Have you ever made a wish that, after thinking about, you know is a bad idea? Like, “Oh, I wish I was the ruler of the world!” It sounds good at first, but then you think about the semantics and realize that you’d have to take care of everything and everyone. Wouldn’t be worth it. 

My name is Sam. My parents called me Mouse on account of my tendency to tread light and speak soft. I’m an average girl with average hobbies, I do average things and I try not to stand out too much. I was sorta the invisible girl. Ya know, the one in the background that no one really gives the time of day because… well, they don’t ask for it. Still, I was given all the attention I could ever want. 

And today was no different. Today was very normal. That’s why I was currently in the bathroom trying to wash the bloodstain off my blouse. It wasn’t anything serious. My nose bleeds sometimes when I get stressed and, heh, stressed was an understatement. 

The school dance was coming up and I was the only senior without a date. Not to mention the science finals were creeping up and I was nowhere near done with my final project! But none of that was on my mind right now because I was currently trying to scrub out the light red bloodstain off my white shirt. 

It was hardly visible at this point, but still, it upset me. And my day wouldn’t calm down from there. As I stared into the mirror, running tap water over my hands to rub at the stain, Piper walked in. 

“Hey there, Shortcake,” she greeted, ruffling my strawberry blonde hair as she walked past me.
“I’m not short,” I huffed.
“Shorter than me. Therefore, and excuse my lack of scientific process, you’re short.” 

She gave me a smug smirk before looking towards the mirror and gently pulling her eyelid down away from her eye. 

“Shit…” she muttered, lightly poking her eye, “I lost my damn contact. I think it’s still in my eye somewhere.” 

I stayed quiet and received a side eye from Piper. 

“Why, yes, Sam, I would like some help,” she huffed, stepping up to me. 

She took my shoulders in her hands and turned me towards her and stared into my eyes. I felt my face get warm as our eyes locked. Her light brown hair cascading down her shoulders, framing her sharp jaw with bouncy curls. Deep hazel eyes stared into mine as a soft smile crossed over her glossed lips. 

“I- um-” I stammered, realizing my task and gently leaning in to get a better look.
“It should stand out,” she noted, pulling her eyelid down a little. 

The sudden sound of the door opening was enough to change the mood of the scene very quickly. Piper grabbed my collar without missing a beat and shoved me backwards, making me stumble and land flat on my ass. 

“Jesus,” she muttered, “Back off, weirdo.” 

With those cold words, she turned her back to me and walked out. And it hurt. I-I can’t tell you why, but… um… I could never bring myself to be upset with her. 

Piper brushed past the group who had walked in, gently rubbing her eye as she did so. My heart dropped when those cold blue eyes locked onto me from behind a veil of blond bangs. 

“Well, if it isn’t little Sammy.”
I sighed, “H-Hey,” I stammered.
“H-H-H-Hey,” she mocked, “‘Hey’ what?” 

I stared down at the tiled floor. 

“Oh, poor Sammy,” she cooed with a tsk, “We’ve been over this so many times.” 

She held out her hand before one of her lackeys handed her a blood red tube of lipstick. With a cocky strut, she walked up to me and flicked off the lid of the makeup. She quickly took a handful of my shirt and pulled it taught across my shoulders before pressing the red wax against the white surface. 

“Wait!” I shouted, but as her eyes darted back up to mine, I quickly shut my mouth and looked away.
“That’s what I thought.” 

She slowly dragged her makeshift marker over my shirt, spelling out two words. 

“Veronica’s Property.” 

She smirked before saying as light as a giddy child, “Now maybe that will help you remember! So, ‘hey,’... what…?”
I hung my head, “Hello, master…”
“Oh, come on,” she complained, grabbing my chin and bringing my face up to hers, “At least sound happy about seeing me.” 

I kept quiet and watched her smirk slowly disappear. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded at one of the girls who handed over Veronica’s bag. Slowly, my so called, “master,” pulled a handheld stun gun out of her bag and pressed the metal tong into my shoulder. Her thumb ominously hovering over the button. 

Her slender fingers wrapped themselves in my hair before she tugged, forcing me to look up at her. 

They left the bathroom probably twenty minutes later. I didn’t. Lunch was over by now and I knew my math teacher would come looking for his star student, but I figured it’d be better not to walk yet. 

My muscles were quivering and my fingers tingled with a staticy buzz. Blood dripped from my nose, staining my collar and leaving a coppery taste on my lips. Small, bloody wounds coated the palms of my hands from where my fingernails had dug into the skin. 

“Idiot…” I huffed, lightly bangging my head against the wall behind me. “All you had to do was play along…” 

With a wince, I pulled myself to the sink and hoisted myself up. Staring at my bloodied face in the mirror. My ruined shirt mocking me. I’d fantasize a million times a day about fighting back, but the truth was I wasn’t strong enough to. I wiped the blood from my nose and left a long red streak down my sleeve after deciding the shirt was beyond cleaning. 

I wished it was easier. I wished I was so small they’d never find me again. Yeah. Stupid, I know. Instead of magic and odd defying action, I swallowed my pride and limped my way out into the hallway and down to my locker. I pulled my hoodie out from the metal box and zipped it up over Veronica’s branding, trying to forget it ever happened. 

With no evidence of anything having happened other than a light pink stain on my upper lip, I stumbled my way to my next class and buried myself in my work. 

I found myself focusing very heavily on my science project, even had Piper say she’d help bring it to school when it was done this weekend. Which I needed because the machine was huge. The idea was for a way to duplicate items by separating the matter into two smaller versions of the same thing. 

Sort of a mock cloning, but it was really a loophole for me to do a bit of research into some scientific ideas that were complex and would most certainly not be approved by the school board. The only reason I got away with this was because I passed it off as so dumb experiment of making something to “measure” mass. 

Either way, I had a good mindset after getting off the bus and decided to get back to work on what I was coming to call, “The Divider.” In a broad sense, I was pretty nearly done. All the screws were in, the motherboards were programmed, everything was wired. The problem was going to be testing it because… well… there was a slight chance some atoms get split and I blow up half the city. Slight chance. 

I idly chipped away at various things that needed doing before deciding to pull off my hoodie. I saw the red stains again as I slid down the zipper and frowned. I had gotten so good at forgetting this kind of stuff. But now I had a reminder. She went too far.  

I scowled as I angrily zipped up my hoodie and marched out of my garage and to the shower. Throwing the shirt away, I stepped into the glass cubicle, turning the water up as hot as it would go in a small burst of anger. Steam filled the air quickly as I winced from the scalding pain tingling through my skin, but I didn’t touch the knobs. 

“Idiot!” I seethed at myself, “Why couldn’t you just swallow your stupid fucking pride?” 

My long hair matted and stuck to my skin as water seeped into it and I found myself looking in the foggy mirror across the room with my back to the showerhead. I felt the heat scrape across my spine with grit teeth before huffing a sigh of discontent and turning off the water. I took another glance at the shirt in the trash can. 

“Never again.” 

I pulled open a small drawer under the sink and grabbed a pair of scissors. Without much thought, I took a large handful of my wet hair and snipped it off. By the time I came back to my senses, my hair was a butchered mess. Unevenly cut into a mock pixie cut. Ruffled and spiked from drying weird. 

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. There wasn’t much else to do from that point. I got dressed, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and walked back out to the garage. I carefully placed the fruit on a glass plate and stood next to the large machine pointed at it. 

If it blew up, at least I wouldn’t have to find a date to the dance. I flicked it on.