The Other Side

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Mum said you're going away."

Tom looked up from his book to see Emily standing at the door. He put the book away as she walked in and sat on his bed.

"She said you're going to a special school."

He nodded.

"And that we won't see you for a year."

That was what Cindy had told his parents. He was special, she had said. She didn't tell them how he was special. They were a little apprehensive at first. That changed once Cindy showed them a brochure of the school.

Tom wished he could have gotten a look at that brochure. It must have been something quite amazing. His parents had agreed to let him go off with a stranger somewhere they knew not for a whole year without being able to keep in touch.

He thought that a little odd. Why couldn't he keep in touch? Surely a phone call here, an email there and a letter every so often couldn't hurt? They did have those things where he was going, didn't they? Where was he going?

Cindy still hadn't really told him. There had been some more talk of the Other Side, Wanderers and something about a Great Barrier. It didn't make much sense to him.

"Is it because of what you can do?" Emily asked.

He had never really gotten along with his sister. Apparently that was normal between siblings. They fought over every little thing. And she could be quite cruel too, always teasing, always calling him Sarah.

He hated that name.

It was the name his parents had given him before he was born. They thought he was going to be a girl. They had told the story a million times, how they painted his room pink, bought him all girly clothes and toys and how, they would laugh at this point, they had even named him Sarah.

Emily thought it was the funniest thing ever.

It wasn't.

"She said I was a wizard," Tom told her.

It had been over a year now since he'd realised he was different. It started with little things, like pencils moving towards his hand as he reached for them. It frightened him at first. He worried there might be something wrong with him. He had to tell someone. Emily was the closest thing he had to a friend. They didn't always get along but she was his sister and he trusted her. So he told her, showed her.

And once she finally believed him she told him to keep it a secret, which he did. Nothing changed between them. They still fought all the time and he never tried to use his magic – as he now knew it to be – against her.

"A wizard," Emily chuckled nervously.

Tom smiled. A wizard – it did sound pretty cool. Something he would definitely have picked as a career choice had it been an option.

"You're leaving tomorrow?"

He nodded. Tomorrow morning, Cindy would come to take him. He would be gone for a whole year. Part of him still didn't believe it, that he was a wizard and that he was going to go to a wizard school. What if Cindy had made a mistake?

"I'll miss you..." Emily said.

She leaned forward and gave him a hug.

He didn't say it.

But he would miss her too.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if you enjoyed this chapter, please vote for it :)