Numbered

~Chapter One~

~Chelsea~

"In this breaking news broad cast we bring reports of yet another terrorist attack on the White House by the group of witches calling themselves the "Malleus Maleficarum". Chelsea Logan looked up from the teen magazine she had been forcing herself to read and studied the television screen. The perfect blonde news anchor with the pearly whites maintained a calm demeanor as she spoke in a slow and steady voice but her eyes were wide with the same worry and fear that everyone across the country was feeling.

 "Due to this violent interruption in negotiations between the U. S. Congress and the paranormal community Congress has voted to pass the Magical Persons Registration Act requiring all members of the United States paranormal community to register their abilities at the nearest health clinic for safety purposes. As of right now there is no information as to when this law will be put into effect however representatives believe it will be sometime in the immediate future."

"It's about damn time" her dad muttered from behind his newspaper. His tone was bitter and she could see he was ready to tear open wounds that were still fresh and raw. Chelsea turned to look at the armchair beside her, waiting for her mother to reprimand her father for his language but she wasn’t there. But the chair was empty and the cold stone of reality hit her hard in the stomach. She had a feeling it would be awhile before she would see them both in the same room again. She forced herself to keep reading her magazine but she couldn’t concentrate. Her father’s remark had set her mind reeling and she found herself reading the same paragraph over and again. After a few more minutes of futile effort she sighed and closed the magazine.

The news reporter was now interviewing New York Governor, Matthew Adams who was still ranting about the terror attack on the White House He looked furious, his face red, spit flying from his mouth with each word as he condemned the Malleus Maleficarum.

“This was blatant disregard to all attempts of negotiating peace between the U.S. and the paranormal community! Not only were the attacks brutal and violent, these malicious witches are a negative influence to paranormals all over the world! What’s to stop werewolves from viciously slaughtering innocent people in the street? Vampires will think it’s acceptable to feed on whomever they please! Every paranormal person in the United States is a menace and a danger to society that must be controlled and contained at all cost. Justice will be served in the name of those fallen in today’s attack!”

Chelsea stared at the television in confusion as the screen panned back to the original game show her father had been watching. She had a sinking feeling that nothing good would come of what happened today.

“That senator knows his business” Her dad said returning to his newspaper. “The whole lot of them should be shipped to Riker’s and nuked” Chelsea felt her face flush and she turned to her father in disgust.

“Dad! How can you say that? You know mom’s a witch!” Her father looked up from his newspaper and stared at her his face a mask of complete apathy.

“Then I guess she should be nuked too.” Chelsea gasped, the frail shell she had been surrounding herself with breaking. Did her dad really just say that? Worse, did he mean it? She clenched her fist. She wanted to punch him, hurt him in the same way his words had just shred her soul, but instead she threw her magazine across the room and stormed away in tears to the bathroom. Her father never looked up from his paper.

As soon as she slammed the bathroom door shut behind her she crumpled to the floor sobbing, slouching over the toilet. Weeks of frustration, anger, and hurt fell from her eyes forming small puddles of tears on the tile floor. How had the last sixteen years of her life crumbled so completely in the course of one month? She had gone from Chelsea Logan, the high school junior with the awesome grades and great smile to Chelsea Logan, the girl stuck in between her parents' increasingly nasty divorce.