ONE
I tasted the iron on my lips as a red stain covered my fingertips as I wiped my mouth, I was not having the best night. The whole reason for such a bad night? I had just turned eighteen perfect age, right? Nope, I hated it, men, twenty-five to forty, hell even fifty to eighty were all gawking at me like I was some sort of snack, gross. One man, maybe in his late twenties early thirties with black hair and green eyes had caught my attention he wore a leather jacket, a silk pair of jeans and motorcycle boots, his demeanor was that of a curious man, he bought me a drink, I knew my family had a past of alcoholism, so I kindly declined, he had seemed nice that is until I didn’t want to go back to his place, I had that right but apparently, he didn’t appreciate my practice of saying no, because he punched me as we made our way through an alleyway, I fell to the ground, then he grabbed me and pulled me up by my hair, hard “I don’t usually hit girls” he said as he cackled and threw me at the wall in front of us, ripping my dress in the process, scratching up my left arm and shoulder “but I’ll make an exception, after all it’s not every day you run into a Mystic like yourself, especially one with such juicy and tender essence” he continued to chuckle as he leered toward me menacingly and changed into something else, something… not human.
Dark black flesh replaced white, tan skin, the black hair, turned a nasty dark green and his piercing green eyes went a soulless black. Desperately I looked for an escape, the air around me was getting intense making it hard to breathe it was almost as if the breath was being sucked from my lungs my blonde hair blowing in the wind as this creature prepared to kill me is this how I die I thought to myself Casey Lynn Johnston found dead in an alleyway just off thirty-fifth street. I was not dying this way I had things I wanted to do things with my life suddenly I felt power build up within me as he stalked towards me, disdain in his eyes as blood ran down my leg shit I thought to myself as I looked down to my leg, it was broken, that throw must’ve been harder than I’d initially thought, damn, this is the worst night, ever! I just wanted to have fun at a club with my fake ID was that too much to ask?! He stalked ever so closer point-blank, he was ready to kill me, I closed my eyes and braced for the impact of death, for his claws to slit my throat, the impact did come but, it wasn’t towards me, it was towards the creature, a bright ball of fire shot towards his chest, I looked around and saw a figure jump in front of me a man, hopefully, the man in front of me continued to hurl fire then he added rocks to it, and launched it towards the demon “how many times do I have to stop you Hunley?!” he shouted at the demon who in turn laughed maniacally as he brushed himself off “well, hello Anthony, it’s been too long how have you been?”
Anthony scoffed as he looked back toward me “what are you doing? What does Lynn want with this mortal?” I’m bewildered as Anthony and Hunley talk “Mortal? Is your mystic detector broken, oh that’s right I stole it” Hunley, reveals a wrist band, that shows a meter as he shows Anthony the level “this one right here is a level 7 Mystic, she’ll have the essence to last me weeks, maybe even months” he looked at Anthony with sympathetic eyes that quickly faded as Anthony spoke up “I’ll give you a chance to run, before the rest of my team arrives” Quickly Hunley chuckled “heh, well it’s not every day I’m given this chance, especially not from the Mystics of Nine, Lynn will be happy to have found a Level 7 once more” and with that, he walked away. Anthony turned around to help me up “Can you stand?” he asked as I struggled to even get up, “no, I’m just delaying ascension because I’m bored” I scoffed as I swatted his hand away, as he put it into his pant pocket “are you okay?” He asks, I look at him with annoyance “what the hell is going on here?! I was trying to enjoy my eighteenth birthday, and this jackass just shows up and tries to eat me!” he quickly goes to correct me “your essence” I stifle anger as I look at him “WHATEVER!” I shout as I walk away, “you’re hurt!” I chuckle as I walk “thanks sherlock, I didn’t notice” he appears in front of me “what did he mean Level 7?” he asks as I struggle to keep my composure, “I don’t fuckin’ know, I shout speaking of Mystic? What the hell was all of that back there, huh?” he looks confused as I rephrase my question “what’s with the rocks and fire?!” he looks at me and very calmly says “Oh, that? That was my mysticism, I’m a mystic.”
I was getting sick of hearing that word, and even more sick of not understanding what the hell was going on “what the hell is a Mystic!?” I shout, I’m understandably confused, and he sympathetically looks at me “what is this Avatar: The Last Airbender bullshit?! I chuckle to myself as I realize I referred to a cartoon. Anthony and I stay silent for a moment, it’s awkward “well, thanks for saving me I’ll be going now.” I walk away as I process the night's events in my head. As I walk into my parents’ house, I stay silent they’d kill me if they knew I snuck out I still live with them and as long as I’m under their roof, I am supposed to follow their rules I take off my stilettos and I try to sneak up the stairs when a lamp in the living room turns on “Late night sis?” ugh, great...”
I freeze as I turn around to see him “Hey, Brandon, what’s up?” I smile as he chuckles and stands up “What would mom and dad think?” the annoyance must’ve been visible on my face because he walked up and hugged me “don’t worry I won’t snitch” I breathe a sigh of relief as he releases me from his grip “so long as I get to come along to the party tomorrow” he looks at me for a minute “w- what party?” I stammer as he chuckles to himself. “the party that I saw the reminder for on your phone, Lucy’s Party Friday, 7:00 PM” I flush with anger but I don’t want him telling on me, so I agree to let him go. “Okay, fine you can come Friday, just don’t get me in trouble I’m still working on finding a place.” he nods signifying that he understands and he heads up to bed.
On Thursday I got dressed and ready for school I brush my hair and throw on a skirt, along with some mascara and lipstick, I slip on my bra, and put on a shirt, then I grab my boots and jacket, as I head downstairs I hear videogames blaring “FINISH HIM” is flashing on the screen, as I scoff Brandon turns around and waves “Have a good day at school sis!” I look at him annoyed then I run to my bus, the bus ride is boring, but I’m fine with that, I hate it when it’s loud and I work better when it’s quiet, however, when we get to school it gets loud and I’m forced to deal with idiots. I’m eating breakfast when my best friend shows up “Hey, didn’t see you the rest of night, how was Mr. Green” I cringe as I recall last night’s events and then I smile “He turned out to be a jerk” I said as I ate “How about you Brit, how was tall, dark, and handsome?”
Brittney squeals as she starts to relay the night to me it went better than mine had. I take a close look at her she’s wearing her outfit from the night before but it’s different it’s not the same color it’s a vibrant red, illuminating her dark black curly hair. “what happened to your dress Brit?” I ask as she looks at me confused, “what are you talking about Casey? There’s nothing wrong with my dress.”
I nod “of course, sorry I must not have had enough coffee this morning” she looks at me and nods “here have the rest of mine, the barista screwed up my order.” she smiles and hands me her cup of Starbucks, I gratefully drink it as the bell rings to head to class. The whole day I cannot seem to focus last night’s events still fresh in my mind I failed my exam and got an F in history I can’t focus so I fail a lot of my classes. After class, a couple of girls came up and made fun of me I walked away.
