Chapter 54

Beth cowered in the woods. She had buried herself even further into the bush. Her tiny hands gripped the rifle.

Could she shoot a witch?

She tried to imagine her daddy, and his advice for how to hold the gun. How to aim. What it felt like to pull the trigger. She had already gotten pretty good at target shooting. Every shot hit the target, and one time she even hit the red part in the middle. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Shooting an animal was good, it gave them food. But a person? Even a witch?

It was illegal. Beth didn’t want the cops to hunt her. But also, it was scary and bad. She didn’t like to be bad. Tears trickled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to be bad. Couldn ‘t they just go home?

But then she imagined the witch, hurting her dad, and her mom, and her sister. She’d fight to keep them safe. She could pull the trigger, couldn’t she? They needed her.

She saw a light go on in the cabin, and drew back even further. Maybe she could just wave the gun around?