Come Back Witch

Vinces, now completely focused on the reflection of David in the window, slowly started to notice something wasn't adding up with the rest. The reflection itself seemed wrong, not David.

After noticing the first mistake, it all seemed to come together. Even though David seemed to be directly behind him, breathing down his neck, Vinces didn't feel a thing, which only strengthened his suspicion that the window itself was trying to trick him and not David.

His instincts weren't warning him about David. They were warning him about looking away, or something bad would happen to him. And his mission was not to be the one to find out.

He tried to grab one of the tools from the floor, making sure to keep eye contact with the entity, but his hands just couldn't grab anything from the angle he was sitting at.

With each passing second, his eyes started to burn more and more from not blinking, but he could not risk even looking away for a single moment. Desperation slowly started to kick in as his hand still couldn't reach anything.

Vinces could feel the seconds and then minutes pass by. While the landscape changed, the face seemed to be locked in place on the window. With his last bit of strength, he reached down again, once more grabbing nothing, but just before he pulled his hand up again, he felt a screwdriver poking his arm.

It was David. Even though he seemed to be focusing on driving, he noticed something was wrong with Vinces and decided to trust him on whatever was bothering him.

Vinces grabbed the cold screwdriver, feeling more happiness than when his ex finally left him. He pierced the face and, with it, the window, with his weapon. The old glass instantly splintered outwards. A horrifying scream pierced his ears. ''THE WITCH CAN'T SAVE YOU FOREVER'' as the glass pieces with the face on them laughed and disappeared, falling into the road, while David seemed to accelerate the truck.

Vinces stayed frozen, his whole body filled with adrenaline, not sure if whatever he tried truly fixed the problem. But before he could fall into a panic, a strong hand grabbed his shoulder as David held him, trying to calm Vinces down.

''Did you hear that too?'' Vinces asked, shivering from fear. David shook his head. ''I didn't hear anything but something felt wrong… really wrong.'' Vinces was relieved that his new friend didn't have to witness such horror but also scared that he might be the only one to notice such things. While searching around the broken glass, hoping the monster was gone, whatever it was, it seemed to only have a limited range of attack.

His thoughts were still hanging on the last words the entity said; he did not remember being saved by anyone. "The witch… David, have you heard of any witches around here?''

"A witch? Not really. You mean like an old hag brewing potions?" David just shrugged, nearly driving off the lane. Vinces looked at the ceiling, his thoughts trying to connect the dots. There were a few possible answers to the question based on David's answer.

Of course, it could be a person he hasn't met yet at all or didn't notice. There was also the possibility of the ghost-like girl being the witch; she was at the place at the right time. Another possibility was that the witch was a village member or a long-dead person protecting the villagers from the grave. Maybe with a protective charm or a certain ritual. Physical means also seemed to have some effect on the entities.

Looking at the windshield, Vinces furrowed his brow. He could have sworn there had been a metal band charm hanging from the rear mirror, but now it seemed gone.

The truck came to an abrupt halt. ''What's wrong, David?'' Vinces sat up straight, looking around warily. ''I don't know, the truck just doesn't work anymore'' David's voice was filled with fear and confusion as he opened his door and checked on the motor. Vinces also opened his door nearly breaking it off its old socket.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelFire for the genuine story.

"Vinces, there might be a problem. The motor is gone.'' David's voice sounded confused but also uncertain.

"What do you mean the motor is gone, no fuel?" Vinces still tried to climb out of the truck. He could feel David's nervousness.

''No, the whole thing, every part as if it never existed.'' Vinces hurried over finally getting out, seeing the entire motor gone as a whole.

David sat on the ground trying to rack his brain over what was happening. Vinces seemed to realize something.

''This is like the first fairy tale, the book.'' Vinces seemed to nearly fall into a panic from the realization.

"A book?" David looked up at him, confused.

"It's from an old children's book back home. Those monsters seem to almost match perfectly. A mirror eating your soul if you look away. A goblin stealing everything valuable and in this car it's only your motor."

David seemed to grasp the horror that might await. "Those are surely the worst of them all, right?''

"I wish they were, but something is not adding up. There was no witch or platinum-haired ghost ever in the book.''

David only seemed to get more depressed about the news. ''Well, there were also some good monsters in there for the good children,'' Vinces quickly added so as not to discourage the old man.

"But what are fairy tale characters doing in our world?" David still wanted to find a logical way to explain all of this.

''Believe me, if I knew, I wouldn't be here.'' Vinces also decided to sit down, just a bit away from David.

''So what do we do now?'' David didn't even look up from the ground, still trying to adjust to this situation.

''Out of the three anomalies, only one was friendly to us: the ghost girl. Well, and the witch, if we believe what the mirror said. '' Vinces lay on the ground trying to think of a solution. Even if he counted all the things that happened in his past, this was way above his league.

''I think there was a way to get things stolen from the goblin back,'' Vinces jumped up, feeling motivated by finding a possible solution.

''The goblin in the books steals from the naughty. But I just can't remember why. Or was it a gremlin?''

David shot upright. ''Come on, think, there must be something.''

Vinces began to hit his head slightly trying to remember. "Well, it usually is a gremlin in those sorts of stories, right? or a goblin. I just can't remember.''

David looked at him, confused. "Well, can't we just try against both?"

Vinces shook his head. "One wants all that's naughty to be destroyed, while the other wants you to give away what you have too much of."

David scratched his head. "All that's naughty? You mean sweets and similar things.'' Just a second later, the realization hit him. "This also includes drinks, right?" His mood instantly sank to the bottom.

"Giving away what we have too much of? I don't really have anything on me right now. What about you, David?''

David stayed quiet for a long moment. "Medicine for the village..."

For Vinces, having to choose between destroying the alcohol or destroying the medicine was an easy choice for him. But he knew exactly if he were to choose the wrong sacrifice, the entity would recognize their attempt to become well-behaved only for their personal gain and never give them their motor back.

David stood up and quietly walked towards the truck as Vinces began to realize something: a long-term alcoholic like David would never throw away his drinks even if it meant destroying maybe important medicine.

Vinces instantly stormed over to David, tackling him to the ground. Caught off guard, David was easily overwhelmed by the younger foe. "Let me go, Vinces; you don't understand this." But before David could talk, Vinces hit him squarely in the face, staggering him to the ground and making him unable to stand up. Now alone, he heard a small amused giggle coming from the truck; staring up, he saw a small creature standing in front of it. Hidden completely in robes.

"So am I a Gremlin or a Goblin? Choose wisely, or well, you won't ever be able to escape the forest before IT catches you.''

The creature laughed knowing it already won in some way.

Vinces simply walked up to it, relaxed, as if he already knew the answer. "Shut up, Goblin," as he tried to punch it, but it quickly jumped away. Sweat was running down his face as he just took a great gamble. One wrong choice or underestimating the being could very well be his end.

''HOW DID YOU KNOW I WAS A GOBLIN??'' the creature screamed in frustration.

Vinces simply laughed. ''Oh I didn't but thank you for the confirmation.'' The goblin tried to but froze in the air, bound by his own rules.

Vinces began running back into the truck, throwing out one bottle of beer after another, letting them scatter on the ground. With that, the last bottle was scattered across the ground. But nothing happened.

David finally stood up perplexed and half crying, already knowing what Vinces had done, but he wasn't crying over the lost liquor but rather because he had endangered lives for his own greed, following Vinces inside. "There is one last one." He opened a hidden compartment with a kick and an old bottle of wine dropped out. ''If that will bring me out of this shit, I'm more than happy to sacrifice it.''

With a powerful throw, he smashed it against a stone, letting the red wine sink into the ground. Just a moment later, a mad scream came from all around them. After hearing it, Vinces instantly jumped outside, once again checking the motor.

"It's back! We can finally escape this place!''

Vinces ran back inside, just as David started the motor'' And it's working too!'' David seemed to shine with happiness. He had seemingly never been so happy before driving.

Vinces instead lay down in his seat and closed his eyes for a few minutes.

But David's happiness didn't last long; about 15 minutes later, he woke Vinces up.

''Something is wrong with this forest… it doesn't seem to end at all.''