STORY: The Naming Noose

Purplellama

PROLOGUE:

In the town where witchcraft accusations spread like wildfire, having the wrong last name could ruin your reputation, even if you are just a teenager. Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. Nineteen innocent people hanged for denying they were corrupted by Lucifer himself. Over two hundred people and counting were accused of witchcraft. The cause of it all - five girls looking to seek attention for their drama-loving selves. Abigail Williams, Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren, Betty Parris and Ann Putnam. 

In the middle lies Ravenna Mather, sixteen, new to Salem. She is related to him, Cotton Mather. Some people call him the man "who orchestrated the Salem Witch Trials." To her, an uninterested teenage female, he is just her ancestor. But in Salem, the Witch Trials of 1692 are all anyone talks about. So when she showed up as a result of her parents divorcing, it raised some eyebrows. 

Especially from the Ancestors. The Ancestors are girls - and guys - related to the victims accused of being witches. Sarah Good, Bridget Bishop, Rebecca Nurse, Susanna Martin, all of them. They only get along with people in their clique. They scowl at outsiders and high class people. Who could blame them? It was outsiders and high class people that accused their ancestors of witchcraft. 

Questionable things happen once Ravenna arrive in Salem: lockers oozing with slime, bags being thrown, to death. Every day, someone in a prominent Ancestor family dies. Of course, with Ravenna's last name, the figurative noose goes around her neck and her reputation is hung on Gallow's Hill, made famous by Bridget Bishop's hanging, the first of nineteen. 

The peak of disaster is when the most popular girl in school, Ariel Proctor's black kitty, was run over by a drunk driver. The Ancestors and Ravenna realize they have to work together to end the "spell" that started as soon as Ravenna came to Salem. What the crew uncovers goes back in time to one of the darkest moments in history. Back to where nineteen people were hanged, to where two hundred plus were accused. To where five girls (plus some others) ruined people's reputation. Back to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

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PART 1 WILL BE UP SOON. IN THE MEANTIME, COMMENT ON WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE PROLOGUE. THANK YOU FOR READING. :)

froggiepower

Ooh this is good. I like it :D honestly, nice job

Fowzy

Very cool premise  :-bd

iStella

So cool!  I'm book marked already!

SparkleDream

AWESOME!!

yellowsummerdaisy

I can't wait to see the first chapter!!  <:-P <:-P

Purplellama

PART 1:

NARRATOR: It was a gorgeous whilst gently windy autumn day. The leaves had just started turning the different shades of the rainbow. It was almost October. That meant, in Salem, they would begin their annual chapter about the darkest period of the town's past - the year 1692. To the uneducated, it seems like a normal year in the colonies. Anyone who knows anything about Salem will know that 1692 was a horrendous year - for all the right reasons. It was the year where nineteen people hanged from Gallow's Hill, whilst their fellow villagers watched. The year where Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr, Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren, Elizabeth Hubbard and their friends stirred up one of the worst plots the village could remember. The Salem, Massachusetts students would learn about their past. Welcome to Salem, the home of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, where the wrong last name will inevitably crush your reputation, even as a child.

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[The Mather's vehicle, a decked-out Cadillac SUV, halts dead in front of a immense 4,000 square acre home. White roses were planted along the edge of the circular driveway. Women, dressed like maids, stood in a line as Ravenna, her mother Kirsten and her brother Jackson got out of the car. The wind kicks up just a tiny bit as the three walk up to the entrance doorway.]

Ravenna and Jackson, whom is only one year her senior, continue walking as Mother Kirsten carried her designer Birkin purse on her right arm as the trio proceed into the house. A dusty, lightly swaying diamond chandelier looked upon the tiny family. The butler helped Kirsten bring in all the bags. They all stop and take a big look around the spacious foyer.

===

Ravenna (nickname - Raven): Mother, which way is the bedroom hall?

Kirsten:  [pawning her designer bag to the helper] Go up the left stairwell, to the left. Your room, Raven, will be on the right. Jackson, yours is on the left. You two will share a bathroom, right next to Raven's room, on the right. There is a shower, a jacuzzi bathtub, sink with tons of room for makeup and other miscellaneous items and a toilet. My bedroom is all the way down on the end. To the right stairwell, on the right is the guest room hallway. Five rooms, both sides. Just in case you want to host friends here. Come, let me show you the rest of the house. I have been here before when Mother and Father - your Grandmother and Grandpapa still roamed this world. This actually was my house. I was born here in Salem. Isn't that fascinating?

Jackson: [on his iPhone X texting his girlfriend Meg, zoning out] Yeah, sure.

Kirsten: Well, Jack, I am sure you were paying attention. Do you know where your room is?

Jackson: [obviously nervous that he was called on] Yeah, um, to the left of the right stairwell?

Kirsten: Yes, but go up the left stairwell. Quite easier.

Jackson: Ah, okay.

Kirsten: Well, you all are dismissed. Don't forget, tomorrow is your first day of Salem High. Your Father will be coming this weekend, Friday to be exact, to come visit. He will be coming every other weekend, just a heads up!

Both Raven and Jackson: Okay, thanks Mother.

Kirsten: Now, get out of my sight. I have to go test out my new mattress!

[Raven and Jackson both disburse. Raven goes upstairs to her room whilst Jackson goes to the living room, FaceTiming Meg.]

===

Raven: [shutting the cherry wood door behind her as she gazes into the won thousand and fifty six square foot room. A twin bed that was already draped in onyx silk sheets, topped with a black furry duvet cover, lay against the corner, a small reading table placed next to it. In the far left corner, by the full-length window, rests a desk for homework. The desk holds a small lamp to turn on when it darkens and a pencil case. A leather chair is completed for a comfortable spot to do homework. Dressers stand against the wall adjacent to the bed. For Raven, there is no closet as this is the smallest bedroom there is. The walls are painted grey to match the aesthetic in the room. Raven takes a seat at her desk, pulling out her diary and began writing] 

Sunday, August 27th, 2017

Dear Diary,

It was exhausting to sit next to Jackson for forty-five hours, with ten minute breaks. And I have had enough country music to last me a lifetime. I cannot even begin to imagine what the high school here would be like tomorrow. If it is anything like the old school, I will take a hard pass. Life in Detroit was horrible. The traffic, the houses. Even the atmosphere. It felt like it was all gangs - and it probably is. Well, Mother should have dinner going. I do hope she made her city-famous chili with parsley and garlic. I must go now, Diary. Till I write my adventures down again.

Adieu,

Ravenna

Kirsten: Children, come down!

Jackson & Raven: Okay, okay. Coming! [Raven runs down the stairs whilst Jackson waltzes along at his own pace.]

Kirsten: Yes, Ravenna, dear. I did make the chili! Dig in.

Raven: Yes! [Raven grabs a china bowl and pours the chili in. Jackson declines the chili, instead going for a salad.]

Kirsten: Big day tomorrow. After this, I want you two to take your showers and get ready for bed. Got it?

Jackson & Ravenna: Yes, Mother.

Kirsten: Good, now eat up!

[Part 1 ends]

[Author Note]

Hey guys! I am so sorry I haven't updated. With my Floridian vacation and school, I totally forgot about this. I will try to continue the story but I probably won't. If the plot sounds familiar, it is because I'm making like a fan-fiction/AU [another universe] of the story How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather. I think the book is amazing, in my own opinion. It is on Amazon if you want to order it. Anyways, enjoy!