A Magical Diary Book One: The Trials

Chapter 1

 Light and warmth have always been a favorite of mine. The thought of staring into flames in front of a fireplace makes me calm inside. Watching the wood break down into ash and ember, even feeling the embers spew out at me like small warm kisses from an angel. I never really understood my obsession with fire or warmth, but it was predominantly there and I definitely didn't mind the intrusion it had on my thoughts. If only I knew why I was just so fond of fire. Maybe I could begin to understand myself better. Was I a pyromaniac? An arsonist? Maybe a psychopath? I was never sure about the answer to those questions that swirled through my mind like a badly set up catacomb.

  The school was extra boring today. 

 I would often catch myself staring out of the window at any chance I got, thinking of different scenarios of how different buildings would catch on fire then watching it burn to ash. I would go into the whole existential crisis state of mind, too, thinking of why I would want to watch people's homes burn to a crisp. There was this old abandoned shack that always ended up turning into an over burnt piece of toast in my mind.

 Lunch wasn't any better either, I always sat alone with the packed lunches my mom would make for me as I didn't get free lunch. It doesn't help that the school bully, Bryce Turner, would come up to me every day to make fun of the little notes my mom put in the little brown paper bag that carried my lunch or just make fun of me in general. Maybe it was the fact that I had glasses, or that I always wore the same jacket every day to school. It was a comfort tool for me, helps me keep warm and feel safe; especially in high anxiety situations.

 Obviously, Bryce's skull was too thick to understand that it helped me in a very good way. He just continued to call me names like poor, homeless, or just flat out an orphan. There was no reason why he should call me that anyway, just because I'm not super-rich doesn't mean I'm adopted. I walked into the energy-filled cafeteria. The walls skyline like a tower almost, with different stone pillars that held up the ceiling. The room was as big as two auditoriums put together, with stained grey marble that filled the floor. The west side of the room had a huge wall of windows that stretched side to side and was at least thirty feet high.

 Every inch of the place was littered with school pride. Go Knights! posters were scattered everywhere and I wasn't very fond of it. In fact, the whole idea of a knight was very boring and unethical to me, so school pride was out of the picture. There was a set of tables that went along the giant wall of windows for anyone who wanted to get an afternoon sunbath. Unfortunately for me, there was no sun really. It has been snowing for the past month and a half and it didn't look like it was gonna let up anytime soon. I saw a free table by the window wall, my eyes lit up with glee. There may be no sun, but at least I could stare out the window and fantasize about burning stuff. 

 I pushed my way through the different tables set up, weaving in and out of the spaces between each one. Finally making my way to the window seat I unstrapped my backpack, unzipping it and taking out the sack lunch that was prepared for me earlier this morning. I sat down and opened the brown rolled-up paper bag, pulling out its contents. A PB&J sandwich with a ziplock baggie of potato chips and a blue sticky note attached. The note read:

 Love you, sweety!! Have a fantastic day at school and don't let anyone bring you down!! xoxo Mom :)

 I internally cringed from reading that, but I knew she meant well. In the bottom right-hand corner of the note was a drawing of my face, a fairly great drawing of my face actually. My scraggly dark brown hair that would always look like I never brushed it no matter how much time I spent styling it the morning before. The square-framed glasses that Bryce thought made me look like a nerd, of course, I didn't mind the insults since they helped me see after all. She even got a small litter of freckles that brushed across my cheeks and nose. My eyes were colored the exact same too, a soft shade honey brown. My mom always told me that freckles were the markings of where angels have kissed me, although I prefer the embers instead.