The Magician

Chapter 2

Jennifer was sitting on the bench. Books were spilled on the table in front of her and the amber sky alongside with the gentle breeze in the air created a calm space. Yet, she couldn't focus. Her head was in the clouds.

- I got some tea!

Chandra's voice brought Jennifer back to earth. She sat down on the other side of the table with two cups of tea, giving one to her friend.

- How's your study going?

"Not so good." Jennifer rubbed her eyes. "I still don't know why I chose psychology."

- Well, you could always tell when someone was out of sorts in high school. So I can say you were born for it!

Jennifer gave a strained smile. Chandra squinted.

- You need a break.

"Oh, no I'm fine." Jennifer said and started organizing her books.

- No you're not! Every time I've seen you in the past two weeks, you were studying! You need to do something different!

Jennifer sighed.

- Like what?

Chandra smiled.

- You know how you'd always say how much you like exploring?

***

- Are you sure about this?

The two girls were standing in front of a manor. It looked kind of old fashioned, and abandoned. Ivies had grown on most areas of the walls, making it look like it is part of the forest.

- Yeah. Nobody lives here.

- But how do you know?

Chandra shrugged.

- Never seen anyone getting in or out.

- You've been here before?

- Yeah this place is the main source of inspiration for my stories!

Chandra had a reassuring smile on her face; but Jennifer was far from being reassured.

- What if someone actually lives here and they catch us?

- Then we'd just tell them that we thought this place was abandoned. Come on, don't be such a pessimist!

Jennifer raised her eyebrows. It was bold of Chandra to come up with such ideas. She'd usually rather do something calm and low risk; like a picnic. In a nutshell, Chandra was all about kindness, relaxation, and optimism, while Jennifer was all about adrenaline rush, rebellion and sometimes breaking rules. This was probably a once in a lifetime situation, so Jennifer didn't want to ruin it.

- Alright. Let's go then!

They cautiously opened the door and peeked inside. They were expecting a lot of spider webs and a mass amount of dust and plants popping out of random spots, but it was nothing like that. It looked just like a normal house; except that it was a tiny bit old fashioned and a lot of things were made out of wood.

Jennifer stepped in and the floorboard creaked a little. Chandra followed her.

- It's a nice place!

They were standing in the kitchen. The cabinets, table, drawers, were all made out of wood. The big windows allowed light to get in easily and spread all over the kitchen beautifully, showing the little dust particles dancing in the air.

- It gives me magic vibes!

- Um... Jennie?

Jennifer turned towards her friend.

- Yeah?

- Remember how I said no one lives here?

- Yeah, what about it?

- Well, I think it's not true. Or else these plants wouldn't be as fresh as they are now.

On the windowsill, there were some little plants in pots. Jennifer's eyes glimmered as she saw them.

- I gotta go investigate!

The enthusiasm could be heard in her voice. But on the other hand, Chandra seemed not so sure.

- Um... okay... I... I'll just investigate around here.

- Alright. Scream if anything goes wrong, I'll do the same.

Jennifer climbed up the stairs in the back of the kitchen and ended up in a hallway that didn't have many windows, hence it was noticeably darker than the kitchen. It was also quiet. Really quiet.

She started walking cautiously, putting each foot down really silently.

- Hey.

The word tore through the silence like a bullet through paper. And it hit Jennifer.

"Ah!" She shouted and turned around so suddenly that the person speaking flinched as well, putting his hands up in the air with a shocked expression on his face to show he meant no harm.

- Jeez, calm down!

Jennifer could kind of see him now. A tall guy wearing a top hat, red cape, white gloves, and a red tuxedo, like a fancy magician.

- Oh wait, you stole my purse the other day.

- Oh, no no no no no! I didn't steal it! I just took it from you for a little while so that the other guy couldn't steal it! I gave it back to you afterwards, remember?

The cheeky side of Jennifer didn't feel like getting along at that moment.

- But it was in my hoodie and you took it from me. That's considered stealing.

- Fine! You got me! But you broke into my house, so I guess we're even now.

- Wait, this is your house??

- Mm-hmm.

- Oh um...

The magician laughed as Jennifer stumbled over her words .

- It's okay! I'm used to it now. Sometimes I leave this place for a couple of days , so some people like to think that it's abandoned and come to explore it.

- Do you creep up on them and scare them to death like this as well?

- Ermm, not really. They leave pretty soon after they come to the conclusion that this place is boring.

- Okay well, I think I should be leaving as well. Bye!

The magician gave her a warm smile.

- If you want.

Jennifer nodded and went downstairs. He followed her as she did.

Just for a moment, his eyes met Chandra's, but the connection was broken as the door closed.