Its warming up outside, I can see the frost slowly melting off the grass in the warmth of the sun. It’s still cold out, for the brutal winter just ended. I feel the cold smack me in the face as I walk through my mahogany colored doorway.
I start to head down the gravel driveway, but before I can walk another step, four tiny arms wrap around my legs stopping me from moving forwards. I turn around to my children; Scott and Sabrina. I give them a quick hug and tell them, “Go back inside to your father; it’s far too cold out for you two.” As they skip off, I wave to my husband, Richard, then head out.
There are not that many things to do on my morning walks but to think. I like to let my mind wander. ‘Only two people died this winter, that’s an improvement to last year; four people died. I’ve never actually gone to an interrogation before, it just seems wrong to me. But of course I couldn’t say anything because then I would be accused. What would happen to Richard? What would happen to the kids? That’s enough thinking for today. I don’t need to worry about being falsely accused; I have no enemies who would accuse me for my land or my family, at least none I know about.
As I near the center of town, I see Abigail. We were really close when we were younger, but as time passed we drifted apart like the ice on the polar caps, not to mention the horrific thing she did to me. It was unforgivable. Her hair as black as the night sky with no moon or stars. Her eyes are a silver blue, like the sky met a foggy morning. Though she smiles, I look away and keep walking, I’ve been down that path before and I don’t want to relive it.
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I woke up bright and early today. The sound of birds chirping at dawn is just marvelous. But alas, it was too cold out for the birds to sing their wake up song.
I step outside for a breath of fresh cold air. As I look up, I see Ann walking down the path. I smile and wave but I know she is just going to keep walking like I’m a ghost. And that’s exactly what she did. She has been doing that a lot recently, and for the life of me I could not tell you why. Stepping back inside I took a minute to appreciate my new house. It went on the market during the winter, after Phil was executed for being a witch, even though he was falsely accused. That case was very stressful; he was close to coming out innocent which would make the accuser (me) suspicious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everywhere I go, people have been giving me this strange look, and backing away from me like I had some kind of disease. I decided to just let it go and go home.
Walking up the driveway, the dewy grass soaked my toes, through my shoes and my wool socks. The kids rush outside to greet me.
“Hi mother!” Sabrina squealed.
“Hi Mom!” Scott followed.
“Hi kids how are you?” I say more towards Richard than the kids. He looks at me with a look of love and a look of disgust. I bring the kids inside and cook them a small breakfast. Richard summons me outside so I go.
“What’s going on Richard?” Concerned he pulls me out of sight from the kids then explains.
“What are your plans for April 27?”
“That’s tomorrow Richard. You know I don’t like making last minute plans.”
“This is necessary” He said slowly raising his voice.
“Why?”
“You’ve been accused.” He whispered so quietly it took me a minute to fully understand what he said.
“What?”
“I said ‘You’ve been accused.’” His tone getting angrier and angrier with each sentence, each word, each syllable, each letter.
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know but I got this in the mail today.” He hands me a mustard colored envelope with the name Ann Miller on the front of it.
“Go make sure the kids cleaned up after eating, I need some time alone right now.” I flip the envelope over and over in my hands, forcing myself to hold back the tears building up inside of me.
“It’s going to be ok. We’ll get through this.” He assures me.
As he heads inside, I sit on a rock in the front yard and tear open the envelope. It reads;

Dear Mrs. Miller,
You have a mandated court meeting on April 27, due to a certain person who would like to stay anonymous. We will see you at 8:00 AM sharp. Do not be tardy.
    Sincerely,
     Judge Monty

No wonder everyone was looking at me strange today, I guess the word got out.
As the day passes, all I can do is think about what I’m going to say, and how I’m going to get out of whatever mess I’m in.
It’s getting colder by the second, the sun has nearly set. It is night now and it’s dark outside, so dark I can barely see the door is right in front of me. As I lay in bed, terrified, I drift off to sleep; only calming a little.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John’s scrawny hands clap together once, twice, three times. Three long slow spaced out claps.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.” He bluffed.
“Tell me.”
“What do you need from her?” he blurts out.
“Who?”
“Ann. What else do you want? You already have this beautiful house from Fred-“
“Would you stop complaining? None of this could have happened without your help. And you know it.”
“Yes, but-“
“This is a two person job. Now are you with me or are you against me? And trust me; you don’t want to get on my bad side.” I bark.
“Yes.” He said as if he were a soldier and I his commanding officer.
“Good. Now get some rest, we need to be ready for the case tomorrow. I don’t need you messing this up!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Its 7:02 right now and I’m not sure how I feel about this situation. I roll out of bed and get in my nicest clothes.
I’m too nervous to eat so at 7:49, I head out. The kids are still asleep which makes it easy to sneak out.
Arriving at the court house, I start to feel butterflies fluttering around in my tummy. Walkin’ into the old building, I could tell that no one wanted to be here, including me. Looking around, the judge is nowhere to be found.
“Maybe this is all just one, big, huge, cruel joke.” I huff under my breath.
The doors swing open and the judge is murmuring things like; “Sorry I’m late.”, “Let’s get stared right away” and “What case is this again?” and worst of all “Oh yeah the one with the witch.”
The one with the witch?! That can’t be good.
“Ok let’s get started.” Judge Monty exclaimed.
“Excuse me your Honor.” I squealed.
“Yes Mrs. Miller?” he sounded annoyed like I did something wrong.
“I don’t think everyone is here.” I say eyeing the empty seat across from me.
“Ah yes, it looks like Mrs. Birch is missing.”
“Where have I heard that name before...?” Oh Abigail Birch! “No it can’t be.”
“What can’t be doll face?” I hated when Abigail called me doll face.
There is so much tension in this small room; the sharpest knife on the planet couldn’t cut it.
“Now, is everyone here?”
“I believe so your Honor.” Abigail and I say simultaneously.
“Then let’s get started, shall we? Now Mrs. Birch, which method do you prefer?”
Which method? What is going on?
“Dunking your Honor.” She exclaimed almost excited.
“Then it’s settled, Mrs. Miller, will you please rise and follow me outside?”
“Yes your Honor.”
It’s warmer outside which means spring is upon us.

“Okay, now this is very simple. I am going to ask you this one question. I am going to ask you repeatedly. I need you to answer with the truth and nothing but the truth. Do you understand Mrs. Miller?”
“Yes your Honor. But if you don’t mind me asking, what is the question?”
“The question is-“
“Your honor, shouldn’t she be sitting before she knows what is going to happen.” Abigail interrupts as she knows the question is bad.
“Yes alright Mrs. Birch.” He starts walking towards me but then cuts to the right at the last second. He is walkin’ towards a pond with something on the edge of it. It’s hard to make out what it is from here but it looks like some kind of a chair.
I start to slowly inch my way over to Judge Monty. The dew dancing around on the grass, getting my toes more and more moist with each step. At first I can only see little droplets of water gathering on the edge of my cloth shoes, but the more I walk the wetter it gets and by the time I get to the pond, I feel like I’m walkin’ in a pool of water.
Up close it is clear to see why I have been forced here. And there is no getting out of it now or ever. I am going to die here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This plan is going perfectly so far. I’m surprised that John hasn’t messed this up yet. It took forever for me to make that fake robe for him. It wouldn’t be believable if we didn’t go all in. As Ann takes her precious time walking to her death, I catch a look from John (Judge Monty). He looked guilty as if we are doing something wrong. Which we clearly are but what else is new.
As Ann sits on the ‘wooden throne’, as some people call it, I can’t help but smile, what a beautiful woman gone to waste.
“Abigail- excuse me, Mrs. Birch, will you please assist me in strapping Mrs. Geller to the seat?”
“Yes your honor.”
I shoot him a look. He almost blew our cover.
“Ok now that I am firmly strapped to this seat, will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Yes Mrs. Geller. Mrs. Birch here, has claimed many times that you are a witch. Now for most people, one or two times accusing someone is not enough, but for Abigail Birch here, well she has been very loyal to our judges. Every person she has accused has confessed to being a witch or dying in the process. So when she said that you were a witch, we decided to bring you in immediately to keep or town safe.”
“But I’m not a witch!” There’s no use trying anymore Ann, just get that into your head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know there’s no point in trying to get out of here alive, but if I die today, I want to die with dignity. I will not cave!
“Ann are you ready?”
“Yes your honor.” I say shaking more than the worst earthquake imaginable.
“Ok, Ann are you a witch?”
“No I am not a witch.” I know what’s coming so I take a big deep breath and prepare for the cold water. Here it comes, I count in my head to make the time go by quicker. 1… There is a thin layer of ice covering the frigid pond. 20… It’s getting a little harder but not much. 40… Almost done I know I can do this. 60… done with phase one.
Getting pulled up I gasp for air because I know it’s coming again.
“Ann are you a witch?”
“No I am not a witch!” this time its 4 minutes. I am certain I can not last that long. 1 minute passes with little ease. 2 minutes, I can barely hold on. 3 minutes. All the air is gone from my lungs. I open my mouth for air but there is none. There is water all around me. I take in a gulp of water and start coughing. I can’t do it. I can’t hold on any longer. I can feel my lungs collapse in my chest. I feel my heart stop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Look no bubbles. You know what that means.”
“I think so.”
“We won silly!” John can be stupid at times but I couldn’t have pulled it off without him. “Bring her up just to make sure.”
“Ok.”
There, sitting in front of me is a lifeless Ann Miller, her skin as pale as a baby’s bum, her hair flopped over covering most of her face. “I thought this day would never come.” I walk over and give John a nice warm hug. “Now go write the paper saying she confessed. I need to go inform my future family about the miss fortune with the mom of the household.
I knock on the Miller’s front door and I’m delighted to see Richard and his kids standing there welcoming me into their home. “Richard is there anywhere we can speak in private?”
“Sure, just give me a second please. We weren’t expecting company.”
He leaves the kids inside and comes outside with me so we can talk. “I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this but…” I hand him a paper with the headline ‘Ann Miller, lovely wife, mother of 2, actually a witch? Get the full scoop on page 2.’
“Oh my goodness, you think you know a person.”
“I know it shocked us all.” I bluffed. No one had even seen the paper yet. “But I have a way that you can avoid telling your children.”
“Anything would help, I wouldn’t want to crush them at such a young age.”
“Yes that would be awful. So I was thinking, me and Ann look somewhat alike right?”
“Actually yes, you two do look similar.”
“So, what if you just tell your kids that I am still Ann. But I got sick and it changed my face to look like this. Do you think they would believe that?”
“That’s a great idea.”
“I’m so glad you think so.”
We walk inside and Richard calls the kids.
“Hello Scott, hi Sabrina.”
“Who are you?” Scott blurts out.
“Who am I? I am your mother silly”
“No you’re not our mom looks different.” Sabrina said all snotty, the little brat.
“Yes I am, you see I got sick this morning and went to the doctor to see what was wrong with me. And the doctor said I had a very rare disease where only my appearance changes, but everything else stays the same.” Kids are hard to read, so I have no clue whether or not they bought it.
“Oh, sorry mother.” They say.
“It’s all right kids, now I need to have a talk alone with your father, so will you please go upstairs for a minute or two?”
“Yes mother.”
They walk upstairs and I can’t believe they think I’m actually their mom. Going up the stairs they put one foot first and the other one follows. I pull Richard by the arm and bring him outside.
“Now you listen to me, those kids are going to be crushed if they ever find out that Ann died. But they are going to be even more crushed finding out that you lied to them. So I need you to act around me like you would act around Ann. Got it?” I instruct.
“Yes but I have a question.”
“What?”
“Do I call you Ann or Abigail?”
“Ann.”
“Ok, one more question.”
“What Richard?”
“Why’d you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Why did you accuse Ann?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Sure you don’t. I’m just warning you; keep one eye open when you sleep. No one messes with the Millers and gets away with it. I will get my revenge and save the Miller name.”