The Magic at the End of the World (Do You Remember, Book 5)

Monday, January 1, 2001

Well, the New Year has officially started off...with a bang.

Not just any bang, but a literal bang.

Here's what happened...

While the city of Charleston, South Carolina rang in the New Year, an autistic young man broke out of his house where he lived with his parents and attacked scores of people who were having a New Year's party just outside his house. He was angry because his neighbors were having a party and they were so loud that he couldn't get to sleep. Before an hour was over, the police were called, with them having difficulty restraining the young man before he could be taken away. The rampage ended with over 50 partygoers dead and over 120 people injured. And the incident occurred almost 20 blocks from where my family lived.

I can't believe it.

Just as I was beginning to feel sorry for autistic people and how much they had to suffer due to their autism, tragedies like this happen. Fifty-three people ages 30-47 are now dead, leaving their families to mourn their deaths and a community which is in deep shock.

This just isn't right.

The "New Year's Day Massacre" (as the incident was dubbed) was all over the news; almost everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Diane Sawyer was talking about it. Many news reporters were sobbing as they had to describe the massacre as an angry White man targeting Black partygoers, even though 99% of all those who died in the rampage were White. In fact, many journalists had tried to play this off as a racially motivated crime; because of that, Stacey Palmer (Sean Michael Rowes's nephew) literally rage quit while talking about it on live TV.

And that's not all.

Even though there were very few Black people at that party, most of the Black community began calling for forgiveness and understanding, as they believed that the young man in question was deeply troubled and he believed that there were monsters living next door that were out to get him. But their words fell on deaf ears, as many more White people wanted the young man to face charges for instigating a hate crime. Those people also believed that his parents should be punished for not putting their son in a mental hospital while allowing him to live in their home.

This is unbelievable. I don't understand why this had to happen, and especially in the city of Lochland at that. I was very lucky that mom, dad, Jem, Kieran, and Reggie weren't in the neighborhood when the incident happened; I don't feel like going to any more funerals.

But that's not what this story is about.

As the morning continued, Mary said to me, "This is the type of thing that the magical community should be preventing."

"Preventing what?" said Mariah.

"Well, this tragedy that just happened," said Dorian. "Mariah, you know this all too well, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, except that Sarah didn't go around killing people just because they were celebrating the New Year," said Mariah. "And you're right, Mary. The magical community should be preventing tragedies like this from happening."

"Why?" I said as I continued to watch the news.

"I don't know if I told you this, but when a mage offers you the gift of magic, you must accept it without question," said Mary. "I had to accept the gift of magic when I was eight years old, which was when I went to live with David and Anthony, and you had to accept the same gift after your birthday."

"And what happens to those who reject that gift?" said Kaprice.

"Bad things happen," said Mary.

"What bad things?" said Claire.