was about to get in; but before I could finish the breath to start speaking, what seemed like fire upon sulfur came up from the bowl she had been mixing in.

That startled me almost as much as the bang on the door that came directly after, and the door busted straight through the middle, leaving a crack about six inches wide from the bottom almost halfway up.

I looked hard at the hole in the door and could not see anything, I had expected a huge beast with big eyes and sharp teeth snarling at me. I could hear it still on the other side of the door but could not see anything. My astonishing fear was interrupted by the witch, “Here, take this!'

She threw a leather satchel at me, which I assumed to be the mix of herbs that had caught fire just moments before. As soon as I had it in my hand, I saw a HUGE black dog break through the door and run straight at me. He had glowing eyes and it seemed like fire came from out of his mouth. I didn't know what to do and I found the hand that held the satchel shot straight out in front of me as I tightly closed my eyes and braced for the impact of the dog's attack.

It never came. I counted three breaths, and the dog should have devoured me in only half a breath. I slowly opened my eyes; one, and then the other, and saw that I was standing on the side of the garden-right where you kiddos sit now.

I looked out into the woods to the cabin and saw the candle was no longer in the window and it seemed like the door was still intact on its frame.

My entire body was trembling, still expecting at any moment to be eaten alive by the black dog I had seen for just a moment seconds before and began to wonder if I was dead.

'Ya see there,' the witch startled me as she was standing beside me all of a sudden, 'a good love healing spell works every time when hell comes to call. But ya better watch your garden well, and don't let them parasite buggers take over again.'

'What was in that mix?' I asked.

'Don't you worry about that,' she replied, 'just keep rosemary growing strong and mind when the peppermint gets weak. The hellhound is still out there, his energy merely limited to those destined for dead once more.'

And so, as the witch instructed, I have grown rosemary tall and strong since and we keep a patch of peppermint right over there........”

He trailed off, as we all looked at the peppermint patch and could see an orange vein-like growth spreading quickly over the plants......

And then heard the howl of a wolf.....