New Beginnings

Castle Hill Stories
New Beginnings
2
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Boxes filled with bits and pieces of a life were stacked in the U-haul. Dawn pulled her sun glasses off and looked in the truck. Her beaten and bruised face was a sign of what her life had been. She picked up a box and headed toward the house and her new beginning.

As Dawn walked to the house she tried hard not to think about all the things she needed to get done in the next week. She needed to find a job and a babysitter for her younger daughter Trin. Keep her confidence up was going to be hard with her Mother around.

“Why did you waste the money dragging this junk here? You don’t even have any real furniture. If you think Dad and I are going to hand money out to you left and right you better think again” said Dawn’s Mother Bessie. Bessie was seventy-two and she came from a different time then her forty year old daughter.

“Thank you Mom for coming out here today. Also thank you for talking to Nick about a job for me. You might not believe me but I appreciate it.” Dawn had to bite down hard on her tongue to get that out of her mouth without screaming. She just had to get this stuff off the truck. One step at a time she told herself.

Lauren wasn’t as good at holding her tongue as her Mom. She carried a load of stuff past her grandmother and she said low so her Mother wouldn’t hear “lighten up will ya. She’s had the crap beat out of her and now your beating her with your mouth.”

“Well I never told her to marry that good for nothing.” Bessie said as she followed Lauren in the house.

The ladies got the stuff off the U-haul and in the house in a timely fashion. Bessie gave her remarks where she could. Dawn was growing ever so tired but she held in her hands the last load of stuff. Trin came bouncing around the outside of the house and up on the porch with her older sister and grandmother. They watched as Dawn walked with her hand full of stuff toward them. Right as she crossed the salt circle a pain ripped through Dawn and she collapsed in a faint.

Lauren quickly jumped off the porch and was down to her mother. Bessie grabbed Trin’s hand and came down beside Dawn.

“Mom! Mom! Mom can you hear me?” Lauren was frantic for a response from her Mother. She moved the stuff away from her and brushed her hair back from her face.

Dawn slowly opened her eyes. She knew her daughters and her mother were standing there. She understood that she was lying on the ground of the house she just rented. What she was focused on was the blue flames shooting up from the salt circle. And she knew with out question that she was the only one that could see it.

“Lauren what the hell is this salt circle?