Easy

By jennifer
- 1411 reads
Easy
Mia could hear the whispers as she walked down the corridor, back
straight, head held high, defying the cruel glances flung at her. She
was tired of being the new girl, tired of always being on the outside
of the circle with no way in.
And here, another school loo - rank, grubby, grey. She stared at
herself in the mirror above the sink as she washed her hands
repeatedly, obsessively, over and over and over, as if trying to wash
off something that polluted more than her skin - something invisible,
omnipresent. It was in her eyes, replacing the emotion that had once
danced in her pupils, lighting her smile. Cold fire. It burnt darkly,
ugly beneath her pale lashes. That strange, otherworldly knowledge
looked back at her, mocking her silently, laughing at her.
"Hey."
The voice dragged her back from her thoughts.
"You're new."
Talk about stating the obvious. A tall girl was talking to her, and
around her the pack crowded in for the kill.
"What's your name?"
The girls had formed a tight circle, whispering amongst themselves
with the vindictive bitchiness that teenage years brought to the
surface. Mia screamed silently inside. Why wouldn't the whispers leave
her alone? Always whispers.
"Mia Evans," she said quietly, glancing around her at the mass of
strange faces.
"Look at her shoes!" came from her right. "Did your mum choose them
for you?"
Patronising cow.
"Why'd you move schools?"
It was the tall girl again. Mia sighed into the mocking glass.
"Because I killed my best friend." Her own voice shocked her with its
lack of emotion.
A stunned silence fell on the girls. Then,
"How?" demanded another girl.
"I can't remember - it was all so long ago."
She was tired of the question.
A bell shrilled above their heads, calling them to class, calling Time
onwards.
"Freak."
She heard them say it as she turned away from her reflection, pushing
herself out of the gaggle as the girls began to disperse. But she had
them hooked with her strange statement - she could feel their eyes
following her as she walked out of the loos, boring into her with
knives of sharp curiosity and a certain, twisted kind of respect.
A dark girl came and sat with her at lunch.
"Hi," she smiled. "I'm Laura. I can't believe the rubbish they expect
us to eat - as if we were pigs or some other disgusting creatures! Do
you like it here so far? You know, I&;#8230;"
Yes, of course it was Laura - had she really expected anything else?
Mia let her chatter on as she studied the impossibly tightly curled
black hair, the beautiful, prominent cheekbones, the liquid brown eyes,
the way she talked without really needing replies. Suddenly she felt
her stomach heave and she wanted to stand up, to leave, escape
this&;#8230;but she couldn't. She couldn't change the choreography.
This was all there was.
She felt herself slip through the days, the weeks, the months that
followed - always the same, everything the same. The only things
different were the unimportant things - the films they saw at the
cinema, the names and faces of the other girls, the boys whose hearts
they broke - none of it mattered, only the friendship and the way it
grew, the tightness with which it bound them together.
Mia could feel the fabric of Time itself slipping through her fingers,
uncaught. Every minute of every day she felt that if only she could
cry, the tears would wash the black out of her soul, but those tears
would not come - her eyes remained dryer than desert sand, while her
brain struggled to breathe.
And then, too soon, it was the Last Day. Mia went through the motions,
feeling the cold, invisible hands with their unnatural strength guiding
her, pushing her, pulling her around. She left Today's little flat,
wondering if Tomorrow's could possibly be any worse.
She walked to the park, her feet being moved for her, faster, faster,
faster. And there was Laura, waiting by the swings, smiling, innocent,
ignorant of what was about to happen. Poor Laura - if only she could
warn her! But that was impossible, heaven only knew she'd tried. Or did
it? Did God still keep an eye on those who were bound by evil?
It had started so innocently. All she'd wanted to do was get her own
back on the bullies who tormented her at school. It had been easy, too
easy, to get mixed up in witchcraft. But like a drug, once you'd
started, you couldn't stop, until eventually you cast the irreversible
spells, chasing the ultimate power, immortality, and the blackness
consumed you, made you into something else, stronger, darker, leaving
you helpless, an instrument of that greater power. She remembered what
the devil had said when she had called him.
"Oh yes, you can live forever - if you're sure you can handle the
forever part." And he'd laughed. She hadn't known that it would
mean&;#8230;this.
A stupid argument - she'd been late to meet Laura, that first time,
late to meet her in the park. They'd begun to fight, and Mia had felt
the devil take hold of her inside, she'd felt him in her veins, running
beneath her skin, forcing her hands to lift to her best friend's
throat, choking, choking&;#8230;
Mia came back to herself to find Laura dead under her hands.
Again.
How many times had she re-lived this now? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands?
She was no longer aware of Time passing - she didn't age at all, change
at all - it was always the same few months, over and over, ending with
this, this. Forever.
The car drew up behind her, the big, black car that would take her back
to the beginning of the circle. Something dragged her into the back
seat. She turned to face the figure sat opposite her. The devil
smiled.
"How was it for you?" he said.
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