She cast her mind back to that morning. She’d probably left the bottle on the shelf after applying them. Which meant that she hadn’t dropped the bottle somewhere in the city—she’d simply not brought it with her at all.
“Ugh... This is the worst.”
Cecily felt a sudden wave of exhaustion at her silly mistake, but it would take far too long to head home, retrieve her eye drops, and then return to the city. Rather, it would be far more efficient to put in the extra effort today and try and wrap up the last of her shopping as soon as she could.
I’ve only got one store left anyway. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
She had no clue just how foolish this optimism would turn out to be.
Cecily had entered a small store of knickknacks on the outskirts of the city and was perusing a shelf of buttons. She’d lost the button on her sleeve, and was searching for a similar replacement. Soon enough, she found something suitable and sighed with relief. It was at that moment that someone cried out...
“Where is it? The fabric I put out earlier is gone!”
A shiver ran down Cecily’s spine.
Nervously peering over at the source of the shouting, she saw a middle-aged woman who was most likely the store owner making a scene.
“I just restocked it! I can’t believe this. That stuff wasn’t cheap!”
All that Cecily could piece together was that the owner seemed to have misplaced some stock. And right at that moment, she locked eyes with the furious woman.
“Don’t you dare move a single step.”
Having been addressed directly, it was all Cecily could do to nod, her face frozen in fear.
Drawn in by the commotion, a number of passersby gathered round to see what was afoot. The crowd which was forming sealed off the only way out. Pulling her hood further down over her face, all Cecily could do was stand still in the corner of the store.
As she peered out from below the rim of her hood, she saw that there was one other customer in the store apart from herself. The store owner glared at them both, one after the other.
“As you may have heard, some valuable fabric has gone missing. I’d placed it here, but now it’s gone. Do you know where it might be?”
The owner may have phrased this query as a question, but it was clear from the suspicion in her tone and from her expression that she was sure the perpetrator was standing right in front of her eyes. They were the only ones in the store, so it was a natural conclusion to come to. Cecily felt the stares of the crowd fall on her and the other customer. It was as if their eyes were roaming all over her body. Cecily couldn’t help but pull her shoulders into herself.
“I didn’t take a thing!”
But then, hearing the other customer practically shout in anger, Cecily realized her mistake. If she remained silent, others would think she had something to hide. Indeed, the crowd were starting to view the silent Cecily with growing suspicion.
“I d-didn’t take anything...either,” Cecily said. However, her faltering voice was so quiet that no one heard her. As the pressure of the unrelenting stares on her grew, a painful chill ran down her spine.
What do I do? At this rate, they’ll pin the crime on me even though they have no proof...
“Look at her eyes!”
Hearing a voice from the entrance, Cecily instinctively looked up. The onlookers all stared at her. As she wondered what it was they were looking at, her breath caught in her throat.
A mirror on a nearby shelf reflected Cecily’s face—along with her red eyes.
The eye drops wore off!
Cecily tried to hide her face, but it was already too late.
“She’s got red eyes!”
“Is she a witch?”
The crowd bubbled with curious voices.
Feeling all the stares focus not on the other man but now on her, Cecily pulled her hood down as low as it would go. She tried to ignore them, but it was impossible.
“Filthy creature. What’s a red-eyed witch doing in our fair city?”
An old woman had come forward from the crowd, pointing at Cecily as she uttered these derisive words.
“Us older folks know the truth. Witches are tricksy creatures who can concoct all manner of foul potions. I bet that witch used a potion to magic the fabric away!”
Hearing the old woman’s decisive tone, the crowd murmured and exchanged glances, wondering to each other if such a thing was possible.
The hands gripping her hood felt cold as ice. Cecily couldn’t help but bite down on her lower lip in anxiety.
I’ve never seen or even heard of a potion that can do that!
“This woman’s making up stories and simply trying to frame me!”
She wanted to say this, but her throat felt tight and the words wouldn’t come out. Perhaps due to her silence, the crowd began to chatter among themselves.
No! I didn’t take anything!
Yes, it was true that there were stories about a bad witch who had long ago tricked the royal family and caused chaos in the kingdom, but witches didn’t do such cruel things anymore. Witches now lived in small settlements across the land in peace, and this included the village where Cecily had grown up. However, it seemed that the older generation still held discriminatory views towards witches.
Does anyone deserve this treatment just because they’re a witch? It’s far too cruel!
Cecily wanted to shout back at them...but she’d felt the same about witches when she was a little girl herself.
Back in those days, when she was a happy young girl who didn’t know about her true identity, she often spoke badly of witches, believing them to be crafty and cruel. Whenever her storybooks ended with the wicked witch getting her just deserts, she’d clap her hands with joy.
But, unlike the witches in her stories, Cecily hadn’t harmed a single person. She simply lived in peace deep in the forest where no one would dare to venture, trying not to get in anyone’s way. To be treated like this despite her peaceful ways was too much for her.