Memories Monday

At the beginning of the Gallows Way (a long stretch of road bordered by enormous oak trees, where they used to hang the criminals of Breda in the 1700's and 1800's) lie the marshy woods where Hex Sanne supposedly lived, all those years ago. Probably someone who was just a little different, or had a gift for seeing things, or helping in unusual ways. Banished to that desolate place, she eventually gained the status of witch, and the woods where she lived have always seemed haunted to me.

One tree in particular stands out, far above the others, struck by lightning once so that its crown is grey and leafless, and home to hundreds of ravens. Every day at dusk those ravens take flight, circling above Hex Sanne's Woods, widening their circles against the evening sky. And then suddenly, they all come home -- hearing something, a call, a whisper, that it's time to return. And the tree is once again dark with ravens.

I remember standing in what would become Anna's nursery, my hands over my pregnant belly, watching the ravens fly. Fighting back tears and the feeling that something bad was about to happen. A dark feeling. Gloom.