My Charmed Life
Ch.3 – Charmed Again Part 2
This is the true recounting of my life.
My time with Timmy was absolute bliss. I stated in the previous chapter that my time in Germany was quite possibly the best time of my life; well I'd like to say now that I was absolutely lying to you. There is no time in my life that I look on with higher regard than that bit of time with Timmy. If that's not obvious foreshadowing, then I don't know what is.
Timmy and I started spending too much time together, and people started noticing. At first, it meant nothing to either of us, but then Timmy started being weird about it; I knew from the start that our relationship couldn't go public because of my brother and his friends, and I was okay with that. The last thing I needed was for the world to discover that I was gay, and the last thing I wanted was for Timmy to not be able to protect me. I know, how selfish of me, but after everything I was put through, I earned myself a bit of selfishness.
I've been too coy to this point; let me let you in on the true terror that was my older brother. I've alluded to the fact that he and his friends would beat me; well let's get into that first. One of the defining factors that made he and my oldest brother so popular was how awful they treated me; apparently, American children are really rather fond of sibling rivalries. Maybe that's too general, and maybe it's just Southern Californian children, but his friends definitely encouraged him treating me like I was some inhuman fiend. It started with "harmless" jabs at the weight I had gained since we moved from Germany (my psychiatrists have told me I was stress eating from the move; in reality, I believe I ate out of spite toward my parents, for it saddened them so to watch me destroy myself, and I surely hoped it hurt them in return for taking me halfway across the world; it later escalated to other self-harming acts that I'll get into in later chapters), then it escalated into tauntings of my odd interests and hobbies, such as the television show Sailor Moon, my love of books, or my eloquent skills in the English language. Those are but a few examples; of course there was plenty more for which they would mock me, but a full list would extend longer than this story will run.
Then, one day they invited me to join them in a game of American Football. I foolishly thought it was an acceptance into their group, and, as an eleven year old boy, all I ever wanted was for my brother to include me in his activities. I joined with such delight, and on the way there they explained how we were going to play a variation of football called "Smear the Queer." I had absolutely no idea what that meant, which they found amusing because of my conceit in my own ability to turn a phrase. Of course, when they explained the rules to me they told me all I had to do was catch the ball and get across the field to behind them; they cleverly left out how they were going to halt my advances, so you can imagine my surprise when they charged me. Within the first round I had three cracked ribs, a black eye, a broken shin, and a mild concussion, and my brother left me with a warning not to tell my mother what actually happened. I was to wait to go home for an hour, and I was to come up with a story to explain my injuries, or they would make it hurt twice as bad before it healed. So I laid there on the field, curled up and shivering in my tears for an hour before I hobbled home and claimed I tripped and fell down the hill. My parents accosted me for my idiocy because I knew I wasn't allowed to travel up and down the hills, and this was just going to cost them a fortune in hospital bills, so I was just in so much trouble.
Yet now I stood at the opposite end of an alley from none other than Paige Matthews. That's right, I'm shifting back to the Charmed part of this story now. So Paige stared at us in absolute horror, "What are you people?"
"We're," Piper searched for the right way to put this.
"Your sisters," Phoebe said happily, "Hi, sis!"
"My what?" Paige exclaimed.
"Look," I said, "I understand this is all really new to you, and you are terrified, believe me, I understand, but we're telling you the truth. You proved it just now actually by orbing when the demon attacked you."
"Orbing?" Paige asked, "Demon? What have you guys turned me into?"
"Nothing yet," I explained, "and nothing at all if you don't want to. If you want you can ignore this and go right back to your life, but I promise you demons will not stop coming after you now that they know of your existence, and they will kill you."
"What?" Paige said aggressively.
"It's a cold hard truth, either live with it or come with us," I said, "We can protect you."
"I don't even know who you are!"
"We're witches," Pheobe said, "We have supernatural powers, and we use them to protect innocents from evil."
"Witches?" Paige asked.
"Yeah," Prue said, "and you're sisters, which is kind of why we're here."
"You knew magic was real," I said, "You believed in all that witchy stuff before we came here, what with the candles and incense and such. We're just one step above that."
"It's one thing to believe in something," Paige said, "and another thing entirely to actually see it."
"Yeah," I said, "but I know some part of you is excited about this."
"And how would you know that?"
"Because I can read your mind," I said, "That's my power."
"Your power?" Paige asked a little less aggressively.
"Right," Phoebe smiled, "my gift is premonitions – I see things before they happen."
"And you can levitate," Prue pointed out.
"Dat's true too," Phoebe said, "Wanna see?"
Paige stared at her for a moment, "Okay, show me."
Phoebe levitated high into the air, and Paige and I smiled absently at her. Prue grinned at looked directly at Paige, "Think that's cool? Watch this," Prue flicked her two forefingers at a plastic can on the ground and it flew halfway across the alley before Piper froze it.
"Stand back," Piper said, so Paige did, and Piper blew the can up, "Woo! I think I've sure got that down."
Phoebe giggled as she came back to the ground, "You have a magical power too, ya know."
"Really?" Paige asked, "What?"
"Well," Prue said, "we're not sure. Melinda Warren had three powers-"
"Melinda Warren?" Paige asked.
"Yes," I said, "but perhaps we could return to the manor to discuss this?"
"Right," Prue said as she realized we were still in the alley, "would you mind joining us back to the house to sort all this out?"
"Oh," Paige said, "I guess, but I have to call my work and let them know I won't be coming back today."
So she did, and we drove back to the social services building where Paige hopped in her little bug thing, and we all went back to 1329 Prescott Street. Piper greeted Leo, and Phoebe greeted Cole, then we introduced Paige and set off explaining the history of the Halliwell line. Paige poked in questions here and there about small things such as Grams binding their powers, what Patty was like, what powers other people in the family had, and whether she was the only witchlighter, to which I let the girls answer as honestly as they could, adding my insight every now and again. When we got to the topic of Patty, Phoebe chimed in, "Would you like to meet her?"
"How?" Paige asked, "Isn't she dead?"
"Oh honey," Prue smiled.
"We're witches, aren't we?" Piper said.
Piper stood and motioned for Paige to follow them, and we all went back to the attic, including Leo and Cole. When we got to the stairs a thought occurred to me, "Hang on," I said, "Come here."
I positioned the four in a circle underneath the chandelier, "What's up?" Piper asked.
"Hold hands," I said curiously.
"Okay," Prue eyed me suspiciously, but she reached out her hand and the others followed suit. When they all grabbed each other's hands, the chandelier glowed and shed a brilliant light on the group of them.
"Fascinating!" I said.
"Alright," Prue said, "what gives?"
"She is definitely a witch," I responded with a smile, "Paige, dear, would you try calling for that pillow," I pointed to a red pillow on the couch.
"Call for it?" Paige and Phoebe asked.
"Yeah," I said, "Just hold out your hand and demand it to come to you," I found it odd that I was the one explaining to Paige how to use her powers.
"Okay," Paige said, "Pillow!" She shouted and held out her hand and the pillow orbed to her, "Cool!"
"It is cool indeed," I said, "Unfortunately," I added to Piper.
"It means she only has the power to move objects with her mind," Piper acknowledged.
"I'm sorry, honey," Phoebe hugged Piper.
"It's okay," Piper sighed, "it was kinda a lost cause from the get go."
So we went upstairs, Prue used her power to set up the candles, and Phoebe went around lighting them. I opened the book to the page, and I motioned Paige over, "Read this aloud," I said.
"While concentrating on Mom," Phoebe added.
"But I don't know what she looks like," Paige said.
"You don't have to," Prue said, "You just have to focus on who you want to see."
"Alright," Paige said with the slightest hint of a smile; I knew she wanted to be a witch, "Hear these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side, come to me, I summon thee, cross now the great divide."
White lights circled in the center of the circle of candles, and they formed into Patty Halliwell. Paige was rather speechless, and Patty looked confused, "Girls, why-?"
She stopped questioning everything when she saw Paige. They both just looked at each other for a moment, and then Patty walked forward and materialized so that she and Paige could hug for a long moment. Patty looked at Paige, "You are so beautiful."
Paige had started crying, "Mom?…"
Piper, Prue, and Phoebe smiled at the two of them, and the four of us left to give them some privacy. Prue nudged Piper, "You know," She said, "if we weren't witches we couldn't have done that for her."
"Yeah," Piper smiled.
"If we weren't witches?" Cole asked.
"Piper wants to give up the Power of Three," Phoebe explained.
"You do?" Leo asked.
"Oh please," I groaned and grabbed my head, "one at a time."
"I did," Piper said.
"Did?" Prue asked hopefully.
"Did," Piper affirmed, "I won't destroy the Power of Three; we agreed to that two years ago, so I'll keep my powers for you guys."
"Yay!" Phoebe pulled Piper and Prue into a hug and they all laughed.
"Huh," I mumbled to myself.
"What is it?" Cole asked.
"No," Leo said, "not if it's from your world."
"Well it is," I said, "but it's different. When Paige came into the show she was very against the idea of being a witch, and the Source was trying to turn her evil."
"What? How?" Prue asked.
"The window of opportunity," Leo said understanding as we entered the foyer.
"What's he talking about?" Phoebe asked Cole.
"It's a portion of time agreed upon by the higher powers of both good and evil in which someone new to the craft can be swayed either way," Cole explained.
"What?" Prue asked.
"Who makes up these cockamamie rules?" Piper asked, and I snickered as Leo looked up and Cole looked down, "Oh never mind!"
"So what," Prue interjected, "the Source need only cast a spell on her and she'll be our adversary?"
"No," I said, "he can't cast a spell on her to win her; it'd have to be her choice. Free will and all."
"Oh," Phoebe said, "so how long is the window?"
"Twenty-four hours," Cole said.
"Oh good," Prue said, "so we just explain to her that she has to stay with us for the next twenty-four hours, and we're good right?"
"She'll never agree to that," I said, "She's very independent, and she always will be, but if we prepare her, then she might at least stand a chance long enough to call Leo."
"Why don't I just watch over her?" Leo asked.
"That's a good idea," Piper said, "She'll need someone to protect her anyway."
"Then who will orb you there if she's attacked?" I asked.
"I can shimmer us there," Cole said, "or at least myself and one other person."
"It should be Prue," Phoebe said.
"It should be Piper," I argued.
"Prue is the most powerful," Piper said, "It should be her."
"You can blow demons up," I countered, "You're the only one, presently, with an active power that can single-handedly vanquish demons."
"Lower-level demons," Piper said, "but not an upper-level demon."
"But your power will make them flee," Prue said, "With mine I'd just be flinging them around temporarily."
"But," Piper started to argue.
"I think it's been decided," Cole said, "besides, they'll be right behind us."
"If by a few minutes," I added.
"Don't worry," Cole smiled, "I'll take good care of you."
"Gross," Piper responded.
Paige came down the stairs a few minutes later, "Hey honey," Piper said, "how are you feeling?"
"A little overwhelmed," Paige answered, but her thoughts were so excited, "It's a lot to ask someone to take in."
"Oh I know honey," Phoebe said and she went to guide Paige to a seat, and it was at this point that I realized how often the Charmed ones used the word honey, "We went through the same thing four years ago when we first learned we were witches, but we learned very quickly that it's not something you can fight."
"But you'll have us to guide you through this," Prue smiled, "We'll teach you what we know, and we'll protect you to the very best of our ability."
"On that note," I said, "Would you be willing to allow Leo to watch over you so that we can know if anything attacks you?"
"What?" Paige asked.
"Don't worry," I said, "He wouldn't be in the room or anything; he'd just be paying closer attention to you, and he'll call us if you're in danger."
"So he won't actually be watching me?" Paige asked.
"No," Leo said, "just sensing."
"Sensing what?" Paige asked.
"Mostly your feelings," Leo said, "and the general stasis of the room."
"Stasis of the room?" Piper laughed.
Leo smirked at her, "So what if I have a guy over?" Paige asked.
The room was quiet for a long, awkward moment, and then Piper asked, "Yes, what if she has a guy over?"
"Well," Leo flushed, "I'll feel how she feels, and I'll stop watching the room."
"And what if a demon attacks while you're not watching the room?" Prue asked.
"That is a very good question," I said suddenly, "and I think I might have a solution to all of this that won't involve Leo being there at all," I stood up and went up the stairs back into the attic.
"Is it just me," Phoebe asked as they followed me, "or have we been up here a LOT over the past two days?"
I turned the pages of the book and found the alarm spell Paige put on Wyatt in season 5. I smiled, "We'll just put this on your apartment."
"What is it?" Paige asked as she came and looked at the book with me. The sisters followed, then Leo and Cole, and soon we were all circled around the book.
"Oh that's smart," Phoebe said.
"Why haven't we thought of using this before?" Piper asked.
"Personal gain," Leo answered.
"Bah!" Piper responded.
I smiled, "We'll cast this spell on you, and when evil strikes, we'll know. I'm sure Phoebe can reword it to alarm us rather than make a loud alarm in your room."
"Sure I can!" Phoebe exclaimed, "Just give me a minute," The rest of us stood back, "All right: now and in future hours let us know when evil strikes, around the house where Paige resides, alarm we Halliwells three, so that we may save this witch to be."
"Fascinating," I said, and not but a moment later, there was an obnoxiously loud screeching in the Halliwell manor.
"What the hell is that!?" Paige screamed.
"I think that means the spell's working!" I shouted back.
"You mean there's evil in my house?" Paige asked.
"Sounds like it," Prue said, then she motioned for Leo, "Come on, let's go!"
"What if it's the Source!?" I shouted.
"The what?" Paige asked.
"The Source of all things evil," Piper said, "We can't let Paige go home to that if it is!"
"And this screeching is really starting to hurt my ears!" Phoebe shouted.
"Come on!" Prue waved me over.
I was shocked, "You want me to come?" I asked, "My power won't work on the Source."
"No," Prue said, "but you know how we vanquish him, I assume!"
"Oh," I said, "well that makes sense."
"I'm coming too!" Paige grabbed onto Leo's hand because that's what everyone else was doing.
"No!" Phoebe shouted, "You just started this; you're not ready!"
"It's my apartment," Paige shouted, "I'm going."
The sisters looked displeased, but they couldn't very well argue with her, so they just nodded, "Leo!" Piper shouted, "Let's go!" Cole shimmered out as we orbed.
I had forgotten about the sensation from last time. At first, I felt that beautiful sense of being pulled apart and made into the light of all things, but then I was immersed into every thought everyone with us had ever had, and the worst part was that they were utterly unaware of my presence. Leo tried to tell me to focus on him, but I couldn't. Every waking, sleeping, and unconscious thought the girls and Leo had ever had was swarming through my brain, and I could do nothing to push it out. When we reformed in the middle of Paige's apartment, I burst into tears and screamed at the top of my lungs. I grasped at my head and fell to my knees; there'd be nothing I could do for them in this encounter. Leo rushed to my side, but he waved the girls off.
Later, the girls told me what happened, and it happened thusly:
A man was sitting on the bed, and when they orbed in, he jumped up with a look of pure terror on his face. Paige found herself in rather a shock, "Shane?" She asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Y-you t-told me to meet you here," He stuttered, "Wh-what are you?"
"Oh God," Paige covered her mouth.
"Don't believe him," Cole whispered to Phoebe.
"You mean-?" Phoebe asked.
Cole merely nodded in response. Paige moved to step forward, "Paige, no!" Piper shouted in a most sincerely serious manner; she grabbed Paige's arm, and Paige looked rather angrily at Piper.
"What are you doing?" She demanded.
"That's not who you think it is," Cole mumbled.
"What?" Paige asked in that furious manner that she does.
Cole didn't answer; instead, he shot an energy ball at Shane. Shane was blasted back, but he didn't die, and then Cole answered, "Only the Source could withstand my attack with no injury."
"Oh my God," Paige gasped. She moved behind Piper, Phoebe and Prue, who grabbed hands and started reciting: "The Power of Three will set us free."
ShaneSource stood up and smiled, "Well," He said in a more demonic voice, "It would appear you have seen through this plan. Not without help," He added with a glance at me, "Mark my word, he will not halt my efforts again."
"No!" Piper shouted, and she pulled her sisters in front of me, "You won't hurt him!"
"You think you can stop my power?" ShaneSource laughed; he extended his fingers and conjured up a fireball, "I will end all of you right here, right now."
Cole threw an energy ball at him, "Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"
ShaneSource dropped the fireball, and Prue caught it with her telekinesis. She shot it up at ShaneSource, and the girls grabbed hands and started reciting, louder, and with more energy, "The Power of Three will set us free!" and they started walking toward ShaneSource.
He grunted, but he shot a fireball at them nonetheless, and it reflected back at him again. He was knocked out of Shane, who was subsequently knocked unconscious. The Source stood as a shimmer in the room. He let out a mad howl before he flamed out. The girls rushed to my side, as I was still shaking on the floor, "Is he okay?" Piper asked.
"Yes," Leo said, "but I don't think he should orb with us for a while."
"I'll take him," Cole said, "Shimmering doesn't work the same way as orbing."
"What's he talking about?" Prue asked.
Leo explained to them what happened to me as Cole took me back to the manor.
That was my very first encounter with the Source of all things evil.