"Witch! Witch!"
The taunts still rang in her head loudly. It still hurt enough to choke out another sob. Alessa wiped her nose with a navy blue sleeve and continued attempting to block out that day's rendition of the daily game, "Kill the Witch." Her schoolmates had skipped in a circle around her, falsely accusing her of witchcraft in their singsong voices. When the game was first invented, that was as far as it would go. Recently, however, the children had adopted a sinister habit of chasing Alessa around the classroom with pencils. They would cackle as they ran after her, proceeding to poke her with lead until she managed to crawl out of the ambush and run to the girl's washroom.
Today's game was no different. Alessa had locked herself in a bathroom stall and wept for a good fifteen minutes. Now, she was sitting on the toilet lid with her knees to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs. Her head rested atop a knee. After that last sob, the crying had ceased, and now she was contemplating her next move. If her mom received another call from the school about Alessa's consistent absences, she would perform the ritual earlier than planned, or so her mom threatened. Alessa didn't need that. Sighing, however, she saw no other choice and jumped down to the tile floor. She straightened the bottom of her dress with a hand and cautiously opened the bathroom stall.
Alessa exited the washroom and peered left and right. There was no kid in sight, just as she expected. Her mother wasn't going to be happy...
She walked to the back of the hallway where her classroom was located. Upon arriving, Alessa turned the doorknob, but was thwarted by a lock. Confused, she stood on her tiptoes and brought her hands above her eyes as she glanced inside the classroom. Her teacher, a stern and bony woman, was looking at her with a furious expression on her face. The teacher pointed to the left, indicating that Alessa go to the office. Alessa noticed some of her classmates giggling at her fate, and she almost let a malicious wish slip in her mind.
Twenty minutes later found Alessa sitting outside on the steps of Midwich Elementary. The secretary had scolded her again for her careless absences and phoned her mother immediately. The woman then told Alessa to wait outside the school so she wouldn't cause any more disturbances.
The little girl brought out her sketchbook and began to draw. Sometimes, when Alessa would sketch, it felt like her hand had a mind of its own. This was one of those days. She began by drawing her house, but her hand was trembling for no reason, so she accidentally colored over the lines. When she was done, she examined her work, and thought that her house looked like it was being consumed by fire. Frowning, she was about to fetch an eraser from her bag, but a voice stopped her.
"That's neat. You sure know how to draw." The tall boy with brown hair and eyes sat down next to her and was eyeing her artwork intently before glancing at her face. "How come you're not in class?"
She directed her eyes back to her paper and furtively frowned. The boy wasn't in her class, that was for sure. Still, many other kids in her school knew about her powers, and she received glares from almost everyone. After a moment's hesitation, she finally answered. "I was late for class, so I got kicked out."
The boy's eyes widened. "Wow, that sucks." He looked down and began to pick at his sneaker. "I'm leaving early, that's why I'm out here. I have to go to the doctor's because I see things."
Alessa's eyebrows furrowed. "See things?"
The boy nodded as he untied his shoe. "Well, that's what my mom tells me. She says I'm not right in the head and I have to go get it checked." He shrugged.
"I see things, too," Alessa blurted out, and then blushed at her outburst. "I mean... Well.." Mortified, Alessa waited for the boy to glare like the other kids and run back inside.
But the boy didn't. He just blinked and grinned, almost looking intrigued by Alessa's statement. "What kind of things?"
"Well, I see things before they actually happen," Alessa explained, and flipped through her sketchbook. "My mom told me it was a gift, and that I should draw everything I see in my head." She then began to show the boy her various drawings, deeming the kid as an ally rather than a threat. She showed him drawings of dilapidated houses, a gruesome looking creature with large horns on top of its head, and a drawing of a man with a trucker hat. She turned back to her recent creation and smiled.
"So what does this mean?" the boy asked, pointing a finger at the burning house. "Will there be a fire in the town?"
Alessa shrugged. "I guess," she replied. "Sometimes, I just don't know."
The boy nodded and began to tie his shoe once again, both kids comfortable with the silence that followed. "I'm Stanley, by the way. Stanley Coleman," the boy said after a few minutes.
"Alessa Gillespie," Alessa said with a smile, the gesture actually reaching her eyes.
"I've never seen you before, you know, even though you're really smart and pretty."
She blushed. "Well, I'm not... I don't have a lot of friends, except Claudia," she murmured, embarrassed by the fact.
"Really? That's dumb. You're very nice and pretty. You're the first person who hasn't made fun of me 'cause I see things."
The blush on her face seemed to be permanent. "Well, you didn't make fun of me either," she pointed out.
"I didn't," Stanley said. "Friends forever?"
Alessa nodded. "Forever."
He smiled, and then gasped. Alessa thought she said something wrong, but Stanley merely turned around to open his backpack. He shifted through papers for a moment before finding what he was looking for -- A flimsy doll. He turned to look at Alessa's patient features and looked back down again as his cheeks turned pink. "Some girl in my class threw this at me once," he started. "I thought it looked neat, so I kept it, but... you can have it. It suits you. You're both pretty." He handed it to the little girl.
Alessa stared in awe. It was the first time she ever received a gift, and though the doll was small, she really liked it. It sort of looked like her, in a way. She grinned and was about to say thanks when a shrill voice pierced the calm.
"Child!" Alessa's mother, Dahlia, was quickly advancing to her daughter. "What did I tell you about missing class?"
"Sorry, mommy," Alessa apologized, closing her sketchbook and shoving it in her bag quickly. Her mother sometimes liked to see what Alessa was drawing, in case Alessa drew something "that she should know about."
Dahlia huffed. "No matter, Alessa. The ritual was planned for tonight in either case, and we've much to prepare... Who's this?" The last words were said with hostility. Stanley stood with Alessa and stuck out his hand to greet her mother.
"I'm Sta--"
"Alessa! What is that wretched abomination you're holding?"
Alessa looked down at the doll. "Oh, Stanley gave me this doll."
Dahlia's attention turned to Stanley and eyed him up and down with clear revulsion on her face. "Doll?" she asked, as if never knowing the word. "That's voodoo!" She grabbed the skinny doll from her daughter's hand and threw it on the ground. It landed next to Stanley's foot. "I can't have a heretic for a daughter, Alessa!" She took a hold of Alessa's wrist and pulled her back with harsh force. Alessa yelped.
"Let's go, child. We've much to do." Dahlia gave one more scathing look at the boy and stormed off, Alessa reluctantly following behind. Alessa turned around in Stanley's direction and saw him pick up the doll from the ground with the saddest expression she had seen on anyone's face.
She turned back around and followed her mother, anger boiling from deep inside her stomach. She was so angry that she was frightened. Sometimes, her mom was so unfair. It was a miracle that her mom let Alessa have Claudia as a friend, even if sometimes Claudia smelled funny.
Well, she thought, I'll make sure this ritual goes bad. Yes, that was it. If she couldn't have Stanley as a friend, then her mom wasn't going to have her ritual.
With her revenge now planned, Alessa had the will to graciously follow behind her mother.
Friends forever, he had said, and the recalled statement spread warmth from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. For Stanley, she thought. She would follow her mom's instructions for her friendship with him.
Yes, follow her mom's instructions.
At least until the ritual.