Little Magician's Magic Set

Little Magician’s Magic Set

By

Thor S. Carlsson

Chapter 1

Everyone loves it when children who have fallen on hard times get a leg up, when they have something wonderful happen to them after having gone through hell. It doesn’t even have to have been anything too disastrous, just as long as we get to see that same child come up on top in one way or another. We’ll encourage them almost no matter what they do. Been playing a few rounds with your dad in the back yard and managed to hit the ball on your tenth time? Great, you’re as good as a professional ball player now, son. Stood up to that boy that’s always teasing you for wearing old clothes from your big brother because mommy is too poor to buy you proper age appropriate girls clothes? Wonderful, you’ll be a world-renowned woman’s activist that changes the way the planet thinks. We encourage them because we love them, we don’t often think about boundaries where encouragement is concerned. Too much encouragement can lead to them jumping into life with these near sighted, rose colored glasses that will most definitely get torn from their faces and smashed against reality. Too little encouragement can lead them down a life of drug abuse and crime, but then both these scenarios can have the opposite effect as well, so it’s really difficult to ‘say when’ as it were, in regards to encouragement. One can only do what feels adequate at the time.

People have conflicting views about the matter when it comes to little Jesse. You see, little Jesse Barrister was always a relatively normal kid. He was soft spoken and kept to himself a lot but he still had his friends and was never a cause for concern, really. He was, by all accounts, a very unremarkable little boy, a normal boy most would say.

One Christmas, when Jesse was five years old, his father James Barrister, gave him exactly what he wanted; a little magician’s magic set. Jesse had seen it on TV and his eyes had widened in awe. It came with a magician’s hat, a black and white magician’s wand, a cape, and a book detailing how to do various magic acts like pulling a rabbit out of a hat and producing what seemed, to the uninitiated, to be an endless stream of handkerchiefs tied together from one’s pocked (or mouth!) Jesse was the happiest he had ever been. Rachel, Jesse’s mom, had wanted to give him baseball stuff as a present but James had been firm, ‘he doesn’t like baseball’ he had said and he never forgot his son’s face when he had seen the commercial. James had himself been fascinated with magic when he was a little boy so he felt that he shared in his son’s excitement. Jesse put on the hat and his father helped him tie the cape around his neck. He immediately started to wave the wand around, wanting to make things disappear. ‘Maybe you can make our debts disappear’ his mother said, slurring her words, she was on her third glass of red wine already. ‘For god’s sake Rachel, let the kid play with his gift, look how happy he is’ his father said, disappointed. ‘I’m juss sayin, if we got ourselves a little David Blaine here, may as well use his talents for something useful’ his mother said, with one eye half closed and her lips red from the wine. His father shook his head and turned back to Jesse, he smiled and said ’Maybe we should try and make that bottle your mom is drinking disappear, what do you say champ?’ Jesse didn’t pay any attention to them, he was fixated on the pictures in the magic book and was already a master magician in his head. Jesse turned to his dad and asked him to teach him how to read so he could properly learn all the tricks in the book, ‘Tell you what champ, we’ll sit down tomorrow and go over the ABC’s and you’ll be reading in no time, you’ll be one of those geniuses that can read before the first grade’ he said with a smile on his face, and he picked Jesse up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. ‘Can I wear the hat and the cape while I learn dad?’ ‘I’m afraid that’s absolutely necessary son, if you want to learn to read as soon as possible, a little magic will certainly help’ his dad said and he whispered abracadabra in Jesse’s ear and then tickled him. Jesse laughed and laughed, his mother was already nodding off on the sofa.

In the weeks that followed, Jesse learned to read remarkably fast and he devoured the magic book. He pulled a stuffed rabbit out of his hat, he made all manner of things disappear, he produced flowers out of nowhere and managed to make even his mother impressed. ‘You have really taken a liking to this magic stuff, huh?’ she said to him. ‘I’m going to be a world famous magician mom’ Jesse said, with a determination she had never seen before. His determination was so strong that it made her look at him bewildered and she shook her head in this ‘I’ll be damned’ kind of way and smiled at her son. Rachel was actually starting to believe that her soon-to-be six year old son would in fact become a magician. She was even ok with it, she could see how happy magic made him and she wanted him to be happy and content. ‘You were right about that gift James’ she said to her husband and he gave her a little wink and they both looked at their son, who was flailing his cape and wand around, and smiled.

Chapter 2

James worked as a landscaper and one day, while driving to work, he saw a billboard advertising a magic show that would soon be in town. He called Rachel on his break and told her that he was going to surprise Jesse with tickets when he got home. He asked her if she wanted to come but she said the two of them should go together, that Jesse would love that and that it was unnecessary to spend money on three tickets. Rachel worked the register at a local grocery shop and they were constantly worried about money but always managed to get by. She didn’t object to him buying the tickets, she knew they never really took Jesse anywhere and that this would be something that he would love and remember for years to come. James asked his boss if he could leave a bit early so he could go and get the tickets, his boss was a family man and had met Jesse a few times, he had smiled and said that he certainly could and to say hi to Jesse and Rachel for him. James thanked him and promised to give them the message. He jumped in his truck and headed off.

James bought two tickets and put them in his wallet in the inside pocket of his jacket. He couldn’t wait to show them to Jesse, he would be so excited. While driving home he imagined his son asking him if he could wear his hat and cape during the show, the thought made him smile. As he was driving he noticed the gas light go off on the car so he decided to pull over at a gas station and get some gas. He popped the hood and checked the oil, gave the engine a quick once over and filled the tank up. He then walked into the gas station and went up to the register to pay. He handed the clerk a twenty dollar note and as the clerk said ‘Anything e…’ and he stopped mid sentence and he looked behind James, his eyes widened. ‘Open the fucking register, quick!’ James turned around and saw a man holding a gun pointed at the clerk but also at his face because he was standing right in front of him. ‘Fucking do it now, put the money in this bag and be quick or I’ll blast your fucking face off’ the man threw the bag and James barely managed to step aside, the bag almost landed on him but managed to land directly in front of the clerk. James froze, his palms facing forward on instinct. The clerk started to take the money out of the register and put them in the bag. The robber only wore a beanie, no mask or bandana. James could see his face and that made him more nervous, made him feel like this was a man with nothing to loose. He was visibly intoxicated, strung out on some drug for sure, James thought. The robber didn’t take his eyes of the clerk until he got the bag with the money in it. He looked around, there was no one else in the gas station except the three of them. He looked at James; ‘Give me your fucking wallet’ and he pointed the gun straight at his face. James didn’t say anything, he just slowly went into his pocket with one hand, the other still palm up, and got the wallet. The robber snatched the wallet out of his hand and as he takes it, James noticed the two tickets he had bought for him and Jesse sticking out of the top. ‘Wait!’ he shouts and he takes a step forward to try and grab the tickets but as he does that the robber gets startled and pulls the trigger and runs out.

Blood splatters on the wall behind him, the clerk screams and he is covered in blood and brains. The bullet had entered James’s left eye and the back of his head burst open, his body jerked back and he fell into a shelf and then onto the floor. He was dead.

Chapter 3

Two officers knocked on the door and Rachel answered, her hair was wet from the shower and she was tying a towel around it as she opened. Her knees went weak and she slumped onto the floor. One of the officers, a woman, knelt down and put her hands around her, she was saying something but Rachel couldn’t hear it, she was in shock. Her face went white and she started shaking. Shortly after, a woman from social services came to tend to Jesse, she talked to him while the police spoke to Rachel. Jesse was wearing his cape and his hat, the person from social services was asking him if he was a magician and if he could do many tricks. Jesse said he would become the most famous magician in the world. He said this with a stern look on his face, he could see his mother’s head slumped down and the officer that she was talking to looked over at him and gave him a half smile. Rachel turned her head and looked at Jesse, her eyes were red and swollen. ‘Where is dad?’ asked Jesse. Rachel looked at the social worker that was speaking to Jesse and she looked at Rachel, then she took Jesse’s hands and looked him in the eyes; ‘There has been an accident Jesse’

Rachel explained to her son what had happened. She said sometimes life is unfair and good people are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesse cried and his mother held him and cried too. After a few minutes Jesse stopped crying, he wiped his nose and steps away from his mother, she looks at him through tear filled eyes and he looks up at her ‘ I’m going to bring him back’ he says. ‘Jesse, honey’ his mother says but Jesse’s face grows more serious and he suddenly seems to be older than he is, he stops crying and wipes the tears from his eyes, his eyes grow focused and he looks away and says in a low, calm voice ‘I’m going to bring dad back’ This frightens his mother and she puts a hand over her mouth, she is overcome with grief and doesn’t know how to explain properly to her son that his father is dead and is never coming back. Her hand is shaking, she slowly lowers it ‘Jesse, sweetheart’ she says. Jesse slowly turns his head to her again, he looks his mother in the eyes and in a whisper he says; ‘I’m going to bring dad back’.

Chapter 4

Mike, James’s boss, graciously offered to pay the funeral expenses. He had always liked James and was heartbroken to hear about what happened. He blamed himself for letting James leave early but people quickly rectified that and told him that was crazy talk. He told Rachel that if she ever needed anything, anything at all, that she should not hesitate to ask and that him and his wife would always be there for them. It meant a lot to Rachel and she took his hand and told him how grateful she was. ‘How is Jesse doing? Is he coping?’ people would ask and Rachel always said that her little magician was doing alright, considering. The reality of it was that she feared what this kind of trauma would do to her son, what it had already done. After the initial tears, Jesse seemed to have hardened up in a way that confused Rachel. He almost stopped talking, he answered when spoken to but he never initiated conversation and he didn’t seem particularly sad and not too distant, but there was something else about him that confused Rachel. Jesse seemed to be determined. In a weird way, he seemed to be going through the necessary emotions that were expected of a kid his age that had undergone the trauma of loosing his father, but no more than that. Rachel felt guilty about it but she was creeped out by his behavior. She had been advised to take Jesse to see a specialist but she was starting to think that she might be the one that needed to see one, more so than her son.

Weeks turned into months and slowly things around them seemed to fall neatly into their familiar grooves. Life continued and although Rachel sometimes had a hard time making ends meet, James’s life insurance and all the good people her and Jesse had in their lives always seemed to keep them afloat.

Rachel was seeing a woman she had been referred to, a psychologist that specialized in dealing with trauma. She wasn’t sure if it was helping but she was afraid to end their sessions. She felt that by going to see this professional, she was keeping her relationship with James alive, in a weird way she felt that if she stopped seeing her, James would go away completely and the thought frightened her. She decided to keep those thoughts to herself. She didn’t want to rock the boat anymore than was necessary. Jesse remained the same. He was transfixed on his magic, and was getting quite good at it as well. Almost seven years old now and legitimately shocking people with his magic tricks. Rachel decided to keep encouraging him, she knew James would have done the same so she loved seeing her little boy performing all these tricks. He could do the most amazing card tricks, make coins vanish and appear in your back pocket and predict what number you were thinking of. For his age, Jesse was quite impressive. He had read his magic book from front to back and Rachel never worried about not hearing a peep from him for hours on end while they were home, she knew he was in his room, wearing his hat and cape, glued to the magic book. He rarely said a word so one day, when Rachel was on the computer in the room next to her son’s room, she was surprised to hear him talking to himself. She stood up and walked over to his room, she tried to tip-toe so she would go unnoticed. Jesse’s door was half open and she put her ear as close to it as she could, trying to listen to what her little boy might be saying, she couldn’t properly make it out but could swear it sounded like he was speaking in another language. That’s odd, she thought. She couldn’t make out what he was saying so she slowly opened the door and saw Jesse on the floor, he was leaning over his magic book. The book was open at the very last page and there she could see that the page had been folded out like a map and it looked very old. She walked into the room and over to him and asked him; ‘Honey, what have you got there?’ Jesse slowly turned his head to face her but he didn’t say a word, he just looked at her. ‘Is that a map you have on your book?’ she asked him. ‘No it’s just the same book you and dad gave me, I’m trying to learn this really hard trick that I’ve never tried before’ Jesse said and as he did he was folding the pages back without looking at them and then he closed the book and sat up straight. ‘I heard you talking to yourself honey, mom just wanted to check on you’ Jesse didn’t look up but he half whispered the word ‘Damballa’ Rachel was about to ask him what he was saying but the phone rang downstairs and she went to answer it. It was her mother on the phone and they ended up talking for a while and Jesse’s whisper slipped her mind.

Chapter 5

Around the time James was buried, father Malcolm had reached out to Rachel and Jesse and asked if she cared for the churches hand in these trying times. He was the local preacher and had an exuberantly modern way about him. One of those new school preachers who seemed to clash with the image most folk had of men of the cloth. Rachel was never religious and neither was James but she liked father Malcolm and the fact that he never tried to make you attend service or do anything faith related. He was there if you needed him and that was that. She had thanked him for the offer and said that she felt comforted by it but she never acted on it. They sometimes ran into father Malcolm in the supermarket where Rachel worked and he was always very nice to Jesse and frequently asked him if he had learned any new magic tricks. He used to give him his full attention when Jesse was showing him a trick and would clap and be amazed when Jesse performed for him. He used to say ‘Call me when he can turn water into wine’ and winked at Rachel. At first Rachel thought he was coming on to her but she soon realized she was being stupid and that he was just being nice, he had lost his wife a few years back and probably felt something of a kinship with Rachel after what happened. He was much older, anyway, and Rachel looked at him as an authoritative figure more so than anything else.

One Saturday morning, there was a knock on the door and Rachel answers to see father Malcolm outside; ‘Good morning Rachel, is magnificent Jesse home by any chance?’ Rachel smiled, a little bit surprised, and calls Jesse who was watching cartoons, but more likely listening to the cartoons while he had his nose glued to his book of magic. When Jesse emerged, father Malcolm took a knee and handed Jesse an ad from the paper. It was an advertisement for an upcoming talent show for all ages but the sort of thing that would mostly attract kids. ‘I was having my coffee this morning and saw this ad and thought to myself, I know a pretty remarkable little boy who could wipe the floor with his amazing tricks’ Malcolm said and smiled at Jesse. ’See, the price is two hundred and fifty dollars and an interview on Good morning Today, where the winning act gets to perform on TV, what do you say Jesse? It’s about a forty minute drive from here and I would love to take you and your mom, I know you can win!’ Jesse looks at his mom and for the first time since before James’s death he is really smiling, a genuine excited little boy smile and he asks his mom ‘Can we mom?’ Rachel smiles at him and says; ‘Of course we can, honey, you’ll be great!’ Jesse smiles at father Malcolm as he fixes the magician’s hat on Jesse’s head and he says; ‘Great! It’s in two weeks, we can take my jeep, we’ll stop on the way and get hamburgers or a pizza, you’ll need that kind of energy for the show’ Rachel almost gets a tear in her eye, seeing her son break out of his shell like that means the world to her and she thanks father Malcolm for the offer ‘I’m just as excited as you guys’ Malcolm says and he says yes to Rachel when she asks him in for a cup of coffee before he leaves. As Rachel and Malcolm sip their coffee in the living room, Jesse comes walking in and asks Malcolm if there will be many people at the show. Malcolm says he thinks there will be quite a few but that he shouldn’t be nervous, he’s the magnificent Jesse! Jesse closes his eyes and lowers his head and with a faint smile on his lips he softly mutters; ‘Manje soti nan nanm yo Damballa’ Father Malcolm looks perplexed and looks at Rachel, who is equally as perplexed and then he looks back at Jesse; ‘What’s that sport?’ Jesse looks back up at them and then says to father Malcolm; ‘I hope there will be enough people, I’m going to start practicing right now’ and then he runs up the stairs and into his room. Father Malcolm laughs and asks Rachel; ‘What did he say?’ and Rachel takes a sip of her coffee and says she has heard him mutter something similar before and that it sounded foreign but she was sure it had something to do with his book of magic. ‘I’ll need to take a better look at that thing, I’ve never gotten a chance to even glance at it, he’s always reading it’ she says and they both chuckle and drink their coffee. Malcolm gives Rachel a kiss on the cheek and says that if he doesn’t see them at the store he will definitely see them both in two weeks when they leave for the show, ‘I’ll be in touch the night before and we’ll make travel plans’ he says as he is walking out. Rachel thanks him again and waves him goodbye.

Chapter 6

Rachel hardly ever sees Jesse since the day father Malcolm came over, he is constantly alone in his room practicing for the show. She doesn’t think anything of it and decides to let him be, she knows how excited he is and she loves thinking about how happy this will make him. She does notice a few things that seem a little bit out of the ordinary; in the house there are traces of dirt on the floor in front of his room. She sees Jesse taking a pint of table salt from the kitchen to his room and sometimes he’ll put on his boots and his Pokémon knapsack and go into the yard for a moment and then come back in and jet straight to his room. He has started to close the door now. He never used to do that before and every time Rachel asks him about it he just says he’s practicing. One evening when Rachel is about to go upstairs to tell Jesse to brush his teeth, she opens the door to his room and sees him sleeping on the floor, his cape acting like a comforter and his magic hat right beside him. She smiles and decides to just put him straight to bed. When she goes to pick him up she notices traces of salt and dirt around his fingers, she also sees his knapsack on the floor right next to his magic book. When she goes to put the knapsack away, she sees a paper bag and inside the paper bag is a live frog with string wrapped around it’s back legs and dirt smudged all over it’s back. The sight of this startles her and she drops the bag on the floor and salt goes everywhere, along with the dirt. She can see the frog moving inside the bag. She picks Jesse up and asks him; ‘Honey, what the hell is this? What are you doing with this frog in a paper bag? And what’s with all the salt and this dirt inside the house?’ Jesse seems to be fast asleep but he mutters; ‘Damballa’ as she is putting him on the bed. ‘What is that honey, why do you keep saying that word, what does it mean?’ Jesse rubs his eyes and in a state between being awake and asleep he says; ‘Damballa… great master, Loa’ Rachel is very perplexed by this and she is getting a bit worried; ‘What are you saying honey? Did you read this in your book?’ And as Jesse rubs his eyes, he slowly turns on his side, facing away from his mother and right before he falls asleep again he says; ‘Bokor…serve with both hands’ and then he is fast asleep. He is obviously very tired since Rachel can almost immediately hear him snore. She goes downstairs to get a dustpan to clean the dirt and the salt from the floor, she decides to take the magic book downstairs with her to try and see if she can make sense of what Jesse was mumbling about. She also takes the paper bag with the frog in it, she cuts the string on the frogs legs and throws it out into the yard. The paper bag smells weird and is full of salt and dirt ‘What in God’s name is he up to?’ she mutters to herself as she throws the bag into the trash. Upon flicking through the magic book she sees nothing out of the ordinary, it seems to be just a normal book of magic for children, although some of the tricks are fairly advanced and she is proud of her son for not only learning how to read because of this thing, but managing to master so many of these tricks. There is no mention of ‘Damballa’ or anything that resembled what Jesse had been saying. Rachel goes back upstairs and places the book on Jesse’s nightstand. As she is walking out of the room she turns around in the doorway and looks at him lying there, sleeping. She thinks to herself that her little boy has been so quiet and absent since his father’s death that she might have not given it as much thought as it deserved, the fact that he might not be coping at all, but then again what is coping? How can you ask a six year old child to cope with the sudden loss of a parent? She decides that after the talent show is over, he might not have anything to look forward to in a while and that she should definitely take him to see a specialist. It would probably be beneficial to them both. Maybe she should even take him to church? Would that be so crazy? Both of them love father Malcolm and he has been nothing but wonderful to them. She feels like she needs to do something and as she is thinking about it, the realization comforts her.

Chapter 7

The big day has arrived. Father Malcolm had talked to Rachel the night before and they decided to head off at around noon. Malcolm had planned on picking them up and then stopping on the way at a pizza place where they could all eat and ‘get ready’ as he had called it. He had already been in touch with the talent show people and had signed Jesse up. ‘I hope you don’t mind, Rachel, but I mentioned that Jesse had lost his father, and that he had been the one that got this whole magic thing going. They always ask for a bit of background on each contestant and I decided to be truthful. It’s like how they do it on TV, American Idol and the like, they pay closest attention to the people that not only have a talent but have a bit of a story to tell’ Rachel didn’t think to much of it and told Malcolm that it was fine. She couldn’t wait to see her little boy perform his tricks in front of people. After she hung up the phone, a thought crept up on her that had, stupidly, never occurred to her before; ‘What if Jesse doesn’t win and he takes if badly?’ She never expected him to win the talent show but she realized he might be expecting it. He had been locked in his room practicing since Malcolm mentioned the damned thing. Oh God, she hoped that it wouldn’t have negative effects on him!

Father Malcolm showed up at the door and Rachel called to Jesse; ‘Honey, Malcolm is here, we better get moving’ Jesse came running down the stairs. He was of course wearing his hat and cape and had his little magic wand tucked in his belt and he also had his Pokémon knapsack on his back. When he had put on his shoes, father Malcolm asked; ‘So, my young magician friend, are you ready to wow the crowd today? Apparently there will be quite a few people in the audience, I believe that’s what you were hoping for?’ and he looks at Rachel and they smile at each other. Jesse doesn’t look at them but looks straight ahead and says, ever so softly; ‘I am ready’ Malcolm let’s out a nervous chuckle and opens his eyes wide and looks at Rachel ‘Ohh-kayyy, well that’s what we want, let’s do this thing’ and they all walk to the car together. They put Jesse in the back of the car and Rachel sits in the passenger seat and they head off. They drive for about twenty or so minutes and then Malcolm points to the pizza place he wanted to take them to. They pull up at the parking lot and Malcolm says that normally he wouldn’t be eating pizza so early but what the heck, it’s a special day after all and they all need their energy. When they sit down inside and are flicking through the menu, Jesse suddenly says; ‘I can’t have any sustenance before the show’ Rachel and Malcolm look at each other, surprised ‘Sustenance?’ Rachel says and shakes her head at Malcolm. ‘What would make you say that honey, where did you even learn that word?’ Malcolm laughs and says; ‘I’m sure you’ll need the sustenance in order for you to have energy to give the crowd an awesome show, don’t you think, sport?’ Jesse looks at them with a grave, serious look. A look not fitting a child his age, a look that sends shivers down a mothers back; ‘I need to refrain from consuming any sustenance before the show, in order for my main trick to work’ Both Rachel and Malcolm are shocked at what Jesse just said and they are at a loss for words. Finally, Rachel says; ‘Don’t be silly sweetheart, have a pizza with us, otherwise you’ll have a growling tum during the show’ Jesse looks down, he averts his eyes from them both and shakes his head and just says no. Malcolm looks over at Rachel and shakes his hand at her while making this ‘let’s not worry about it now’ look. ‘We’ll buy some sandwiches on the way home then, or if you are really hungry after the show, maybe we can stop here on the way back instead. Me anD your mom will have a bite now and then we’ll head off’ Jesse doesn’t say anything, he just nods in agreement and they don’t mention it again. Rachel looks at Malcolm, shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders to indicate she doesn’t know what has gotten into her little boy but that she isn’t too worried. She makes out like she is whispering and says ‘Nerves’ and they smile. They finish eating and head back on the road.

In about twenty minutes they are there, at the venue where the talent show takes place. There are way more people there than either Malcolm or Rachel had imagined. Jesse peers through the window of the car and smiles. He whispers to himself; ‘this should be enough’ Father Malcolm hears him and says; ’You think so, sport? And then he laughs ‘You’ll do great, let’s find a park and then go straight to sign you in’ When they pull over, Jesse gets out of the car, he takes some salt and some dirt and seems to be sprinkling it on the ground in front of the venue. He seems to be making some symbols and then he closes his eyes and mutters something to himself. ‘Honey, what are you doing?’ Rachel asks with an unnerving tone in her voice, she is reminded of the scene she came upon in Jesse’s room with the salt, the dirt and the frog. ‘I’m just preparing mom’ Jesse says. ‘Well, let’s hurry up inside, do you want to leave you magic book in the car or do we need to take it in with us?’ Jesse is wearing his cape and hat and is holding the book in one hand ‘You keep it for me when I perform, mommy’ he says and tightens his hold on the book. They go inside to sign him up, when they get inside the woman at the registry sees Jesse’s name and says; ‘Hello Jesse, very nice to have you here today, sweetie. You have been selected to be the act that closes the first half of the show, that means we will take a small break after you perform’ She gets Jesse to sign his name and then they are all led to a backstage area. Malcolm and Rachel have been assigned seats but they can stay with Jesse backstage until a few moments before he goes on so they all sit down at a table and ask Jesse if he wants to practice some tricks on them before he goes out on stage. Jesse just sits down, he doesn’t want to practice, says he is fully ready. They can see the side of the stage as the show starts. It includes all manner of talent, instruments, gymnastics, juggling and a lot of singers, most of them children and everyone receives a roaring applause from the audience. This makes Rachel feel more calm about the whole thing; ‘He’ll at least feel good about his performance’ she thinks to herself and they stand there and watch. After a while, Malcolm kneels down and looks at both Rachel and Jesse; ‘It’s almost time you guys, are you ready Jesse?’ he says and smiles. Jesse is looking down with his eyes close, he raises his head slowly, opens his eyes and slowly nods and says; ‘yes, both hands ready’ Neither Rachel nor Malcolm pay much attention to what he said other than the yes so they tell him that a woman that works backstage will be with Jesse from now until he goes on stage, just for a few minutes, so they can go into the audience and see the show properly. ‘Don’t be nervous sweetheart’ his mom says and Malcolm gives him two thumbs up and they disappear down into the audience.

Chapter 8

‘And now, ladies and gentlemen! I want to introduce the last act of the first half of our show. This little man happens to be our youngest contestant. Like many of our contestants tonight, his path has not been an easy one, but has never the less led him here today. He became fascinated with magic at a young age and his father James did everything to encourage that fascination. Sadly, his father is no longer with us but that has only encouraged this contestant on even more. Here today, to perform his magic act, I give you: THE AMAZING JESSE BARRISTER!’

The crowd goes wild, Rachel and Malcolm are clapping and shouting. Jesse comes walking onto the stage. He is adorable, wearing his hat and cape, wand in hand. He goes to the center of the stage and puts his finger up, then he makes like he needs to sneeze and as he does, he pulls a row of multicolored handkerchiefs, all tied together, from his nose. The crowd applauds and Jesse bows. Jesse pulls a coin from his pocket, in one hand then wave of the wand and it appears in the next hand in an instant, the crowd ‘whoos’ and ‘aaahs’. Jesse does a few more of these ‘to-be-expected’ magic tricks, tried and true ones and the crowd is loving it. Rachel has tears in her eyes, seeing her son on stage performing the magic that him and his father bonded over makes her happy beyond words. Malcolm is having a blast, he is whistling and clapping at every move Jesse makes. After these tricks are over, Jesse looks over to the side of the stage and a woman comes walking out, microphone in hand. She says; ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this young magician has one final trick that he would like to perform and he wanted me to ask you to be as quiet as you can since it requires great concentration’ She then sets the microphone on a little stand and raises it to be Jesse’s level. Rachel and Malcolm look at each other and are both one big smile but none the wiser as to what trick he might be about to perform. As the woman leaves the stage, the room goes quiet and Jesse stands still, looking straight ahead. Rachel can hardly swallow, she is not sure as to what is about to happen, as she shifts in her seat, she almost drops Jesse’s magic book, she kind of half catches it before it slips from her lap and as she does, a piece of paper seems to have come dislodged and slips out from the book. She notices she is holding the book the wrong way round and as she flips it the right way round she notices that the piece that is sticking out looks like very old paper. She suddenly remembers the time when she caught Jesse looking at something that looked like an old map on top of the book and she realized she had forgotten all about that. She opens the book and pulls at the old paper, it seems to make the book shake a bit and she notices that there is a fine line at the back of the book that has come undone and can be pulled out. Rachel pulls it out and she sees that at the back of the book is a hidden parchment, folded together underneath the last layer of the book. She unfolds the paper and it pops out like a map would. There are strange writings on this old piece of paper. Rachel is so bewildered by what she is seeing that she has a hard time putting it together in her head. ‘Is this a part of the magic book? Is this a trick?’ she can’t comprehend it but she does notice that the one of the words on the old piece of paper is; ‘Damballa’ and as she reads it, she looks back on stage. Jesse is on his knees, dirt in one hand and salt in the other, he is making some kind of symbols on the stage. Rachel has her mouth open in surprise and she looks over at Malcolm. He looks at her with a worried look on his face and as they are looking at each other, Jesse starts speaking into the microphone:

‘Ade due Damballa!’

Jesse is shouting.

’Valinchella Santeria’

People start looking at each other and shifting in their seats.

Oya shungo yenya macumba

Give me the power, I beg of you!’

Rachel and Malcolm, along with every single person in the crowd, are stunned. Like with a horrible car crash, no one can look away and most people have their mouths agape and are staring, trance like, at Jesse on stage.

‘Leveau mercier du bois chio’

Rachel does not think about what her son is saying. Rachel does not think about what is going on in the auditorium where the competition is being held. Rachel does not think about the fact that every single person there is transfixed on her little boy. Rachel is thinking about what is taking place with the very fabric of time and space that surrounds and envelops them. Smoke-like substance, apparitions or hallucinations have started to materialize in the space they occupy. The ‘whatever it is’ seems to be seeping from every single person in the auditorium and is violently making it’s way to the stage upon where here son is standing, the stage upon where her son is calling forth something otherworldly, the stage upon where her little fatherless boy is, apparently, speaking in an unknown tongue and has every single person that can bear witness, entranced in a moment of an unexplainable occurrence that defies every logical answer she can muster. Jesse continues;

’Secoise entienne mais pois de morte

Morteisme lieu de vocuier de mieu vochette.’

An otherworldly force seems to be tugging at every single person in attendance. It seems to be pulling from their chest and is flowing onto the stage, a mere few feet away from Jesse. Jesse seems to be under unfathomable duress. His face is the face of Atlas, with the whole world on his shoulders, someone who has and is currently undergoing more strain than should ever be possible for them. The flow from the crowd is materializing in front of him and seems to be forming a sphere-like occurrence, moving at a rapid speed, at arms length from Jesse.

‘Endelieu pour de boisette damballa’

Jesse has his face contorted to an unfathomable degree. The skin on his face seems to split, lines form under his mouth, over his eyes on his forehead and up and down his neck. Strips begin to tear away from his face, revealing tissue, blood, muscles, ligaments and periosteum down to the very surface of his little skull. He is screaming his words to the degree of a hysteric at this point and is almost unrecognizable. He looks like a little boy possessed by a being of unfathomable power. A being powerful enough to dwarf everything a normal human being would ever be able to conceive of or comprehend. The blood streaming from his face is coalescing into an almost mask-like thing in front of his little face and now obscures his face from view completely. Despite all of this he keeps shouting;

’Endelieu pour de boisette damballa

Endelieu pour de boisette damballa

Endelieu pour de boisette damballa

Endelieu pour de boisette damballa!’

The entire auditorium is lucid but in a trance-like state. Although still in full control of their actions, no one can move or look away from the spectacle that is unfolding in front of them on that stage. This little innocent, cute boy with his run of the mill magic act, has taken a screwdriver to their consciousness and is currently twisting it in an ominous, almost Lovecraftian, way. Whatever power he is calling forth from the audience’s bodies is now flowing up and down, back and forth and every which way humanly, and inhumanly possible and is seemingly forming a hole in the very fabric of time. Jesse’s blood is joined in with this otherworldly force and is flowing from his face and combining with this unexplainable thing. The whole thing is making a very loud noise, a noise akin to a hundred jet engines on full power all going at the same time right next to each other. When the noise and the commotion are about to hit a boiling point, about to hit that stage where even one second longer would result in people simply going mad by it all, everything comes to an instant halt. As this frightful occurrence stops, everything suddenly becomes dead quiet and every single person witnessing this event takes a deep breath, like a deep sea diver that miscalculated the depth of his descent and has managed, by sheer luck, to reach the surface and draw breath again, everyone and everything falls silent. Within a few seconds of things calming down, with people still in awe of what has transpired, a frail voice cuts the silence like a knife:

‘S-son?’

Rachel’s heart almost comes to a stop. Malcolm’s mouth is open so wide you can almost see the contents of his stomach and his face is whiter than a sheet. A man has appeared on stage and is barely standing in front of Jesse. His entire body looks dead, decaying and rotten. He is shivering and is emitting a foul odor that seems to be seeping into every single person who is watching, bombarding their olfactory senses with the foulest stench one could imagine. It’s James. Rachel let’s out a silent scream, her whole being is screaming but no sound is leaving her mouth. She is horrified beyond words and her mind simply can not comprehend what is taking place in front of her. There is not a single word uttered in the whole auditorium. People are behaving as if a fuse has blown in their very being and they can’t, by any means, react in any way to the occurrence.

‘S-son, Jesse, is that you? What’s going on?’

A dead father has appeared before his son, is he still dead? Is he alive? How is he there and talking? James is clearly standing there, he is shivering and his body almost flickers in and out of our plane of existence. Him being there doesn’t register fully with the living in attendance. It’s as if someone crashed reality and it is trying to reboot but it’s having difficulty doing so. Jesse finally stops contorting his face, he falls to his knees, covered in blood. Skin is barely hanging from his face, there are cracks in his skull, which is now visible and as his knees hit the floor of the stage, one of his eyes pops out of it’s socket and hangs dangling for a few seconds before being dislodged completely and dropping on the floor in front of him. Jesse is bleeding and shivering like a leaf, he raises his left hand, holding himself up with the other, and slowly reaches for his father. From what is left of his face, one could almost make out a smile. Smiling, he extends his hand as far as it can go towards his father and says; ‘Dad…’

Jesse, still smiling, slumps down on to the floor and goes limp. Life has left him. His little magician’s hat rolls in a circle around him and James, the father this little boy somehow called forth from the dead. James, who looks like a decaying corpse that has been forced into the plane of the living, looks down at his, now dead, son and doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. His decomposing face then slowly lifts up and very gently turns towards the crowd. Quivering, he catches his wife’s gaze, and as their eyes meet, he says:

‘R-R-Rachel?’

Rachel faints and every single person in the auditorium screams.

The End.