1 Chapter One

I was born on 10th June 1684; my name is Madison Goldburg. My hometown is Salem Village. My parents were Natalia and Freddrick they were both accused of being witches, along with my two brothers and sister. Edmin, Anthony and Isabella. I on the other hand was not, I was only eight years old then. After my parents died, my parents entrusted Cecelia Greensteele to raise me. Cecelia, who prefers me to call her Aunt Ce, has two boys. My father and her husband Jackson fought together in a battle when I was about two years old, but sadly Jackson was killed. So, my dad did the honourable thing once the war ended my father brought his body back for Aunt Ce.

*MEMORY*

It has been 10 years since my family were hung. They were accused of being witches. It is all started because of some random nine-year-old girl, Sophia Ashe. She said, ‘she was possessed by the devil.’ Eight other girls started to act weird, the local doctor Ronald Freeman, said they were bewitched. One of the girls, Lauren Bailey, started accusing people, it started with a house cleaner, Rosetta Humble. Then two others were accused Sarah Mann and Edna Tales were accused. Rosetta Humble confessed to being the devil’s slave. What does that even mean?

Rosetta Humble started to name people within the village. I did not know how many but all I knew was that my mother’s name was called. "Natalia Goldburg is a witch, she is his slave too". I held my breath as my mother was taken away, tears streaming down her face as she tried to deny it all. My mother could never be a witch she was a great mother and wife. All that was running through my head was it cannot be true. Everyone then started to chant, witch! witch! witch! even when she kept trying to deny being one, but no one would listen to her. They would listen to anyone that were accused, once they were branded witches, that’s all they cared about. I couldn’t believe that no one would believe them, it was all a lie. Then, they were all taken away to prison, no one could visit, I would beg the guards, but they would just yell at me to go home.

The day the real trial began, it was my eighth birthday. My mother, along with others were put on the stand, the judges only took two hours to come to the verdict of guilty. Once the verdict was told, they were taken to the gully, there was a wooden structure with a rope tied in a noose. One by one, the guilty were hung up, every time I would look away. Father did tell me I should go home, but I just wanted to be able to see for one last time, after all she was my mother. When it was my mothers turn, she was crying. I watched them place the noose around her head. Before they covered her face, I saw her look at me and mouthed, “Happy birthday butterfly, I love you.” That was her nickname for me. She says it because I’m free and graceful. We all got our special little nicknames from our mother. Then they covered her face, I turned away and ran crying.

After a few weeks of the first trial, the rest of my family were accused of being witches too. As the judge would say on the stand, if one is a witch ALL are witches and then they were taken away from me too. They could not accuse me due the law saying - anyone under the age certain age could not be deemed guilt of any crime and hereby cannot be punished. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t be branded with as a witch. On June 17th, 1692, my whole family were taken away from me. That afternoon, my Great Aunt Ce took me back to her family home, which was a little out of town, but close to the cemetery.

*PRESENT DAY – 1702*

Every night I don’t dream, just flashbacks of my family. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get out of bed most days. "Madison dear, breakfast is ready, hurry up before the boys eat it all" Yelled Aunt Ce. I get up out of bed and walk over to open my door and shout out "I’ll be right down Aunt Ce", I close the door and walk over to my wash basin, I pour a jug of water into the bowl and wash up a little. Then I go to my closet and pick out a yellow day dress, and some shoes. After getting dressed, I walked downstairs and head towards the dining room, my Aunt and cousins are sitting there eating breakfast. Like normal, both the boys have their mouths full, along with their plates too. I just roll my eyes and go to my normal seat, next to Henry. “What took you so long sis” Henry asked with his mouth full, the boys call me sis, as they have always seen me that way. I couldn’t bring myself to do the same, but they both know that and never push me to do so. Aunt gave him a look and he shut his mouth and continued eating. “I overslept, I apologise” I reply, waiting for the maid to bring my plate. Once she did, I saw that it was a bowl of porridge with fruit on top and toasted bread, with blueberry jam on top as the side. They then pour a cup of black tea. Once everything was set, I started to eat my food. “You are having those night terrors again my dear” Aunt Ce asked me; I nodded my head in response as my mouth was full of food and if I spoke with my mouth full then I too will get scowled.

The boys do not know much about what happened to me, Aunt Ce and I agreed to tell them another story on why I was adopted into the family. The boys grew up with my family also, but we told them that my family with travelling and I was too young for the long journey, so I had to stay with Aunt Ce and on their travels, there was an accident and my family had passed. Which was a lot better then telling them the truth. Once I got out of my head, I noticed everyone had finished their meals and started their day. Aunt Ce would’ve headed into town and the boys would be outside playing a muck. So, I finished off my meal and headed to the library as I do every day. Reading was the best distraction, my mother taught me how to read, once I get to the library, I enter it and look around for what I should read today. I’ve basically read most of the books in the library, so I decided to go with my favourite book, Paradise lost. My mother used to read this story to me every night before I would go to bed. After grabbing the book, I headed back upstairs and into my room and that’s where I stayed all day reading. I didn’t go downstairs as my Aunt would send my meals up to me, she knew once I was into a book, no point getting my attention as the world doesn’t exist no more. Once I did finish the book, I noticed it was late and everyone would be asleep, so that’s what I did too.