The burnt smell of smoke and fire fills Katalyn's nose. The smell is so thick that it stings her throat. She opens her eyes to see nothing but smoke and the crackling sounds of a burning building. She is standing in an empty street, everything behind her is dark and quiet but everything in front of her is up in flames. A spark from the fire burns through the frill of her white dress. She looks down and stomps it out which made it shorter than it once was. She looks back slowly to see figures in the smoke. She squints her eyes to see it better and walks towards them. The figures sway a little bit, looking as if they were walking towards her. The smoke finally clears up and Katalyn shrieks at the sight. Three women hang there with a sign that says "Punishment for witchcraft". Katalyn starts to breath heavily once she recognizes the faces. The one in the middle was the one crazed lady who sang the song she loved, the lady on the left was someone she has never seen before but the one on the right she knew.

"Maxi" whispers Katalyn, backing away from the three women.

She watches in terror as the three hanging women sway in the wind, with their faces completely colorless like the life has been crudely sucked out of them.

"No!" Katalyn screams

"Get her!" yells a man who sounded familiar

Katalyn looks to her left to see a crowd of people running towards her with lanterns and torches. Katalyn looks at the three women but then runs the other way down the street. They chase after her screaming "witch" the title that haunts her but is now her identifier. She runs as fast as she can, her heart racing. She looks back seeing her mother and father within the crowd which makes her run faster. Her feet ache, as she slams her bare feet with every step in her stride. She comes to an immediate stop when she realizes she has a dead end. Before her is nothing but a fence that leads to a dark abyss. A man comes up from the fence right in front of her.

"Alexander!" Katalyn yells

Alexander pulls out a gun and cocks it.

"What?" she whispers

"Filthy witch" he says, pointing it at her.

She backs away a couple of steps but then sprints to the right. In front of her is a ladder leading up to the top part of a faded red two-story barn so she quickly climbs up it. Alexander begins to fire at her and so she swings herself side to side to dodge them. She finally dives into the barn and hides behind the wall of the barn loft. There is a sweet smell of hay but then it turns sour and starts smelling smoky. She looks out of the loft window to see the crowd lighting the barn on fire by using the hay. She goes back behind the wall, just barely dodging another bullet.

"Why choose to hide in a place that is flammable" Katalyn whispers to herself.

The flames begin to rise, filling her lungs with smoke once again. She begins to cough and gasp for fresh air. Katalyn finds no choice but to jump off the barn loft and into the barn, landing on her feet. A splitting pain shoots through her ankle. The flames begin to surround her so she has nowhere to go but in front of the crowd. She runs through the lowest part of the flames and opens the barn door. She runs quickly out of the barn, her dress scorched along with her hair. Katalyn falls onto the ground, gasping for fresh air and slowly looks up to see the crowd hovering over her.

"Get her!" they yell

"No, please!" Katalyn yells.

Two unidentifiable men grab her, dragging her down the street but she doesn't fight them. They take her to this wooden stage with old wooden stairs. A man with a black cloth covering most of his face is standing there with a rotten smile. Katalyn looks at the wooden post that has a rope dangling from it and a trap door under it. Tears run down her face, stinging as they fall. She is dragged to the trap door and is forced to stand on it. The cloth masked man takes the loop around her neck and tightens it, causing Katalyn to flinch. She stands there quietly and calmly as she looks at the hateful stares of the people before her. Some of the people have evil grins at the thought of her death. Katalyn slowly closes her eyes and hears the lever being moved slowly and then the trap door underneath her releases.

I hope you enjoyed the snip-bit of my novella, House of Unnatural's!