Cory rocked his legs in bed trying to fall asleep. It wasn't because of worry, or anything like a girl that kept him up. He had been having the weirdest dreams lately. He bit his lips. Right now the room smelt of incense. Jasmine to calm the mind.
It was dark, but a little light from outside made it in, through a thin curtain. It painted a dry hazy feeling on the inside. Cory had placed a cup of warm water on the night stand besides himself. That was because he heard that warm water would stop nightmares on some forum, and now he gave it a try. He opened his brown eyes and water from the sea reflected in them…
He swam until he saw land. And waited on the shore patiently; the sand felt fake. The water was easy to swim through, even though he couldn't swim.
Now came the weird part.
A gray towering head rose from the blue sea, high enough that it made waves that touched him at the waist. It was a man with thick eyebrows and an otherwise normal face. The black eyes focused on Cory.
"What do you desire from me?"
He fell back into the sand in shock. And ran. For some reason his movement felt heavy, it was like running under water.
"Mr. Thompson. I can give you what you always desired. But you have to pray for it."
He ran even harder against the weight; eventually his breathing got heavier. And soon he had keeled over.
"Please…ha…please….don't kill me. I don't know why you're after me?"
"I come to offer power."
The head smiled. Its lips seemed hard, it was like they'd never made that shape before. It was a four hundred meter smile.
Cory paused in the sand. And finally considered that this might be real. He had heard rumors of something similar on the Internet before. But they all sounded like modern folklore.
But if this was real? He'd have the world to gain. If it were just a figment of something being wrong with his mind, he would lose nothing.
"Can you really make me a sorcerer?" He thought for a second, he wanted to say, 'what do have to I give you', but truthfully he would give anything.
It smiled even wider.
...…
Brown was his favorite color. His bed sheets were cream, the curtains were butterscotch, a nice flavor, and his bureau, and table, were dark lacquered wood. Casey spread his clothes out on his bed.
The top was blue. A dress shirt with small boats riding on waves of blues. He went to the closet and the hard part now was choosing the right shade of brown. He needed to match the shirt with the right pants. He settled on something light brown, with a few pockets, and swapped the shirt with a solid red dress shirt. He closed the outfit with a boat shoe. A brown one of course.
Casey got the ironing board and iron, and added creases. He always found fun in dressing up. He gave off a stiff personality vibe, but that didn't mean that he didn't have shallow parts to him. He made quick work of a bath and getting dressed. And waited down stairs for his father. Casey sighed. He'd probably gotten it from him, although his father took the love of clothes too far.
He sat up straight and scrolled through his OurBook feed. He wanted to make a conscious effort to be there for his friends. They had been shut them out so long now, that he wasn't sure they were his friends. And the recovery might have confirmed it. No one had looked for him besides Joshua and Henry. He sighed.
It was a pain… a pain that was better off being hidden. This wasn't something new. And, he shook his head slowly. He wouldn't remember it now. Or allow his emotions to abduct his mood.
Casey scrolled. There were a few posts with memes that were genuinely a mood lifter. There were missed messages from weirdos online. And some other notifications he checked. So many things that had been missed. Finally he saw a tabloid from Rock Sound. To the east of them. Of Old Providence.
It was from an anonymous poster. Casey leaned over a little, feeling the stiff fabric of his shirt creasing made him aware. And he stopped at a certain point.
'Missing children in Rock Sound. There have been an increase in abductions in our communities. We've tried everything we can to get more help. They're targeting our kids and mayor Gavin Wiley won't address it. '
The comments corroborated it. They did mention some unbelievable things. Like some of the kids bodies were found later missing limbs. And that some had never been found. Someone mentioned that those missing were all young sorcerers. Casey's breath was racing by the end of it.
"Dad I'm gonna warm the engine until you're ready!"
So he sat in the passenger seat and read the comments. They loaded on his mind… and Casey leaned into his seat.
His father locked the front door, and came into the car. They drove only a little while before he slowed down.
"Is something bothering you?"
"You can tell?"
"Yeah. Of course."
"It's mostly… earlier I saw something about some missing kids online." Casey sighed. "Can we do anything about that? I mean they're kids. And someone said they're only going after sorcerers, too. Who deals with the people like that?"
"If it's magic, or aberration related, it should be the Department of Special Interest."
His father made a left passing the tallest pole, leaving Royal Lane. Their neighborhood. Light hugged Casey's face long enough for his father to see his expression.
"I wish I could do something myself."
They passed a lesser known pole and he saw his father's expression. It was the longest he had ever looked at Casey in silence.
"You're not ready yet, Case. It's dangerous and you're still injured."
"When I'm healed, can you train me, then?"
John smiled. "Who else would?"
There was a distance to the church from their home. The pole lights painted the darkness with little low stars. Trees on the lane were sparse, and singular. Long shoots passed by in patches, and patches. Casey watched them roll by continually. They gave a comfort. Soothing his nerve. The A/C and silence were like a drug.
A healthy drug.
...
Kiana wore white tonight. Really to be specific, eggshell. The color wasn't hard to match, it could suit brown, or silver. She had done even better, she wore lady pink heels. The pews were red, and brown wood. The pulpit matched the pews. There was a cinnamon incense that she had burned long before the service. Cinnamon to settle the spirit. By now the scent had settled also.
She stood at the door welcoming the members as they came. She knew them all. They knew her too. The night went by smoothly, and at the moment she only waited on Mr. Knowles. He looked alright, for his age. But she always thought it mattered too much to him. He kept coming late to church. And he… wore a little too much cologne sometimes.
She thought of his son. She missed him so much. Certain people were inseparable from who you were. From the smallest memories. Casey felt like those people. Because of how protective he was with her. She saw two men coming towards her, and did a small cough to ready her voice.
They walked under the white awning. The path had a red carpet that ran from there, broke to allow the door to swing open and continued up to the pulpit. Because of this they walked one in front of the other. The first man came in.
"Mr. Knowles it's great to see you sir. You can sit….. is that Casey with you?"