Paul Polkiss stared out the window as streets of suburbia passed him by. Paul always thought that people would learn alot about the world if they just took the time to step back and watch things that are happening around them. Everyone seemed to be in such a hurry, as if their life depended on whether they reached their destination in the absolute least amount of time possible.

Paul felt the school bus he was sitting on came to an abrupt stop, causing him to jump up and he was reminded that he was being hypocritical. His thoughts of people not spending enough time enjoying the world for what it was were lost immediately in favor of mentally complaining that the bus driver spent way too long to make sure that all of the students reached their house before moving to the next house. Paul rationalized his mental tirade because his house just so happened to be the last house that the bus made a stop at.

Paul felt a head land on his shoulder and he saw that his twin sister, Sophia, had fallen asleep on his shoulder and was now drooling over his shirt. He swatted irritatedly at her dark hair that was getting in his face but she didn't wake up or move so he had to suffer through. He could see that some of his other siblings were also saying goodbye to their friends as the children left the bus one by one.

After an entirely unreasonable amount of wait, the bus finally came to a stop outside the house that Paul called home. Paul shook Sophia awake and pulled her up to lead her off of the bus. As he walked up the aisle of the bus he shook awake the rest of his siblings. Ben and Carl had fallen asleep with drool leaking shamelessly out of their mouths whereas Krista and Carly both seemed moments away from falling asleep in their seats. Paul gave the bus driver a nod and got all of his siblings off of the bus.

The small one floored house that Paul and his siblings called home was casting a menacing shadow into his eyes. The setting sun cast dying orange lights across the horizon. A cool breeze passed through Paul and caused him to unconsciously tighten the grip he had on Sophia's hand. Paul led his siblings through the metal chain link fence and up the dusty dirt pathway to the front stoop of the house. The front door creaked open loudly as he held it open for all of his siblings to enter before him.

The inside of the house felt just as cold to Paul as the outside had felt. He kicked off his shoes into the messy pile of shoes by the door and walked morosely towards the kitchen. He flicked on the light for the kitchen and started opening cabinets at random. He pulled out a pan and rested it lightly on the stove before heading towards the refrigerator.

A hand slammed heavily into his left shoulder.

Paul felt a shot of panic run through him

Someone spinned him around forcefully.

Paul felt fear catch in his chest.

A very tall and a very obese man stared down at him. His mouth was moving rapidly and his demeanor radiated displeasure and rage.

The hand on his shoulder was very quickly replaced by a hand on his arm.

Paul could hear his heartbeat flutter.

The hand dragged him quickly out into the living room.

Paul could see that none of his siblings were in the room, but a man that he had never met was sitting there. The man was dressed very strangely. He wore a very formal red blazer over a yellow muscle shirt with a bow tie hanging untightened around his neck. Very baggy sweatpants were on his legs and heavy hiking boots were on his feet. As for the man himself he seemed to be an attractive middle aged man with sandy brown hair.

The man started talking but Paul couldn't focus on his lips very well with the hand that his father still had around his arm distracting him. Paul motioned for the man to stop and asked hesitantly if his sister could come in and translate for him. The man exchanged a confused look with his father and his father told him of his deafness. The man looked more confused about the situation than anything as if he had never heard of someone being deaf before.

Sophia walked into the room and sat down on a chair near to Paul without saying a word. Her eyes darted quickly to the hand that his father had on his arm and quickly back to his eyes to the man to back to his eyes. A silent conversation played out between the two before she relented and looked away again.

The man began talking again and Paul looked to Sophia to translate his words for him. Sophia had an incredulous look on her face as if she thought that the man was simultaneously stupid and insane.

'He says that he's a professor at a magic school,' she signed to him after a long pause. The man looked intrigued with the sign language that Sophia was displaying.

'What is he going to do? Teach us magic tricks?' Paul signed back.

'No. Not that kind of magic. Like wizard magic.'

Paul let out a bark of laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. He felt the hand on his arm tighten dangerously and the amusement quickly fled from his body. The man seemed amused by Paul's reaction and reached into his pocket to retrieve a stick of wood. He waved the stick around and Paul felt himself rise into the air.

The couch that he and his father had sat on had risen up into the air.

After a few moments the man let them return to the floor and Paul was astounded.

The man said a few more words and after a short while Sophia signed what he had said with a pale face.

'He says that magic is real and that you are a wizard.'

Paul scrubbed diligently at the plate. All of his younger siblings had eaten their dinner and done their homework so they were preparing for bed while he and Sophia cleaned up the dishes from dinner. Sophia was making lunches for everyone for school tomorrow. His father had left shortly after Professor Longbottom had left in order to go drown himself in alcohol.

The atmosphere between Paul and Sophia was visibly evident, even with no words having been spoken. The two continued to do their jobs without hesitation until everything was as it should be. Paul finally sat down and massaged his temples from a long day of effort. Sophia soon caught his attention.

'Paul, we should talk-'

'I'm not going.'

That seemed to be the wrong answer as Sophia stood up angrily and slammed her hand against the table.

'Why do you always do this!' she signed angrily.

'Do what?' he signed back facetiously.

'I want you to actually think about something before completely rejecting it!'

'I thought about it and I can't go. So there is nothing else to think about.'

'Why can't you go?'

'You know exactly why I can't go.'

Sophia's hands stilled at that and she looked around the house with a cross look on her face. Her lips pursed tightly and her eyes narrowed in disgust.

'I saw Carl changing the color of his cars yesterday,' she signed after a long moment of waiting.

Paul felt his heart stop in his chest.

'I know that you want to go, don't even try to deny it to me,' signed as she saw his hands start to move again. 'I know that you want to go because I know you. You want us all to be happy. You don't want us to live here forever in this shit hole.' She gestured around the entirety of the house. 'You've been trying harder in your studies to try to skip more grades so you can go faster through school and I know you have. You want to succeed so the rest of us can have a better life. I think this is the way that you can do that. Magic, Paul! I can't even believe it! Magic is real! That's amazing! And I've already known that you're amazing. I know that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. I want you to succeed, not just for us but for you.'

Sophia's speech left Paul deflated and his indignation quickly left him.

'But what about you guys?' Paul argued 'Do you think that you can manage without me? Can you care for the other four with just you?'

'It's not going to be easy,' Sophia signed tentatively. 'But I think that I can do it. Don't underestimate me because you are the ambitious one. I'm no slouch myself. And Carl…'

'He's going when he's older,'

'I know you'd say that,' she signed irritably. 'I think you already know this but I don't think that all of this is as good as it sounds. I don't think that magic is all fairy tales. There's no way that this whole magical world is perfect. I want you to go to make sure that Carl is going to be safe there.'

'I know,' Paul started. 'I really, really want to go. I also really don't want to leave you all. But I know that you won't let me stay will you?'

Sophia gave a vehement shake of her head.

'Thought so… ok.' Paul took a deep breath. 'God, I didn't even think about that translater that Professor Longbottom talked about. A way to make things easier? That sounds amazing! Ok… I'll go. For you guys. I want us all to get out of here… and away from him. I'll leave it up to you to protect the little ones when I'm gone.'

Sophia stepped forward and embraced Paul tightly and he let out a shout of laughter.