Kapitel Eins
It Begins Again
A lot of time has passed since the accident. My wounds have healed, and so have hers. Our friendship has continued to grow as we continue on through life, day by day. No one, to this day, has confronted either of us over what has transpired. True, much has happened. News agencies have covered it, police have been everywhere, and FBI even had reared their heads at one point or another. However, nothing has turned up. A villain we are not, however, we don’t play by the rules. And by that I mean we aren’t exactly the kindest bunch of people.
Melanie has changed her ways, true. However every once in a while she feels the need to have some fun. And she uses her powers to sooth that desire. Me, I have been returned to my former life. Oh the glory of a long awaited return is definitely, something different. I disappeared for nearly a year, and with my return brought so much panic to everyone. My family, relieved all though they were, were very skeptical of what happened.
However, I was able to stave them off. “I remember nothing.” So I tell them, after all, I was hit by a car and I can claim that. Subtle amnesia, a little lie here, and nothing remembered, and everything was liveable.
Now almost a year after my accident, the disappearances have slowed and finally stopped. Melanie and I are still the greatest of friends. We spend a lot of time together. Whether she invites me over for ‘dinner’ or to ‘hang out;’ or she comes over, or we just go somewhere. Either way, we have fun nonetheless.
She has seemed troubled lately. We normally talk to one another every day, and spend time with each other almost equally as often. However lately she’s been away more. Not responding to me, or not inviting me over anymore. So, I innately think something must be wrong. I confront her about this, and yes my suspicions were right, something is wrong. She then invited me over on Saturday, and we’d talk then.
I approach her house, and knock on her door. She told me her parents would be out today, so I worried not. After a short wait, she opened the door. I knew what to expect, but it always took me by surprise when she would leap out of her house and nearly half tackle me in a hug.
“Hiya!” She said as she released me.
“Hey Melanie. What’s up?”
“A lot. Come on in, and I’ll show you.” She led me into her house.
I followed Melanie into the all too familiar home that I had spent nearly a year of my life in. However, everything did look very, very different than it had when I did. During that time I spent here I was only a few inches tall. Now, at my normal height of five eight-ish, I had a different perspective of things. However I was quite used to it after all by now, as I’ve spent nearly a year at my original height. Although, from time to time, Melanie would play with me like she used to, she’d shrink me and we’d spend time like we used to.
She was a lot more powerful now, and therefore could return me to my original height. So we used that quite often to our advantage. Yet it was more to her advantage, but I didn’t object. I loved every minute of it, and so did she.
As I followed her I took in the sights. To my left was the couch she napped on. To the right was the kitchen, and the table I knew very well. I heard her step down onto the stairs, and I then look down as we proceed down into her basement, to where her room was located. At the end of the stairs, to the right, was her door. She opened it, and we went inside.
She had a chair next to her bed, and she motioned for me to sit there. She got onto her bed and pulled out some books and put them next to her. The chair I was sitting on was a good three inches higher than her bed, thus putting me at a higher sitting position than her. However, because of our own height difference I was still looking up at her slightly. She had incredible emerald eyes, and a smile that could break bones… literally.
“So David, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been really busy lately right?”
“Yes. What’s up?”
“Well that’s why I’ve brought you here, so I could tell you.” She gave me a reassuring smile.
“It wasn’t something I did was it?”
“Oh no. I’ve just been doing a lot of research lately. You know me, always learning and becoming more powerful.”
“Of course.”
“Well, I’ve been looking into the Laws of Human Magic and I’ve found something that really made me worry.”
“What was it? Is it bad?”
“You can think of it like that, yes.”
“Well?”
“Well… I started looking into magic when I was fifteen, and I’ve been practicing it for two and a half years now.”
“Right.”
“Well I’ve discovered that I won’t have my magic much longer.”
“What? Why?”
“Because of the type of Magic I am tapping into, it is very specific. Once I turn eighteen I won’t be able to use my magic anymore.”
“Eighteen? What kind of rule is that?!”
“Apparently, it’s an important one. So I’ve been looking up as much as I can, and I found a few really good books that explain some things. However, there is something I just can’t put my finger on. It’s almost as if it doesn’t exist. The answer, that is.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Why, a way around it of course!”
“I can understand why. I don’t want you to lose your magic!”
“I know! Me neither. Well I will share with you what I know so far, if you’d want to know.”
“Alright, go for it I have time.”
“Of course you do! You’re with me.”
So we spend a few hours talking about magic. I share with her what I know, which is nothing she didn’t know already anyway. After all, I only know of legend and fantasy, while she knows the real stuff. After a few hours she finishes talking and she takes me outside.
“I really do hope to get to figure out what to do Melanie. And quickly too.”
“I know what you mean, I’m feeling older. I turn eighteen in only a month!”
We hug and part once again. I go home, and she turns back and heads into her house. I wave as she closes the door. ‘Wow… Melanie not having any magic at all, what a shame. There’s got to be a way around that.’ So I go home, thinking these thoughts all the way
* * *
Less than a few weeks pass, and Melanie’s birthday grows near. She’s nearly eighteen, and she hasn’t found a way to break the rule. However, she doesn’t seem all too upset by it anymore.
We’ve talked it over, what’s happened, and what is going to happen. And over it all, I’ve noticed she’s changed a bit. She’s come to accept that it’s bound to happen. She hasn’t shrunk anyone in a while, and I don’t think she’s going to again. Of course, I never know what she’s thinking; she’s always very random, but still.
Melanie and I were walking down the street one day, along the park in which she first shrank someone, other than myself. Terry? I think. I can’t really remember it was a long time ago. She captured a good number of people that day. A random jogger, whose name we never even knew. A couple, whom she separated later. Myself and a few others? I believe so, but then again I can’t remember. She took them all home, and as time went on she swallowed them all. Nearly in the order in which she picked them up out here.
As Melanie and I are walking down the park and suddenly Melanie stops. I look at her, “Is something wrong Melanie?”
“Can you hear that?”
I listen for a moment… “I suppose not, what is it?”
“It’s like a high pitch whine. It’s really annoying.”
“Perhaps it will go away. Don’t listen to it and try to think about something else.”
“I’ll try, let’s keep going.”
We attempt to continue our past conversation, since before the interruption. But Melanie’s concentration is broken, I can tell. She isn’t really looking up anymore, but more towards the ground. I see the first person, other than Melanie, in the past thirty minutes coming towards us up ahead. I made eye contact with her.
But before I could make out any details of her, it had to be a girl, Melanie faltered. As I turned around, I saw her hit the ground.
I gasped: “Melanie!”