Mystic Academy: Accepted

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I swallowed hard. Mom stood in front of me with the letter in her hand. She had found it. She had found the letter. Now there was not a chance that I would get to do the test.

It had been a few days since I received the letter from Mystic. It was my birthday on Saturday. It was also the day of the test. I had intended to go secretly, without Mom's knowledge. But my plan failed.

When I had gotten home from school that day Mom had waited on me. It was unclear how long.

I had hidden the letter in the desk drawer, under all my books. I didn't quite understand how she could've found it. But she had.

Now she stood in front of me with the letter in her hand and a stern look. I almost thought she would kill me. Seriously, I actually came up with a plan to escape her anger.

"Aline Teresa Antonia Blake!" she said strictly. "What is this?!"

I avoided her gaze when I answered. "A letter."

"What kind of letter?!" Her gaze left a scar in my mind. I will never forget that face. That angry look when it looked like she could kill me.

I swallowed deep. "From Mystic."

Mom continued to stare at me. "And why did you keep this information from me?" she asked, a little calmer.

I wanted to scream at her, scold her for deciding over me, but no. When I talked it only came out as a whisper. "Because I knew you would forbid it."

"I do, too," she answered. "You don't get to go to the ceremony, do you hear that? Do you hear that, Aline?!"

I nodded, didn't say a word. Mom was pleased with that.
I heard how she walked out to the kitchen, the heels echoed across the floor.

I ran up the stairs. Mom had taken the letter. She hadn't listened and now I was literally raging inside. I couldn't believe how she couldn't think about what I felt, what I wanted.

As soon as I came upstairs I ran in to Simon. I needed to speak out. I needed to get rid of the anger, even if he couldn't do something about my problem. But he was good at listening. He didn't judge.

So I spoke out. I sat down beside him and started. The words gushed out of me like a waterfall, they just came. I talked about the letter. I talked about what Mom had done. I didn't even care if I said something that wasn't true.

I often did this when there was something bothering me. I talked to Simon. It was nice to be able to speak out without someone else judging you. It was for Simon I told all of my secrets and everything that happened in school.
He needed to catch up for the years he missed.

Mom didn't seem to have a problem with that either. She often understood what I did and why. She understood that I thought it was safe. That I could tell things I couldn't tell anyone else.

But now when I was sitting there, beside Simon, I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't like usual. It like tingled in my body, as if I was doing something illegal and would soon be caught. I couldn't help but turn around all the time, making sure no one was behind me.

Maybe it was just imagination. Maybe it was just my brain playing tricks on me. But I just couldn't relax.

I felt watched, which made me insecure. I didn't dare to speak as openly as I used to. I looked around in the room. No big deal. Nothing to take note of.

Suddenly I felt something cold against my hand. I looked down at it. A hand.
I looked up at Simon where he sat, in the same position he had done just a few hours ago. But something was different.

I looked down at my hand again, followed the unknown hand up to its owner. Simon.

He had succeeded. He had managed to get through his trance, managed to break an opened cleft in the mountain of visions that separated him from the outside world.

He managed to do that sometimes. It was rare, but when it did happen it felt like a miracle. He managed to resist the urge to just sink into the deep void, disappear into the underworld.

I smiled as I sat, hugging his hand tightly. It was nice to know he was there, that he hadn't given up hope.