Chapter 2: Life’s little problems 

He began his march once more. With each step he took, the reflection of the vast sea of stars would distort, as waves of the endless dark waters would spread across the flat dunes of “Twilight.” Had it been decades? Centuries? Millennia? He did not know, for he had not seen the sunset or the moon rise. He could only see this dim-lit Twilight he had been walking on, ever since he was prisoned here.

 

The man walking across this Vast prison had no name, but the Humans had offered him a name once. “The Seer.” His friends called him See, but that was a long time ago, and no longer were they friends, for they had gone against the very concept that they taught him to be: “Friendship.”

 

The Twilight realm only consisted of a vast night sky, dimly lit by a purple strand drawn at the far end. It was the exit to the realm, but – no matter how much he had walked, he never reached that exit.

 

This person, walking in the endless dune of the Twilight Realm was not a human. To be honest, he wasn’t a Being either. He was an entity that no one could understand, even himself. He took many shapes, many faces. Now, he was a cloaked figure. Dressed in a cloak made out of his sorrow, a hood drawn over his head to cover his face, for it was not the face a mere human being used to call, “Beautiful.”

 

The Seer was yet again, simply exhausted from walking. He sat down in the shallow water that covered the entire dune of Twilight, so shallow that it could only reach up to his feet. 

 

The Seer sat down in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t as if he felt the water below him, because there is no chill or any sensation in these waters. Just an existence, which is purely there for the fundamental purpose of existing.

 

The man sat there for a while, now, the water was still, and now... he could see the reflections of the stars above him clearly. One or two stars twinkled in the vast sky above him. A new being of his creation was born. He smiled. He recalled a time when he used to call the vast suns in the universe his children. A secret he only told to his best friend.

 

“Just like these waters, I simply exist for the pure purpose of simply existing. Well played, my human friends, well played.”

 

*

 

“Dr. Mary Cross,” the silver-plated tag on her table read. Behind the table, there sat a beautiful blonde woman, not entirely young, yet her beauty remained. Behind her round glasses were two blue eyes, moving here and there. With her hands clasped, she thought.

 

Ever since her children turned eighteen, her life had just become a ticking clock. Not a moment of peace, her thoughts were not steady. Mary had no need of letting any of her children go down that path, she wanted them to stay human. Her head was burning up with all the stress. The words of the Witches resounded in her head. “One… one of them has a 50% chance of carrying our blood now, Mary. You have to trust me. We can take care of them.”  She had disagreed with this, of course, taken the kids and raised them as human children, normal children.

 

Now, she did not want to let go of the children she raised so dearly.

 

TREENG! The bell rang, and another client was waiting outside. “Come in,” she said.

 

The door flung open, and a tall man, clearly in his 50s walked inside. “Take a seat please,” she genuinely asked the client.

 

“Thank you,” the old man replied and sat down on the chair in front of Mary.

 

“So, which one are you?” Mary took her files and carefully looked through the clients of the day.

 

“Mr. Bloom, Miss. The one who called you yesterday, the one with the – abnormal son.”

 

“Yes, I remember Mr. Bloom. Well then, let’s begin, shall we? First, what is your middle name, Mr. Bloom? I always fancied referring to my customers by their middle name, feel closer, you know.”

 

“Yes, yes, of course, Miss. It’s Connor.”

 

So, she started to converse with her client. Mr. Bloom had a rather odd case, about his son. She had to give him the perfect advice for this old man to continue with his life because she was dealing with a man who had attempted suicide more than a few times.

 

“Miss, I have been raising this child for years, his mother never worried much about him. We sent him to a fine school, but he did not get along with the lads there….”

 

“Then, after a while, the boy just changed. He started coming to the house late, often. Went off to a friend’s house – named Bob. Lived Downtown, we did not have many ties with Bob’s family. And –“

 

“Soon, I heard there was a murder on the beach. A mass shooting. It was when my son asked to stay at this Bob’s house for a while, we asked him why… he said he wanted some time away. Still, he hadn’t even picked a job yet, even though he had excellent qualifications. And then – I decided to check his room that evening., I found a notebook under his bed. Things written inside it – I don’t know why he turned out like that, Miss Cross. There were notes about sacrificing children, cutting their ears off, and giving them off to the devil. How he found joy in sheer pain. I knew who had done that mass shooting, and I had no choice. I acted… I gave him off to the police.”

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“It might’ve been that I haven’t loved him – or, I don’t know. I think he was just born to be a Freak. He was... My life.”

 

The term ‘Freak’ startled Mary, her eyes watered at the thought. She sniffed, wiping her eyes from her napkin. “I’m sorry… for getting emotional, Connor.”

 

“No  not at all, Miss,” the pain in the old man’s heart was clear from his voice.

 

After conversing with the old man, he calmed down. Mary was a good counselor as always, but – this person, he said something she despised. “Born to be a Freak.”

 

For the evening, that was her last client. This was the 15th day since her children turned eighteen, and if they were becoming Witches, it was high time, according to what the Coven told her. She sat at the edge of her office window, looking outside at the dew rain. Amongst all the soaring structures in the city, there was the most noticeable one. The Coven.

 

If she knew one thing, it was that one of her children would turn into a Witch in days. For 15 days, she had been hoping, but day by day – she only grew wearier. Waiting… as if she was waiting for one of them to turn, but at the same time, hoping for none to shift. As a mother, she was disgusted by her feelings.

 

Beep! Beep! Beep! Her phone suddenly started to ring. She walked to her desk and gazed at the name. “The Cov.” Her heart beat raised. Has Alice or Jamie shifted? Why is the Cove calling me? Why – I… she was at a loss of words. 

 

There was only one way to find out. She picked up the phone, swiped, and answered.

 

“Hello, Mrs. Cross.”

 

“Hello, Witch.”

 

“It’s Lucielle if you don’t recall my name.”

 

“I do… Now tell me, are my children safe?” Mary asked.

 

“Safe?” Lucielle replied, almost sarcastically. “I have told you, Mary. There is no way either of them is safe until we confirm who has powers. I called you 10 days ago, you said there was no reaction, Mary. One week, most of the Witches start losing control. Two, some die – some live. It’s past two… one of them would definitely show something.”

 

“But – I… isn’t there a possibility that both of them are fine? As a mother, I cannot lose my children. I can’t give them off to you Witches!” Mary cried out, angrily.

 

Lucielle laughed. “You can’t? You sure? You sure you’d rather see one of them die, rather than letting them live… live far better than an ordinary human being.”

 

This left the mother speechless. She gulped. Fear had taken the better of her now.

 

“Hmm… Marry, you there?”

 

“Yes,” she replied, the fear obvious in her muffled voice.

 

“Hmm… don’t be scared, to tell the truth. As a mother, that’s what you should do for your children. You should protect them, not lie to them. You decide, Mary. Tick tock. Time is running out,” Lucielle said. “Oh – and one more thing. Ryan… he died last week. We just received the news yesterday. I guess you're pleased to hear that. Your Freak husband is dead. Bye, Mary.”  She hung up the phone.

 

Mary sat at the edge of her desk and placed her phone down on her table. “I thought you’d come back at least once, Ryan.” 

 

She grabbed her bag, switched off the lights in her office, and left the building to her house. It was time. Time to tell her children the truth.

 

No more secrets.

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