The Shadows of the Mind

Chapter 1

I sit patiently outside of my father’s office, waiting for his meeting to end. I glanced at my watch, which read 5:48 PM. He was already thirty minutes late. My mother and Grace, my sister, waited at home with a birthday dinner for me, but of course, father let his meetings run late. I love the man, but sometimes, I wish he were a different man. 

Finally, a middle-aged Asian man waltzed out of the office with a bounce in his step, he must’ve made a good deal. Father walked out next with a big smile plastered to his face and a bottle of champagne in his hand.

“Happy birthday Fabian! The big one-six! I’ve been waiting for you to turn sixteen ever since you were born.” He said through his smile. He popped the champagne bottle, foam spewed out of the neck. He pressed it to his lips to keep the foam from spilling all over his building’s floor. 

“Thanks Father!” I yipped, grabbing him around the neck with one arm to pull him into a hug. It’s been at least a week since I’ve been able to speak with him. He offered me the bottle and I took a small swig, but I always hated the bubbly liquid. 

“I still can’t believe you’re sixteen Fabe, it feels like such a shorter time,” He muttered, his eyes peering into nothing, most likely remembering things. He did that a lot.

I snapped my fingers to pull him out of his daze. “Sorry, sorry. I was just. Thinking,” He whispered.

We made our way to his car and finally headed home. The moon hung overhead even though it was only six o’ clock. The darkness hung over town like a black blanket embezzled with the occasional glistening diamond. 

Suddenly, words filled the silent void, “Where are we going for dinner?” A male voice questioned. Then, “Hey baby, I can’t wait for tonight,” a woman’s voice came in. The voices steadily got louder and clearer until I Could hear at least fifty different voices raging inside my head, fifty different conversations. 

Father looked over at me with concern, he went to switch the radio off and the voices left as suddenly as they came. “Did you hear a lot of voices?” He questioned me.

I felt foolish for answering yes. “N-no, of course not.”

“Fabian, its okay to tell me anything you want? OK?”

“Fine, I heard a cacophony of voices inside my head. I feel as if I am going crazy sometimes!” I blurt out.

Father puts his hand on my shoulder, “Its alright Fabe, I’ll explain everything later tonight after dinner.”

I nodded. As we pulled into our house’s driveway, I could see that no lights were on. I remembered to act surprised when I opened the door. 

“SURPRISE!” My mother, sister, grandpa, grandma, Jeremy (my best friend), and our neighbors yelled simultaneously. 

A smile formed on my face as I looked upon the people that loved me, and I mean truly loved me. Jeremy slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close.

“Happy birthday man! I can’t believe you’re gonna be able to drive before me,” he moped sarcastically. Grace waltzed towards me and pulled me into a large hug. 

“Hey lil’ bro. Happy B-day!” She pushed me back and looked me in the eye, “I love you lil’ man.”

This continued for an hour until my grandparents and neighbors left, and it was just Jeremy, the rest of my family, and I left. I felt like my life was finally going somewhere. 

After my parents finished cleaning up, Jeremy and me sat in the living room playing the new game my grandparents had bought me until he had to bike home. Then came the annual birthday talk with my dad in his home-office.

I walked up the stairs hoping to actually hear something different than the usual rant. He already sat in his swiveling, leather chair. He turned around, our white cat Fluffy in his hands, and said, “I’ve been expect-.” He couldn’t even finish his sentence without bursting into his boisterous laugh. I smiled and closed the door. 

I took a seat across from him and Fluffy decided I was a better seat. He sat perched on my lap, purring away. I scratched his neck as I waited. Then father started to talk.

“Son, I love you. Very much. And, well, our family is different than most families these days. Well, you see, how can I put this without it sounding like a joke Ahh! Well, son, your ancestors lived a life of a magicker. And, see, those ancestors have been passing down the magick genes from generation to generation and I think you got them. Not every child gets them, like Grace, but your mother and I both have them.

“Anyways, what I’m trying to tell you is that you are a magicker.  You have the power that the government is trying to eradicate.”

My mouth had settled into an “o” shape, and surprise seemed to leak from my mind.  “So, you’re telling me that I am one of the despised magickers and I can perform magick myself?”

“Yes! And I believe you have the gift, like for instance, earlier when I turned on the radio, you started to pick up brain waves of the people surrounding you from the radio antennae. And I’ve noticed since you were a child that you were always different. You’ve always been more of a loner, and those are the traits of a magicker. So, we are going to try and make sure that you truly have the genes and if you do, I’m going to take you to my good friend to help you focus your powers.” My father said with a straight face. He never lies, so I figured he was telling the truth.

“OK, so if what your saying is true-“

“In which it is.”

“Then how do we . . . perform magick?”

“Well, that’s what I am about to show you now. Alright. Put your hands up like this,” He said putting his hands up and forming a bowl shape with them, “now, think about fire. Think about the air above your hands suddenly combusting. OK?”

I nodded my head and place my hands in the position. I cleared my mind of everything except flames. I thought about the hungry flickers of flame eating away at the oxygen that floated above my hands.

“Fabian! Open your eyes and look!” My father squealed with delight. I unclenched my eyes and saw a small flame dancing above my hands. A smile crept onto my face, and thoughts started to flood my head. The flame flickered out. My smile faded. 

“It’s okay Fabe, that was great for a first try!” He grabbed my head and planted a kiss on my forehead. “That’s better than when I first did it. When I did it, the flame barely lasted a second, yours lasted at least ten seconds!” He cooed. 

Excitement flooded my body. I was a magicker!