Chapter 5 - Rebecca's Night

At the sight of her mother’s corpse, Anna let out a horrified scream. Unable to take her eyes from the body, she backed away slowly, straight into the arms of Miranda. She squealed again – how had the witch gone from in front of her to behind her seemingly without moving? Miranda grabbed Anna’s shoulder roughly with bony fingers and turned her to face the door. Anna was unable to resist as the witch pushed her towards the kitchen.

“If you stop messing about and do as you are told it will be better for you,” hissed Miranda as she pushed Anna towards the stove. “And all of this will be over a lot quicker.”

Anna was defeated. Tears rolled down her face, but she knew she had to be compliant, at least for now. Maybe if she was obedient, Miranda would drop her guard and then she could escape with Rebecca, but she had no idea how long that would take. Currently, those dark eyes were watching Anna’s every move with suspicion.

“Can you bake cakes, girl?” asked Miranda. Anna nodded.

“Good. Get the oven warming up and mix the most decadent cake you know. And then put a pan on to boil ready to make pasta. We don’t want your sister getting hungry.” As Miranda laughed at her own joke, Anna busied herself following the witch’s instructions. Nothing she did was good enough and Miranda kept screaming further commands to add butter and more sugar. Once everything was prepared, Miranda ordered Anna to take the rest of the porridge to Rebecca.

“She has not eaten for an hour! This is not good enough when we want the girl fat!” she shrieked. “Tell her to finish this or she knows the consequences!”

Anna, trying to control her fear picked up the pan with the rest of Rebecca’s breakfast and carried it through to the stables. She was surprised that nobody followed her. Would this be her opportunity to release her sister and escape?

“Rebecca!” she hissed as she entered the stable. Her sister was still curled in the corner of her cell, sobbing, but she turned when she heard Anna’s voice. Anna unbolted the door and opened it wide.

“Quickly!”

Rebecca looked at her and shook her head as she stood. “Is that more food?” she asked reaching out to take the pan, but Anna pulled away, refusing to hand it over.

“We need to go!” whispered Anna, but Rebecca shook her head again and took the pan from Anna’s hands. She sat back down and began quickly spooning the thick, creamy oats into her mouth. Anna looked at her in surprise, and then realised: Rebecca was under a spell. Miranda had obviously used her black magic to make her eat. Anna promised her sister that she would find a priest to break the curse.

“It’s not magic,” muttered Rebecca between mouthfuls of porridge. “I have to eat this!” And then she told Anna what had happened:

In the early hours of the morning, their mother had entered the bedroom and gently woken Rebecca. She made a motion to be quiet and beckoned Rebecca down to the kitchen. Silently, so she did not disturb Anna, Rebecca took her dress and descended the stairs, quickly getting dressed at the bottom.

As she entered the kitchen, she noticed some cakes and pastries on the table, left over from the party. Her mother motioned her to sit and pushed the treats towards her, knowing that Rebecca could not resist.

“I know you and Anna are concerned about this engagement,” her mother said, “but I think you are more understanding than your sister. That is why we wanted to talk to you in private. Please, come out to the stables so you can see what Bill has been working on.”

Picking up the plate of cakes, and munching without a thought as she walked out to the stables, Rebecca followed with curiosity which only deepened when she saw the bars. She looked at her mother with confusion as Bill joined them and started pointing out some of the workmanship he was particularly proud of.

“What is this for?” she asked, purposely ignoring Bill’s attempt to interest her.

“Show her, Bill,” said Miranda. Rebecca turned in surprise not knowing how this woman had appeared behind her. She was not in the stables when they entered, and there was only one entrance. While she was distracted, Bill opened the door to the cell and roughly threw Rebecca in. He was so strong that she could not resist and she fell through the door like a rag doll. Quickly the cell was locked leaving Rebecca banging on the bars and appealing for her mother’s help, but with a wave of Miranda’s hand, the noises stopped.

“Do be quiet, girl!” snapped the witch. “Give me chance to explain what is happening here.”
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Seeing the magic, Rebecca’s mother turned on Miranda and demanded an explanation. In response, Bill quickly grabbed her and yanked her head, breaking her neck instantly. As her body fell to the floor, Rebecca tried to scream, but the spell of silence cast around her ensured no noise came out.

“Get rid of that,” said Miranda nonchalantly, gently kicking the corpse with her foot. “I need to talk to our little glutton.” She pointed to the empty cake plate for emphasis as Bill dragged the body into the stable yard and covered it with a tarpaulin. Miranda turned to Rebecca and smiled as she reached through the bars and squeezed her love handles.

“This is nice and soft,” she said. “But there is a lot of room for improvement. Now if I release you from the silence, you have to promise me not to scream or make unnecessary noise?” Rebecca nodded, tears falling from her eyes and Miranda clicked her fingers.

“What is happening? Why did Bill kill my mother?” Rebecca stammered between sobs.

“Don’t be sentimental,” replied Miranda. “I need to move in for a while and your mother was an obstacle. Now the important person here is you! You are such a greedy girl and I, like your fairy godmother, am going to grant your wish. You just need to stay in this cell and eat. All day, every day, you will have the finest food and best cakes!”

It was clear that in her grief stricken and confused state, Rebecca could not take in what Miranda was saying. The witch sighed and rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Look, it is very simple,” she said slowly. “You just have stay in here and eat everything you are given. I will not lie, I am going to give you lots of cakes and treats, and you will fatten up very quickly, but that is what you want!”

Rebecca unconsciously rubbed her rounded belly. “I don’t want to get fat,” she muttered.
Miranda scoffed. “We’ve been watching you! You love your food and you certainly cannot resist fattening treats. You can’t have it both ways. If you want to live a life of gluttony and excess, you have to accept that you will be a plump little piglet.” She turned to go and as an afterthought added,” By the way, if you refuse to eat or try to disobey in any way, Anna will quickly become an obstacle too.”