The Tale We Lived

Chapter 1: Part 1

Sunday, September 4th

If you asked the residents, you would receive a plethora of opinions on what caused the downfall of the dainty land of MageTown. If you asked Carina Curio though, it was the hot air balloon, tumbling out of the clouds and into her backyard, that started it all. It happened in front of her own eyes, as she was leaning on her windowsill, staring sadly at the cloudy sky and praying for a miracle. As if to answer her call at that exact moment, the flurry of yellow and blue appeared out of nowhere, like the giant flag of a ship, ruffling viciously against the grey wave of clouds. She squinted for a moment, trying to pick out what was off about the balloon— unaware at first that it was its exponentially increasing size— when the voices of several terrified boys rang out to her.

"Help us! Make way! Oh God, we're dying!"

She started and stared in shock and a few seconds later, her parents scrambled out into the yard, rushing to move benches and lawn chairs out of the way— the last remnants of a summer gone.

If she wasn't mistaken, Carina could've sworn the voice belonged to Tom Silva. She climbed out of her messy bed and ran out of her room and into the hall, scrambling down the stairs. Making it out onto her patio, Carina was not a second too soon, as she caught the deafening sound of the balloon giving in and crashing onto her dad's BBQ grill. She screamed and fell to her knees, covering her head with her arms, waiting for some sort of an explosion. After a few silent seconds like that, she peered up to find her parents, in similar defensive positions, watching the ruined balloon, speechless and hesitant. Neighbors peered out of their bedroom windows and Carina's parents rose and stood on either side of the pile, her mom clasping her mouth and her dad frozen in place.

The silence broke when the pile began to squirm and kick and cry. The irritably cocky face of Elaric Witt popped out from under the rubble, examining his surroundings. He rolled his eyes, as if the yard he had crashed into was not to his standards. Then he climbed out and stretched. Mrs. Curio gaped. There was some more movement and then, sure enough, Tom Silva climbed out too, followed by Percival Rue, who stood up, pat his butt and smiled apologetically at Mr. Curio.

"So sorry about that." he offered.

Elaric glared at Tom, flipping his dark curls out of his face.

"Is there anything you'd like to say?" he snapped.

Tom was perplexed.

"What are you looking at me for?" he cried, "You're the one who crashed—"

"I told you, I had it under control—"

"Oh yeah, sure seems like it—" he scoffed, motioning at the ruin.

"--until you started screaming like an idiot!"

"You hit a tree—"

"He said he wanted some thrill." Elaric shot back, jabbing a finger in Percival's chest.

"I just meant for you to go faster." Percival reasoned.

"Oh right, they taught us all about how to do that in air balloon school—"

"Exactly!" Mrs. Curio cried, butting in at last, "Exactly what I'm trying to understand. Where is Mrs. Adler?!"

They stared at her blankly.

"Mr. Fent?" she tried, "My point is, why were you flying this thing alone?!"

"Because Elaric thought he was capable. He forced Mr. Fent to let him run it, told him all these lies about flying one on his farm in the countryside." Tom replied bitterly, rubbing his elbow, "This fucking hurts!"