Monday 4 September 1995, Edinburgh, Scotland
"I arrived at the Cavendish mansion and it wasn't that perfect, I was always disturbed by Daryl who came tohaunt me just to make me scared, but even so I stayed strong and put up with everything, apart from thehelp of my foster mums, I worked hard during the summer so that I could get into school straight away, Inless than three months I was fluent in English, to the level that it was the only language I spoke at home, Iwas very happy because I could finally understand what Mum Laura was saying to me, it was wonderfulreally, I was very happy that I was finally going to start school too."
I'm going to school just like in the cartoons, I'm going to play with new friends, I'm going to meet people, I'm going to be really happy, I can't wait, mums have already given me clothes, I've showered and I'm taking everything, they said I can't use magic outside of school because it might scare everyone, that's going to be a bit boring, I wanted to impress everyone with my new skills, imagine taking everyone flying, that would be really cool.
I'm having breakfast, there are little potatoes with smiley faces, juice, also fruit, I love the way they make my food so it'll always be like this, mums are the best.
"Are you looking forward to your first day at school today?" My mum Laura asks and I nod.
"I'm really excited, I want to meet lots of nice people, I'm going to make all the friends in the world, it's going to be marvellous, it's going to be like in the cartoons, I've always wanted to go to school" I say happily.
"Look, it's going to be, it's good that you can already read and that helps a lot" said Mum Bernadette as I ate.
I love these little potatoes with the smiley faces, I love how everything is tasty and happy, even the fruit and vegetables, everything is so good, the way the food is so happy is the best thing of all, I eat until I'm full with breakfast, I can't wait to go to school, I can only think about it, it's going to be my first time studying.
When I've finished eating, I get out of my chair and so do my mums, they lead me through the house to where the outside is, I see Daryl's wicked witch, she stares back at me with her usual look of disgust, jeez what a horrible woman, she may look a lot like mum, but she's nowhere near as beautiful and wonderful as her. We arrive and the car is already in front of the house, Mum Bernadette opens the car door for me, I get in and drive to school, I'm so happy, on the way I look at the streetlamps and make a face with my hand along the way.
"Remember to behave, we won't be there at school, so you already know it's going to be very different" said Mum Bernadette.
"Don't use your magic, it could end up making things worse for all of us, unfortunately people around us are still very scared of witches, especially children, that's what they always end up saying about them, that we're evil people and that we're going to do wrong, so using magic could make them call us out" said Mum Laura.
"That's not fair, magic is beautiful, it should be shown, people could be enchanted by it, magic can do incredible things" I say indignantly.
"Unfortunately, that's the way people want magic to be seen..." Mum Laura said.
"It's not going to stay that way, when I grow up I'm going to show everyone how marvellous magic is, that there's nothing wrong with being a witch" I'm sure that with me people will love to see when I become a witch.
"I'm sure you will, that's how you say Chariot, never give up on your dreams, turn the world upside down to achieve whatever you want" said the red-haired mum, as always the most motivating, I'm so happy.
"Have you mums achieved your dreams?" I ask them and it's all silent. Could it be that they haven't achieved their dreams? Could it be that someone got in the way?
"Oh my dream is to be pregnant with the children I'm going to have with Laura, what I'm already going to achieve, is to bring peace to the Cavendish family, become a doctor and look after everyone, there are many dreams that I'm doing my best to achieve" said Mum Bernadette and how nice, I'm going to have sisters one day.
"And you, Mum Laura?" I ask her, and she gets a little pensive.
"My dream is a long way off, but I want to say that despite everything, the world can often turn against realising these dreams, because it's not something that big, often unpleasant people, who everyone thinks
are good, but in fact have a lot of evil in them... These people rule this world and make people's dreams more impossible, that's why I say to you Chariot, never give up on your dreams, fight the world if you have to, go for what's right to do, I really wanted to be a broom racer, but I can't, the world doesn't like witches, witches don't like demonstrations like that, even if they're very angry" Mum Laura said and I understood, I'm not going to give up on my dreams.
I mustn't give up, so that's it, even if the world is cruel, I'm going to do everything I can to realise my dream, my dream is to make people happy with magic, to show how incredible it is, in the same way that it enchanted me when mums showed it to me, I want to show it to everyone, but I'm going to have to hold back from doing it at school.
[...]
We arrive at school, I get out of the car with my mums, they hug me both together, smiling at me, me with my rucksack on my back, I'm so happy, today is my first day at school, how cool is that, look how huge it all is too, my mums put their hand on my shoulder and smile after the hug.
"Don't forget what I told you, don't give up on your dreams, now go and take care of yourself, I love you girl" said Mum Laura.
"Remember the rules we talked about, no magic, behave yourself, I love you too, child" said Mum Bernadette.
Then they get out and wave to me as the car drives off, I can't believe it, I'm finally starting school, how cool, it's going to be so much fun, it's going to be really fun, I walk in, with my rucksack on my back and everything, I see the place full of letters, an older girl comes up to me, she must be the teacher.
"Oh you must be Chariot, come with me" she says and I nod.
"I'm Chariot Du Nord" I say to her, smiling, and she smiles back.
I'm taken hand in hand with her, I'm looking at everything in amazement, the rooms with the children, until I get to my room, where there are toys and tables to sit at, with drawings, there's everything, there are lots of children, the teacher soon closes the door, the teacher claps her hands calling for everyone and the other children look at the two of us.
"Hello kids, our new pupil has finally arrived, introduce yourself to everyone Chariot Du Nord" said the teacher and I'm still a bit shy, I'm even swallowing saliva.
I'm thinking about a lot of things, I don't know how I'm going to present myself, am I going to be a witch straight away, or am I going to be formal, I think I'm going to get one of those toys that looks like a wand, it could be fun, I take the toy next to me and take a deep breath.
"There's no need to be embarrassed, Chariot, we're all friends, you can let loose all you want" said the teacher.
"I'm Chariot Du Nord, I came from France, I was adopted by two wonderful mums and my dream is to be a witch who will enchant everyone with magic" I say as I dance in front of the children.
When I realised everyone was so quiet, with no reaction, I expected them to clap, but only one curly-haired girl clapped for me, just her, the rest kept quiet, so much so that they turned their heads and went back to playing, what a strange thing, I soon felt the teacher's hand on my shoulder and I looked at her who was crouching down in front of me, I didn't understand a thing.
"Look, Chariot, it's great that you have two mums, but you can't say that here, your mums might end up missing you and I might not be your teacher" I was confused, what do you mean I have to hide the truth about having two mums?
"But why?" I ask her.
"There's this thing called Section 28, where it's forbidden to talk about this kind of thing at school, we could even risk losing our jobs because of it, so let's just keep it a secret, you haven't told me you have two mums and I haven't heard that you have two mums, do you understand now Chariot?" I nodded my head and didn't realise I couldn't.
"What's wrong with having two mums? I thought everyone did" I say to her and she puts her finger over my mouth.
"No mosquito can enter a closed mouth" said the teacher, and I think I understand now.
I was even getting a bit confused and strange, there's nothing wrong with having two mums? Is there? I'm like any other child, why is that?'m even worse in my head, I don't understand it, it's two people loving each other, I'm getting into a chair, as I get closer some children are just avoiding me, I've barely arrived and I'm barely seen, the school isn't that nice
The girl with curly hair and dark skin who clapped for me arrives at my side and starts playing with me, poking me, I take the toy she offers me, it's a plastic dinosaur
"Oh Chariot, you're very nice, I like you, can I be your friend?" She asks and I nod.
"I want to be your friend, what's your name?" I ask her.
"My name is Felicia, I thought it was cool that you have two mums, I have two dads, the teacher said the same thing to me when I talked about having two dads, it seems like we're the only ones like this, everyone here is the child of a dad with a mum, from what the dads told me, people don't like people to know that we're different like that" Felicia said, that's what I could see too.
"People in the street look at you funny, don't they?" My new friend even nods.
"Even though my parents hide the fact that they're a couple, they still annoy us because they know deep down, it's like everyone knows, after a while you get used to it, let's play" What? This isn't fair, I want to change that too.
"It's not fair" I tell her.
"Not really" Felicia replies and we start playing with the dinosaurs.
I see the teacher who was watching us at the back of the room, I start playing again and we have a lot of fun, Felicia is very nice, she's different like me, I think now I've discovered that I'm actually different from everyone else, I didn't imagine that, I thought everyone had two mums, or a dad, it seems I lived in a different world.
Playing dinosaur, we ran round the room calling out to more people and the other children ignored us, until we came to the strangest girl, she has black hair and seems to be very quiet.
"That's Olivia, she arrived last year just like me, she's all..." I still didn't care and gave her my hand.
"Come here Olivia, let's play, let's be dinosaurs" I tell her to stay in her corner.
"Chariot, she's very quiet, the whole room says she's the weird one, come on, we'll meet more people, I'll introduce you to more people" Felicia says and the girl turns to me.
"Nobody asked me to play, do you want to be my friend?" Olivia asks and I nod.
She comes and hugs me afterwards, wow I just want to make friends, she doesn't seem that weird, different people deserve to have friends too, I'm going to be friends with everyone, magic is what enchants people, the teacher herself keeps looking at us, as if she has something, I don't know, she goes with me and Felicia and we play dinosaur too, letting out a few laughs, how fun, I knew she was a nice girl.
[...]
"Olivia Perkins and Felicia Hartley were the first friends I made at school, that was the beginning of a great friendship, also the beginning of discovering what homophobia is, after that first day of school, my mums came to pick me up, they were explaining to me everything about session 28, you were still very young when it existed, but I lived in the middle of session 28 as a child, we couldn't be ourselves and nothing could be talked about at school, it was a real hell, I learnt that my mothers were looked down on by everyone because of an old-fashioned idea, that's when I found out why they told my father they were just friends and why only your mother Bernadette legally adopted me, school was wonderful that first year, I made lots of friends, until I decided to bring Olivia and Felicia home with me for the first time".
Saturday 21 October 1995, Edinburgh, Scotland
I can't believe Liv and Felicia's parents let them sleep over, it's going to be my friends' first time here, how cool is that, we're going to have a pyjama party, we're going to play video games, we're going to play a lot, I'm sure it's going to be really fun.
I'm waiting on the stairs at the entrance to the house, and soon I hear the sounds of the wicked witch arriving, right behind me, she's very recognisable by the sound her high heels always make, I've come to recognise her.
"Are you really going to wait around? Are they not going to come, or do you think the parents are going to accept the degeneration that your fake mums are trying to do?" She said with complicated words and still speaking in my language.
"Speak your language, I can speak English too and they'll come" I say to Daryl.
"I don't want to give you the chance to waste my saliva on my polished and sophisticated accent to use English with you, I prefer to speak the real language you came from and should never have left" She always gets on my nerves.
"My mum Laura is here, so don't act like that with me, she'll hear and it won't be nice" I tell her.
"Oh how weak, what a crybaby, how long are you going to hide in the skirt of your mum's dress? One day they won't be there to protect you, Chariot Du Nord, and one day the beast will get you" She came at me all intimidated and then turned into a huge snake that came to bite me, but stopped in front of me and returned to normal with two hands.
This wicked witch is always terrorising me, why does she do that? She has a comfortable house to stay in, Mum Bernadette is her sister and she's a wonderful person, Mum Laura too, everyone here gives her all the best, but she still acts as if I'm a stone in the road, so much so that she goes down the stairs to the outside, just then Olivia and Felicia appear to me, I run over to them to give them a hug.
"We're here!" Mum Bernadette said.
"You've come!" I say, smiling.
"It was hard to convince Olivia's father, but with a bit of talking he gave in" said Mum.
"I never thought my father would make it so easy, you're brilliant Mrs Cavendish" said Olivia, more radiant than ever, she'd been saying all week that it wouldn't work out, but in the end everything could work out.
"Come with me, I'll show you my room, it's full of toys" I say to them who nod in agreement, I notice that my mum Bern has a relieved expression, showing a little tiredness, was it really that easy? Strange.
I run up the stairs and into the bedroom, there I switch on the television and they're amazed, I have several video games, that's what's cool, my mum Laura is now with Auntie April and Auntie Scarlet, they're working on a video game, it's really cool that they do such fun things, I never thought I'd know someone who makes video games so closely.
"Do you have a Super Mahoutendo, a Witchstation and a Mega Jupiter? Woah!" Said the impressed Liv.
"These are just a few, Mum has practically all of them, I still have a few games in each box, I'll get them here" I say, opening the cupboard and taking out the boxes, which are a bit heavy.
"Woah, look at all this, I'd really beg to have all this, my dad barely lets me play on my SMES, let alone give me lots of games, I have to share the TV at home with him, I even wish I didn't have to go because at the weekend he lets me use the TV for two hours, he leaves a timer on the TV counting everything and if it's two hours he switches it off" I'm horrified, Liv's dad's stories are always disturbing.
"My parents are thinking of getting a Witchstation, I can't wait, I play a lot of Super Mahoutendo too" said Felicia.
"My mums are really nice, they always give me everything they can, my mum Laura is a video game designer, how cool is that? She's working with her friends right now to make another game, so I get new video games and games all the time" I tell them, showing them the box full of games.
"Wow, you're a gamer's paradise, can you lend me some games?" Liv asks and I nod.
"Sure, but what about playing? I've even got this here, it's enough for the four of us to play" I say, showing an adapter that can fit four controllers.
"It was my dream to play with four people, the parents never thought of it, they said it was too expensive and that it was only available in Japan, I really wanted to play Super Explosiveguy" Felicia said and that's exactly what I was going to play.
"Come on, it'll be fun to play with the three of us" I say excitedly.
Let's switch on the video game, start playing, it'll be fun, I never thought the three of us would play together, I hadn't made friends like this when I lived in France, they're real friends, they understand me, the kids in France said I was the weird one with a drunk dad, the girls here are nice, they're all marvellous, even the other people at school are friends.
[...]
We've been playing a lot, it must be late at night, everyone must be going to their rooms by now, we've even set up a pillow fort in the bedroom and I don't know why the girls are laughing, from what the clock says it's 11pm, my mums must have gone to bed by now, I've never stayed up this late here before.
"Hey, Chariot, we've got an idea here, do you know where the evil witch's room is?" Felicia asks.
"I know, why? Do you want to do something?" I ask them.
"I've been thinking that we could play a prank on her, we'll go to your kitchen, we'll get some whipped cream, we'll get some pies and we'll throw them in her face, we'll fill them with treacle, we'll show the wicked witch that she can't scare you at night, didn't you say you always do that?" Olivia says and I'm deep in thought.
"But isn't that wrong? Why would we do that?" I ask her.
"Don't you want to scare that woman back? Stop scaring her, show her that you're not going to let yourself be scared" said Felicia.
"I've already worked out a plan, when we walk round the house I've drawn a map of the route we're going to take, we'll go to the pantry pretending to get something to eat, we'll get some syrup, pies, whipped cream and a carton of eggs, we'll go up to our room and then you'll take us to where your aunt's room is, we'll go in there and start filling the floor with syrup, she'll jump out of bed scared when she gets whipped cream in her face, when she gets up we'll throw eggs" Will this be worth it? She'll be even more angry with me.
"So, Chariot? It's up to you to say what we're going to do" I decide to nod.
"Let's give it a try, I'm already very angry with everything she makes me go through at night" I say to them and they touch my hand.
So we walk down the corridors together, I think my mum's asleep at this point, we go very stealthily without making any noise, walking on tiptoe, I never thought I'd do such a design thing like this, we go down the stairs, we get to where the pantry is, there we put a box of eggs in a bag, a syrup of pancakes, pies, whipped cream, everything to make the wicked witch look good.
On the way back, luckily there were only a few butlers, I just said I was going to get something to eat and they just let me pass quietly, I went up the stairs, this is going to be the funniest thing and I even thought of more things. We got into the room and everything was a success, now all that's left is the hard part.
"We've got everything here, let's make the wicked witch feel what it's like to disturb others at night" I say to them.
"Now all that's left is for you to go to her room with us, let's organise it here, who's going to throw the egg? Who's going to go to the wicked witch's bed? And who's going to throw the pies?" Olivia said.
"I'll throw the eggs" said Felicia.
"I'll make sure I get to her face, fill it with whipped cream and syrup" I say, already choosing what to do.
"I'll throw the pie, we'll do it like this, we'll each go to a corner of the room, we'll leave a box of eggs for Chariot to go to and throw at the wicked witch" said Liv and I nodded in agreement.
We hold hands and leave the room, without thinking twice, we sneak up to where the wicked witch's room is, the lights are off, the door is locked, but that's not a problem, I put my hand on the lock, using magic I can open it, something I learnt from mum Laura if I didn't have the key to open a door.
We sneak in, she's lying on the bed, sleeping, with her head all turned up like a dead person sleeping, we leave an egg carton on the floor and the girls split up in the corners of the room, already signalling, which I pick up the syrup, starting to pour it all over the floor, making it syrupy all around.
Furtively I get close to her face, pick up the whipped cream and start pouring it, making enough noise to wake her up, I put it on her face and laugh, now I want to see you ruin my nights of sleep, you bastard, I make her wake up and run out of bed.
"What the fuck?" She's pissed.
Olivia throws a pie as soon as she sits down and it ends up hitting her full in the face. I start laughing a lot, and then we both throw eggs at her, who puts the blanket over her body, but we keep throwing eggs and more eggs until she loses patience and gets out of bed. When she steps on the floor, she gets another unpleasant surprise as she steps on the melted floor barefoot and wraps her body in the blanket.
"You'll pay for this Chariot Du Nord! You and your little friends!" Now she speaks her own language.
The damned thing was creating a magical barrier around her body and we were left with nothing to play with, she was even cleaning herself and walking furiously towards Felicia, I'm not going to let her do anything to my friend, I take the wand that is on the table next to the door and cast a spell to create an impulse that throws Daryl to the wall and with that my friend can leave, Liv came next, what the evil witch realised that I attacked her by taking her wand.
"Stay away from my friends! You wicked witch!" I say, pointing my wand.
"How the fuck? How the fuck did you manage to do that? A brat like you pushing me! You're not going to get away with this, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson" said the bastard.
"Girls, go back to your room, I'll look after her, I'm a witch, I'll tell you later, but run away, I don't want them to hurt you" I tell them both.
"No matter what, I'll protect you, you're our friend" said Felicia.
"Are you a witch? That's so cool! I have a witch friend and I'm not going to let her get close" said Olivia.
"Oh, you three dumb, brave brats, I'm going to show you what snake venom is" said the furious Daryl.
It turns into a huge snake and goes right up to us, intimidating us, so I walk backwards in fear, so do the girls, so I decide to use my wand to do something and out of nowhere it ends up being pushed against the wall, so I look at my wand in shock, while my friends look the same way, I didn't realise it was that powerful.
"Lay a single finger on my daughter and I'll turn you into a snakeskin purse" said my mum Laura, appearing behind us.
"What's it like? Didn't you see what your daughter did? The wretch came into my room to cowardly defile me, she should be punished" said the evil witch.
"That's for the mothers to do, not you Daryl, if you assault any of them I'll make you leave this house forever, if you try to set foot in here we'll make you leave, now go wash up and stop disturbing my daughter, I know it's you who fills her with nightmares" said Mum Laura.
"Thanks Mum! You saved us" I say excitedly.
"You go to your room, we'll have a chat, I heard you walking down the corridors, we stopped the romantic moment because I saw your nonsense" Mum said in a serious tone and I went to my room, realising I'd got myself into trouble.
"It's not going to be like this, you're not going to spoil this child and get away with it, she's still going to be punished by me, in fact you're dripping underneath" said my aunt, who then received a middle finger from my mum, I don't even know what it means but it's something ugly.
We walk to the bedroom and it seems to be something very serious, we get there and there's my mum Bernadette sitting on the bed in a very serious way, I get scared, it seems like I've done something really bad
now, what the hell, I never thought that in so long I could be punished for something, not even dad did something like that.
"It was me, I went into Daryl's room and messed her up, I didn't want to do it at first, but I carried on, don't blame the girls, they just wanted to play, even though it wasn't my idea" I say to my mums.
"Chariot, it was my idea, I planned it, it's my fault" said Olivia.
"We asked you to do it" said Felicia.
"I don't care who did it, you three were fine... I'm not going to say childish, because you're children, it's the kind of thing you would do, but don't do it again, Daryl is a dangerous woman, I don't trust you to play that kind of game with her, she could really hurt you, I know it was fun and it was a fitting retribution for everything she put you through, but we have to learn to know the limits, to know the dangers of doing something like that, besides you wasted food, food is important, it's not the right thing to do" said my mum Bernadette.
"We're going to sleep here with you, for protection and also because that way you won't get up to anything, let the message be given, I never want to see you do anything like that to Daryl again, understand?" Mum Laura said.
"We understand" we said together.
Then we hug, and it seems that everything has been settled, but it was fun, it was a lot of fun, seeing Daryl's face like that was priceless, the evil witch took her own poison, a poisonous snake paying for what she did, this was one of the happiest days of my life, I'm loving having them as mums, even if I do the wrong thing they know I've done the wrong thing and they talk to me.
"That night was unforgettable, but of course after that we couldn't play tricks on Daryl anymore, she becamereally intimidating, I could tell in my dreams, she tortured me inside, she did evil things, I felt stronger andstronger on the other hand, each nightmare made me stronger, without her knowing, that's how I startedstudying for the first time Diana, I made friends and learnt about homophobia, I also learnt more about thethreat that Daryl was, amazingly my two friends stayed with me, even though they knew I was a witch, theydidn't get scared thinking I was a monster."
See you, prank witches...