Mai and The Ashwood Witch

In Vietnam, Caobang, a village stands. If you walk a few miles north, you’ll find a forest, and if you go into the forest, you’ll find a little cottage. Nobody really knows who lives there, but recently, some teenagers went and found some keys. They tried to open the door using the key, you probably already guessed what's going to happen next, but I’ll still tell you for the people who didn't guess, they opened the door. I’m pretty sure they all got caught, but we (the people that live in the village) know this because a boy escaped, he told us never to go into the forest, not even near. Everyone was a bit shaken up, little girls and boys started crying. 

All mothers pulled their children back home except my parents. They stood there like rocks, I grabbed my sister’s arm and pulled her into my bedroom. It was the safest place I have been since I was born there. I asked, “How come mom and dad aren't scared of anything?”

 She didn't answer and went back outside. Before she left, she told me, “It’s time for your nap anyway.” But I can’t sleep with villagers missing.

As I was thinking, I tiptoed across the kitchen and grabbed my diary with the speed of lightning and ran back to my room. There, I found my cat, Mia, on my bed, “What a sweet surprise!” I whispered.

 After a few minutes, my mom came into the house, I hid my diary and pulled up the covers. She seemed quite surprised I was in bed, and she got some cat food for Mia, shutting the light after. 

As soon as she shut the door, I jumped back up and snuck out the window. I skipped along a path, one that I had been on before, because it led to my best friend Lilly’s house. I go there for supper sometimes, but my mom says I need a trusted adult bu- oh did I forget to introduce myself? Guess I’ll do it now!

 I’m Mai. I have an older sister, Elie. I also have a cat, Mia! 

Okay, back on topic, I know the way so well I could get there with my eyes closed! Say, don’t believe me? I’ll do that now.

(Little did I know, a witch was using a force of wind to push me where she wanted me to go.)

Eyes closed, I walked in the forest, wandering into the cottage before – SLAM went the door. I was so freaked out that I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was cages with children that were blind from crying, adults shaking the cages like crazy, and older men and women barely hanging on. 

I froze with fear and soon enough noticed that I was in a cage just like everyone else, my head kept turning until I found Nguyen, Thanh, and Chi. From our village, crying. 

I yelled, “CAN YOU THINK OF A PLAN TO ESCAPE?” They shot me a dirty look and kept crying.

“I guess I'm all on my own,” I muttered as I stared at the ceiling. A little girl beside me asked, “Are you Mai?”  I was going to say, how do you know? But then I realized she was Lilly!

 I asked her quickly, “How’d you get here?”

 She said, “I just wanted to buy some salt at the other side of the village, but the person selling salt was the witch who lives in the cottage!” 

Lilly gave me a pebble that looked like a piece of sand. She told me, "Here’s what I found. Use this, you can draw on the cage.”

 I drew a sword, and in the speed of a blink, a sword appeared in my hands! I drew a key based on my keyhole, and soon enough it appeared. I tried it, and as I guessed, I was out. I sprinted across the wooden floors and looked at everyone’s keyhole, but they were all different.

 I looked around the room, and I saw 4 doors with the number 1,2,3,4. 2 was my lucky number I thought, so I creaked open number 2 and poked my head in. 

Nobody! What a relief! 

As I tiptoed across the room, I saw a pair of leather boots. They had keys that were different shapes and sizes. I took a pair of leather boots and sprinted back to the “cage room” . I quickly unlocked everyone’s cage. All of them were overjoyed and escaped with ease. 

If you think I was going to stop there, you’re wrong. I’m going to burn the cottage into DUST. I went back to the village and got every match I could find in my house. I ran back to the cottage and lit all the matches. I threw them with every ounce of strength I had and sprinted out. 

Before the fire turned me into a barbecue, I ran until I nearly fainted. 

When I got home, I jumped on my bed and panted like a dog. My mom’s sweet voice floated across the kitchen and into my ear, “Supper, Mai!” 

As soon as the words came into my ear, I jumped up and sprinted into the kitchen, glued my butt to the chair, and started munching the food aggressively. I was about to munch on some mì với thịt gà, but the scream of my sister almost made me choke, “WHAT?” I yelled. Her voice was trembling. I knew there was something wrong. I looked out the dusty window and saw the witch who lived in the cottage, the one I burned into dust. I actually had never seen her before, but she looks very mad. I ran outside and saw fire, and a huge bottle of poison being dumped on a hill.

 She grew bigger and bigger. I was so mad that I couldn't hold back my temper anymore. I grabbed the sword I drew in my cage from my room and ran outside, but the witch already left! After the “natural disaster,”  some houses got burned down, and some kumquat trees got poisoned.

The next day, I woke up early to search for the witch.

 I knockedon every house, but most didn't answer. I did find a few kids and teenagers who wanted to come. But they all were under 18.

So I walked back home, hoping the villagers would be awake soon. The villagers all woke up at 8:30, and the busy morning started. I asked some more people, but most disagreed. I did find a 23-year-old man who would like to come. 

“Better than nothing!” I shrugged. The searching began, we walked in the deep forest, I searched all afternoon, but we still didn't find the witch, so we ate some blueberries and kept searching. I skipped on a thin dirt path with the other girls, however, I slipped on a pile of leaves and fell into a deep hole. Soon, a cage landed on top of m,e and the villagers, and we fell into a deep sleep. 

When I woke up, I was in a cottage. I was pretty sure this was another cottage the witch had.

I pulled out the rock Lilly gave me last time I got locked up, but it eroded into sand, and I was not very thrilled by that. I took a quick glance around the room, but the only thing I noticed was a note written on a piece of paper that had food stains and tea spills and was yellow and smelly. 

It also looked like it was ripped off a bigger piece of paper. The witch didn't put much effort into it, I thought, but it was right beside my cage, so why not take it? I shrugged. 

So I reached out my hand to grab it, but Dang snatched it before me. If you don’t know who Dang was, I’ll tell you, he is very weird and a big bully. I was kinda mad because I was curious about what the note had inside, but– on second thought, maybe I should be happy that he got the note. 

Okay, I’ll tell you why I made such a big change, because the second he opened the note, he got sucked up in whatever the note said. I slowly crawled to the edge of my cage, and I peeked at the note, it says “Australia, Snake Island.”

Without a second thought, I told the villager beside me, “Dang went to Snake Island all the way in Australia! “

 Right after I finished my sentence, her sad, gloomy face turned into the brightest smile I’ve seen, and then she yelled, "EVERYONE DANG WENT TO SNAKE ISLAND!!! DANG WENT TO SNAKE ISLAND!!!"

That put a smile on everyone’s face. Everyone started throwing whatever they had in their hands, but I wasn't about to celebrate. I have to plan something so I can escape. I looked around the room once again and- CREEK, my head whipped around. The door had a tiny slip that could perfectly fit a kitten or puppy. 

Slowly, a little creature put a paw in the room, a furry gray paw. Soon, a little kitten with pale green eyes stepped in. She walked across the room until it came to my cage, she squeezed through the bars on my cage, and curled up on my lap. I was quite surprised because it has a little silver collar that looks exactly like the one Mia has, only hers was gold with her name carved in cursive.

 When the mysterious kitten looked up, I saw the name “Kali” curved in cursive. Hmm, maybe I could adopt this kitten, I said in the smallest voice I had. I didn't want anybody to hear me, well, nobody would. Everybody was living in their own world. Will I ever get out of this junk? If I did, will anyone else get out with me? While I was thinking the witch sneaked behind my metal cage and I didn't notice AT ALL until her pitch black shadow was completely over my head, I slowly lifted my tiny head.

 And I saw an EXTREMELY ugly face, well, of course it’s the witch, I almost puked when I saw the giant warts on her face, but that wasn't the worst part, the worst part was what she said, “THAT’S MY CAT YOU LITTLE GIRL!!!” 

I asked, “So?” 

She didn't say anything for a while; she was probably quite shocked that someone stood up to her, and it was a little girl who was six. 

“Uh, wha-? Who taught you that? Who told you that you can say that to me?” She sputtered.                                                

 “Myself, and why can’t I do that?” I  said in my squeaky, unsure voice, I never stood up to a witch before, in fact this is the first time I've seen a witch. The witch gave me an icy shot and grabbed Kali out of my trembling hands.

Without thinking, I went to pull Kali back from the wicked hands. I kicked her in the chin, and she finally let go. HA! How weak, I thought when she fainted.

I was just about to take a deep breath and rest, then out of nowhere, the ugly witch jumped on my cage and scratched my arm. “BLOOD!” The little girl beside me screamed, which jump scared me hard enough, but then another also screamed, “BLOOD!”

The witch, annoyed with the noise, left without a word. 

 Soon enough, the whole room was going WILD!

I  was covering my ears and asking,” Kali, can you help me?” 

Meow, what? Meow, what? MEOW! WHAT? 

The yelling finally stopped, it feels like the world has never been so quiet. I found a tiny bag of organic mixed nuts on the creaky floors, and my hand slowly reached for it, slowly, verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly.

I was about to eat a DELICIOUS piece of cashew, but when I saw the weak look on Kali’s face, I  decided to give the first piece to Kali, so I dropped it in Kali’s mouth. 

I dug in the bag of nuts for another cashew. “Wait, what is that?” I said in the quietest voice I have, in other words, one step up from a whisper. 

Back on topic, there was a dark yellow and grey… key!  It must’ve fallen out when the witch fainted. 

Well, I haven't seen that in a long time! I looked at the key with hope- nevermind! This cage was different. I had to be outside of the cage in order to unlock it. What can I do? I thought. 

My head spun around the tiny room, but I stopped it halfway. What if I tell Kali to go out of my cage and unlock it! Purfect! I said in my mind, and I carefully placed the rusty key on Kali’s collar and ordered, “Kali, go out of my cage and unlock it, please.” 

Kali marched outside-PLONK the key got in! She twisted and squeezed with her teeth. After a few minutes, the SLOWEST minutes of my life – after all, she is a cat- CRACK! PLONK! BANG! The key unlocked it!  I sprinted out and kept searching for different keys. It took me hours, but I can’t just let the witch keep the villagers locked up.

“I haven't checked the pair of leather boots yet!  I think the last key is in there, come on!” Lilly called, and boom, there it was. 

 We all walked out of the forest– WOW, a shooting star! I haven't seen that in a while! Before I knew it, I was back home, choosing my PARENTS' bed instead of my own. After all, I was a bit shaken up and was up all night, but I managed to have some rest before breakfast. 

Oooooooh pancakes! Pancakes are my favorite, especially when I put in marshmallows! Yum, maple syrup! I drank the last drop of orange juice and rushed upstairs. Oh, I forgot to mention Kali came with me, so now I have two cats! I grab my diary and start writing, look, it’s here! ↘

Hello diary! I came back from the witch cottage, so that’s why I’m writing to you, Yaey! Okay, I’ll be back for more interesting updates, bye!

Sincerely: Mai 

It’s not a lot, so deal with it, guys! -SCREECH! WHAT WAS THAT!  I ran up the stairs and fell two times, but I managed not to break any bones and made it up to the attic. “MIA? KALI?” I screamed, nobody. Only the echo of my squeaky voice, I dragged my feet slowly, but something told me this wasn't going to end well. No matter how hard I tried, the old wooden floors would still yell when I put my weight on them.

I looked around the empty attic. The only thing I saw was a cardboard box. I slowly walked closer till I could see what was inside.

“Potions for defeating witches”  

The book said, I flipped through the old yellow pages, there were spells that were tongue twisters, potions that needed a poisonous snake, AH! This potion needs some weeds, a carrot, and some cat fur! It makes the witch melt into a puddle!

 We have a carrot farm a few houses away, and weeds are everywhere! Well, if you paid attention to the story, it's pretty obvious why I can find cat fur, so I won't explain, “ten minutes until lunch, girls!” My mom's voice floated in my ears TEN MINUTES?! I gotta get to work, “Moooom, I’m going outside, okay?” 

“Sure! Be safe and come back before lunch! “

“Okay!” I say, shutting the door and going next door to ask, ‘Mrs. Li, can I have some weeds?” 

“Sure, Mai.” She says in her old, trembling voice, I took a few weeds. 

“I gotta buy some carrots over there, bye!” 

She smiled and waved. I waved back and skipped along the short path. 

Soon, I saw a carrot farm. I took $5 out of my wallet and bought a small bag of carrots. I  munched on a few as I walked home. “Just in time for lunch Mai!” Mom said, fish, pork, veggies, rice, and my favourite, chicken wings!  

After lunch I grabbed my carrots, weeds, and some cat fur and rushed upstairs and into my room. I opened my drawer and pulled out the “ potion book”, and the book said: 

“Put the cat fur on a soft surface and then lay down the weeds, finally put the carrot on the floor or a hard surface, then say the witch’s name, and your potion should be ready.

“I did all of it except what’s the witch’s name?” I quietly asked myself, I stared at the ceiling for a while until-CREEK! “Let me guess, Kali?” Meow! Meow, “What’s the witch’s name?” I gave Kali a piece of paper,

Carmilla Blankley

Okay maybe not that neat but I read it and it looks pretty good for a cat, I say the name slowly and steadily. Smoke rises right after I say the dark, evil words, after a minute or two the smoke evaporates. The only thing in sight was a bottle with bright red liquid. I carefully grabbed the bottle and stuffed it in my lucky pouch, full of cotton. There were about three hours left until dinner, and my brain told me to take a good rest for the day and go tomorrow.

 So I grabbed my lucky pouch and stuffed it in my drawer. After that I read my favourite book, Harry Potter but I still couldn't get my mind off the fact that I had the bottle of potion in my drawer.

I started getting bored of reading, so I asked mom, “moooooooom, can I go outside and play?”   

 “Sure Mai!” “Eille is also going, you guys can go together, stay safe girls!” 

“Okay mom, me and my sister said.” 

Diary update! ↘

My day….. 

I went outside today, but instead I went with my sister Ellie. Yaey! First we bought some potatoes and a pumpkin, then we went to Mr. Nguyễn’s house for spooky stories. Children from the village would gather in his house for lessons and stories at 3:00-4:30, he is the oldest man in the village, I think he’s 100 something because he is very wise. Nobody really knows how old he is, but it’s not our fault that Mr. Nguyễn would yell at us when we asked! After we went back home for supper, it was only 4:45 when we got home, but we were hungry for a snack! THE END!  

As you saw in my diary, we (my sister and I) ate a snack, it was delicious but I was still worried about tomorrow- the day to kill the witch! I knew witches have the ability to predict the future. At least I'm prepared for absolute craziness tomorrow!

The picture you should be imagining: me lying on my bed doing NOTHING!! I’m very bored, but no one's free to talk to me, so yeah I’m just sitting here.

Hours that felt like years went by annnnnnnd- “Dinner girls”! “Yes!”  I said, out loud. I ate rice, salmon, and celery for dinner.

 After dinner I played “Go Fish” with my sister, Ellie. Suddenly Ellie asked, “Mai you're not acting like yourself, is anything wrong?” 

 “I’ll tell you tomorrow, do you want to go buy some salt?” It’s still 6:30 and the sun’s still out. “Okayyy?” Ellie said in her unsure voice, I took some money and walked over to Ellie. “Come on, let’s go!” 

She smiled in a mysterious way (but still sweet) and yelled, “mom, we're going to Muối!” 

“Ok, stay safe!” She called back, I skipped on the thin dirt path with my sister running behind me, and soon we came across the Muối shop.

I bought a big bag of salt and some mango. I skipped home again but not as fast as before. Well, wouldn't you be tired if you skipped rapidly for 20 minutes? Exactly. When we got home it was 8:00, 8:30 was my bedtime so I decided to sacrifice my late night snack and brush my teeth. Soon I finished my bedtime routine and- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 10 hours later- “MORNING!!” I yelled, Okay, Ellie said, “I’ll fix us some breakfast.” Mai you said you're going to tell me something today. “I am, can you go to the phù thủy(witch)forest with me today?” …”Okay!” Ellie says, Ellie always knows I have everything planned!

After some boiled eggs and ham sandwich for breakfast I head upstairs for my lucky pouch. We wake mom up and tell her me and Ellie are going to play outside and we’ll be back before lunch. “Okay girls stay safe!” “Okay we will!” “That is NOT true we are going to a witch cottage. How is she expecting us to stay safe?” I mumble.

I head to the forest as fast as possible, still I can't help but hear whispers on my way… 

”Mommy is she going to the witch cottage?” 

“Dad, Mai’s going to the witch cottage!” 

Also, “girls, it's too dangerous. Maybe you shouldn't go.”

But I kept going even though everyone thinks we're crazy, soon enough we got to phù thủy, I opened the door very sloooooooooooooooooooooowly, but the door kept going CREEK! At last, I slipped in with my sister. 

We tipped toed among the slippery floors, and went into the first room we saw. No witch in sight! There was a knitting set with all the colors of the rainbow. I love knitting, but it wasn't the time or the place. 

So we tipped toed back in the hallways and kept searching. After finding some “old- lady-would-love-stuff” items, we started to lose hope.

 “Hey, what is that!” My sister yelled.

 I looked forward, “WOW!” I said under my breath.

It says… The Main room 

I wouldn't even describe it as a room, it looked PITCH DARK. Without a second thought I walked in, after walking in the pitch black  hallways a white light slowly appeared, and the shadow of the witch was cooking mice. 

I snuck up behind the witch and poured all the liquid on her and before I knew it, she dissolved, nobody ever saw her wicked face ever again. 

Many years later, after I died, the village still knew my name… except I was known better as the tiny hero!

The End.