December 20th 2022 9:45 A.M.

Jenna had a pot over the fireplace.  Into it she put some lemon balm and three spiders.  A black widow and two brown recluses.  She then added a ¼ cup of sugar to the potion.  Once she added a pinch of salt, the mixture instantly changed color from a vibrant Red to a bright Hot Pink.

At that point Betereli almost asked how that was going to help Marcia and myself.  She answered his question before he even had to ask, “This is going to constrict Tarik’s lungs to get all of the smoke and debris out before expanding them to twice their normal size and the ribs will still be fine.”

“The brown recluses will help with his headache and the black widow is what helps his lungs.  I pray the black widow wasn’t diseased.” she finished.

“What happens if it was diseased mom?” Marcia managed to speak.  “Will he be okay?  Please tell me that he will be okay.”

“We would have ourselves a Tarik sized black widow, a black widow sized Tarik, or Tarik would have the venom of a black widow but otherwise be fine.” she said. “I am praying for the best but his fate is looking quite grim.”

“No…He cannot just leave us like that.  He just can’t.” Joan said as she struggled to comprehend this most recent upsetting news.

They all looked at my still body, the super slow rise and fall of my chest, and my extremely pale skin.  They were slowly losing hope that I would make a recovery but Jenna wouldn’t give up no matter what happened.

Jenna sighed, “I don’t know if he will make it.  I will of course try my best but the outcome doesn’t look great.  I’m sorry.”

Marcia looked over at Jenna and looked back at me before laying back down and staring up at the ceiling in shock. “So my best and only friend is going to die?  Well, not my only friend but he is like a brother to me.  I need him!”

“Death is almost 90% going to happen.  If he lives with no issues it will be in the 1% range.  If not then there is not much else I can do for him, child.” she said.

“I see.” Marcia said, too numb to do anything else except stare at me and then look up at the ceiling.

“You are all aware that Master Edwards here is like a son to me?  I would do anything and everything for him.” Jenna said. “I don’t want to lose him either.”

“Yes, of course, Ms. Jenna.” Joan said.

“Is there anything that I can do for him?” Finn asked as he went over to me and looked down at me sadly.

Jenna added a lemon to the potion before stirring it and handing it to Finn in a little bowl.  “Make him sip this.  Do not spill any of it please.  If he does not drink every single drop then it will not work.”

Finn slowly lowered the bowl towards my mouth and got me to swallow all of it without spilling it or waking me up.  He slowly stepped back and watched me for a sign of life.  I suddenly started breathing heavily and my heart started pounding.  I slowly stopped breathing and my heart stopped.  Finn stared at me in disbelief.

“YES!” Jenna shrieked.  “He will live!  He will be just fine.  Well, he might have the venom of a black widow but that's it!”

“He’s dead, Ms. Jenna.  He is dead.” Betereli said.  “He isn’t breathing and his heart stopped.”

“No.  Listen.  Watch.” she said, “And learn.”

Everybody was quiet as they watched me.  For half a minute nothing changed.  Then I started to breathe and my heart beat.  My eyelids fluttered as I started to get up.  I sat up and looked at everyone and said, “What have I missed?”

I saw Jenna with tears in her eyes and Joan looked like she had just seen a ghost, the only thing that kept me going was the huge smile on Finn’s face.  Finn looked as though he had just saved a damsel in distress, he was so happy.

“You died.  It’s no big deal.” Finn said as he beamed.  He just couldn’t manage to stop smiling.

“Well, how is Marcia?” I asked.

“I have yet to heal her.” Jenna said.

“Then we need to get her healed.  What do you need?” I asked.

“The venom of a black widow.” she said. “And I used my last one on you.  I think that it may have given you the ability to use its venom from your eyes.  Here, use this bowl and point your eyes toward it so that I can use the venom.”

I looked at her and asked her to give me the little bowl so she did.  I got the bowl close to my face as venom poured from my eyes.  It poured nonstop into the bowl until it was full to the brim.

“Use this.” I said.

“Thank you.  Thank you so much.” Jenna said as she went over to Marcia.

She gave the venom to Marcia who started to scream as her bones mended.  Jenna held her down and she called to me as Marcia struggled to get free.  I came over and helped to hold her down on the table.  She eventually stopped moving and we let go of her.  She sat up.  She was breathing heavily but she managed a smile.

“I will never forget this guys.” Marcia said. “I honestly doubt that any of us will.”

“How could we, Marcia?  You and Tarik both almost died.  None of us will ever forget this day.” Joan said.

“Everyone needs to help me with Finn first please.” Betereli said.

Jenna looked at all of us and told us all to sit down while she and Finn went into the back of the room where there was a tub.  We could all hear Finn whimpering as Jenna cleaned his wounds.  We heard the slow sound of the water running as the tub filled up higher and covered more of Finn’s body.

We all listened as Jenna said, “Please sit down, you know it will be over soon.”

“That was also only for little cuts and bruises,” he replies with a shaky voice, “Not all of this.”

“It will be over soon,” Jenna said soothingly, “Just sit down and it will all be over.”

“Okay.” Finn said as he lay down in the tub.

As he lay down in the tub we heard him groaning and he started whimpering in pain again.  All we could hear after that was Jenna singing to him.

“No one knows how one truly feels,

No one can tell how you feel,

No one knows, only you…..,

You are a blessing, let no one say otherwise,

You are perfect just the way you are,

And though your pain shows your true colors,

We can all see how great you truly are.”   She stopped singing.  We could hear the sound of trickling water as she continued to clean Finn’s wounds but other than that it was silent.  Until Finn started talking,

“But what if I’m not good enough, Jenna.  No one likes me except for you, Marcia, Tarik, and Joan.  And they are all so much older than me.  No one ever wants to be my friend and I am stuck in this downward spiral of depression because I have almost no friends and none of my friends are my age.”

Jenna replied with a smile, “As I said, you are perfect just as you are. No one can tell you otherwise and we are all here to help you through it.” She started to whisper so only he could hear it, “And we all love you so much.  You are like a son to me and a brother to the others.  We are all a family whether we like it or not.”

Finn smiled at her and whispered, “Thank you, I love you all too.”

Jenna gestured for him to stand up before draining the water and having him dry off.  She moved to a cabinet on the wall and opened it to get some ointment out.  She told him to hold still as she rubbed it into his face.  He held still with such a look of pain behind his eyes that she almost stopped.  She finished and stepped away allowing him to get dressed as she left the room.

She came back to the room we were all in and said, “He will be okay.”

“Thank the Lord for that.” Betereli said as he looked down in shame at his previous actions towards Finn.

Finn came into the room looking 20 times better.  All that was wrong were a few red marks on his face.  He walked over to me and handed me something.  I looked and I felt that it was my rock that I gave him as thanks for saving me from my tormentor Andrew not too long back.  It was given to me by my cousin Carina for saving her and now I am giving it to Finn.  I couldn’t take it back so I handed it back to him and he said, “Keep it.  It’s yours.” He said as he leaned forward and embraced me.

“Oh! No, please take it.” I exclaimed.

“Okay then.  I will if you really want me to.” Finn said.

I was so surprised.  I unintentionally turned towards the window while embracing Finn and saw someone looking in so I grabbed a piece of paper.  I had my blue pen and was writing on it.  I showed it to the group.  It read:

There is someone looking in through the window.  Please make him go away.  Please do this for me.  I can’t.  Please make him go away now!

Jenna glanced at the window and looked back at me before she gasped and whirled back around.  The boy hadn’t noticed as everyone except for me turned and looked at him before returning to the conversation.  Everyone noticed that he was staring at me.  I was muttering under my breath as my face slowly developed a purple and very nervous look.  Jenna almost asked me what I was saying but she decided against it.  Finn did not, “Tarik, what are you saying?”

“He….back to….ruined….can’t….telling them….harsh….wouldn’t believe me anyway.” I said without realizing that Finn had said something and that everyone was listening to me.

“What are you not telling us Tarik?” Finn asked.

“No….No…NO….NO!” I screamed without realizing Finn had talked to me again.

“What?  What’s wrong?” Finn asked.

“He won’t ever get near me again…..he won’t!” I shrieked.

“Who?” Finn asked.

“Him!” I shrieked as I pointed to the boy outside of the window and then ran to Jenna.

“Betereli, you know what to do.” Jenna said.

Jenna put me behind her and then Betereli ran towards the window, opened it, and started to chase the boy.  He caught up to him in no time.  He grabbed hold of his arm and physically dragged him back to the front door and inside the house before locking the door.

He dragged the boy into Jenna’s healing room and set him in a chair.  Hands on his shoulders, Betereli looked towards Jenna and nodded at her.  She turned around and gently moved me forwards.  I was thinking about running back home before I saw Betereli’s face.  The boy who had always bullied me looked at me with only sadness and respect in his eyes.  That was the only thing that led me to stay.  I wanted to go lock myself in a dark room and never come out.  I wanted to leave this place and never come back.  I wanted to make all of the people in this room leave and never talk to me again.  But I didn’t.  And it was because of Betereli.

I looked at Betereli and he nodded.  I moved forward a step.  Betereli kept his hands hard on the boy's shoulders.  I thought I was safe.  Betereli wasn’t going to let anything happen right?  But as I got closer the boy seemed to grow tense.  As I reached him his arms shot out and his hands squeezed at my throat.  I couldn’t breathe at all and I was having a really hard time.  I hadn’t been able to breathe a lot today so it was really hard on my lungs.

“Let him go boy!” Betereli yelled at the boy.

“My name is Andrew Garcia and I do not answer to the name of boy!” The boy said.

“You just did.” Betereli said as he wretched Andrew’s hands from my throat.

Andrew tried to get Betereli away from him but Betereli lifted Andrew and punched his face knocking him out.  He put him back in the chair none too gently.  Andrew’s head rested at the top of the chair.  Everyone stared at him, just waiting for him to wake up but he didn’t wake up.

I still had my hands on my neck.  My skin felt so hot to  touch.  Whenever Marcia put her hands on my shoulders I shrank away from her.  I had no idea who had touched me but it freaked me out so much that I ran from the room in fear.  I hated it whenever people did that to me but even more so whenever something that horrible had just happened.

Betereli ran after me.  “Tarik.  Tarik!  Stop!”

“Wh-what?” I asked, still partially running.

“STOP RUNNING!” Betereli yelled.

I stopped running so fast that I lurched forward and the only thing stopping me from hitting the floor was Betereli.  Betereli wrapped his arms around me to stop me from falling to the floor.

“What did Andrew do to you to make you scared of someone touching your shoulder?  What did he do to you?” Betereli asked as he set me back on my feet and we stood there in the room adjacent to Jenna’s healing/work room.

All I did was shake my head and stare at him in silence.

“Tarik.” Betereli said in a warning voice, “What did Andrew do to you?”

“It's not just about what he did to me but what he made me do.” I said.

“What do you mean what he made you do?” Betereli asked.

I looked down, unable to respond.  I was unable to think of a suitable response to this so I just stared at the ground in despair.

“I see.  Well, if you will not tell me I am sure Jenna would like to know.  Will you be able to tell her?” He asked me.

“I don’t want to tell anyone.” I said as I looked at him.

“On this, you need to tell someone, Tarik.  I don’t think you need to be told that.” He told me.

“I can’t.” I responded, “And I won’t.”

“Tarik!” Marcia ran into the room. “Andrew is waking up.  What do we do?  Do we just leave him there or…..?”

Betereli instantly ran into the other room, got to the doorway, turned around and stared at me before entering the room to help keep Andrew in the chair.

“We go back in.” I said.

I walked back into the room and instantly saw what  happened.  Jenna grabbed her stirring spoon and hit Andrew with it.  She was so mad at him that she had hit him over the head and was yelling at him for the way he was treating me.  She said, “You need to learn some respect, Andrew.  I’m sure your dad could have taught you that any day.  No matter whether no one sees him or not I’m sure he knows how to respect others.  At least I am sure he can do it better than you can, Andrew.”

“I don’t care!”  Andrew had his hand pressed against the side of his face.  

I grabbed the spoon and held it up to hit him with it.  I slammed the spoon down on his hand before turning around, thanking Jenna, and handing her back her spoon.

Joan looked at me like I was insane as she said, “Maybe we should just leave him be for now.”

“OW!” Andrew shrieked. “Now why would you do that?”

“You know why.” I said as I crossed my arms. “You deserve so much worse.  Now leave and never come back.”

“No can do.” Andrew smiled. “You already know that though.  Don’t you?”

My face started to go red with rage as I realized what he said was true.  “Why?  I want you gone right now!  So LEAVE!”

“No.” Andrew said.

“Then I will make you leave.” I said as I rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders in my hands and stared into his eyes.  A wild wind blew through the room and still I did not look away.  Andrew moved his arms around my body and hugged me.  I wasn’t going to let him stop me from getting him out.  I stared at him as he started to melt.  He looked at me sadly as he started to melt away in front of all of us.

He slowly melted away as he said, “I will be back.  I will be back for you.  You won’t ever be able to leave this.  This will follow you around and haunt you forever.  If it does not then there really is something wrong with you like I said.  Something seriously wrong with you, Tarik.” He smiled as he faded away and I rose into the air and slowly fell into the chair.

“You will never see me again Andrew.  Never again.  I will never look at you again and you will never haunt my dreams or me with your nasty choices.  Oh what a world.  Oh what a world!” I smiled happily as I felt the last of him leave the room.