I Wish...

7

The storm continued to rage on outside. My hands and knees were bandaged up, and my shoes were torn. Great. I was shaking. That fall sure did a number on me.

"What were you thinking?" my mom scolded me. "I wasn't. I didn't know there was a storm coming and I needed the books safe," I replied. "Darlin', we can just buy you more," dad spoke up. I stayed silent. It's not as if we were poor, but I hated to waste money on things that could just be saved.

Mom sighed. "Alright, what's happened happened, so we'll just leave it at that," she said as she handed me hot chocolate. We all walked outside onto the porch. The storm was scary, but our house was sturdy as can be.

~⊙ω⊙~

After a few minutes, my parents went inside to sleep on the couch. My stomach growled angrily as I realized I'd ignored it all day. The lights in the house flashed. "Don't tell me I need to start scavenging for candles," I groaned as the lights shut off completely. Scavenging for candles, or waiting 'till morning? I'll take the latter.

Raindrops continued to fall, seemingly endless. A noise broke through the constant dripping of rain. A whimper almost. My scalp prickled in fear. Voices started bickering in the distance, then lights flashed through the darkness. I ran inside, tripping over the welcoming mat and fumbling with the doorknob.

"Ma, Pa," I called in the dark. The darkness was impenetrable and seemed to continue forever. I stumbled across the room to the lunchroom couch. "Ma," I said as I shook her shoulder slightly. I groan. "Pa." I heard steps on the porch. I shook my parents some more. "Rubi, go to sleep," my dad muttered half-awake. "But there's someone at the door," I whined. He bolted upwards, which caused my mom to do the same.

They hurriedly stumbled to the door in a state of panic. I trailed behind them fear still coursing through me. "Hello? Mister and Missus Rosa?" a voice from before called. "Hello?" my dad replied gruffly as he opened the door. "What do you want?" "Well, um... You haven't registered your child for the testing," a scrawny man replied. His features too hard to see in the dark of the night. "Yeah, all kids need to be tested," a muscular woman behind him jumped in. "I dunno 'bout any test, and I dunno who ye are," my dad replied.

"We're the test administrators. I'm Luke and this is Peggy. The test we're talking about is supposed to be taken every year since they turn eight, but it seems your daughter has never taken it," Luke started. "The test is called the Test of Character, Magic, and Possibility, or TCMP for short. Basically, I use my ability on you to test your Character. At the end, you step into a machine, it scans you. Then, it calculates your possible magical attributes and such," Peggy finished.

"Oh. That test," my mother sighed. "We never got the papers for it, so we assumed They got rid of it." Luke laughed, "'Rid of it'? Why would we do that when it helps you discover who you are?" Mom didn't answer that. "We'll be gone as soon as you complete these papers and we test your daughter," Luke said as he rummaged through the bag at his side. He grabbed a small packet and handed it to my parents.

"It'll be a while before we finish them, so why don't ya come in?" my mom said as she moved inside to turn on candles. Everyone stumbled in after a minute and moved towards different directions. Dad to the table, Luke and Peggy to the couch, and I stayed stunned at the door for a while. Finally, I walked towards my mother. "Is it a hard test," I asked. "Well, yes, i-in some cases," she said distractedly. She stayed silent after that.

What does Ma mean by 'some cases'?

"Rubi, could ya help me with dis?" Dad called. "Ye," I replied, traveling over to him.