PRISONER EXPRESS

My mother was born a witch. Being untrained in the source and nature of her power, she could never understand it. In the end, it drove her to the brink of insanity.

Her one overt act of conjuration came in a moment of anger. My mom had washed sheets and hung them out on the line to dry. Dad's hunting hounds got out of their pens and ripped those sheets to tatters as they dragged them through the dirt. When Mom saw the destruction, she wished them all dead. In less than six months, every hound my Dad owned was dead and he accused Mom of poisoning them, but poison couldn't explain their deaths. Mom was very careful what she said in anger after that incident. The blood of Erin ran hot in her veins and marked her with hair of fire and eyes of heather green. In hindsight, I see that my mom was prescient and made decisions based on prior knowledge of events to come. What she never realized, however, was how often her own actions precipitated the fulfillment of her visions. There was no way I could know this then because my knowledge of the supernatural was as scanty as the rest of my family's. I've studied much since then.

Mom wasn't the only member in her family that was born a vessel of power. Her older sister, Aunt Loyce, could stop bleeding by reading a Bible verse. Aunt Loyce was no fool and used the Bible reading as a cover for the power she contained. They were both trapped in a vortex by their supernatural abilities. The difference was in the way they handled their gifts.

Aunt Loyce knew her power was benign and could not be evil if she used it for good. My mom, however, couldn't accept without understanding where it came from. The explanation was simply- their grandfather.

Their grandfather, Daniel Herbert Cork, came from Ireland. In his blood he brought red hair, green eyes and power. It was a power that he didn't live long to explain to his children. Because of that, my mom feared that the force within her was wrought by Satan's dark hand.

Aunt Josey, my Great Aunt, was Daniel Herbert Cork's youngest daughter. She bore the markings of eye and hair that came with the inherited power. She told fortunes with cards, held séances and could make a table walk on stiff wooden legs. My mom refused to be present during her parlor tricks and I think they scared Mom because she knew the same power resided inside of her.

Of my mom's four children, I'm the only one that inherited a bit of hazel in my eyes and streaks of red in my hair and beard. With these traits came just a touch of the power my mother lived with all her life. It makes itself known in dreams that come true and mark my path. I've avoided the folly of trying to change the future and just accept such dreams as I would road signs along the highway.

Once, I dated a witch. She predicted death in my future and six months later my sister died at 27. She could astral project and liked to entertain herself by touching people from afar with her spirit. She could never understand why she couldn't touch me the way she had always been able to touch her boyfriends. She didn't understand that I was protected because power defends against the intrusion of other powers.

Mom, Aunt Loyce, and Aunt Josey are all dead and gone and their power went with them. All of it went, except, however, the left traces found in their children.