Crossing the Divide

1) Rip

Justin

I'd been gone for a long time, so I hoped she had time to cool off. Unfortunately, I was wrong. When I entered the kitchen, she was at the stove muttering something about cloves. I tried to back out the door, but her head whipped around to face me.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice started to rise, "I thought you were finally gone! I wish you were!" Today was a really bad day for her.

I tried to calm her down, "Look, hey, you can just go back to your... Charms, and then I can just leave, you won't even notice me, sound okay Mo-"

"For the last time, don't call me mom, never call me mom, I am not your Mother!" She was full-on screaming by now, "You are nothing more than a mistake, you were never supposed to happen! You may be my" she practically spit out the next word, "Spawn, but I am not your mother!" She stalked towards me, becoming more furious with every step, "and never," step, "ever," step, "CALL ME THAT!" I already knew what was coming, and I tried to brace myself against it. She slapped her hands on my chest, and pushed. Her hands started passing through my chest, pushing my soul, my essence, out of my physical host. She was ripping my spirit into the next world- the world lying parallel to ours, seeing us, but us never seeing it. I could already start to see the back of my head, slowly drifting away from me. Of course, it always seemed to go slow, but for some reason this time was slower than the three others ones that had already happened this week; and it was only Tuesday. The cord that always kept me attached to my body started to unravel, but then... It snapped.

It had never snapped before, it was my lifeline (pun intended) and it was my only way back to my body. She hadn't even noticed, she kept on screaming.

"You need to stop calling me that! You might as well just stay there!" It was obvious she didn't realize I just might stay here. My body slumped to the floor, having no life left in it, but she continued staring at it in disgust, "Fine, you've made your point," she spoke, rolling her eyes begrudgingly. "You can come back now." She kept staring, "Helloooo? Oh come on, you don't really have to stay there..." She trailed off as she finally looked up to where I- my spirit- was standing. "No. No, no, I didn't mean it, I'm so sorry, I-I can fix this! I can-" she broke into a nervous laughter.

I was really afraid now, and tried to speak, "Can you bring me back? You have to bring me back!"

"Don't worry, I'll... I'll..." She kept mumbling as if she hadn't heard me, "Justin I'll fix this I'll-" She collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing.

"Mom! What are you doing?" I reached out a hand to shake her shoulders, but then my hand 'slipped' and never touched her. I tried again, but I just couldn't touch her. "What's going on? Mom!" I really didn't need to ask, I already new the answer. I was dead.

She was staring at my body, my... Corpse, her eyes somewhat glazed over. "You'll have to find her, Kassandralia will save you, she's the savior, your destiny. Kassandralia is the key, Kassandralia is key, Kassandralia is key, Kassandralia is key, Kassandralia is key." She said the phrase over, and over again. She wouldn't stop.

"Who's Kassandralia? How do I find her?" But she wouldn't stop saying it. There was nothing left for me to do, she was in one of her trances, and knowing her it would be a solid day before she 'woke up'. I stood up, and walked to the, thankfully, still-open door. I went to the place where I had the most chance of finding the 'key'.

The schoolyard.

So I had to find Kassandralia. Easier said than done. From Mom's previous 'trances' I knew Kassandralia was a chick with magical powers. She's supposed to be my age, but she's 'something special' and I'm supposed to recognize her from her 'entrancing aura'. Like I could even see auras.

The magic from my mother's line had gotten less and less powerful with every generation. Add that to the fact that my Father was fully human, and I'm hardly magic proficient.

Not being able to turn to any magical gifts, I'd have to turn to my more human aspects. Such as knowing how to catch the attention of your average hormonal teenage girl. If there's anything that'll get their attention, it's a total heartthrob of a boy saying their name. And what do all male jocks have in common? Football.

Football season was just starting, so the results of tryouts were being posted today. They were on the community bulletin board, and I could already see a group of freshman boys heading to second period; frowns already on their faces.

Personally, I'm not a fan of football. If you told me that a year ago, I would have shoved a football down your throat. It's just, my mom had been getting better, being more focused and centered. But then after winter break last year, she stopped getting better. Instead she got worse. She started going into her trances more and more often, and shoving me into this world nearly every week.

I never stood up to her though, I just let her push me around. I thought that maybe, if I just let her get rid of her anger, she would finally come back; So I never fought back, never said anything. In a way I guess that made her even angrier, and you can see where that's gotten me.

Next to the list of who made what - and who didn't make it at all - there was a blank sticky note. I started to reach out and pull it off, when I remembered what happened with my mom. Maybe if I could just, brush it a little bit. Work up the energy to actually touch it. Here's the thing, when my fingers finally made contact, I actually felt it. I plucked it off, and stuck it directly on top off the two O's in football. I saw a pen hanging by a string, and wrote 'Kassandralia' on the post-it note.

All I had to do now was wait.

Author's note: Oops! That was a lot shorter than I thought it'd be... I promise the next ones will be longer. And please cut me at least a little slack, it's my first one. Feedback is not only appreciated but begged for!!