Pushing up Daisies

Chapter Two

History.

I stared at them in disbelief, looked over at Franz then turned back to Mae and they both had this serious look in their eyes, it was kind of weird. I've never seen them this serious before.

"My Father?" I asked.

This wasn't real, was it? my father died when I was just 10 years old. He died because some assholes shot him down for being in a crime scene.

"Yes, your father. He is one of the founders of this establishment and her—" Mae pointed to the woman next to my father. "She is Headmistress Millicent Dane Elsher, your aunt. Your Father's younger sister. The woman who came to you in the hospital when you recovered." I felt my head spinning, I could hardly breathe. I clutched my shirt where my heart was located, I felt the world closing in on me, I was hyperventilating. After a few hard breaths I saw a cup of water lingering near my face and looked up to see Franz, an apologetic look written all over his face. I took the cup, drank it then sighed loudly.

"If you are not well, we can stop—"

"No." I stated sternly, shaking my head and urged her to continue, and she did.

"They formed the circle together, gathered people like us—" She paused to flip the page—of what I assumed now is a photo album—then stopped. She showed it to me once more and it was a group photo. I saw my father, my "aunt" and a bunch more other people and as my eyes scanned the faces, I saw someone I didn't expect to see.

"Is... is that my mother?" I asked, disbelief washing over me.

"Oh. Yes, Miss Joyce Gandy—er—Elsher now." Mae cleared her throat then she closed the album.

"When they found more people like us the circle was thriving."

"When you say people like us... what are we exactly?" I questioned.

"We're hollow children, Max." she stated as if I should know what that means already and I just glared at her, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Which means?" I asked, raising a brow.

"We're special." Franz said, finally speaking. "We have powers, do things no normal human can do." He then stood up and soon I didn't see him but only his clothes, I gasped. It's as if he wasn't even here to begin with if not for his clothes floating about. "See?" he said, the sleeves of his jacket motioning upwards then he appeared again and sat down.

"Mae is different, she's a trainee like Franny." Franz said and Mae shot him a glare as if telling him that he's said too much for me to handle. I gripped the hem of my jacket, my knuckles turning white by how tight I held them.

"So," I paused, gulping. "What do you do?" I asked her and she just smiled and soon the world around us morphed, but when I looked out the window we were still in the neighborhood—the inside just shifted into something different. We were still on the couch and the coffee table still in between us but it looked like we were outside.

"We—Franny and I—are trainees under your aunt. Who is a witch." She said proudly. "We can do all sorts of "magic", as some normal humans say, like what you did back in the park... unintentional but you made the whole world pause for a moment and when you passed out..." I could see an amused grin on her lips. "I just knew you were one of us." She said, clasping her hands together. It creeped me out seeing my friend who talked about Taylor Swift most days to someone who genuinely believes in "magic".