Witch Season:

Simone’s Notes:

At least seventeen finds of Papaver somniferum from Neolithic settlements have been reported throughout Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, including the placement of large numbers of poppy seed capsules at a burial site, which have been carbon-14 dated to 4200 BCE. Numerous finds of Papaver somniferum or Papaver setigerum from Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have also been reported. The first known cultivation of opium poppies was in Mesopotamia, approximately 3400 BCE, by Sumerians who called the plant Hul Gil, the "joy plant." Tablets found at Nippur, a Sumerian spiritual center south of Baghdad, described the collection of poppy juice in the morning and its use in production of opium. Cultivation continued in the Middle East by the Assyrians, who also collected poppy juice in the morning after scoring the pods with an iron scoop; they called the juice aratpa-pal, possibly the root of Papaver. Opium production continued under the Babylonians and Egyptians. The Sanskrit word for opium is ahi-phena which means literally the "venomous froth/foam", from the oozing of the latex from the flower. From this comes the modern word Afeem. Opium was used with poison hemlock to put people quickly and painlessly to death, but it was also used in medicine. The Ebers Papyrus, ca. 1500 BCE, describes a way to "stop a crying child" using grains of the poppy-plant strained to a pulp. Spongia somnifera, sponges soaked in opium, were used during surgery. The Egyptians cultivated opium thebaicum in famous poppy fields around 1300 BCE. Opium was traded from Egypt by the Phoenicians and Minoans to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece, Carthage, and Europe. By 1100 BCE, opium was cultivated on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where surgical-quality knives were used to score the poppy pods, and opium was cultivated, traded, and smoked. Opium was also mentioned after the Persian conquest of Assyria and Babylonia in the sixth century BCE. From the earliest finds, opium has appeared to have ritual significance, and anthropologists have speculated that ancient priests may have used the drug as a proof of healing power. In Egypt, the use of opium was generally restricted to priests, magicians, and warriors, its invention credited to Thoth, and it was said to have been given by Isis to Ra as treatment for a headache. A figure of the Minoan "goddess of the narcotics," wearing a crown of three opium poppies, ca. 1300 BCE, was recovered from the Sanctuary of Gazi, Crete, together with a simple smoking apparatus. The Greek gods Hypnos, Nyx, and Thanatos were depicted wreathed in poppies or holding poppies. Poppies also frequently adorned statues of Apollo, Asklepios, Pluto, Demeter, Aphrodite, Kybele and Isis, symbolizing nocturnal oblivion.

XVI:

Thump. Thump. Thump. The sounds inside his body drew Alex back into conscious. They just wouldn’t let him rest. Enough to drive him nuts, right? He shut his eyes to try and block out the sounds. That’s when it just got weirder.

Red flooded his eyes. It didn’t stay still like it was supposed. Blood was flowing in like waterfalls in his eyelids. That wasn’t the only that Alex saw. He could see the cells flowing and moving like in a normal pattern. He could his lungs and heart working hard. Arteries, veins, muscles, blood vessels. Alarm rushed into Alex’s hard.

“I’m seeing inside my own body!” he thought. “I’m actually seeing inside my own body!” The lamb wanted to look away, but something just wouldn’t let him. So, he kept his eyes closed and looked onto the creepy internal show before him. This knocked out a car accident in the snow in the top list. The film started off slow at first. Then, it gradually sped up with the movements. Alex’s eyelids seemed to be glued shut. He didn’t seem to know how to keep them open. His eyeballs seemed glued in to the show before him. Kind of creepy, but yet… not in a sense. All the lamb seemed to do was watch in confusion. It seemed crazy to him. Oh, but it wasn’t over yet.

XVII:

Hollow. Alex felt himself getting trapped in this… metal prison. He tried to get out, but found himself unable to move. He began to suspect that they trapped him in a long cold, metal drainpipe of some sort. It was so tight that it was crushing on his ribs and whole body. “Not this again!” Alex thought. “Why can’t just leave me alone! I didn’t do anything to them. Why me? Why me?” The sounds of his insides weren’t helping either. He could feel another panic attack creeping up on him. Alex shut his eyes and tried to take in deep and heavy breaths. He could feel his heart pounding up to his eardrums. The succubi’s new laughter in his head mocked him. Alex tried to push himself out of the pipe.

“Why do you want to leave?” Malice asked him in his head. Alex jerked his head upwards to the top. A face smirked down at him.

“You can’t get out of here,” she said. “You’ll never get out of here!” The lamb struggled harder as she laughed aloud at his misery. “No!” Alex thought. “I don’t want to die here! Let me out! Let me out!” He struggled even more in the pipe to escape.

XVIII:

Stars. So many stars anymore. Alex felt his body floating in the air. Seemed so slow here. The noises inside of his body had softened some in this place. He still didn’t know where in his mind he was. The stars looked so pretty. The lamb tried to reach out for them, but they seemed to be too far away. Alex only watched on in amazed silence. The whispers in the sky didn’t even scare him. They only added onto the stars beauty before him. Alex wanted on in a dreamy way with a smile on his face. They reminded him of a distance childhood that he couldn’t even begin to understand. It just seemed so mote to him. Yet, their beauty couldn’t distance him from the problem at hand.

“This is nice and all,” he thought. “But I really want to go home.” He didn’t know where he was going, but Alex just started walking. He didn’t know; maybe through this maze he might finally get out of here.

XIX:

Cold metal. Alex felt himself being chained down to an iron seat. The lamb could tell that he was naked against this imprisoning chair. Panic began its old, slow invasion once again. He looked up and around him in desperation. Pitch black with the smell of wet rust. The pipes rattled above his head. “What… now?” he thought. The laughter crept up loud in his head.

“No!” the lamb thought. “Stop it! Stop it please!” Alex shut his eyes tightly and tried to breathe. That usual trick failed him. “Let me out of here!” he thought. “I can’t take it anymore! I want to go home!”

“I keep telling you, silly!” she cackled in his mind. “You can’t get out! You’ll never get out!”

“No!” Alex cried. “That’s not true! There has to be a way out! There has to!” He tried to get free again as Malice laughed at his suffering.

XX:

Grass. Alex jerked his eyes open in the muggy heat. Was he home now? No, this was still in his mind. The heat and bugs distracted him from thinking about what to do next. Yes, I said that right. There were bugs flying everywhere. They all started biting at his flesh. Alex tried his best to keep still. To scratch would be showing them more weakness. Being the victim in this prison was growing tiring to him. This prompted him to try out a radical solution.

“I’m in my mind, so I can try to block out the bugs and try gain back some control to get home!” he thought in determination. So, Alex shut his eyes tightly and began to think the bugs away.

“Keep focused and think as hard as I can!” he thought over and over again. Suddenly, his body began to feel light and fuzzy again. Alex kept thinking on harder and harder.

XXI:

Empty space. Alex quickly opened his eyes. No bugs this time. But, still in the middle of nowhere. And on his back once again. “Did it work?” he thought. Well, sort of… Applause filled that air. The lamb looked around him. Kid Malice stood over him with her stuffed animal.

“Well done! Well done!” she cheered. “But not good enough.” Alex made a bitter face at her. She noticed and cooed at him.

“Aw, what’s wrong Little Alex?” she asked in a mockingly-sweet way. “Don’t you like this game?” The boy frowned at her.

“Look!” he barked. “I have just about had enough of this! Let me go now!” Malice shook her head at him.

“Uh-uh!” she chirped. Alex stared at her with eyes so wide.

“Why?” he asked.

“Cause!”

“Cause why?” Malice giggled at him.

“Cause silly,” she said. “We won’t let you leave! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play! Stay and play!” Alex felt his eyes roll back into his head in darkness.

Meanwhile outside, Damon dropped another confession on Havoc.