Leaning up against a tree, he flipped through the book that held
little interest to him. Although his backyard was always bright with color
and filled with wonderful smells, he didn't feel that it was beautiful.
With a sigh he closed the book that had become so essential to his family's
well being. Walking slowly back to the house that he had grown up in he
glanced up at the sky. It was sunny again, yet unsatisfying.
"Would it kill you to rain every now and then?" he asked the sky. He walked into the house and up the stairs, preferring to use his feet as opposed to his ability to orb. Throwing the magical book on its stand, he realized that he couldn't go on living like this for much longer. Even though he was magical and went to magic school, like his brother and sister and all of their cousins, but he felt unfulfilled by magic, though he wasn't sure he could admit it to the rest of his family. The youngest child of the youngest sister, he was the last of the family to be a witch in his generation. He was expected to follow in the footsteps of his mother, and aunts, his siblings and his cousins. Once again, using his feet like people should. He knocked softly on the door of the cousin closest to him in age. Kiara, sixteen and the only child of his aunt Phoebe, was often the relative that he could relate to when he needed help.
"Hello Shiloh, you look gloomy today," she said, not glancing up from the magazine that she read. Shiloh smiled wryly, knowing that his cousin meant he felt gloomy today. Her unorthodox ability to read emotions came from her mother. She threw her book aside and looked up at him with startling blue eyes.
"Aren't I always gloomy?" Shiloh asked her, sitting on her bed.
"No, you pity yourself all the time. You are the cause of your own unhappiness little cousin. For someone only fifteen, you are far too pessimistic my friend. The world doesn't owe you anything. But you may own the world something. So tell me oh sad one, what troubles you today, a day of rest and sunshine?" she asked wisely. Shiloh smiled at the way his brilliant cousin talked. Almost poetic in her intelligence, she often replied his questions with a question of her own.
"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked. She smiled at him.
"Of course, what is it that burdens you and is fills you with such animosity?" she inquired.
"I can't do magic anymore. I've had enough. I'm dropping out of magic school and leaving," he admitted openly. Kiara looked at him for a moment, not understanding why he would ever want to give up magic.
"I don't comprehend why you would want to give up the craft, it's who you are!" she asked, not so much wisely as loudly.
"Your mother did for a long time!" Shiloh retorted, regretting it almost immediately. He was aware the circumstances that surrounded his Aunt Phoebe giving up her magic for almost five years. Her first child, a girl named Brianna had been killed when she was three years-old by a demon. The pain caused her to turn her back on the craft until she had become pregnant with Kiara. Kiara frowned at her younger cousin.
"You know why Shiloh and this isn't about her, it's about you. Magic has not hurt you like it did my mother. It has not caused you great loss or pain," she said softly.
"It took my childhood from me! I just wanted to be like every other human when I was small, it took that from me. It took me in general," Shiloh said. He swore under his breath.
"I can't stop you stubborn one. But I can offer you some advice. Go live with Wyatt or Christopher for a while. You are too young to live alone and you have no money. And be gentle when you tell Aunt Paige, you are her youngest son and she wants to see you do great things. Don't let on that you mourn as you do, show her that this is the best thing," Kiara explained, hugging Shiloh. Shiloh smiled and left the room. Passing the pictures that covered the walls and revealed the happy family he had grown up with. The four siblings Wyatt, Christopher, Caleb and Michaela, children of his Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo beamed down from one frame as they sat with their parents. Pictures were hung of Wyatt's family too, his two young daughters wearing identical smiles clung to their father's legs as his wife Ashley held their baby son in her arms beside him. Pictures of his own mother with his brother Dallas, his sister Hannah and himself posing and smiling brightly for the camera reminded him of the times before Dallas had moved out to live with Caleb in Los Angeles. Phoebe and Kiara sat laughing into the camera, hugging each other in one of the frames. The last picture in the hall was of Shiloh by himself, sitting as a small child in the backyard unsmiling and looking at the sky with outstretched arms. Shiloh, barely remembered his father, who was killed in a car crash when he was less than two. His mother, when he was young enough to believe it, told him that if he talked to the sky then his father would send him sun everyday. So everyday he could, Shiloh would stand in his backyard and yell to the sky for sunlight and warm weather. Shiloh sighed at the memory and picked up the phone and dialed.
"Hello?" Chris's deep voice answered.
"Hi Chris, is it okay if I come to stay with you for a while?" Shiloh asked quietly.
TO BE CONTINUED...
"Would it kill you to rain every now and then?" he asked the sky. He walked into the house and up the stairs, preferring to use his feet as opposed to his ability to orb. Throwing the magical book on its stand, he realized that he couldn't go on living like this for much longer. Even though he was magical and went to magic school, like his brother and sister and all of their cousins, but he felt unfulfilled by magic, though he wasn't sure he could admit it to the rest of his family. The youngest child of the youngest sister, he was the last of the family to be a witch in his generation. He was expected to follow in the footsteps of his mother, and aunts, his siblings and his cousins. Once again, using his feet like people should. He knocked softly on the door of the cousin closest to him in age. Kiara, sixteen and the only child of his aunt Phoebe, was often the relative that he could relate to when he needed help.
"Hello Shiloh, you look gloomy today," she said, not glancing up from the magazine that she read. Shiloh smiled wryly, knowing that his cousin meant he felt gloomy today. Her unorthodox ability to read emotions came from her mother. She threw her book aside and looked up at him with startling blue eyes.
"Aren't I always gloomy?" Shiloh asked her, sitting on her bed.
"No, you pity yourself all the time. You are the cause of your own unhappiness little cousin. For someone only fifteen, you are far too pessimistic my friend. The world doesn't owe you anything. But you may own the world something. So tell me oh sad one, what troubles you today, a day of rest and sunshine?" she asked wisely. Shiloh smiled at the way his brilliant cousin talked. Almost poetic in her intelligence, she often replied his questions with a question of her own.
"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked. She smiled at him.
"Of course, what is it that burdens you and is fills you with such animosity?" she inquired.
"I can't do magic anymore. I've had enough. I'm dropping out of magic school and leaving," he admitted openly. Kiara looked at him for a moment, not understanding why he would ever want to give up magic.
"I don't comprehend why you would want to give up the craft, it's who you are!" she asked, not so much wisely as loudly.
"Your mother did for a long time!" Shiloh retorted, regretting it almost immediately. He was aware the circumstances that surrounded his Aunt Phoebe giving up her magic for almost five years. Her first child, a girl named Brianna had been killed when she was three years-old by a demon. The pain caused her to turn her back on the craft until she had become pregnant with Kiara. Kiara frowned at her younger cousin.
"You know why Shiloh and this isn't about her, it's about you. Magic has not hurt you like it did my mother. It has not caused you great loss or pain," she said softly.
"It took my childhood from me! I just wanted to be like every other human when I was small, it took that from me. It took me in general," Shiloh said. He swore under his breath.
"I can't stop you stubborn one. But I can offer you some advice. Go live with Wyatt or Christopher for a while. You are too young to live alone and you have no money. And be gentle when you tell Aunt Paige, you are her youngest son and she wants to see you do great things. Don't let on that you mourn as you do, show her that this is the best thing," Kiara explained, hugging Shiloh. Shiloh smiled and left the room. Passing the pictures that covered the walls and revealed the happy family he had grown up with. The four siblings Wyatt, Christopher, Caleb and Michaela, children of his Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo beamed down from one frame as they sat with their parents. Pictures were hung of Wyatt's family too, his two young daughters wearing identical smiles clung to their father's legs as his wife Ashley held their baby son in her arms beside him. Pictures of his own mother with his brother Dallas, his sister Hannah and himself posing and smiling brightly for the camera reminded him of the times before Dallas had moved out to live with Caleb in Los Angeles. Phoebe and Kiara sat laughing into the camera, hugging each other in one of the frames. The last picture in the hall was of Shiloh by himself, sitting as a small child in the backyard unsmiling and looking at the sky with outstretched arms. Shiloh, barely remembered his father, who was killed in a car crash when he was less than two. His mother, when he was young enough to believe it, told him that if he talked to the sky then his father would send him sun everyday. So everyday he could, Shiloh would stand in his backyard and yell to the sky for sunlight and warm weather. Shiloh sighed at the memory and picked up the phone and dialed.
"Hello?" Chris's deep voice answered.
"Hi Chris, is it okay if I come to stay with you for a while?" Shiloh asked quietly.
TO BE CONTINUED...