The Gift
I shot downstairs to the kitchen. Estelle, my aunt, was glaring at me wide-eyed from under her mascara-slicked eyelashes, screwing her car keys up so tightly in her clenched fist that her knuckles turned white. There were many reasons that could invoke that kind of reaction in Estelle, it was almost the status quo, but on that occasion it was because I’d missed the school bus again. I began to apologize.
“Save it,” Estelle growled, as she pushed her way passed me and headed for the door.
The throaty roar of Estelle’s BMW increased as it tore up the street. The car was a gift to her from her boyfriend, Chris, a self-important worm who my brother and I went out of our way to avoid. We wouldn’t have an option but to acknowledge his existence if he finally managed to persuade Estelle to marry him.
Estelle pursed her thickly-painted red lips as she ragged the car around the winding country roads. “I have better things to do with my time, Callan…” she began.
“Estelle…”
“Don’t interrupt me! Haven’t I shown you enough support through this filthy addiction of yours? Can you not even try to repay me with the slightest bit of consideration? I should be at work, not being your chauffeur! Why can’t you be a bit more like your brother? He never seems to get in my way...”
A blur of green and brown rocketed past the window as the car picked up speed to match the soaring altitude of her rant. I let her words wash over me.
“Callan, are you even listening to me?”
I nodded, avoiding eye contact. The car came to a screeching halt outside of the school gates.
“Get out!” she demanded, “and don’t miss the bus home or you’ll be staying here tonight.”
I had barely closed the door when the car jerked away from the curb, tyres squealing, kicking up a cloud of dirt in my face. Estelle’s rants hardly bothered me anymore. She obviously knew this, which wound her up all the more.
St Michael’s Comprehensive was an ugly lump of seventies architecture, a scar on the face of Britain. It lacked everything - style, colour, spirit... The people who designed it must have done so on the back of a cigarette packet during their tea break. The only attractive thing about the school was the oak tree that guarded the school gates, the trunk of which was almost as wide as it is tall. I took one look at the pebble-dashed building ahead on the right - the labs that doubled up as my form room. My nerves started to fidget as I pictured spending another morning in there trying to keep a lid on my ‘gift’.
Pulling in a deep breath that stuck inside my chest I slumped against the tree. I wanted to walk back out of the gates and spend the day in the cinema across the road, but before I had chance to decide, a burst of energy ripped through me, forcing my chest to heave. That could only mean one thing- my brother was close by.
He rolled around from around the other side of the tree, arms folded into a tight knot. “Y’alright, kid?”
I met his sympathetic watery brown eyes. As puppy-eyed as he was, it didn’t shake my mood. “Thanks for leaving me to the mercy of Estelle this morning. Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Sorry, Cal, I went to the gym early. I knew you had a rough night so didn’t want to wake you. Figured she’d get you up.” He shook his head. “Anyway, don’t avoid the question. You alright?”
“Sure,” I muttered.
Ethan knew I was lying. We had this weird connection. I could literally feel when he was near. Every time, without fail, I would get a feeling akin to being given a massive overdose of adrenaline, it burned and my heart raced but I was completely energized. Ethan, on the other hand, didn’t get the same kick out of me but he could almost read my mind. Empathic, was probably one of the best words to describe him. He always knew how I was feeling and he was almost always around if I was feeling down, rough or threatened.
He stood directly in front of me, his huge shoulders blocking out the light. I had no choice but to acknowledge the blatant lie I told. He clicked his tongue impatiently.
I caved. “Alright! So, I’m not, I’m not okay! What do you want me to do about it?”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. We both knew exactly what he wanted me to do. My face puckered. “Oh come on, you know I can’t!”
“How bad is it?”
I shrugged one shoulder and looked away.
“How bad?!” he demanded, nudging me. A gesture that nearly knocked me to the ground.
“What does it matter to you?” I snapped. “You have no idea what this is like!” I took a few steps in the direction of the labs but didn’t get any further as Ethan’s hand clamped tight around my arm.
“What?” I growled.
He fixed me with his most serious stare, which was somewhere between having a bad smell up his nose and desperately needing to use the bathroom. “You know I care, Cal. I am trying to help you as much as I can.”
My face didn’t change. I threw off his hand, straightened my blazer and headed off to registration without another word.
I knew Ethan cared about me more than anyone else. It was probably because he felt responsible being the older brother and all, but I didn’t want my problems to be his problems. I wanted to be able to control the thing inside me without his help. Ethan thought I was making the pain worse by not using my gift. I knew there was truth in his reasoning but there was no way I would even consider using the magic around anything that lived, or it wouldn’t live for long.
