Goddess of the Waterfall #37: Book One: Suburban Magick

By J. Ahl

It’s 1995 in the suburbs of Irvine, California; a predominantly pseudo-Christian community of spandex, baseball practice, Xanax and shopping. The key to social survival is to run with the herd. What would the neighbors think? For Jewels Delacroix, this is no easy feat. Jewels had always been a little different, like a hippie born in the wrong decade…But after witnessing two living, breathing people materialize out of thin air, she begins to realize just how different she really is. In an epic tale of prophetic dreams, mystical visions and teenage drama, Jewels begins to question everything she has ever known, leading her on a journey of self-acceptance and magick, while coming-of-age in the most awkward and hilarious ways possible! Enjoy the ride as you experience Book One of the Goddess of the Waterfall #37 series!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312207936

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Goddess of the Waterfall #37: Book One: Suburban Magick

Goddess of the Waterfall #37

Book One: Suburban Magick

By

J. Ahl

Copyright © 2014 by J. Ahl

All Rights Reserved. Registered with the Library of Congress. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written consent of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-312-20793-6

If you wish to contact the author, you may email her at [e-mail].

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Love; the great conscious web

that connects everyone and everything; to my husband

Myk, my loving parents and grandparents, my special

twin, Ashley, and to the rest of my cosmic family. This

offering is for you.

Acknowledgments:

This novel is a work of autobiographical fiction. All people’s names have been changed. While this is derived from my life experiences, many portions have been altered as the Spirit and my imagination moved me to do so. Certain aspects are exact to my life and the people in it; others are not. I’ll never tell which is which. So there.

I created the cover art with watercolor paper, acrylic paint, colored pencils, black pen and oil pastels.  Thanks to my husband Myk for the Photoshop tutorial.  The jacket was written by Iris Eve.

There are so many to thank for the birth of this novel, and so, if I have left you out, please know that you are in my heart and appreciated beyond words. First, I give my deepest thanks and praises to The Most High and all beings of Light that assist you! We are truly blessed, and I am truly blessed to know and feel you within me and all around me. Thank you for everything.  Next, I thank my husband, Myk, for his unending support on every level and amazingly crass sense of humor throughout this timely process. I love you with all of my heart. We made the most beautiful baby in the history of humankind! For her insight, sage-like wisdom, patience, friendship, keen intellect, and for using real butter and cream, I thank Iris Eve, otherwise known as Editor #1. Without you, this book would not be half of what it is today. Thank you for reading EVERY SINGLE DRAFT, and for perceiving clearly that which others overlook. Deepest respect and gratitude go to my main ladies for providing endless hours of inspiration and the deepest bonds I have yet to know: Anna Williams, Sara Farsani, Kacie Putman and Ashley Ellis (in no particular order haha). Mom and Dad, you rock my world and have always believed in me, even when I didn’t know it. Thanks for putting up with me as a teenager, and for the continual supply of love and support that you both offer. To my brother Brian, thank you for being my best friend and confidant, and also for putting up with me as a teenager as well. To my friends who read some of my earlier drafts, I thank you implicitly for your input and constructive criticism: Erik Avery, Bill Ahl (Paw Paw), Zackary Christensen, Jeremy Barres, Laura Dvorak, Malia Divincent, and others that I am sure I am failing to remember. Mahalo! Nicole Nelson, thank you for your generosity and skillful precision in regards to proofreading and editing my final draft! You are a stellar human being and my appreciation is infinite. To John O’Brien, I thank you for your sound and pro bono legal advice! My parents are lucky to have you and Barbara as neighbors. For offering a place in your home, at the exact moment we needed it, and for treating us like family (because we are), I thank Ryan and Monica Baird, and their three beautiful children, Sita, Kala and Murugan. You aided in the completion of this process more than you are even aware. And Monica, extra special thanks to you for your complete lack of laziness and patient ingenuity, not to mention being one of the kindest and mindful souls I have ever met! And lastly, I thank the suburbs of Irvine, and all of the people I grew up with there; you have taught me so much, and I love you.

1:

Freakazoids

Jewels would argue that it had begun long before her current incarnation, and that time didn’t really exist anyway, so that her great-big-story had always been, always was, and always would be (along with everyone else’s stories). But we’ll go ahead and say that this story began with the strobe light effect above Daisy McNally’s highly organized desk. For the purposes of context, we shall begin in the five minutes and thirty-seven seconds leading up to the strobe light effect….

Three girls sat around a fancy red box filled with a variety of chocolate truffles; Jackie York, Daisy McNally, and Jewels Delacroix. And they were laughing, red in the face, on the floor in Daisy McNally’s bedroom in her father’s two story condominium. It was Saturday in late August 1995 and the eighth grade, the final rite of passage preceding the daunting ambiguities of high school, wouldn’t commence for another few weeks.

The sky was visible through four tall windows; splashes of orange and electric pink danced upon the high streaking violet clouds. It was just before sunset in Irvine, California; a gridded suburb of Orange County stippled with the same twenty-nine models of square houses, twenty-two identical styles of condominiums and apartments, exactly twelve varieties of SUVs and mi­nivans, pristine chemically fertilized lawns and greenbelts at every turn, and roads planned to make any escape from the police impossible.

It was a community where phrases like, "No doy, and Like totally and junk, and What a beeeotch!" were frequently blurted out of the mouths of the young, and the grown-ups who desperately clung to their youth just as their spandex and rayon clung to them.

Most of the orange groves that had cascaded up and down the rolling hills behind this expanding suburb had been chopped down to make way for vast toll highways, public schools, and swankier models of square houses. The sweet smell of citrus had been exchanged for the odor of drying asphalt.

The first girl around the red box of truffles was Jackie York, a twelve year old. She pulled her straight white-blonde hair into a ponytail, accentuating her peach freckled face and squinty blue eyes.  Her athletic build was overlapped by pockets of baby fat on her tummy, face, and forearms that bounced when she laughed. Quite intentionally, she had smeared chocolate across her two front teeth and around her lips, exaggeratedly impersonating a senile old woman they had seen earlier that day on a television commercial for affordable bedpans. Thick brown saliva dribbled down her chin, onto her baby blue tee-shirt with the word BRAT written in gold across the chest.

She licked her teeth in a disgusting sort of way, and continued to blather in an accent that was obviously meant to sound like a decrepit senior citizen. She said, And would somebody please wipe my ass for me…I’ve had another accident. It looks as if I’ve mistaken my bedpan for the chocolate milk again!

Jackie laughed and rolled backwards, smearing her lips with more melting chocolate, delighted by her own cleverness.

The two other girls sat across from her laughing, creating a circle on the floor. In the background, a Culture Club tape played Karma Chameleon and incense smoke snaked about the room.

The girl sitting to the right of Jackie was a thirteen year old named Daisy McNally, and we’ll get to her highly organized desk shortly. She sat upright with one long, slender arm around her knobby knees and her other dainty hand over her mouth as she chortled. She was incredibly lean and lanky, with coppery-reddish shoulder length hair that framed her fair-skinned face, adorned with freckles that mimicked the night sky, a bird-like nose, and big blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires.

Daisy’s bedroom was extremely clean and organized. Every wooden, plastic and glass surface glinted as though they had been hermetically sealed. In every direction, ninety-degree angles intersected and supported other ninety-degree angles.

Daisy’s father was Albert McNally. He had built Daisy an oak loft, up high and close to the peak of the vaulted ceiling.  Daisy’s purple goose down bed was perched at the top, along with gossip magazines, her locked diary, and New Kids on the Block tapes; all stacked neatly on little wooden shelves painted bright purple.  Nightly she ascended a ten foot ladder to go to sleep, with no guard rail to protect her from falling.

Beneath the loft was a white wooden desk, aforementioned.  Black plastic organizers held papers neatly stacked, with pens and pencils lined up in perfect little rows.

Across the room sat a green leather loveseat, covered by a purple felt blanket and some frilly throw pillows. Beside that was a tall and skinny glass case, full of porcelain kittens, clowns, and butterflies, all amid silver-framed photographs of Daisy’s alluring mother holding Daisy as a newborn baby. She had died suddenly and mysteriously from what Daisy was told was a brain tumor, while pregnant with Daisy’s half-brother. He didn’t survive. Daisy was only eight when it happened. At school, Daisy pretended like her mother was still alive and well until she was nine; no one had the heart to contradict her. And Daisy never cried about it once. In fact, she never cried about anything.

The closet to the left of the glass case was mirrored; the three girls sitting around the box of truffles glanced repeatedly at their reflections, tossing their hair about, and readjusting their clothes.  Posters of New Kids on the Block and Marky-Mark and the Funky Bunch donned the off-white walls, accompanied by a kitten calendar. The August kitten was fluffy and white with a surprised look on his face, with one paw hanging from a rope line and a quote above him that read in bold letters: HANG IN THERE! Good advice, kitty. The carpet was gray, hard, flat, and spotless. No dust existed in her space.  Nothing was out of place.

Stop it, Jackie! Oh my God, I’m gonna pee my pants if you don’t stop. And seriously, chocolate stains carpets! Just be careful.  Jackie! Daisy laughed with an undertone of discomfort. She gasped abruptly, quickly jumped up, flung open her bedroom door, and ran to the squeaky-clean bathroom down the hallway, unzipping her purple jeans as she went.

Then there was Jewels Delacroix. She was twelve years old, and the third girl in the circle. She was laying on her side, cackling with her head thrown back, eating a truffle, and trying not to choke on it. Her complexion glistened like golden honey in the fading light of Daisy’s bedroom; she had just returned from two weeks in tropical Hawai’i with her family. Her wild hair was golden blonde and curly, and her countenance classically beautiful, though she didn’t know it. She had a button nose, pouty lips, rosy cheeks, and eyes that changed between blue, gray and green depending on her mood.

That combined with a much more mature body than the other girls of her age bracket set her apart, and singled her out. And Jewels oozed sexuality without any effort, which was of course a continual source of scrutiny in her pre-adolescent life. Already she was wearing a B cup bra, and she had been blessed with her first moon blood when she was nine, in the bathroom at school during the lunchtime of her fifth grade year. She had called her father, who was working from home at the time, and proclaimed, Dad! I’ve become a woman!

Jewels, you’re not a woman yet, he had replied with a sigh.

When she had gained enough composure, and swallowed her dark-chocolate-raspberry truffle, Jewels sat up and exclaimed, You are fucking hilarious Jackie! Oh my god, if my mom heard me making fun of old people like tha--

Don’t say ‘f-u-c-k-i-n-g’, Jackie whispered, leaning closer to Jewels, licking chocolate off of her teeth with her brown-streaked tongue. "Albert’s right down stairs, and he might not let us sleepover if he thinks we’re a bad influence."

Oh shit, right…Sorry, Jewels said with a lowered tone, making an awkward face that said, I’ve been a little too loud and I regret it. She made that face a lot. If it hadn’t already been Lauren, her middle name at the age of twelve would have surely been ‘Awkward’.

Then, that very moment, Jewels was distracted by something just beyond her peripheral vision. Something bright and shiny flickered like a strobe light above Daisy’s desk and grew more intense with each passing moment. And this is where the story really begins….

It’s nothing…There’s nothing there, just ignore it…It will go away eventually…Jackie’s finally treating you like a human being…Don’t screw this up…Please…Please just STOP, Jewels thought.

Her head twitched in an effort not to look, her jaw clenched up, and her teeth grinded together. The strobe light effect intensified and persisted beyond the point of denial. Jewels whipped her head around and looked toward the desk, to the source of the mysterious contrast of light and dark.

She squinted toward it, and the strobe light stopped, leaving only a brilliant blue glow. Her eyes began to water as the blue luminosity shifted, undulating with beautifully complex geometrical patterns that seemed to breathe. A fractal-tunnel made of swirls of white light ebbed and flowed, dancing within the parameters of the blue radiance before her, so that for a few moments, Daisy’s room no longer existed. All that was real was the sparkling mystery before her, reflected in her glassy eyes.

Jackie -- do you uh -- see that? Jewels asked. To her own ears, she sounded as though she were deep under water with a megaphone.

"Do I see what?" Jackie inquired, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she watched Jewels gazing languidly at Daisy’s desk.

Jackie resorted to wiping her face clean on her baby blue tee shirt, sat up a little straighter, and looked more carefully in the direction Jewels was staring, as though searching for a cockroach or a mouse.

Just then, Jewels’ ears popped, as though she had just emerged from the depths of the ocean, and could hear clearly again. Still not looking directly at Jackie, she replied, "That blue light right there," she said, gesturing toward the ominous glow. Over the desk. Do you see it?

Jackie looked up at Jewels and shifted so that her arms were crossed in front of her. I don’t see anything, she said smugly. "Nope. Nothing there. Daisy told me you were, well, kinda, you know -- different. I mean, I already know about you because of school, but….you see stuff, right? Like ghosts and stuff like that, don’t you?" she said, suppressing a snigger.

Jewels, how­ever, continued to stare intently at the geometric patterns of light, not bothering to respond.

"That’s kinda weird, Jewels. I mean, that’s not exactly stuff you want to be sharing with the whole world. You don’t want people to think you’re like crazy and junk," Jackie added, a mixture of concern and disgust painted on her face.

Well, people fear what they don’t undersssta… Jewels began to retort, but was interrupted by the seemingly impossible.

She blinked repeatedly, her mouth gaping, as the blue-light phenomenon before her instantly transformed into two blackened silhouettes, and then materialized into two solid people; a woman and a man. Beating hearts and bones and life had just emerged from nothing; from out of thin air. Jewels rubbed her eyes for a second, thinking they would disappear, but the unfamiliar pair remained fixed on the spot, physical bodies and light emanations all-in-one.

Legs crossed, with cherry high-heel-covered-feet dangling over the side of Daisy’s desk, sat a beautiful woman with olive skin, and wavy dark-chestnut hair. She was slender, yet curvaceous; an utter vision. Dressed in a fitted navy blue and white polka-dot jacket with a matching skirt and cap, she reminded Jewels of a fully clothed pin-up girl. Her smirking lips were painted bright red, and she just sat there, quite nonchalantly, staring at Jewels with her dark and bright eyes, emulating radiance.

Jewels looked to the right of the beautiful woman, and observed a sharp featured man; tall and slender, slicked-back auburn hair, small penetrating blue eyes, pale skin, and very distinct high-set cheek bones that gave the impression of being carved out of wood. He wore a brown and tan pinstriped suit, with mahogany wingtips. He also sat at the edge of Daisy’s desk, though was much taller than his beautiful counterpart, so his feet were planted firmly on the carpet.

He smiled widely and sincerely, looking back and forth between Jewels and the beautiful woman to his left, who maintained a mysterious and ra­ther coy grin on her face, her sparkling brown eyes still fixed steadily upon Jewels’ blue-gray irises. Deep relaxation washed over Jewels. She was completely safe and secure with this woman; a feeling she had never fully experienced until now. Plus, there was something else. Within her gaze was the icing on the cake, that hidden track on a new c.d., and the hot bath covered with rose petals. Such obvious, wonderful, exhilarating, and innate goodness.

Jackie cleared her throat loudly. "You’re really freaking me…" she began, but was inter­rupted by Daisy reentering her room.

"You bitch," Daisy whispered as she shuffled back into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. I almost peed all over my new purple jeans. Oh my gosh, that was silly,she giggled innocently as she sat back down beside Jewels on the floor and then continued seriously; You didn’t get any chocolate on the carpet did you?  My dad --

Daisy, do you see anyone sitting on your desk? Jewels asked, still gazing into the mysterious woman’s eyes.

Daisy’s face became a violent shade of pink. Jewels had a feeling that she was looking back and forth upon her squeaky-clean desk and Jackie; that they were exchanging significant looks, and mouthing things to each other behind her, but it didn’t bother her in that moment. She knew she was safe.

Well, what do you see Jewels? Daisy queried, sounding a little nervous, picking at her cuticles.

There’s a woman sitting on your desk, on the left side, and a man sitting on the right. They look like they’re from the 1930’s or something. You really don’t see them? she pleaded, looking back toward Daisy with a desperate look on her face. She’s got bright red lipstick on; he’s wearing a pinstripe suit? They’re sitting RIGHT THERE.  Jewels pointed back toward the desk.

Jewels, there’s no one there, Daisy expressed sympathetically, clearing her throat.

Are you serious? Jackie blurted out incredulously, sounding quite arrogant. "You’re just messing with us right?  Everyone at school says you just make up your stupid little stories because you want attention. That is soooo frickin’ immature.  Anyway, this is freaking me out. Yeah, so…Hey Daisy, would you come downstairs with me to get a…a glass of water?"

Jackie’s face then contorted into an expression between horror and disbelief, blinking rapidly, her mouth limp and open.  Jewels’ eyes had just turned noticeably bright emerald and were glaring into Jackie’s being, burning throughout her like high-powered lasers. At that moment, Jackie sensed, to her extreme discomfort, that she was as transparent as a naughty negligee to Jewels; like Jewels could easily perceive her deepest fears, hairiest hindrances, and darkest secrets. Jackie hoped desperately they would not be used as weapons against her.

Jewels deciphered Jackie’s thoughts and sighed with a smirk emerging at the corners of her mouth. She reached for another truffle, unaware that her eyes had changed color, and shifted her focus back to the mysterious pair sitting on Daisy’s desk, giggling on the inside. This was immediately followed by a tsunami of nausea.

Jackie grabbed her backpack and sleeping bag as her face and neck turned scarlet, as though she had just finished running a long-distance race. She nearly sprinted out of the room, without uttering another word. Daisy looked at Jewels with eyes that said, I’m soooooo sorry, and followed Jackie downstairs.

Jewels felt the familiar flood of embarrassment unleashing like steel butterflies, flapping wildly in her stomach, as she watched her best friend walk that stuck-up bitch down her dustless stairs.  This was nothing new. Her connection to the beyond or to the unseen realities was paramount from the time of her birth. She just had it, without effort, and it created all sorts of bizarre and embarrassing scenarios in her life…

Certain individuals had gained the notion that Jewels was simply an excellent communicator, or that she had a brilliant imagination. Why else would a girl speak to rocks, plants and animals? And the stories that she made up were well beyond that of a mere child…

Often she had been called a liar. Blatantly obvious lies would pour out of her. Once she claimed that she had lost a twin brother, and that her mother had lost him mid-term, although that never actually happened. There was an old black and white photograph in her mother’s top dresser drawer, and Jewels pretended that it was of him, so at least she could look upon his face. Jewels swore she could remember him nestled in the womb with her. She knew that they had been together, and felt the solid link of their connection even still. Every logical fact pointed to the contrary, but for some reason, Jewels felt in her heart that it was true. She would cry about him, and how she had lost him. Interestingly enough, Jewels’ mother, Jane, had also thought that she was having twins, but after the ultrasound, found that only a single little girl was inside her. Unconvinced by Jane or anyone else, Jewels often went looking for the place where her twin brother’s body was buried, never to find it.  She always wound up searching by an old pine tree in a park near her house, shedding tears at its roots and leaving flowers there…

A small, select few thought of her as a psychic, or a seer.  Others called her a natural-born healer. These people were usually much older than Jewels, practiced in the esoteric arts, or were undercover hippies. They were a very small and powerful source of encouragement ranging from extended family to family friends who had witnessed her abilities first-hand, without any judgement; a rare and beautiful treat for Jewels. They would ask her to remove headaches with her touch, to intuit answers to their various questions, or about the lives of faeries and the many other creatures of their dimension (like dragons, gnomes and unicorns). Jewels could speak of the faeries endlessly; how they danced in sparkling rainbow-colored lights, and played tricks on people by hiding their keys or eating their sweets while they weren’t looking; about how cats could see them. Just watch your cats, she would say, They aren’t just batting at thin air, ya know…

Some people (uptight public school teachers) were convinced that she was crazy or mentally impaired and needed special classes, or to be institutionalized…"To put it frankly Mr. and Mrs. Delacroix, we are extremely concerned about your daughter’s progress…She seems to be in another world just daydreaming away.  She hardly pays attention in her classes. She doesn’t do any of her homework, unless it’s art. It’s like she’s purposefully avoiding the curriculum! It’s as if she couldn’t care less about her education! It seems to me that she might be, uh, better suited and more comfortable in a place where she has more structure and discipline, and other children who are more --- well ---- more on her level, don’t you think?"…

And many others (suburbanite pseudo-Christians) warned Jewels that her gifts were those of the devil or Satan or Lucifer, and suggested she try her very best to turn off her abilities, and to relentlessly repent for her obvious cavalcade of sinning.

Ohhhhhh, okay, Jewels would say heatedly, "I’ll just go ahead and turn it off then. Excuse me! Satan? Are you listening? Are you there? Oh, there you are. Would you please go ahead and turn off the hell-fire and eternal damnation that fuels my gifts? Thank you. Thank you so much Satan. You’re really such a good listener..."

Jewels had a way of knowing what was going to happen before it happened, although if you asked her to predict the winning lottery numbers, she would say, "That’s not what I do or what being psychic is really about. But if the winning numbers should ever appear to me, you’ll be the first to know." She found herself repeating these words a lot…

When she was eight, Jewels was playing a board game called LIFE with her family, on what they enthusiastically referred to as ‘Family Fun Day,’ which was really just a spruced up name for Sunday. The telephone rang while Jewels was rolling the dice, praying for snake eyes to put her ahead of her brother, and add another small plastic baby to her small plastic car. But before her dad could answer the phone, she looked up at him with a mouth of freshly missing front teeth and said, Dack’s dead now, and returned her focus to the game, rolling snake eyes a moment later.

"Don’t be silly, Jewels. Dack’s fine, he’s…Oh, hello? Oh, hi Mom, what’s up? Oh God, Mom, I’m so sorry," gasped Jerry Delacroix.

Dack O’Leary, Jerry Delacroix’s grandfather, had just died.  His mother and Dack’s daughter, Dottie Delacroix, had called to inform him…

Sometimes she would answer questions her parents were thinking before they would say them aloud, like, "Yes, I’m going to walk Roxanne around the block before I go to Hannah’s, or, No, I didn’t bring the dirty plates down from my room yet, or, No, my report card didn’t come in the mail today. I already checked." Her parents would look at her like How the hell did you do that? To Jewels, it was simple and automatic…

One time Jewels overheard her grandmothers Beatrix and Dottie at a Christmas dinner. Beatrix had said, "Dottie, I tell you what, Jewels was never a child. She was born thirty-five. When I saw her picking up trash in the parking lot of Antonio’s Italian restaurant one night, when she was only three years old mind you, and I asked her what she was doing, she looked up at me and said, ‘I’m helping save the environment, Grandma.’ No three-year-old I’ve ever known would say that…I know! She was born thirty-five. She was never a child…"

When she was ten, Jewels was watching the new Star Trek movie in the theater with her dad’s side of the family on Easter.  About halfway through, Jewels blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the whole theater was spinning around her, while she remained fixed to her seat. She looked over to her mother and asked, Do you feel that? as Jane’s face kept rushing past her and disappearing out of sight. Her stomach rose up, on the brink of flying out of her mouth. The dim theater spun around and around, Jewels gripping the armrests of her seat, afraid she might catapult out of it and hit the ceiling. Moments later, it was over, and no one in the theater appeared to notice that they had just been spinning at hyper-speed. She could never explain that one…

Equally unexplainable were the events which took place in kindergarten. Jewels had been playing hopscotch alone during recess. She looked up at the jungle gym directly in front of her. It was full of laughing, boisterous children. She called out to one of her little friends. There was no response. She blinked, and when her eyes opened a nanosecond later, the jungle gym was empty, along with the rest of the playground. She ran back to class to find that everyone had been back in there seats for ten minutes…

And so, she could not figure any real or definitive explanation of what or who she was; there was no solid foundation for comparison because she didn’t know anyone else like herself.  She was a strange composition of traits; made of infinite riddles that swam in an oceanic void of Divine light and darkness, wisdom and knowing, laughter and rebelliousness, naivety and doubt, secrets and deception, insecurity and immaturity, silliness and seriousness; made of a hundred different faces it seemed, all trapped in the prematurely mature body of a twelve year old…

In this particular moment however, as she sat in Daisy’s room, Jewels realized that witnessing spirits as flesh and bone people had actually never happened to her before. The two entities sitting at Daisy’s desk were completely indistinguishable from the hard material world; not translucent, or in her mind like the oth­ers.

The strange and strikingly beautiful woman drummed her long red fingernails on the desk’s surface, and the sharp-featured man sat up very straight while drawing long, deep breaths, his large hands resting in his lap, palms up. There was a deep calm about him; an unyielding joyful stillness. Neither he nor the woman had broken the silence with their voices, or made any clear indications regarding their intentions. Although the urge was nearly unbearable, Jewels resisted reaching out and trying to touch them, fearing that they might disappear, and then she’d never know what they wanted, or why they’d come. And so she sat in silence, observing every breath and every spark of light that emitted from their auras.

Meanwhile, Daisy and Jackie had hurried down the stairs, covertly maneuvering past Daisy’s dad, Albert, into the black and metallic absolutely disinfected kitchen. Both girls grabbed clear cups from an opaque glass cabinet, and filled them with purified water from a pitcher in the refrigerator. They subdued their voices; knowing that only a bar, a dining room and a short flight of stairs separated them from parental authority.

Albert was busy mounting new surround sound speakers strategically around his contemporary living room and back patio, just a level down from his whispering daughter and her friend. He hadn’t even noticed them whilst he was crouched over his flawlessly organized toolbox, adjusting his slightly awry glasses and squinting at the installation instructions, his face deep in concentration.

"Why are you friends with her Daisy? She’s totally a freak, I mean, doy, what was that?" Jackie whispered while pretending to drink water.

She’s like, a good person. I know she’s a little weird, but --

"A LITTLE???" Jackie scoffed.

Yeah, well she’s one of my best friends. Her mom is like --my mom, you know? It’s just…Well, we’re like family and she’s --

"Everyone at school thinks you guys are like lesbians or something. My mom told me that Daphne’s mom said that she’s like a devil worshipper…or a Witch. A Witch Daisy. Do you know what that means? She’s totally going to hell. Do you really want to be friends with someone who’s going to burn for eternity? And she’s a total slut! She let Brandon Boyderson feel her up."

Yeah, I know, she’s different -- Daisy was at a loss for words and felt a bead of sweat forming on her brow. She nervously glanced in the direction of her father. "Uhhh, she does call herself a Witch sometimes, but she thinks it’s a good thing. You could ask her about it if you want," she whispered feebly to Jackie, who now had her arms crossed in front of her, casting a look of severest disgust.

Daisy continued to whisper, She says people don’t know what they’re talking about, but whatever, she broke off, flustered, and continued, I mean, you should just spend the night. Stuff like that doesn’t always happen, just sometimes. If you got to know her, you’d probably really like each other.

"Yeah, right! In her dreams. My mom doesn’t even want me hanging out with her. The only reason she let me come over is because your dad is here, and it’s your house, and I told her Jewels wasn’t spending the night."

Daisy’s voice became firm and flinty, like a much older woman, and raised an octave, "Well, why did you come over then?  If you don’t even like her, and you aren’t really allowed to be around her, then --"

"Because you’re my friend Daisy, and you’re not a total freakazoid. And I was just curious….I mean, I think she totally does it to get attention, just like how she stuffs her bra. I mean, Brandon wouldn’t tell me, but I know she does. She just wants people to look at her. She’s a liar, Daisy…I’m sorry, (for Daisy’s face had turned bright scarlet), I’m just trying to be a good friend to you by telling the truth," Jackie voiced, raising an octave also, to which Daisy shushed her.

Whatever. Just do what you want to do, Daisy whispered fiercely, "Obviously you can’t think for yourself, and you won’t even try to get to know her on your own. You don’t even deserve to know her, you know that?" she whisper-growled.

Daisy straightened up and regained composure immediately, wiping away the beads of sweat that had accumulated on her forehead, affirmed in her resolve.

"Do you need to call your mom to pick you up? You should probably go so you don’t have to spend the night with a couple of freakazoids."

Daisy coldly handed Jackie a black cordless phone with big green buttons.

Jackie’s eyes bulged and widened as though she had been electrocuted and her nostrils flared to such an extent that you could fit a nickel in each one. She quickly thereafter forced a fraudulent grin and said, No-no, I’m just going to walk home. I want to stop by Daphne’s house anyway, she says she’s got a—uh—my Pre-Algebra book, yeah.

And with that, Jackie flung open the front door and whipped her blonde ponytail around. She marched out, onto a well lit con­crete path, and out of Jewels’ and Daisy’s lives; her belongings in hand, nose sticking up in the air, and chocolate stains all over her shirt.

Beotch, Daisy whispered as Jackie escaped from view.

2:

Dinner and Divination

The sun was fully set and only a faint blue glow remained dancing upon the horizon, which grew incrementally darker moving upwards in the sky. Daisy sighed deeply into her chest, and quietly closed the front door, tiptoeing toward the stairs.

Albert was standing a level down from the dining area in the living room, facing Daisy. He was slightly red-faced and his forehead was glistening with sweat, just like his daughter’s. He had a rounder face than Daisy, with round glasses, and the same coppery-reddish hair, though his was slightly thinning on the top, revealing small patches of pink flesh. He spoke with a repressed southern accent, and had a well-groomed mustache. He was a slight man, not much taller than his daughter, but was incredibly strong for his size.

Where did Jackie go, Daisy? I thought you girls were having a sleepover? I was going to make veggie burgers on the grill.  Janine was going to join us. Are you all right? You look a little feverish, Albert asked, reaching for her forehead with the back of his hand.

I’m fine, I’m fine. Jackie just had to go because she wasn’t feeling well, Daisy said while pulling away from her father’s hand.

Gees, I hope you didn’t catch whatever she’s got, you’re burnin’ --

So, which one’s Janine? Daisy interrupted, hoping to change the subject of Jackie’s sudden departure.

"Daisy Marie, you know exactly who she is. She’s the same woman I’ve been seeing for several weeks now." The ‘now’ at the end of his sentence had a deep southern twang.

The blonde or the brunette? she provoked him, guaranteeing that he wouldn’t ask further questions regarding Jackie’s early leave.

"That isn’t any of your business, young lady, now is it? I am only dating these women. We are not yet in committed relationships Daisy, and we prefer it that way for the moment...So, is Jewels still staying? I was about to fire up the grill. How about we have some fully loaded baked potatoes with our veggie burgers?"

UGGHH...well…yeah. That sounds good. Really good, ac­tually. With sour cream and cheddar cheese and fakin’ bacon and green onions? MMMM. Ok, fine. We’ll be down soon, we’re just talking about girl stuff; you wouldn’t be interested.

Daisy turned on that note, and ran up the stairs. Albert noticed, at that moment, how grown up his little girl had become lately. She sure looked a lot like her mom. She even dressed like her.  The white tee-shirt covered in different colored stars would really have been Marie’s style. It was extremely difficult for Albert to watch his only daughter transform more and more, every day, into his departed ex-wife right before his eyes, though he never expressed this out loud.

Daisy slowly opened her bedroom door to find Jewels on the floor, her feet up on the green loveseat and eyes upon the ceiling.  Her hands were folded lightly across her navel, which was covered by a pale yellow shirt that had I AM ONE WITH NATURE written across the chest. She was wearing baggy jeans and her wild golden-blonde hair splayed in every direction. Daisy could see the salty lines on Jewels’ flushed face where her tears had travelled.

I’m not sorry, Jewels began with a hot, nasally voice, Jackie is a bitch. I’m sorry if you’re upset, but fuck her. She doesn’t think for herself. She’s completely fucking ignorant. She’s a sheep.  Jewels sniffed, and then giggled at the notion of Jackie turning into a sheep. She looked up at Daisy, opened her mouth and exclaimed, BAAHHHH!

Daisy laughed half-heartedly and flopped down onto her couch with a sigh. Her little mouth maintained a smirk for a moment, also picturing what Jackie would look like if she were a sheep…

Jewels, what did you see, really? Were you just messing with her, or did you really see some—one?

"There was a man and a woman sitting on your desk that looked as real as you. They’re gone now and they didn’t even say anything to me—they just sat there looking at me and no, I wasn’t messing with her! Although now I kinda wish I was. Do you think I like being treated like shit at school almost every day? Do you think I want another reason for those stuck-up assholes to humiliate me in front of everyone?"

I didn’t mean it like that.  It’s just —

I know I’m different. I’ll never be like other people. What’s so great about other people? God, I’m not fucking crazy. And guess what? I’m not possessed by ‘Satan’ either, she expressed mockingly while making quotation marks with her fingers.

Jackie’s walking to Daphne Shifter’s house right now, to ‘pick up her Pre-Algebra book,’ and she’s probably going to tell her everything. Why is she so mean? At least we won’t have to hear about it at school…well, not for another few weeks, anyway and --

She called me a Witch, didn’t she? Jewels asked knowingly, peering into Daisy’s eyes, Don’t lie for her.

"Yeah. I guess Daphne Shifter’s mom has been talking all kinds of shit. Thanks a heap, Copper, fucking fake snobby bitch," Daisy trailed off with a murmur.

Good. I want them to know I’m a Witch. I want them to be afraid. Maybe they’ll actually leave me alone if they think I can give them some flesh eating disease or some sort of --

"What do you mean, ‘know I’m a Witch’? Jewels, Witches aren’t real. They’re made up in faery tales and movies to scare people. Why do you keep talking about them like they’re real? They aren’t real, I mean…What do you even mean? I don’t see any warts on your nose, and I know you don’t ride a broom."

Are you sure about that? Jewels interrupted, cackling abruptly for a moment. She sat up to face Daisy and continued, "Why don’t you read the book, Daisy? PLLLLEEEAASE? It’s so good. You would learn so much. It talks all about real Witches, although the book I’m reading calls their religion Wicca, but I think it’s only one part; like the difference between Catholics and Episcopalians, but I’m not really sure. I don’t think I’ve gotten to that chapter yet. I just keep like, opening to different pages at random….anyway, if you read it you’d find out that real Witches are against evil, and they don’t even believe in a devil. They worship nature and the elements. You know; Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Spirit -- everything we need to survive. And they believe in Gods and Goddesses which is way more believable to me. And most of all they believe in helping others. ‘Do as thou will, but harm none,’ is their motto for Christ’s sake. I mean, I don’t really like to think of myself as having a label or belonging to a religion, but this one makes way more sense to me than anything I’ve heard in church."

"I just don’t think it’s…Well...Hmmmm. It’s just your mom keeps asking me questions, and it’s so freaking uncomfortable. Why doesn’t she just ask you what she wants to know about you?  I mean, she can tell when I’m lying, it’s --"

"I know! I don’t know how she does it. ‘Jewels Lauren Delacroix, look into my eyes!’ And I always can’t help it. It’s like, one look and I laugh, so she thinks I’m lying to her -- which I guess I usually am but, ugghh…Damn she’s good," Jewels said with a sigh.

"So, what do you think that meant? What you saw. Did you actually see two ghosts or whatever, or was it just in your head?  You do have an active imagination and your parents --"

"Are you freaking kidding me? Did you hear anything I said? I didn’t imagine anything. I’m telling you they looked as real as you look to me right now --- well, only a little brighter. And imagination is widely misunderstood by the world