The Magician's Assistant

[14] Start of Senior Year

          Usually when a school year first begins, you’re feeling alive and wide awake. Feeling well and happy, cheerful and pumped. First of all, that didn’t apply to me. Second of all, that says a lot, since it was my last year of school.

          James wasn’t there to greet me in the morning. Usually, I’m a morning person. Waking up before the alarm clock isn’t surprising in my case. It’s a reoccurring event, actually. So when the alarm blared piercingly and I shoved the frigid pillow hard over my ears, it was obvious I was having an off day.

          It’d been days since I’d last seen James. Actually, scratch that. It’s been days since I’d talked with him. Every couple hours he would flicker in front of my vision, but fade almost instantly away. It was exhausting trying to keep myself so alert the next couple of days, waiting for his appearance.

          It was so unusual to not have access to talking him whenever I wanted to. I suppose I’d taken it for granted. I’d always just expected him to be there to talk to whenever I needed to. Now I was suffering the intense separation from my best friend, providing a dull ache in my chest.

          William hadn’t called back, and his friends didn’t show up at my doorstep. That, I was definitely grateful for. I’d wanted to consult with James about it, but considering the dilemma, I couldn’t. Ruth also called me and asked for an update. I had to bend around the truth a bit.

          “I had some car troubles,” I had said over the phone, “They fixed everything up. They didn’t seem to be into drugs, either, which I figure you’d want to know.”

          I bet myself that she was frowning. Ruth was the type of person to never believe she was wrong. Even if she did know she was, pigs would fly before she would ever admit it.

          “Well, if you could, I’d like for you to visit with them soon.”

          “That shouldn’t be hard. They offered to stop by sometime,” I replied dryly. She probably thought it was on friendly terms, but I was actually forced into having them come back. I didn’t have a choice in the matter.

          “Be careful, Rachel. I know you’re ‘above the influence’, but I don’t want you to get too friendly with William’s friends. I don’t want friendship or drugs to blind your reports to me.”

          “Don’t worry about it, Ruth. I know what I’m doing.”

          Not really, but it was a work in progress.

          And so, as I groaned into my sheets, I realized I should probably get dressed for my first day of my last year of high school. Getting dressed into jeans and a light sweatshirt, I left my hair wild and tousled. I didn’t dare brush through it, afraid to ruin the few perfect curls my hair had manifested. Frizz-inducing combs were my worst enemy in that moment.

          With a quick bowl of cereal and a few bites of a banana, I slipped on some ballet flats and brushed my teeth. I was hobbling around the house, trying to multitask in more than one chore due to lack of time.

          Of course, it took a longer amount of time to attempt to multitask, considering I had to redo everything. My mistakes were large and, such as dropping hair clips in the drain, or putting my shoes on backwards.

          Something manifested by the kitchen counter, and I whipped in the direction to view it more clearly. It was a white murky cloud, outlined in bright light. Suddenly, it dimmed and I was left looking at a familiar face.