"Lie down right there."
Lena tried not to stare at the witch - just as she had tried not to be too nervous all day long. Her father had sent her here and she had always hoped that it would take a bit longer until she would have to take this visit.
Other girls before her come to visit the witch who was living in a little hut at the mountain side, near the little village where they had all grown up together. They had to come here, before they got married because the witch was the one who would testify that they were still virgins, that they had been good girls.
And now it was her turn. Her friends had never talked about what had happened up here and she was nervous. After all, she didn't really feel ready to get married and the proposal from an older man who had come to talk to her father about her from the city had come as unexpected as the snow, that had started to fall down from the sky since yesterday evening.
At least it was warm in the little hut - the fire kept the freezing cold outside and Lena followed the order, carefully sitting down on what resembled a bed but was way more comfortable than the one she had at home.
Her eyes went to the floor - the old witch was ugly. She wasn't a lot taller than Lena but old and thin and she had long, old, haggard hands and fingers with long nails. The hair on her head was grey and so thin that you could see her scalp in some places and her face...a huge nose, wrinkled, old skin and rotten teeth with almost reddish eyes that pierced right through Lena's heart whenever the witch looked at her.
"Lie. Down." The witch looked at Lena an carefully pronounced each of these two words. Lena nodded, lying down on her back and trying to take deep breaths while she looked at the ceiling of the hut where herbs were hung up do try.
"How are you going to test..." she started to ask but fell silent as soon as the witch hissed and motioned for her to shut up.