Magic Isn't Always Beautiful

Paris, France

Zara Spark sat on an old metal bench outside her father's bakery, Slice of Heaven. It was once her mother's, but Zara had never even met her. Her father claimed that she had ran off, but judging by the gravestone she had found in Père Lachaise labeled with the name Vivian Spark, her mother's name, she knew that she hadn't just ran off. She didn't know how she died though. There was no document at all about her. Zara had searched everywhere possible, but there wasn't a trace of her. It was almost like she didn't exist.

Zara heard her father calling from inside the bakery. She got up, slipped through the front door, it was so hot out that her father had propped it open with a door stopper, and made her way to the kitchens in the back of the building. Zara grabbed a chocolate croissant off a tray, which had just recently came out of the oven.

"Hey, those are for the customers," she heard her father say.

"Too late now," Zara said and popped a piece of the pastry in her mouth. "Why were you calling me?"

"I need to give you the money I owe you for helping me around the bakery," her father said.

He held out a few euros and dropped them in her palm. She folded them and slipped them into her back pocket. It was more than she was expecting, but then again, her father had been making a lot more money than usual lately.

"Go enjoy yourself," she heard her father say.

She quickly thanked him and walked out the door. Zara turned and walked down the street, heading towards the Eiffel Tower. She planned to go up to the top and eat her lunch, which she packed in a bag, looking over the city. Zara made it to the base of the Eiffel Tower after a while of walking. She inserted a few of her euros into the place where you pay, and waited until the elevator made it to the bottom. Her and a few others waiting entered the elevator.

Zara waited anxiously as the elevator climbed up to the top. Elevators always made her feel uncomfortable. She felt panicked as the elevator doors opened, and she quickly exited. At the top, she sat over by a window as far away from the elevator as she could. She felt like something bad was going to happen if she got on it, but she knew it was all in her head. Zara nibbled on her sandwich, when it happened.

Zara was stuck in a crashing elevator, fear and anxiety enveloped her. She smacked the door with her fists, but she couldn't get out. The people around her huddled to the floor of the elevator scared. She didn't know what to do. Zara panicked as the elevator hit the ground. Then, everything went black.

Zara startled herself out of her trance. There were people around her, staring at her. They looked scared. A young boy her age stepped forward from the crowd.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked.

"I think so. What happened?" Zara asked.

"Your eyes became clouded and your voice got scratchy and deep. You said some words about people falling to death, it was like you were reading the future."

He looked at her with knowing eyes, like he knew something that Zara didn't. Zara thought about questioning him, but decided that it was best not to. She didn't want to cause any more trouble. She knew she had to leave.

Zara walked over to the elevator and went inside, followed by a few other people. The elevator door closed when she remember something.

They were in her trance.

Zara began to panic, she wanted this all to be in her head. She couldn't see, her vision had gone blurry, her heart raced.

"It's okay, it's just a coincidence," she told herself.

She breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down, but she knew she probably couldn't. She had experienced this feeling many times, but she didn't know how to calm herself down ever. She had her first panic attack when she was at her tenth birthday party, when she was separated from her friends and her father, they were walking on the street, and was forced to wander around lost. Many other panick attacks had took their course, but they were small. The other major panic attack was when someone followed her home when she went to her father's bakery, but went home. She had to keep it together on the way home so she could go inside and lock the doors. It was when the man knocked on the door when she ran into her closet and had the same feelings she had now.

She almost got herself to calm down when the elevator jerked.

They went spiraling down.

Zara did the only thing she could. She forced herself to the side of the elevator. She knew she was about to die. Just then blue sparks whispered from her fingers and wrapped around the elevator in a blue fog. The elevator stopped inches from the ground. The people in the elevator hugged and cheered, but were confused because they had no idea how the elevator stopped. They thought the blue fog and sparks were because of the elevator breaking down. Zara knew it wasn't though.

What did I just do? Zara thought.