Forgotten church - part 2

Stepping inside, the thirteen year old Myra looked around and gulped audibly.

"Beth" she called out to hear it echo, freaking her out even more. "Is this place haunted? Are there any ghosts in here?"

Beth laughed out hearing this. "No! No.. My child. This place isn't haunted. In fact it's a holy one, evil spirts cannot wander around in here. It is totally safe."

Saying that, the women led the girl near the confession room which was situated at the end of the main hall to the right of the dias.

There were two similar looking doors leading to the confession booth. One was for the Priest and the other was for the Penitent person.

Walking inside one of the doors, Beth pressed her palm against the wooden wall of the room on it's left and gently pushed it revealing a secret door leading to a long narrow passage.

"Woah!" exclaimed Myra looking at the door open.

Beth gently caught myra's wrists leading her in. As they stepped in, the passage lit up automatically. The lanterns turned on, one after another as they walked further.

"Beth, are you sure that this place is not haunted?" Young Myra asked in a whispery tone again, looking at her surroundings warily, moving closer to Beth. "How the hell did the lanterns light up on its own?"

"That's magic" Beth shrugged as if it was the most common thing.

At the end of the passage there was a Red door. Beth turned the knob opening it. Behind the red door there was a huge room that had two enormous shelves filled with books. There was a big table in the middle of the room with two chairs in front of it and a small cupboard at the far corner.

The room too, lit up on it's own just like it had at the passage. "How does magic work?" the young girl asked, once they were inside the room.

"Mostly through spells" Beth said. "This room is full of books containing information about different kinds of spells and rituals".

"Can I do magic? If I learn how to cast spells by reading these books?" Myra asked curiously walking towards a dusty bookshelf.

Beth shook her head, "No Myra, you can't. Only witches are bestowed with the power to perform magic. Even if you try to read the books in here, you won't be able to understand anything. They would probably look like a script written in a strange language to you".

Myra pouted disappointedly hearing Beth's words. It would have been really cool to perform magic if she could.

"Can you read it then?" she asked suddenly.

"Some of them, yes. But most of the books in here are under a protection spell that was cast by the early ancestor witches in order to avoid them from falling into wrong hands" Beth answered to see the girl nod.

"Anyways, enough about this chat. I bought you here to give you something!" Beth went near the cupboard in the corner of the room and opened it. She searched for something in there and then pulled out a small wooden chest. Blowing out the dust on it, she bought it near Myra, who was standing near the table watching beth curiously.

"Here you go!" Beth said placing the chest box on table top. "Open it!"

Myra hesitated, before she unfastened the tiny latch and lifted the lid up. Inside it, there was a thin silver chain with a small heart shaped pendent, a dark brown leather coin pouch and a purple colored vial bottle.

The pendent was made of a light pink coloured stone. Picking it up, she turned to look at Beth.

"Do you like it?" Beth asked smiling at the girl. "That's yours from now on!"

"Really?!" squealed the girl excitedly.

Beth just nodded saying, "Don't lose it. That is a Charm stone made of Rose quarts. It will protect you and makes you feel loved whenever you wear it".

Myra wore it around her neck. "Then I'll never remove it" feeling warmth radiating from the area where the stone touched her skin.

"No sweetheart, don't wear it now. There are chances that you may lose it or somebody might snatch it away from you, if you wear it home now". The last thing Beth wanted was this stone falling into wrong hands. "There will come a time when you will be leaving this village in future, put this on around your neck then".

"But Beth?! Why would I leave this village? Where will I go then?"

"You will dear.. you will go somewhere better", Beth's eyes turned glossy, "Remember one thing little one, this world is filled with hardships. You need to be brave enough to face it. Your journey begins the moment you leave your home for good".

Young Myra didn't understand what Beth was talking about. She scrunched her brows in confusion but nodded her head anyways.

"What is this bottle for?" picking up the vial bottle from the box, observing the bottle with curiosity.

"That's a portion for healing. Make use of it in future, if you or anybody dear to you gets deeply hurt!"

"Okay!" said Myra, placing it back in the box.

"The money is for you to use it at times of an emergency. Spend it wisely!" Beth stated opening the pouch to reveal a couple of copper coins, "This might not be enough, but this is all that I can give you at the moment! ".

Myra nodded. "Thank you Beth".

Beth smiled at the girl and placed her palm on Myra's head. She then closed her eyes and mumbled something in a strange language while Myra just stared at her with a funny expression.

"I need to tell you something else" uttered the women opening her eyes, "I'll will not be working at your uncles house after monday". Hearing this the smile on girl's face dropped instantly.

"Are you leaving Beth?" pouted young Myra, "Please don't leave! What will I do without you?"

"I'm sorry Myra. I don't want to quit working here, but I have no other choice. I got a better job offer elsewhere and they are willing to pay me well" said Beth with a sad face.

"Then will I never see you again?" tears trickled down from Myra's eyes.

Beth hugged the girl, "I'll come and meet you once in a while. Please don't cry! "

After crying in her arms for few more minutes, Amyra calmed down and accepted the fact.

"One more Important thing!" Beth said suddenly as they were about to leave the room. "This place will always be open for you. Think of it as your secret retreat, you can store anything precious to you in this room and it will keep it safe. Nobody other than you will know about it."

"You mean I can keep anything I want in here and it won't get stolen?"

"No it won't! there is magic in this room. Anything that rightfully belongs to you will be preserved, so make sure to bring in only the things that is yours." Beth informed. "You can hide your favorite clothings, your piggy bank, portraits anything as such in here, so that you can take it out when the right time comes."

Even though the thirteen year old Myra didn't understand the underlying meaning behind the visit to the church back then, she gradually realized it as years passed.

Six years later, Nineteen year old Amyra stood in the same room replaying the memories of her first visit to this place. Time had come to pack up all her things from this room and leave, she would never be able to visit here again anymore.

Just as Beth had predicted, her journey towards a new life begins from that moment forward.