A Collection of Stories

Sydney did her best to pretend she was normal around Thomas. She participated in all his games, helped him with homework, and did everything a sister and brother were known to do. This included fighting, but Sydney always let Thomas win. It was her mother’s instructions.

“If you win, Sydney, then Thomas might think you’re better than he is, and we can’t have that.”

Sydney knew the answer to that already. Thomas had to think he was stronger than Sydney, but secretly Sydney was a witch and a witch was stronger than any boy or man. That’s why witches were hunted by men - they were scared of anything stronger than themselves.

That’s the part that Sydney didn’t get. Surely Thomas would never hunt her...

“Why can’t Thomas know that I’m a witch?” she asked.

Her mother set down her coffee and replied with a scowl, “Because only witches may know about other witches, and Thomas is not a witch. He is your brother, and therefore he cannot be a part of the sisterhood.”

Sydney slowly nodded and returned to her studies. She had two tests coming up. One was for school and the other for her mother. Sydney could stand to do poorly in math, but if she didn’t brew a healing spell with absolute precision then she knew her mother would be disappointed.

“Sissy, why is your door always closed?” Thomas asked one day.

Sydney’s colouring was brought to a complete halt. “Because Mama says I can’t let you in there.”

“Why?”

“Because little brothers don’t go into their sister’s room.”

Thomas turned to her with shining eyes. “But. . . I want to play with you in your room. You play games with me in mine!”

Sydney rolled her eyes and returned to colouring her geography project.

Thomas poked her arm. “Sissy? Can I please go inside your room? I promise not to tell Mama.”

Sydney shook her head.

Thomas stomped his foot and huffed, “Fine! You’re the meanest sissy ever! I don’t like you!” He ran to his room, slamming the door.

Sydney dropped her pencil crayon. “I’m sorry, Thomas.” She buried her head in her arms and sobbed.

She was still like that when her mother came home. She went to Thomas’s room first, then wandered back into the dining room where Sydney was sitting.

“You both seem upset,” her mother commented. “What’s the matter?”

Sydney sighed, glancing in the general direction of Thomas’s room. She knew he must still be in there sobbing, if not upset. “Thomas wanted to play in my room today.”

Her mother frowned. “You know he can’t.”

“Yes, I know, Mum!” Sydney snapped. “I told him that! Now he thinks I’m the worst sister in the world, and it’s all your fault.”

Her mother raised a brow, taken aback by Sydney’s outburst. She took Sydney’s pencil crayons and the paper out from under Sydney’s hands. “For that, you can study for the rest of the night and have no play time. I’ll go talk to Thomas and see if I can explain things to him.”

Sydney pouted and leaned against the table, not watching her mother walk away.

Sydney bolted upright in bed. She panted, It was a dream, just a dream.

But it was far from a dream. It was real. Those were her memories haunting her. A nightmare.

Sydney glared out at the almost-dark moon. “Curse you. Why couldn’t you represent pleasant dreams and wonderful nights? Instead, now, I’m stuck with nightmares. Why am I a star-gazing witch anyway...?”

Sydney shook her head. She turned to the clock on her nightstand. It was only 1:34 AM. There was no point in staying up all night, she’d only be less productive tomorrow.

“May as well face the nightmares...”

Sydney settled back in bed.

Thomas gazed around Sydney’s room with awe and wonder. He clapped his hands at the sparkling knickknacks hanging from Sydney’s ceiling, and he squealed in delight at the telescope. He peeked into the lens and chuckled. “Wow, it’s really cool. What’s that?”

Sydney smirked and leaned against the desk that the telescope sat on. “It’s nothing, silly, there’s a cap covering the end. Besides, you can’t look in it except for at night. That’s how you read the stars. And all these?” She gestured to the twirling brass objects hanging from her ceiling. “Can you guess what these are all for?”

He took one look then shrugged.

Sydney chuckled. “Well, this one. . .” She pointed to the biggest device of all. “. . .tells me where all the planets are. It’s cursed to follow all the planets no matter what time of the year it is. I can also use these. . .” She fetched some dice from a tin on her shelf. “. . .to show me where the planets will be on whatever date I say! What this!”

She gathered them into her hands and shook them. Sydney murmured a date then tossed them. All nine scattered across the floor, some stopping immediately, and others spinning until they settled into a spot.

“This shows that a couple planets will be lined up, but not all of them, on your next birthday, Thomas! Umm. . . I think it means. . .”

Sydney stilled.

Thomas pouted and tugged on her sleeve. “What does it mean, sissy?”

Sydney shook her head. “Nothing, Thomas, I think I’m reading them wrong. C’mon, this stuff is boring, let’s go get something to eat.”

Thomas laughed and rushed out of her room. “I want grilled cheese!”

Sydney glanced back at the dice before leaving. They couldn’t possibly be right. Thomas wouldn’t... die. She’d have to study up on planet-reading again much later.

Sydney groaned and rolled over in her bed. Her stomach felt heavy with guilt. If only she had listened to the warning the dice gave her, she might have been able to save her brother.

Sydney scoffed. “Don’t let your sleep-deprived mind get to you, Sydney. You know rule breakers are punished. You know that no men, be them grown or children, are allowed into the world of witchcraft. You should have listened to your mother because now Thomas is... Thomas...”

She sighed and closed her eyes.

“Oh, you know what happens next. Just fall asleep. Dream it. Dream it and get it over with.”

“How could you show him!?”

Tears filled Sydney’s eyes and threatened to spill over. “I-I’m sorry, mama, but. . . he promised not to tell anyone else! He promised!”

Sydney felt her mother’s hand collide with her cheek. She screamed as she hit the floor. There was a thud and then silence. Sydney hiccuped and forced herself to sit up. She glanced around the room, tears fogging her vision. “Mama?”

She heard a scream from Thomas’s room. Sydney hopped to her feet.

“Mama? Thomas!? What’s wrong?”

Her mother lifted Thomas by his arm. He dragged his limp body across the floor.

Sydney’s eyes widened. “Mama? What’s wrong with Thomas?”

Her mother locked eyes with Sydney. The pure anger in her mother’s brown eyes shocked Sydney stiff. With a scowl, her mother answered, “Because of you, your brother can no longer exist. He will go away and you will never speak of him again.”

“What? But Mama!”

Her mother raised a threatening arm and Sydney flinched. Fear filled Sydney’s chest, the fear of pain, but nothing ever came. She stood in her doorway as her mother dragged Thomas down the hall.

Sydney never saw Thomas again. She was almost certain he was dead. If not, then she would never know since her mother never spoke of Thomas again.

It was as though he had never existed at all. Just a childhood dream.

“Just a dream,” Sydney reassured herself. She slid out of bed, five minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off.

“Maybe I’ll ask Mother to erase my memories too,” she said to her reflection. Then, with a smile and a shake of her head, she added, “But of course mother would say no. You can’t erase the past mistakes for then you won’t learn from them.”

She gathered the day’s clothes into her arms and headed for the shower, ignoring the sound of her alarm screeching behind her.