tales-from-a-little-witch

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Here's my first zine Unapologetically Stargender a short zine about stargender and my experience as a stargender person!! It's a digital zine and not sure if I'll ever properly make it a physical zine. I kind of just made this one for the fun of it and to get into the practice of making them. Also I don't have the materials to make physical zines right now. I still plan on making a zine about the diversity amongst a-spec experiences, but that project will likely take a while.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Art by Meosknd

So my friend Mel has lived in this rental house for almost nine years now.

Let me give you some context of some of their accounts:

my friend Mel lives in the basement. The basement has its own bathroom and mini kitchen, but she's never really liked the basement. She has always had a terribly cold feeling from it, as if she's constantly being watched.

There is a very specific spot in the basement where, if you stand, you would feel like ice was running down your spine. She always tried to believe it was just her being superstitious, but she began to question this when her old cat Magenta wouldn't go near that very spot.

Of course, she tried to rationalize it. Maybe Magenta was just picking up on her bad vibes and fears about being in the basement. She figured maybe her cat saw that she didn't like that spot in particular and wouldn't go near it as a result.

So, that was quickly disproven because she got two little kittens, whom she named Blue and Periwinkle, and they also wouldn't go near that spot. She often caught them hissing at it.

Her roommates had also experienced strange phenomena in the basement. Whether it was catching glimpses of shadows, hearing eerie voices call out their names, or spotting a mysterious, aggressive tabby cat none of them owned, it was clear there was something off about that space.

Mel would notice how the basement door and wash room door would be cracked open even though she was sure that she had closed it. and of course this happened multiple times.

The shadow figures were seen very very often especially creeping behind them but especially slipping around in the halls

What she found under the floors, as I've said there was one part of the floor that always stayed especially cold that the cats wouldn't go near. When ripping up the floor they found a handmade spirit board, a toy mouse and the picture of a cat.

the very cat that the roommates had seen.

It said Tobbie Boy: 2002-2010

on the back of the photo

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Haunted house rules:

Red doors are never to be trusted

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Haunted house rules:

Always have a extra chair at the table, in case you have an uninvited guest, may they be human or not.

It’s always wise to be polite.

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Rules of the woods:

The old tall trees will call for you.

Don’t answer.

Don't follow.

Don't stay.

They want you to stay but for your safety, don't.

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Rules of the woods:

You will hear the woods calling for you as the sun starts going down.

Don’t answer.

Never answer.

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Rules of the woods

Bells are optional but things with bad intentions don't much like bells.

The sound is pure and hurts them.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

The ghost stole her birth control

So this is a story from my Aunt Sara and I'm gonna tell it to y'all the exact way that she told it to me.

Art by: fuzeniaa

So when reading this imagine it in the voice of a mid 50's year old southern lady telling you this.

Here we go!:

"Now, lemme tell you what, baby. I believe the Devil done snatched away my birth control, and I was almost. So, this all took place when I was livin' in Nashville in my mid-twenties, stayin' in this here trailer real close to one o' them crazy-ass, backward churches.

Real drink-the-koolaid sorta folks, believe ya me. Now, y'all listen up, I was livin' all by my lonesome, and nobody knew where I was. Nobody was gettin' in or leavin' my trailer without me catchin' wind, ya hear?

Hold on, I'm gettin' to the weird part. You see, my birth control kept disappearin', turnin' up in the most outlandish places, like under the kitchen sink, behind the outhouse, on the floor under the damn fridge. Something ain't right here.

I spend weeks and weeks, wrackin' my brain, tryna figure out what's goin' down, but ain't got a darn clue. So, I start talkin' to my neighbors, askin' them if they seen any strangers snoopin' around my trailer. And would ya believe it? They swear they ain't seen a thing. But then, an old lady who used to live there with her daughter pipes up, sayin',

"Oh, that's Trish."

I'm mighty confused, so I ask,

"Who the hell is Trish?!"

I'm thinkin' someone's been snoopin' around inside my trailer!

but then the old gal drops some news that leaves me slack-jawed and shocked. She says Trish is an old lady who used to live in the trailer and passed away right in there.

So then the old lady tells me Trish was one of them "arrow folks," like the Mormon-type folks from the church, ya know? I reckon they call themselves arrows or somethin' like that, I can't be sure.

They got a Bible verse all their own, somethin' like, "Blessed is the man whose... uhh, arrow holder is full of 'em."

You know, the thing that holds an the arrows.

They believe in havin' a brood of youngins, as many as you can pop out. "

This is where I asked her

" a quiver??? "

" That's the word I was looking for! They go by "quiver" 'cause they think you're meant to fill up your quiver with as many children as possible, y'know?

Yeah, them "quiver" folks ain't too fond of birth control or that sort of thing. Personally, I think they're a bit peculiar, if you know what I mean.

So, I done thinkin' the Devil's been meddlin' with my birth control, and come to find out, I was closer to the truth than I thought. Now, I'm madder than a wet hen at this ol' Bible-thumpin' busybody.

So, I march back to my trailer and I holler,

" Listen up, ol' broad, I've had about enough of you messin' with my stuff!! I tell ya, You keep pokin' your nose where it don't belong, I'll call up my uncle, he's a preacher, damn near the best of em, and he'll straighten out your backwards ass real fast!! "

Well, I'll be damned if that crap didn't stop on a dime, That old haint didn't bother me none no more, nope sir. I did hang some nails up over my door after that though, wanted to keep her out.

Well, there you have it! My tale of mystery and mischief, as they say!"

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

The little girl in the graveyard

When I was very small, my family went to visit my great-grandmother's grave. It was in an old graveyard that wasn't well-taken care of. Being so small, I had no interest in standing around my great-grandmother's grave listening to my parents drone on about the past or hearing her life story repeated yet again. After all, I had heard the tales countless times before. I was also very young to truly understand why my parents were so sad.

They had always told me that when someone passes on, they aren't really gone, and that you can still feel their presence. But this was strange for me, because my great-grandmother had passed away in the fall, yet standing at her grave, I felt no sense of her presence at all.

To me, it was just a lonely grave, enclosing her cold, lifeless husk. My parents were standing with just a shell that had once held her soul, and that's how I saw it back then.

I didn't feel like crying over an empty vessel that had once housed her spirit.

If she wanted to visit me, she would, I believed.

I asked my parents if I could go and explore the graveyard instead.

I ambled around the graveyard, perusing the tombstones, caressing the flowers, and plucking grandfather's beard moss from the low-hanging branches of old trees. Suddenly, I noticed a girl peeking out at me from behind a grave, dressed in old, odd clothes. As a child, she reminded me of the girl from "The Secret of Roan Inish.''

I thought she looked beautiful, like a princess. She waved at me, and I waved back. I can't recall every single word she said, but I can remember us playing tag. Her smile was as bright as sunshine, her voice as sweet as a spring bird's song, and her laughter was downright infectious.

It felt as though we had been playing for hours upon hours. Time slipped through my fingers like grains of sand, as we darted around the graves, weaving in and out between trees and shrubs. I was left panting for air, but she never seemed to weary, seemingly possessing a boundless supply of energy.

I suddenly heard my parents calling out for me, telling me it was time to go. I remembered turning back to the girl, seeing the look of sorrow on her face, but I promised her that we'd play again next time. Then, I ran back to my parents, feeling almost a pang of guilt at having to leave her behind.

Once I was back with my parents, I told them all about the girl I had met and asked them when we'd be coming back. They looked at me, puzzled, and simply got in the car, offering no answers.

I relentlessly babbled on about my friend in the graveyard, both of my parents shooting concerned and confused glances at each other, until my mother finally spoke up.

"Nim-Nims, baby, there was no little girl playing with you."

she said looking back at me over her shoulder. I stared at her, puzzled and indignant, irritated at the thought that my parents were just playing a trick on me. They often pulled little pranks, and I believed this was just another one.

"You guys aren't funny; you're just being mean, I don't like these jokes...."

I protested, my face growing flushed with anger and frustration. Despite my insistence, my parents consistently refuted the existence of the girl. As we drove away, I pointedly gestured towards the precise spot where I had first laid eyes on her.

I was too young to recognize that I was actually gesturing towards a cluster of five small graves, each belonging to a member of the same family.

My parents abruptly fell silent after that, refusing to discuss it further. They told me that perhaps I would get to see her again the next time we visited.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

A little kitten saved my life

Tw: men being horrifying in the dark

This happened not too long ago on a late cold night that I was craving something sweet, was around 1:40 or 1:50 am, I grabbed my bag and decided to walk down the gas station.

Let me paint you a picture of the way to the gas station. It’s a pitch-black road that goes on for at least five minutes, and the only light you’ll see is the light from the gas station. There are no streetlights down this road.

I got down to the gas station, and everything was normal. But leaving the gas station is when I got a bad gut feeling – that sort of feeling that turns your stomach and gives you goosebumps.

I reached into my bag for the knife that I always kept inside of it.

Now, admittedly, this is where I messed up. I didn’t check my bag for my knife, and my knife wasn’t in my bag...

Instantly, I was on edge. There I was, without a weapon, and with this terrible, gut-wrenching feeling.

I figured I'd walk home quickly, and as I began walking, I heard the most gentle mewing from behind me. I turned around and saw a beautiful little tricolor tabby.

She was tiny, and her little legs were rushing to catch up to me as she mewed and meowed the whole way to me. Then, she stopped at my feet. I’m thankful that she caught my attention because as I was looking at her, I spotted a movement in the darkness behind her.

To my horror, it was a man...

I tried not to freak out. I tried to rationalize it, thinking,

"He must have just been walking back from the gas station, just like I was."

There was no need for me to worry about it. I've walked that road plenty of times with others, and this was no different.....Or so I tried to convince myself....

The sweet little cat looked back at the man and then back at me and suddenly darted off, and something inside of me told me that I needed to follow her. Intuition told me that I needed to run, and fast.

The little cat kept looking back at me as she ran, her eyes checking to see if I was still there. It was as if she was making sure that I was still running alongside her. We ran and ran through that dark and empty road.

She darted straight towards my apartment and stopped under the one light that was illuminating the darkness.

Relief flooded through me, and my heart pounded furiously in my chest, my breaths coming out heavy and ragged. But I took comfort in the fact that the man was still a considerable distance behind me.

I stood there with her in the light for only a moment before gently scooping her up into my arms, stroking her head and thanking her. After all, I’d always been taught to be polite to cats.

I was planning on taking her inside with me......

That’s when it happened.

She looked off into the darkness and began hissing and yowling, struggling desperately to break free from my arms. She positioned herself in front of me, facing the pitch-black darkness. And that stomach-churning feeling of dread returned…

Her fur stood on end, and her yowling became so loud that she was practically spitting. My eyes slowly followed hers to the source of her distress. There, standing in the darkness right outside my apartment line, was the man. He was staring at me, that awful smile curving his lips.

My heart dropped straight into my stomach, and I felt nauseous in an instant. I was absolutely dumbfounded; he was supposed to be a good distance behind us. We had RUN. We had sprinted, for god's sake. How in the world had he made it here so swiftly?

I hadn't even heard him, my mind swirling with a thousand racing thoughts, and my body beginning to tremble. I tried to rationalize it, grasping at any logical explanation.

He must have run after us, I thought. This man had pursued me all the way here while I fled with the kitten.

I spun on my heel so swiftly that the Devil himself would have grown dizzy. In a heartbeat, I dashed into my apartment, only pausing for a brief moment to glance back at the little kitty. She stood her ground, hissing fiercely like a little sentinel determined to guard me or buy me some time.

Once the screen door slammed shut, the little kitty dashed away, seamlessly vaulting over the neighbor's fence and into their backyard. As she disappeared, I watched the man lingering in the shadows, his gaze locked on me. I watched him from behind the safety of my curtains, my eyes glued to the spot where he had been standing. Gradually, as time ticked on, he finally turned and walked away, disappearing into the shadows. Of course I reported it but that did a shit of a lot good.

He knew where I lived now, knew exactly the apartment in which I resided. That realization sent tremors of terror coursing through me, yet the even more chilling thought that sent ice-cold dread into my heart, was what he might have done to me on that darkened road if it wasn't for the brave little tabby.

I guess all that cat karma did me some good, I don’t think that little kitten showed up by coincidence.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

I always trust the cats

I take good care of the cats in my neighborhood.

I feed them the healthiest food that I can afford, I always have medicine for them, I even have a cat house for them.

I guess I have good cat karma.

The cats tell me when things are gonna go bad, in their own way.

I know when the cats swarm and pace around the little yard of my apartment that they're there for a reason.

When they hiss or growl at someone, I know that person isn't someone that I should trust.

When I walk alone at least one stray cat walks with me, I always feel safe.

if they lead me down a new path I follow.

if they run then I run.

if they stop then I stop.

when they get wary; so do I.

I always trust cats.

Art by: reesie_madeline

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Rules of the woods:

You can look at the trees but never look into the trees.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Tales from the red house:

Art by LED_sousaka

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Haunted house rules:

Don't acknowledge it

If you ignore it then it'll probably go away, they normally always do. Haints can get easily bored.

but if it knows that you've seen it..

You might be in trouble...

It knows that you know it's there.