The Wand

I stared at the ceiling watching the shadows shift as cars passed by the road in the front of my house. The window was cracked just enough allowing a cool breeze to flow throughout the room. My alarm clock flashed as another minute passed by. I shifted to my side closing my eye's in an attempt to fall asleep. Usually, the fresh air from my window was all I needed to find my way into a blissful rest, but tonight was different.

I looked back at the ceiling. The shadow of my window sat just above my head outlined by the orange streetlight below. Cars were no longer passing by making the room starkly quiet. I listened for the sound of the wind outside, but tonight it wasn't there. Not even the sound of tree leaves taking on the soft breeze could be heard. I closed my eye's once more hoping this would be the moment.

In the darkness, my mind began to drift. At first, I was thinking of all I would need to get done the next morning; make my bed, take a shower, finish up my English paper. I wonder what it would be like to fly. I felt my body lift from the bed. Then a flash.

Like jumping into a cold lake, I was pulled from the dream. I opened my eyes. The orange lights began to mix with sudden bursts of color. For a second I thought someone nearby was shooting off fireworks. I sat up in my bed and hurried to the window. I searched the sky for the source of light, but there was nothing in the air.

The light flashed again.

My eyes dropped to the ground. Behind a line of trees leading to a small park flashes of light seemed to streak back and forth. With each passing moment, the lights flashed more rapidly. I looked down to see if anyone else had noticed the lights, but my neighbor's homes seemed as peaceful as they would any other night of the week.

I reached in my drawer and pulled on an old pair of sweats followed by my favorite hoodie, it had a few tears in it around the cuff of the sleaves, but I typically only used it for exercising. I pulled my door open slowly, the creak of the door seeming much louder in the silence. Once I could squeeze through it, I hurried down the stairs to the front door. I put on my running shoes and grabbed a key, just in case my father woke up and decided to check the front door before returning to bed. I slipped out the front door and into the cool air.

It was a brisk night, winter only being a few weeks away. I threw on my hood and made my way towards the lights. Just as before they seemed to fly back and forth, now with more veracity. The closer I got the more I could feel the impacts. At first, I wasn't sure, I felt a vibration in the ground, but with each step, the vibrations synced with the lights. My heart raced the closer I got.

Part of me wanted to turn around, whatever was happening was not something a sixteen-year-old boy needed to be messing with, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. With each step my excitement to see what was causing this phenomenon kept me moving, despite my fear of ending up in a situation I could be in danger. For a moment it was almost like I'd fallen into a daydream while driving. Your thirty minutes away from your destination, just to suddenly realize you've driven twenty minutes without any recollection of the drive. That's how I ended up at the rock.

It was a monument built by an eagle scout a few years earlier. Some sort of beautification project for the park. For me tonight it would be my cover. I pressed my back against the stone feeling the cold seep through my hoodie. The crash of the lights was causing so much movement under my feet I could barely believe the police hadn't been called. I could barely believe I'd gotten this far without turning back and calling the police myself. Even if this was as innocent as teenagers lighting fireworks in the park it was still a crime.

I took a deep breath then peered around the rock. Two men stood on opposite ends of the park each holding devices that cast fireworks at the other. The man closest to me wore a black leather jacket that ran all the way down past his knees. His hair was long clinging to his face because of perspiration. He had on a white shirt beneath the jacket and dark pants that were very similar to the jacket. In his hand was the small device more like a stick, but the light that was cast flew through the air like a missile. It crashed right where the other man had stood only seconds earlier.

This man seemed completely out of place, he wore what seemed to be, at least earlier in the day, a well-kept suit. His tie swung back and forth as he dodged the projectiles, but his hair was much shorter than the other man's. For all extensive purposes, it seemed as though he'd just come home from some type of meeting, only to be met by this mysterious man who tricked him into this light show. The more I watched, the more I realized this was more than a light show. The well-dressed man's face was stern taking every dodge seriously not moving his eyes away from his opponent.

The mysterious man seemed to have the same seriousness in his movements, but not in his face. He held a constant smile as though he was sure he would be the victor at the end of this battle. They continued to send the lights at each other, neither seeming to progress into a better position than the other. I looked around to see if any nearby neighbors had been alerted by what was happening. To my surprise looking back on the street was like looking into a different world. Had I not seen the intense battle with my own eyes I'd have thought it was a typically quiet night on my street.

I looked back around the rock. The battle was still going, the grounds completely ruined, a fun day for the city workers in the morning. The lights were changing colors, sometimes it would hit the ground with just an impact, others would cause a small fire to erupt just long enough to force the opponent to choose a new location when avoiding the next attack. The battle was getting louder. I was certain any moment a police officer would race around the corner pulling out his gun to stop this.

The well-dressed man was back in a corner, flames surrounded him on either side the mysterious man threw light at him, he threw a light back. The lights crashed into each other the bang echoing light thunder through the streets. I blocked my eye's as the lights collided together. I could barely make out each fighter desperately clinging onto their weapons as the lights collided together like thunderbolts stuck in an eternal bind. I could see the mysterious man begin to relax his light slowly overpowered the other man. The well-dressed man seemed weak, he dropped to one knee clinging to his weapon, but it was no use, his light was getting weaker with every step the mysterious man took closer to him.

Then he looked up. For a second my eyes locked onto his. They were a bright blue reflecting the light in front of him. They were calming despite the desperation in his face. He looked back at his foe with new vigor. For a second I thought his light would grow stronger, but instead, the man pulled his weapon from the beam allowing his enemy's light to crash into him. The stick flew from his hands landing only a few inches from my hiding spot.

It was just as I thought, a small stick just more than six inches in length. It wasn't refined, almost looking like it'd been plucked from a tree with little woodwork at all. The tip was sharp, and the opposite end about an inch thick with a small symbol on the flat end of the handle. I wanted to grab it.

I looked back to the men. The mysterious man stood over where the other man had been only moments earlier. I looked around, the well-dressed man was nowhere in sight. For awhile the man stood there looking as confused as I was, but then he began looking. Immediately I knew what he was looking for, and the urge to grab the stick increased. I heard a faint voice in the back of my head.

"Don't grab it go home."

It took me off guard. Something else was pulling me to grab it.

"Leave it,"

I realized it was my own voice, trapped behind the magnetism that was pulling me towards this weapon. I looked back at the man. He was staring at me his eyes dark. We both looked down at the wand that sat an arm's length away from me. He rushed forward covering most of the ground between us in a few seconds.

"No,"

I could barely hear the voice. Every ounce of me wanted to leave this stick and run away, but I still felt my body reach down. The man screamed leaping from ten feet away. Everything slowed down. The man hung in the air as my finger was centimeters from the stick. I could feel something radiating as if I was about to touch the hot stove.

Then, I felt my finger touch the cool wood.