December 20th 2022 10:30 A.M.

“Oh Marcia.  Why does this just happen to me?  WHY ME?” I shouted as I stared at her trying to get a response.  “Why can’t it be someone else?  It is always me, always me.  I am always the one to deal with all of this pain.”

“Oh Tarik.  You just don’t get it do you?  You just don’t get it at all.” Marcia said. “It isn’t about that at all, you never told us anything so we could never help you.  If you had actually told us then maybe we could have attempted to do something to help you.”

“We knew something was wrong and you weren’t telling us.  So tell us now, Tarik.  Or I will see if your mom knows.  We are here to help you.  Not to make you embarrassed or uncomfortable or feel bad about yourself.  We are here to help.” Jenna said. “We need you to talk to us in order for us to be able to help though.  We can’t help you if we still don’t know what is going on.”

I stared at them before saying, “He….I can’t.  He will know and then he will come after me.  Guys, I am sorry but I cannot tell you.  It will ruin me if I do.  I will probably end up dying somehow or one of you  will end up hurt, because of me.”

“I can help you then.” Joan said as she moved next to me. “Just let us ask the questions, okay?”

“Okay.” I said to her.

“Then how about we help you.  Answer questions with just a yes or a no and elaborate if you wish.  Is that okay?” Finn asked me.

“Fine.” I muttered.  “If I don’t like it then I will not respond.  I have been through way too much recently and I don’t know if I can take many questions.”

“That is just fine.” Jenna said. “We will just ask you whatever we can and it will all be okay in the end.  Alright?”

“Yes. Thank you.” I said. “That, I can do, my friends.”

“First, are you the only person he has done this to?” Jenna asked. “We need to be able to help everyone who has been hurt because of him.”

“To my knowledge, yes.” I replied, hands grabbing the hem of my shirt to stop them shaking, “I have no idea if there was someone else or just me but I am pretty sure that it was just me.”

“That is a plus that he didn’t hurt anyone else, I guess.” Jenna sighed loudly as if the weight of the world had just fallen on her shoulders, “Do you know about how long he has been doing this for?”

“Many many many months now.” I looked at her. “I can’t remember the last day I actually had a normal day at this point, Marcia”

“Ohh,” She said, lost for words.

“Did he hurt you?” Finn asked. “If so, was it just you?”

“Yes.” I replied. “Just me.  Why is it always just me?  Why can it never be anyone else either?!”

“Did he make you hurt others?” He asked. “It isn’t always just you, Tarik.  I wish you would stop saying that.  There are other people with issues in this world as well, you know.”

I hesitated, “Yes.  It was not just him.  And why not?” I retorted, “Why not say that?  It’s the truth and sometimes the truth hurts doesn’t it?  When you are the only one being currently impacted by something, then the truth really hurts.”

Finn flinched, “Was one of them himself or just who?  If he hurt anyone else or if he made you hurt anyone else then tell us so that we can help you and them.”

Tasha was shaking her head at me but I conceded, “Tasha.  He made me hurt Tasha.” It took everything just to say those few words.  I was so scared that Andrew would somehow find out that I told them and would hurt me or Tasha again.  I couldn’t deal with that so I had no idea what to do whenever they all made me tell them what was going on.

“Tasha?” Finn repeated. “Why would he have made you hurt Tasha?  She is our little angel!”

“Yes.” I answered.  I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else.

“Why Tasha though?  What did she do to him?  Or to anyone else for that matter?” Finn asked. “She is the sweetest person here!”

“He thought I would break when he had me hurt her.” I looked down. “He was right.  I couldn’t do that to my sister, let alone anyone else for that matter.  I felt awful for it to have crossed my mind in the first place, but it did.”

Finn nodded silently before Tasha walked over to me and gave me a hug.  I heard her whisper to me, “Why would you do that to yourself?  Why would you break like that to all of these people?  Why would you expose all of us like that, Tarik?”

“I couldn’t not say something!” I exclaimed. I quieted down, “I’m so sorry, Tasha.  I never wanted to do any of that to you, you know.”

“Did he do anything to you other than hurt you?” Marcia asked.

“Yes.” I whispered as I looked at the floor. “Much more, Marcia.  Much much more. I will forever be scared because of what happened to Tasha and I will never forgive myself for that violence.”

“Did he make you do what he did to you to him?” She asked.

I flinched, “Yes. He is my age and you wouldn’t believe the thoughts that go through his head.  He thinks of all sorts of horrifying things that I can’t even think about myself.”

“Are they really bad?” Jenna asked me.

I turned to face her, “You wouldn’t believe.  They are so bad that I can’t even think about them without thinking that there is something wrong with me.”

“I would.” Jenna said. “I believe that it is possible for Andrew to have awful thoughts.”

“Wh-What?” I stuttered. “No w-way.”

“I once had a friend like Andrew.  He practiced his new spells on me.  Overtime I healed but the scars will never fade.  Now he did other things too but yeah.” Jenna said.  “Now let's carry on.  We need to figure out more.  In order to help you we have to know what we need to help with.”

I sat there with such a horrified expression on my face that Jenna said, “It was so long ago and I have forgiven him many times over.  I know what he went through and now we are best friends.  I talk to him everyday and you all know him well.”

I immediately felt a lot better, “Oh.  Okay.  Who is he?”

“Nevermind that.  No one needs to know except for me.” Jenna said softly.

“Okay, I won’t push you for information then.” I replied, “Just tell me, how do I know him?  Do I actually know him or are you just saying that?”

Jenna hesitated.  I could see that her normally serene face was pale and she looked exhausted.  She looked like she had things to say but wouldn’t say them.  As if she didn’t want to let something go just yet.  She seemed to be struggling as to what to say so I just let it go.

“Nevermind.” I said hastily, “You don’t need to tell me if you do not want to.”

Jenna nodded and we all saw her visibly relax.  She once again found herself and got ready to ask me another question.

“How long has Andrew been doing this to you specifically?” Jenna asked.

“A very long time.  I couldn’t even tell you how long because time has flown by.” I said to her, “I don’t know when it started or when it will end.”

“It is over now, Tarik.” Jenna said. “You are free from that boy.”

I smiled so big that everyone in the room brightened considerably until Joan asked,  “Have you ever experienced anything like this with anyone else?”

“No.” I replied as I looked back down at the floor.

Betereli asked the smartest question, the one that should really have been asked first in my opinion, “Are you okay emotionally and if not, what can we all do to help?  We are all here for you and want to help you so please, please just tell us, Tarik.”

“Of course not.  Why would I be okay?” I asked. “I mean just look at me and tell me that I am okay, Betereli.  And there is nothing that you guys can do for me.  What is done is done.”

“I can’t because I can tell that you aren’t.  I just needed to know what you would say.” He told me.  “Surely there is something that we can do to help, Tarik.  We aren’t all completely helpless you know.  We are here for you and will help you no matter what.”

I looked down at the floor again.  I released my vision spell but they didn’t know that.  They did know that something was different though.  Whenever I heard them all gasp I knew it had worked.  The spell was released.

“Tarik!” Betereli exclaimed.  “What did he do to you?  TELL US NOW!”

I looked up and Betereli screamed.  Jenna looked shocked and then the emotion of pity filled her eyes.  I saw Marcia stand, just shocked as she stared at my face, trying and failing to look calm.  Joan took one look at me and stood there with a look of horror on her face as she stared at me.  Finn took one look at me and came over and gave me a hug.

I had shown them how I currently was.  The right half of my face was normal.  The left was not and to think, that was just my face.  The left half of my face had no skin.  It was just my skull.  My gleaming, perfectly shaped, white skull.

“This calls for some sort of remedy Tarik.” Jenna said.  She grabbed my left hand and her face fell into a frown as she kept hold of my hand.  She gently moved her finger across my hand and fingers and was sure there was no skin.  Just bone.  “Oh, Tarik.  How am I going to fix this?  I don’t know if I can fix this.  There is too much bone exposed and not enough skin to possibly repair it!  What can I do?!”

“Don’t fix it.  When I have to see Andrew again I want to be able to scare the living daylights out of him.  I am the only thing that scares him.  Nothing else can.” I explained. “No one and nothing can scare him as much as I can.  He is horrified at what he has created and I will not ever let him forget it.  I need to look like this, for him.”

“I really don’t care, Tarik.  I don’t care at all what scares him or doesn’t scare him.  I am healing you with consent or no consent.  You are like the son I never had and I care for you with all my heart.  I will heal you and you are never going to see that boy again.” Jenna said. “I will make sure of it if it is the last thing I do.  You will never see that boy again.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you, Jenna.” I said as I gave her a hug. “I really appreciate you.”

She stiffened, “Exactly how much of you is just bone, Tarik?” She moved her hand down my left side and her face grew paler and paler as her hand near my hip, went over, and down my leg.

“My entire left side.” I gave her a sad smile.

“How?” she asked. “What could he have done to you to make” she looked at me in concern, “all of this happen?  I don’t know if I can fix it at this point.”

“He did as your friend did to you.  He practiced his Magyk on me.” I said. “As you can see, my body didn’t take it too well.  My Magyk still works well, as you can also see.” I smiled as I finished talking.

“Oh that boy.” Jenna said. “Don’t you just have to wonder?”

“Wonder what?” Joan asked.

“How exactly he managed to learn such awful chaos Magyk.” Jenna said. “He is only fourteen years old!”

“Ohh.  I see.” Joan responded, embarrassed at her lack of knowledge.

“How?  How are you still alive?” Marcia was stunned.

“A healing spell,” I said as chunks of skin began to appear until I had a lot more skin than I did just a moment before.  Those vision spells are amazing. “And a life spell too.”

“A LIFE SPELL?!?!?!” Jenna couldn’t say any more.

“Of course it is a life spell.  It isn’t abnormal.” I explained. “I just learned it a few,” I laughed, “Or maybe a lot of years early.  I am able to do it and that has saved my life now at least more than this time.  I don’t remember the exact number of times though.”

“You would not be able to do that at all normally until you are an experienced Magykian.” Finn stated.

“Well then,” I said, “What does that make me?”

“An experienced Magykian.”

“Who taught you that spell?  No one this young can perform a life spell, two vision spells, and a healing spell at the same time.  It is pretty much impossible for people your age to just do a life spell.” Jenna said.

“Mirabel.” I whispered to her as Marcia heard and shrieked “MIRABEL!?”

“That is what I said.” I said. “And a few years ago it was too.”

“But what is she doing with Magyk?  She can’t even type right.  What is she doing with Magyk?” Marcia demanded. “How is she so powerful at Magyk whenever she quite literally cannot even do anything else?  I don’t know what to think about this, Tarik.  What am I supposed to say?”

I ignored her. “How is Monte?  Is he okay?  Can I go see him now?”

Jenna brightened, “He is well enough to have walked back home to your parents.  It will take him a while to fully heal but he is well enough for now.”

“I’m going to go.  I will come back.  Just get your stuff ready and I will be back in half an hour.” I said. “If I am not then something must have happened and I will then be needing your help.”

“Make sure you are.  Stay safe.” Jenna said as she hugged me. “You better not need our help.  You come back safe, okay?”

“Okay.” I said as I left the room and walked out of the house putting my vision spell back in place so my family wouldn’t know.

I reached the front door of my house and had barely opened it before Tasha threw open the door and ran at me and gave me a huge hug. “I thought you were gone.” She whispered. “I thought you had died at the school.  It was a real nightmare over and over again, Tarik!  I can’t lose you!”

“Well, I already saw my sisters die today so I wouldn’t die once I got them back.” I told her. “I can’t lose you either.  You all mean the world to me.  I couldn’t live knowing that I could have saved you from death but did not.  That would kill me inside, Tasha.”

“Hmm.  That isn’t going to happen again.” Tasha told me. “We will always be here for you.”

“How do you know?  You can’t always predict everything.” I said to her. “I wish it were true but it is not.”

“I don’t but I have a feeling that everything will soon be fine, Tarik.” She responded to me. “Feelings don’t always work though.” She muttered.

I couldn’t hear her so I said, “Feelings don’t matter.  If you aren’t a fortune teller or a future teller then please don’t say that.” I said irritatedly, “You will end up bringing bad things upon us, Tasha!”

“No, I won’t.  We will all be just fine.  I want you to talk to mom first before we do anything else.” Tasha looked up. “She has had some problems since you left.”

“That’s fine.  Just tell me what we are going to be doing and I will follow your lead.” I replied to my sister. “What type of problems?”

“Mom has been worried sick.” Tasha ignored me, “You should go make sure that she is okay.” She said as she led me towards my mom. “Emotional ones.”

“Where is Monte?” I asked her calmly. “I came here to see him.  Oh.” I showed my first sign of worry about my mother.

“In your room.” She said, “You are coming to talk to mom first though.  She has been worried and some not great things have happened in your absence.  We need you, my brother.  She needs your help.”

“Fine.” I said as I let her pull me towards my mom’s room. “Let’s hurry up then, please.  I came here to make sure that Monte was okay.”

Tasha went towards my mom's room until we reached it. “When we go in I will help her in this against you.” I looked at her, surprised at the bluntness. “Just know that I am with you, I just need mom to figure some things out.  I will have a special signal for whenever we need to tell her about everything, but if she doesn’t mention anything then you won’t have to tell her.” She paused. “I know, but this first.”

“Okay.” I said.

“Wait here please.” Tasha said.

“I will.” I replied.

Tasha opened the door and quickly slipped into the room.  She closed the door behind her and I gave them two minutes before I knocked on the door.  Tasha called out, “Come in!”