Spellbound

Chapter One: Just Dreams, Nothing More.

Dreams don't come true right? My family believes my dreams are visions of the future. So if my dream from last night is a vision of the future then soon there's going to be giant monsters floating around and we are all doomed and that sounds like a bummer. I know my family might seem crazy but I promise we're not, we're just quirky if anything. My father is a professor of philosophy at the nearby college and my mother is, well she's a fortune teller. Yes they still exist and my mother is proof of that.

I grew up hearing stories of my ancestors telling the fortunes of royalty and even how some of us were burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials because of our gifts. My mother says our gifts are given to us at birth. I guess I'm just the unlucky one in our family because I can't look into crystal balls and see anything other than my own reflection looking back at me stupidly.

My family likes to think I'll grow into my gifts but I live in the real world and we all know visions aren't real, right? My dream was really weird though, I've been having strange dreams for a few months now. All of them are different but those giant monsters are always somewhere in there, hidden. Maybe I'm just stressed with exams coming soon and being a senior in high school isn't as fun as it seems on TV at all. It sucks.

I plan to go to college abroad away from all the stigma my family has in this town. No one comes to see my mother for readings during the day where they can be seen. It's always through the dark of the night, really secretive. No one would be caught dead coming to see my mother, the all seeing fortune teller. If you got caught coming to see her you'd be shunned for sure.

My dad is the one who socializes with the people in this town. If anything ever comes up, he's the one to handle it. My grandparents moved here a long time ago. My mother was just a baby then. She grew up here and met my dad, so the town feels just fine talking with him since he's a native and knows everyone here. As for me, I have my best friend Catherine Torres, Cath for short. She's been my best friend since we were ten.

She's always stuck up for me. I remember the day we became friends, some kids had cornered me in the playground. They spit on me and called me a gypsy witch. Cath appeared and punched Eric Moore in the face, he was leader of the a pack of vicious ten year olds. "You and I are friends now." she said sternly. He cried like a baby of course and ever since then no one ever messes with me. So of course she and I are inseparable now.

Today is going to be a rough day, we're heading over to my grandma's house to clean out her attic. She's finally agreed to move in with us, which of course took some convincing on my mother's part. She's a very independent woman but since my grandpa passed a few years back, it's been hard for her to get around. My mother has been hinting at her moving in with us for sometime now but my grandma would just pretend she couldn't hear her.

"Sylvia!, are you ready to go to your grandma's?", my mother screamed from the downstairs kitchen. I yell back, "Almost!". I really wish I was out with Cath right now instead. She was going to the movies. I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen where my fortune teller mother had the kitchen table full of reading cards and candles. "Where did she go now?", I muttered annoyingly.

I made my way through the sliding doors and into our backyard. My mother was standing there in the middle of the yard, just staring into the sky. "Mom, what the heck are you doing? I thought we were leaving already." I made my way to her then tapped her on the shoulder. She quickly turned to look me in the eyes. "It's going to rain.", she says calmly, with a smile. "Okay mom but aren't we going to grandma's soon?", I ask. "Oh yes, we are. Your father's waiting out front. We should hurry."

She makes her way back inside, I stand there for a moment looking puzzlingly at the sky. It can't rain, there aren't even any clouds. she's finally lost it. I shake it off and follow her inside.

As we pulled into my grandma's driveway you could hear classical music playing loudly from inside the house. The front door was wide open, as well as all the windows. "What's she up to now?", my mother muttered. She exited the car then made her way inside. "I hope they play nice today.", my father said, smiling at me through the rearview mirror. My father was the peacekeeper between them both.

As he exited the car to follow my mother inside, I sat there looking at the house. My Grandma's house was always a place of comfort for me. Whenever a storm would come through my grandma would settle in with me and read me stories about magical creatures that lived in the sky who controlled the weather. She would say they knew that we needed a bit of rain and to not be afraid of them.

I wonder what's going to happen to it now that she's coming to stay with us. I shook my head and exited the car. As I entered my grandma instantly began to fight with my mother. "Margo, I don't care. I get around just fine! I don't need to be taken in like some street rat! I have a home.", My grandma said sternly. My mother made a face of astonishment. "Mama, you can't say street rat anymore, that's offensive.", she said angrily.

"Offensive to whom? The street rats don't care what they're called Margo, they're street rats.", my grandma muttered. My grandma turned to me and instantly motioned for me to hug her. "Ah, finally someone who loves me!", she said sarcastically.

"Hello, grandma. I missed you.", I said. She held onto me tightly. Her hugs are the best in the world. I felt instantly safe. "But you know mom loves you too, right?", I said. She turned to look at my mother and gave her the good old stink eye, she was the best at it. "Your mother, my former daughter, doesn't love me anymore.", she scoffed. My mother shot her own stink eye back at her, of course my grandma pretended not to notice. She turned her gaze back to me as she let go from our hug.

"My darling Sylvia, how is school going?", she asked. My father from the other room shouted, "She's a genius!" Both my mother and grandma laughed with him, my grandma quickly shot my mother with her stink eye again. This time my mother was the one to pretend not to see it. "It's going good grandma. Exams are soon so I'm stressed about that, but otherwise it's going great." Just then the sound of glass shattering came from the other room where my father was. My grandma winced at this then said, "I'm so glad you're doing well in school, now please go make sure your father isn't breaking all my things."

"I will grandma.", I said as I made my way into the next room. My father was standing there with broken glass at his feet. He looked like a toddler who didn't know what to do when they did something bad. My mother followed in behind me. My mother shook her head and said, "Arthur, I know you mean well honey but please don't touch anything else until we know what we're working with."

The room was full of random boxes that had already been packed by my mother the week before but my grandma had been unboxing things and putting them back where they belonged in protest to her leaving. "Seems like grandma doesn't want to come with us?", I said. My mother picked up an empty box and shook her head. "I know it seems that way to you but it's for her own good. She can't sit by herself all day in this big house.", she said.

I made my way through a maze of empty boxes and into the hallway. At the end of it there was a door I didn't recognize. "Mom, what's this door lead to? The one at the end of the hall?", I asked. "It leads to the attic, don't you remember? You should actually go up there and see what needs to be boxed up honey.", she said. A loud crash came from the room they were in, my father dropped something else of course. "Dammit Arthur!", my mother shouted.

I made my way down the hallway. I didn't recognize the hallway much less the door but I had a hazy memory of someone telling me not to go near it. Maybe it was my grandma when I was just a little girl? Who knows, but what I did know was that I was getting a weird feeling from that door. I reached the door then placed my hand on the doorknob. Instantly I felt a gush of air come from seemingly nowhere. Had to be a draft or something? I opened the door, it swung open slowly.