The Last Apothecary

Chapter 23.

"Sorry, 'scuse me. Gotta take a phone call!" With that I was pushing my way out of the library, rushing down the hall in a panic. I knew Elliot. He was the kind of guy that kept things bottled up like a shaken thing of soda until he was too afraid to pop off the lid, so the fact that he was coming to someone, that someone being me of all people, was borderline terrifying. And he lost his job? What happened?

Sure, the boy's bathroom wasn't the nicest place to have a heart-to-heart, but it wasn't like I had a lot of other options given all the drama attached to my name now. He picked it up on the second ring, and I barely had time to slam a stall door closed behind me before he started ranting in a panic.

"I can't believe I just lost it. I didn't even- it was the same thing I always do -I don't even know how-"

"Elliot," I began. "You have to take a deep breath and start from the beginning. I have no context to work with. Just try to calm down, and I'll be here to listen, all right?" My shoes were already echoing in the empty room from my pacing, and I tried to focus on the noise before I started freaking out with him. True, Elliot had always been a jumpy little thing ever since kindergarten, but this sounded like the step before a full-blown panic attack.

His breathing become ragged through the receiver for a moment, turning almost into a whistle before I heard the sound of a spray sharply going off. "...I-I said I lost my job. It happened so fast."

"What'd you do? You're always a perfectionist if I ever saw one." Sure, laying off could happen to anyone, but fired? That was something that would happen to me long before him.

"I... I was serving this morning since MAFES is closed this week for a teacher conference, and you know how I usually fill water with magik since it saves me a trip to the back?" My fingers gripped the edges of my phone tighter as I tried to pick up on every little noise coming through. His speech was still unsteady, but I could tell it was at least slower and more controlled at the moment. If his lungs got anywhere close to collapsing, I was nowhere near him to help, and who knew if anyone else was? I couldn't risk that. The best thing to do was keep him calm for his own safety.

So I agreed, nodding along. "Yeah, I was just there the other day. Wait... You did not get fired for dropping it on someone, right? That would be ridiculous!" One, because every server spills something eventually. That should barely get a talking to, much less mean losing your job. Two, Elliot losing his grasp on the basics for even a second? Impossible.

"No, I was just- I was serving them, and the woman told me it was offensive to be working after what happened yesterday, and that it was too soon to use magik in public. The man she was with also kept reaming me out, and they demanded another server that wasn't a Witch. That would have been fine, but as I went to go get the manager, they started following me to the back with personal insults. They said that a Witch like me shouldn't even show my face in society after what I did. That all we cause is harm... and, I just... lost it."

"You yelled back?" No way. Elliot? "Good for you, standing up for yourself!" I felt my chest swell a bit in pride. "About time you stopped letting people always tell you what to do."

"No. Not me. My magik," he explained, drawing in another deep, rattling breath. "All I did was clench my fists, but I could feel them. Every spirit and every bit of water around me. They were in the glasses, the sinks... Their blood." His usually higher, smooth voice had dropped to a dead monotone. "It was just a twitch, some rattling in the walls and a jolt in everyone's body but they felt it. I controlled their own souls! Living people, Crow! I... I didn't even know I could do that!"

The room fell into silence as I stood there for a second, stunned. After a few moments, he managed to bring himself to talk again, but I could hear how chocked up he was even as he continued. "After that, my manager came out, and apologized. He got them a new server, and took me in the back to hand me the last tips I'll ever get from there. I'm lucky if we don't get sued." Another sound like a whistle, another hiss of a spray being released. "I don't know what to do! How do I get another job if everyone hates me? Even if they consider me, they'll call my old job and know what I've done. I'll never be able to afford college. I'm just going to be a disappointment, and I don't even know how I did it!"