Always The Witch
By Nardeen Némat, age 16 I was a witch, well once, at one time, once upon a dream. It was a gift, a gift I learnt to accept, and little did I know the power it gave me.
Year after year, month after month, week after week, day after long lonely day, always the witch and never the fairy, "next time" they said, "next time you can be the fairy and she'll be the witch." I never was, I didn't want to be the fairy in a year, not in a month, not in a week, not in a day, not in an hour, not in a minute, not even in a second, I was desperate to be the fairy now. I think it was because of my pale complexion, long dark curly hair and green eyes that made me a witch forever. Halloween year after year came and I waited for them to say I could be the fairy, but that day never came!
As the years went on my sister and I stopped playing with toys and dolls, we stopped dressing up and started to grow up. The black cape with sparkly silver stars on and the pointy witch's hat was old, small and eventually got lost in my imagination. But one thing didn't, the fairy outfit, the long pink silk dress with feathers on the hem, and the magical pink wand with a gold star on. I thought that would never grow small and old but it did.
As I grew older still, my little sister was born. Then a couple of years later I started secondary school. In my second year of secondary school near Halloween my little sister who then was in year one saw a photograph of my older sister and I on Halloween. I was in a long black cape with a pointy witch's hat and my sister was in a pink silk dress with a magical wand. Later on that day my little sister got an invitation to a fancy dress Halloween party, so my mum asked her what she wanted to dress up as. But she didn't say she wanted to be a mermaid or a ghost, or a vampire, she didn't even want to be a fairy; she said she wanted to be a witch just like I had been.
That changed everything for me, now if somebody called me a witch I would take it as a complement. Every Halloween I see people dress up, but I don't need to, I'm a witch inside. Now when I think of all those years I spent wishing and wishing with all my heart that I would be the best, the fairy, when in actual fact I was the best, the most magical best thing you could possibly be, flying around the moon on my broom, casting magical spells on people I hate, all my wishes coming true. A witch is who I was, a witch and it was great! |
