Cyberwitch Academy: Learn or Burn

Chapter 86

The door of the taxi slides open and I step out, dad wraps his arm around mine and mom bundles the twins out of the back seats. The yellow armoured taxi slides away and we breeze happily together into the front doors of La Cantina, the Village's finest Mexican Restaurant. At least in my opinion, but that's prolly because I've been coming here for every birthday since I can remember.

And now I'm 14.

And as I hang up my jacket and turn around, I nearly die of a heart attack. All my friends are here jumping up and down and shouting 'Surprise!'. My cousins, my aunties and uncles. My grandparents. And then the band strikes up. It's a fully solid projected illusion, a mariachi band of dancing singing esquelitos, doing mariachi versions of my favourite songs. And after all the hugging and the kissing is done, we're led to a long table set for many people. And I'm at the head of the table.

Mom and dad sit either side of me, and dad raises a toast and me and the twins are sipping virgin margaritas, the sharp smell and taste of lime sends a shiver of delight through me. I'm grinning like an idiot. And my favourite drone, Tinker Bell is hovering around delighting my little cousins who chase her around the restaurant. I almost don't notice the tactical robot dogs shooing away a vagrant trying to come in to beg for credits.

I'm a little overwhelmed. Got to take time out.

In the bathroom I run hot water over my hands and take time washing them, massaging myself between my fingers, pushing my thumbs into my palms, it's soothing. But I hear a song, very softly, like it's coming from the mirror. I look up, and wish then that I had not.

In the mirror I'm a broken thing. Scarred and smouldering. And there is a woman on my left shoulder. It's Sadie.

"You know you can't stay here, Ursula."

And I look away, whispering to myself over and over again. She's only a ghost. Fantasma, fantasma, fantasma. Washing my hands harder and harder.

"You've been here for weeks. Playing the same scene over and over again. It's addictive Ursula. If you don't break out now you may get stuck here forever. Your real body will die."

I hurry away from the mirror, back to the party. And we're dancing now. And I dance with mom, and she picks me up off my feet and twirls me around. "I'm so proud of you, my little genius. Mommy's gonna make sure you get all the opportunities you need to shine your light on the world. Mommy's gonna give you power. Te lo prometo."

And I'm dancing with dad, and he's making up bad love poems and dedicating them to all the people whose hearts I will soon break. And I can't stop giggling.

And then the twins. And they do the family cuddle, and I start crying. I cry and cry and cry. Because the twins. They're still alive. The real twins. I don't want to go back. No no no no no no.

It's OK, they say. You can stay here. It's OK we'll be OK.

I walk onto the stage and take the microphone from the holographic skeleton. Not really sure how I can pick it up. Oh yeah. None of this is real. The skeletons are real fakes, and we are all fake reals. Skeletons pretending to be made of flesh.

"I love you all so much. Thank you."

Not just the people, but the moment, the place, the time, the city even the dog bots menacing the street people outside. The angel of history flies backwards, wings caught by the howling wind of time, watching the tragedies pile up before her helpless eyes.

"It sounds like you're saying goodbye." My abuela says.

"Not goodbye. Adios."

My mom comes up on stage and kisses me on the forehead and whispers in my ear.

"You can always come back here you know."

"No mom. Never again."

I follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to waking life. The Gap fades away, and the harsh light of meatSpace pours into my eyes. I can tell from the beeps and the tubes, I'm in hospital again. And the twins are there, and Adri is reading to me. Reading to me from my own notebooks. My own mad plans and half ideas.