Flashback

A Spell goes Amiss and a Journey Begins

The rain fell onto the window pane smashing into several transparent spheres. The girls emerald eyes wandered to her best friend. The second girl's grayish eyes met the other. They were peculiar, and at times foreign, they were green, but like hazel, seemed to change color depending on the light. Those eyes held many colors; unlike the other girl's, whose eyes only held the spectrums of blue and green. The second girl looked up and bit the bottom of her lip, a worried expression crossed her face as she tucked her curly, blond hair behind her ear.

"Amber, are you sure you should be doing this? If your parents catch you, it's going to be our heads." The first girl with emerald eyes, Amber Collins, beamed slightly. Her golden hair was slightly darker, and slightly shorter. While the second's reached past her shoulder blades to the middle of her back in golden curls, Amber's hair barely touched past her shoulders. And her skin, even though it was fair, was not as pale as the second's.

"Come on, Cindy Lou Who," the second one, Cynthia Baker, cringed at the unwanted nickname, "it's not like we're doing anything bad. It's just a little experiment." An exasperated sigh slipped through the second's lips. She wasn't winning, Amber had already decided what she wanted to do, and once Amber's mind was made up, Amber didn't stop, well, except for life and death situations (maybe), or peanut butter cups.

"Yeah, one that's going to get you electrocuted. Can't we just stay inside," Cindy pleaded.

"Oh, come on. I just want to see if the amount of electricity in lighting is enough to charge it." Amber held up the contraption that consisted of a car battery and several wires. Apparently, it was that object she had been referring to.

"Again, if you try that, we're going to be chipping your charred ass off of the roof," she could never comprehend how her friend, who was so intelligent, could be so stupid. A small black cat rubbed against Cindy's legs.

Meow

Amber's eyes followed the cat as its owner gingerly picked it up and stroked it behind the ear. Cindy grasped something on the animals back. She opened her fingers and held a large fishing spider that was the size of her palm out to her friend. "Uh Amber, Jimmy found Bob." The first girl's hand extended to receive the oversized spider that Cindy's cat had "found".

"My hello Bob, you look bigger today. Have you been snacking on the fish in the aquarium?"

"I'm sure he has, just one problem, you don't have an aquarium," Cindy said, dryly.

"Maybe she's been snacking in yours. Oh, wait, you don't have one either."

"Perhaps Bob has been snacking on Mr. Harrison's suicidal fish."

Amber laughed. Mr. Harrison was their high school biology teacher, and probably one of her favorite instructors.

"The fish that jump out of his tank and onto the floor?"

"Yeah those," Cindy nodded enthusiastically and she grinned and attempted to refrain from laughing.

"Oh, fine, Bob no more eating suicidal fish. I don't think they would make good antidepressants." She scolded her pet as she placed Bob on the wall beside her. A bolt of lightning streamed through the sky, followed by a large crack of thunder. Cindy shrieked and covered her ears as she huddled into the corner.

"Why does it have to rain?" She whined, "I hate thunderstorms."

"It's just a little bit of lightning," Amber said reassuringly. It didn't help.

Lighting was probably Cindy's greatest fears. Collins never understood why she was afraid, but she didn't question it. There were other people with more illogical phobias in the world. Lightning flashed, again. Cynthia screamed as the room blacked out and they were left in darkness.

"Would you calm down," Amber lectured as she picked up a flashlight beside her and turned it on. "We just lost power. All we have to do is check the circuit breaker."

"In the basement?"

"Well, that's generally where circuit breakers are."

Amber motioned for Cindy to follow as she walker downstairs. Amber's family was wealthy, and their house was more like a mansion. It was great if you didn't want to be found, but being in it alone was incredibly unnerving. She opened the door to the basement. The wooden stairs creaked under her added weight as she walked. It was cold and damp and unsettling. It reminded Amber why she never came down here. She took her final step at the bottom of the stairs and tripped over Jimmy, Cynthia's cat. She tumbled onto the floor and dropped the flashlight. It rolled under the furnace.

"Damn it. Stupid cat! Why'd you bring him here anyway?" Amber cursed under her breath.

"You know my family is out of town for the next week. What was I supposed to do? Leave him there."

Amber rolled her eyes. Both her parents and Cynthia's parents were in another state for a week on vacation. After months of begging not to be required to go on the family vacation, their parents finally agreed to allow them to remain in town. The conditions were simple. The girls took care of the household chores, live together for the week, and a neighbor would be informed so that it was possible to check up on them. Reluctantly, they had agreed.

Amber reached under the furnace while searching blindly with only her sense of touch to guide her. Her hand brushed against something and grabbed it as she pulled the flashlight out. She turned it over in her hand. It was a book, and a very old one.

"Hey, what did you find?" Cynthia asked peering over her shoulder.

"Don't know," Amber shrugged as she flipped through the pages. It was filled with old drawings and writing. She stopped on a page with an elaborate circle.

"It kind of looks like one of the circles from that show, you know the one. Fullmetal?"

"Yeah, it kind of does."

"Wow, Amber, I knew you were a fan, but I didn't know you were that obsessed," Cynthia laughed referring to the detailed drawings in the book.

"I've never seen this before?" she traced the old handwriting with her index finger.

"You haven't? Come on, you're just pulling my leg, right?"

Amber shook her head. Flipping through the pages, she noted that most dialect was written in a language she couldn't identify. With her best guess, she would have assumed that somebody invented it rather than evolving with time. Only one page had been translated in several well known languages and it was a warning that Amber didn't feel like reading. From what she skimmed over, it mentioned something about those reading the book would suffer a catastrophic consequence, or unleash a curse, or whatever, blah, blah, blah. She didn't really believe it or care. After all, what was a book going to do, bore her to death? Besides, if a book was that dangerous, the person who wrote it should have destroyed it in the first place. The more she thought about it, the more the situation was beginning to sound like a bad, horror movie. Amber turned the page.

"Cynthia, look at this," she pointed to the words on the page. "Iz-"

"Don't read it!"
"Why not?"

"What if something bad happens?"
"Like what, awaking an undead spirit and bringing an end to humanity? Come on, it's not like we're going to get sucked into the T.V. or something."

"Just put it down. Come on, Amber. It's creepy down here," Cynthia shivered. The atmosphere was more eerie. Collins assumed it was a combination of the lack of light and the appearance of the mysterious book. Things didn't just happen. There was always a scientific explanation.

"Would you calm down? It's just a book."

"That magically appeared in your basement."
"It's more likely that the original family that lived here probably left it behind."

"Do you know the girl in horror stories that ignores all of the warnings and still goes into the obviously haunted house and then dies? You're her."

"Yes, but this isn't a haunted house. This is my house. I lived here since I was a kid. Look,"

Amber began reading the text. They were difficult pronounce correctly and had trouble with some of the sentences. Cynthia struggled to snatch the book from her hands, but Amber was too quick. She ducked away from Cindy's reach and continued reading.

Izu kami heti

Emu, natrat, oesia

Ode sia a miea

She ducked away from Cindy's reach and continued reading. It was becoming difficult to hold the flashlight and carry the book, but she needed the light.

Et amo sia demoria

Y chreyat assoam emad

Ama aso

Her hand touched the elaborate circle drawn on the paper as she finished.

"Do you see? Nothing happened." Amber smirked. She wondered if Cindy was about to have a heart attack.

"Yeah, I guess," Cynthia said while avoiding eye contact. She froze. Her jaw dropped and she starred at the page, mouth agape.

"What?" Amber asked as she looked down. Her body tensed and she could feel the warmth drained from her.

Something wasn't right. It emitted violet and golden light from its center. The room began to spin and images blurred together. The circle extended out as everything swirled in front of them. It had been activated, whatever it was, and had begun to take effect. A lump formed in the girls' throats. Amber closed the book and threw it onto the floor as far away as possible. A gale of wind enclosed them and blew the pages back to the words she had read. It was too late to stop it. An image that replicated the circle in the book appeared and extended onto the floor. It was dark and ominous as it formed beneath their feet. The two friends gazed into the abyss with shock and panic. The floor dissolved beneath them.

"What's happening?" Cynthia heard Amber ask. It was soft and seemed distant, and full of fright. The question wasn't directed toward Cindy, more like to an unknown source, but all the younger friend could do was shake her head in confusion.

The light began to grow and become stronger. Both girls were forced to close their eyes. The gust became stronger as the wind surrounded them and encased the room as if it was a contained hurricane. And as quickly as it begun, it stopped.