SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 8 - Magiphysiology

I was woken up the next morning by a loud text message notification. I bolted upright and reached dazedly for my phone, almost throwing myself off the side of my bed in the process, but I was disappointed to see that it wasn't a text from Zac; it was from Mr Beck.

'We'll have our lessons in that same forest clearing you and Zac trained in yesterday. It's well hidden from public view, perfect for training. Tomorrow, 11AM okay for you both?'

I had no idea if it would be okay with Zac, or whether he would even want to turn up, but I typed back a hasty reply.

'Sounds good.'

I checked my text conversation with Zac and was disappointed to see that not only had he not replied, he hadn't even looked at the message yet. I was considering messaging him again when my Mr Beck replied.

'Excellent. Looking forward to it.'

I flip flopped back and forth for the next ten minutes between wanting to text Zac again and wanting to just ignore him like he was clearly ignoring me. Even though I was starting to get pissed with him, I didn't want to annoy him even more than I apparently already had with a million more messages. Still, I felt like I had to explain myself to him, to make him understand why I had to leave. And since he left last night, refusing to speak to me, technology him was the only way I could do that. I eventually caved and typed out a message.

'Zac please talk to me. I need my best friend right now, I need someone to talk to. This whole situation is so messed up, and I don't want to lose you because of it. Please text me back.'

I tossed my phone onto my bed and flopped back down onto my pillow, exhaling loudly as I fell. I stayed there, lying on the bed for about 20 minutes, waiting for Zac to finally reply to my messages, but he didn't.

And so, I spent the day alone, wasting away my time listening to music in my room. This was another of my coping methods when I was feeling like shit; sometimes music could say the things that words couldn't, and they could calm me down when I was panicking. Songs just seemed to get me in a way no one in real life really did. Sometimes I just wanted to get up and sing, to let my feelings out through song. I wasn't even really a good singer but singing always made me feel better. Not that I could start singing right now, because my parents were home and I was too embarrassed to do it when other people hear me and judge me. I settled with just listening to a playlist I had appropriately named 'Sad'. It was easily my most frequently used playlist.

Most of the time I was perfectly happy to be left alone; alone no one could hurt me, or make fun of me. Alone, I was safe. So, while it might sound boring to most people, sitting alone in my room losing myself in books where I could pretend to be someone else for a while, listening to music in isolation, playing video games or watching any tv shows, films or anime I could get my hands on was my idea of a great time. I enjoyed doing most of those things with Zac too, but I didn't relish the idea of doing any of it with anyone else. But today, I just felt antsy, like I wanted to get up and do something. I wanted to see Zac and sort out whatever was bothering him. I wanted to go and actually do something about my magic. I wanted to get out of this place and do anything that would make me feel like I was taking control of my life like I had planned to do. I just didn't know how to do any of these things.

So, I stayed in my room, aside from when I wanted something to eat, and by 10 o'clock that night my mildly pissed off and sad had morphed into complete anger. I knew that me leaving might be hard for Zac, but it was just as hard – if not harder – for me; I was leaving him and everything else behind, but he still had friends and family here. I was going to be somewhere foreign, alone and scared.