A Nightmare Ritual

I’ve been looking forward to this night all month. My best friends and I are running naked through the woods behind my family’s house the bright beautiful light of the full moon shining down on us. We laugh and giggle jumping and skipping under the moon. We reach our ritual clearing and start to light the bonfire we had prepared earlier today. The flames start small but grow quickly licking the wood, consuming it, and charring its bark.

We circle around the fire; I step back and walk around the circle.

“We purify this circle in the name of the Goddess. May she guide and protect us as we perform this ritual. Forces and powers around me do spin, If thou art good I welcome thee in. With love and light we charge this space. To work our magic within this place.”

I sprinkle salt as I walk slowly. Once the circle is cast, I step back into the circle and up to the alter. Upon it lays our ritual essentials. A goblet filled with wine, A sharp dagger called an athame that glows in the fire light; and finally, five candles. I

I Pick up the Yellow, candle and walk over to my friend Shannon. She beautiful with long flowing blonde hair, blue eyes, and a brilliant wit. She takes the candle from me and I pull out my lighter and light it as I do so I say.

“We call upon the power of air, Air helps us to breathe, let it help us keep level heads tonight as we search for the knowledge Air provides.” A sweet smell of crisp morning air wafts through the circle and Shannon beams at me her body glowing in the firelight.

Next I move to my friend Andrea. She’s a stunning African - American girl with breath taking dark skin She’s so kind and compassionate it’s no wonder the goddess chose her to be our representation for water. She takes the candle from me her hands shaking slightly. This will be her first ritual with us. I give her a reassuring smile.

“We call upon the power of Water. Water helps soothe our pains and teaches us compassion. Let water help us remember these lessons as we work our magic this night.” A smell of sea water washes around us and Andreas eyes light up in amazement.

I continue around the circle to Emily, A beautiful bright red head whose passion for all things art almost matches her stunning beauty. She eagerly takes the candle and holds it out for me to light.

“We call upon the strength and power of Fire We ask that it helps us listen to our intuition and protect us tonight.” The bonfire surges and jumps up I can hear Andrea gasp as she watches the fire burn brightly. Emily grins and I swear for just a moment I saw flames inside her eyes.

I walk up to Sarah my best friend since kindergarten. She was strong, so much stronger than me. She’s the one that put together this coven. She fought for it and convinced each of us that it would be worth the danger. If we were caught, we could be hung, not to mention what they would do to us if they found us naked.

She holds out her hands for the candle and I light it.

“We call upon Earth. We ask that it bring us its strength and wisdom tonight.” The circle smells of a fresh meadow and birds around us sing gayly.

I pick up the last candle from the table and hold the purple wax in my hand lighting the wick.

“We call upon the spirit of the Goddess and ask that you bless us this night as we perform our magic.”

We dance and sing our voices ringing out in the empty woods. We cry out and pray to our Goddess sharing our pain and sorrows, our happiness and joys, our anger and hurt, we share everything. Once done we start to sing weaving our spell through the night. Tonight’s spell is for healthy crops and a good harvest this year.

“Goddess may the village harvest be bountiful and sustain us through the cold winter to come. May the love of our friends, family and the Goddess keep us warm. May we sing and dance with gaiety in the spring months to come. May we be blessed with health and husbands and children to come.”

We sing and repeat as we dance growing louder and louder.

The ritual is stopped, and the spell broken before we finished when a loud gunshot fires through the air and Shannon screams dropping like a stone. I run to Shannon and silently thank the Goddess when I realize that the bullet only grazed her arm. I help her to her feet. As Emily screams

“Witch hunters run!” We scramble taking off running through the forest together.

“Stay together girls. Don’t let them divide us”. We run through the forest; our forest we know it so well they don’t have a prayer of catching us.

We weave in and out ducking and dodging every time another gunshot rings out behind us. We run naked and barefoot through the woods. Jumping over fallen tree branches and ducking under low ones. The men chasing us are far less graceful than we are we can hear them crashing around behind us stumbling in the dark. It wasn’t until I heard the dogs start to bark that I got worried. We surge forward running faster than I ever having in my life. My lungs crying for air and my feet begging for release.

It’s not until the lake that I thought we might be free. We run into the lake starting to swim and for some reason the men stop at the shores. They don’t shoot at us they just watch us. It’s not until were out in the middle of the lake that I realize what we’ve just done. We’ve swam right into the middle of the haunted lake. Legend has it that the lake was once connected to the ocean and a giant monster was plaguing the village the towns folk managed to trap the animal into a far-off corner and seal it in with magic cutting it off from the ocean. That was centuries ago though and witchcraft is now punishable by death.

The girls freeze and look at me in horror as the realize the same thing I just did.

“Just keep swimming girls it’s just an old wife’s tale to keep babes from drowning.” I say comforting them. We make it about two-thirds of the way back to land and suddenly Emily disappears screaming under the water.

“Emily!” I scream searching frantically. It’s too dark to see her though and she doesn’t re-surface. Next, it’s Shannon that disappears under the cold murky water. Sarah and I hold each other close crying I feel something swimming around us. Something brushes up under my leg and grabs her yanking her down. I scream as she’s ripped from my arms. I swim faster than I’ve ever swam before in my life praying to the Goddess to save me from this horror. I don’t stop the first time my feet hit sand under the water I keep swimming. I start to run out of the water, gasping I fall on all fours in the sand and look back at the quiet almost glassy lake. It shows no sign of the terror that just occurred or the nightmare it holds.