by J. B. Garcia
Dinner was over and there was a sigh of relief from everyone. I stand up from the table and stretch my arms up to the ceiling. My shirt lifts and I can hear Travis let out a quiet grown. I like having this effect on him. It gives me a feeling of…power. I turn around and begin to head down the hall when I hear Denise “Niki what is on the back of your neck?” I instantly begin rubbing the back of my neck feeling for a bug. “What is it! Is it a bug!? Get it off!” Travis gets up from his chair and moves my ponytail away from my neck. He whispers under his breath “Oh my god.” I turn and make eye contact with him and he shakes his head and whispers “Don’t ask here, not now.” I look past him to Denise and she is beginning to stand from her chair and walk over to me. “Let me see it.” She pulls me so hard I almost fall over. “Oh my god. How long have you had this?” she turns me around holding my shoulders so tightly it hurts. “ I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is on the back of my neck? Will someone please fill me in?”
My mother stands and walks over to me looking at my neck. I feel her fingers running over my skin and a chill runs through my body. “Mom please tell me what it is.” She turns me around and brushes a loose piece of hair behind my ear. “Well Honey I don’t really know how to explain it. It looks like a crest of some kind.” I have never been more confused in my life. “Well do you know what it means?” Denise cuts me off and stands between us “I need to talk to you Michelle, now!” I push her shoulder and rage begins to fill me “I am talking to MY mother right now, so if you wouldn’t mind backing off that would be great.” Her eyes become wide and she takes a step back. “Mom please tell me what it looks like.” She clasps her hands together and looks to the floor and then back at me “Well Niki, it’s two large wolves rearing up, facing each other with a throne in the middle and a crown sitting in the seat of it. There are decorative carvings in the thrown and long branches with leaves that curl from the bottom of the throw, around the wolves and all the way to the top of the throne making it a perfect circle.” I don’t even know what I am supposed to think. Where would this of come from. I have no memory of going to a tattoo shop and this isn’t something that I would get on my neck anyways. I don’t think that I just appeared. I run to the kitchen and try to wash it off with hot water. Scrubbing the back on my neck with all my might, I feel Travis grab my hand and his touch instantly calms me. “Niki lets go to your room. You need to lie down.” I push his hand off me “No Travis I want to know what is going on! It’s like everyone but me knows!” He gets a towel and starts to dry the water on my neck. He whispers in my ear “I am trying to get you away from everyone. I will tell you whatever you want to know please just say you’re going to your room.”
I rip the towel from his hands and walk out of the kitchen to my mother and Denise. “Mom this is too much for me right now. I am going to lay down for a bit.” She puts both her hands on my face “Are you sure honey? We can stay up and talk as long as you want.” I feel bad lying to her but this isn’t really a conversation I want to have with her. She tends to get emotional and leave parts of the story out when she doesn’t want me to know. Since there seems to be so much that I don’t know about myself I would rather have someone tell me everything I need to know. “Ya mom I am sure. Don’t worry I am fine. I just want to lay down for a bit.” I turn and walk down the hall.
Trying to avoid my mother’s glare as I walk down the hall is a hard task. I can feel her frustration with me heating the back of my neck. She wants me to stay with her and listen to everything that she has lied to me about for so many years. I don’t think that I can handle that right now. I am still trying to process the fast that I am some sort of Mystic. What the fuck is a Mystic? Why would I have not been told a long time ago? Like when everyone was trying to convince me that I was crazy in that Hospital.
***
When I was 6 I started to have visions…or at least that is what the therapist told they were. I would see…things happen before they were supposed to. It started small like seeing the light turn red before we got to the light. Or you see yourself step off the side walk and get hit by a bike. I was never afraid of them. I thought that everyone had them. It got stronger as I got older. At its strongest ever, I could touch a part of your skin and tell you anything that you wanted to know about your future. I told my mother one day that she was going to break her favorite Vase today. She turned away and laughed at me. I just thought that she understood what I meant. When I got home from school she was sitting in the kitchen staring at the floor. Her face was white and her hangs rested on her lap. “Mom are you ok?” a singles breath escapes her and she turns her head to the side looking at me “How did you know that I was going to break this?” She extends her index finger towards the shattered Vase on the floor. I take a step back becoming afraid of what she might do. “I told you this morning that you would break for favorite vase.” She lets her arm fall in-between her legs. “That isn’t what I asked you. How did you know that was going to happen?” I clasp my hands together and rub them nervously. “Well I was walking down the stairs and had a picture in my mind.” She stands from her chair and walks over to me. At this point I have figured that my mom has lost her mind. Being 6 years old I stayed right where I was. She comes to me and places both hands on my shoulder. She looks into my eyes and says “I’m sorry honey I never wanted this for you.” She kneeled down and hugged me. I didn’t know what to do so I just wrapped my arms around her as tight as I could. I thought to myself maybe if I squeeze tight enough she won’t fall apart.
I next day I was in a doctor’s office. Dr. Lauren, She was a smug bitch who was unhappy with her life. She told my mother that I was basically psychotic, that I needed to be placed in a facility and on medication. My mother wouldn’t have it. She said that there was no way that she was going to ruin my life by admitting me in a Mental Facility. She looked Dr. Lauren right in the eye and said “There are people that really need the help in a Mental Facility but then there are the people who doctors don’t want to try other alternatives. Now I brought my daughter in to get her help but you are not going to admit a 6 year old to a Mental Facility.” Dr. Lauren sat shocked. She didn’t say a word for 2 minutes or so. She looked turned back to her computer that swiveled from the wall and said “Well there is always Therapy.” My mom leaned back into her chair and said “Thank you that’s much better.” I have never seen my mom talk to anyone like that and never have again.
Needless to say the Therapy was not much help. The more they had me try to meditate and be a calm state, the more I had visions. The first therapy session that I had alone was when I was 13. The therapist asked my mom to leave the room and right after I heard the click of the lock he turned to me and said “So. You’re a psychic right?” My mouth dropped open. I was so shocked. I didn’t know what to say. I have never been called a psychic. The only terms for what I was told that I had her medical. “Well I guess so.” He waved his hand at me “Ok so you can see the future right” and shrugged my shoulders and said “I guess so.” He rubbed huis hand on his chin. “Alright can you tell me when I am going to die?” I snapped back “What are you serious!? I don’t that!” He puts his hands up “Shhhh please stop. I have a reason for wanting to know. Please hear me out. I know that you have done it for other people.” I stand up from my chair “Ya I have done it for my friends and help them cheat on tests but I have never told someone that!” I look at him in the eyes and I can see that there is something going on that he needs help with. “Ok why do you want to know?” He looks to his palms and says “I have been given 1 year to live. I have terminal pancreas cancer. I cannot live a year not knowing if today is going to be the day I die. I need to know. I have things I need to plan for and make up lost time I have with my kids. Now normally I don’t believe in thins like this but I am willing to try anything right now. Please tell me.” I looked down to my palms and took a deep breath “Ok ill do it. But you cannot tell my mother that I am doing this. She told me that the more I use the power the
stronger it gets.” He looks at me relieved “Of course I won’t. I promise. Plus there is always doctor patient confidentiality.” He lets out small chuckle and I do the same. I was over to the red velvet chair where he is sitting and reach my hand out. He takes a deep breath and holds its. “Does it hurt?” I looked down to him and say “I don’t know I have never done it to myself. But I have not had anyone complain.” He looks down and lets out his breath. “I bring my arm back to my side. “Are you sure that you want me to do this?” He looks up quickly “Yes I am sure.” I reach my hand out again and touch the side of his cheek. I flash of images are flying by my eyes like birthdays, Christmas everything that is going to happen in this man’s life. All I have to do to find is think of what I need to know. I’ll think to myself ‘Death’ and imedentally the flashing images stop. I see the therapist sitting on his porch swing with an older woman. He leans in and gives her a tender kiss on her cheek. She gives him the biggest smile and all you can see is the love that they have for each other. They are watching the sun go down and the therapists’ head falls on her shoulder. His wife begins to cry and then the vision goes away.
I take my hand off of his cheek and he looks up at me. “Well what did you see? Please tell me.” I gave him a slight smile and tell him “You are going to die on August 15th next year. You will be on your porch sitting with your wife enjoying the sunset. You will feel no pain and just drift off sitting with your wife.” His eyes begin to well up with tears and he grabs my hand. “Thank you very much.”
He was by far my best Therapist of all. But when my mom found out that he was encouraging my “disorder” I never say him again. I was then given medication and made to believe that there is something wrong with me. Eventually after months of shock therapy and crazy amounts of different pill…I stopped seeing. There were no more visions. I don’t know if the horrible things I went through really stopped the visions or if my body couldn’t withstand the treatments. Making me numb to everything and everyone around me.
One night while laying in my bed I could hear my mother and father talking down the hall. “James she isn’t having the visions anymore.”
“Well that is what you wanted right? You didn’t want her to turn into…well you know”
“Yes I know this is what I wanted…but why do I feel so horrible about doing it. I mean I feel like we just changed who she is.”
“Oh Michelle only time will tell if we made the right choice.”
That was the last time that my visions were ever discussed. I stopped trying to have them and forgot all about them. My mother acted like it never happened. It started to feel that way to me.
***
I lay in my room looking up at the ceiling. Trying to understand what is going on. I grab a blanket from my love set and wrap it around myself. The chill in my room is awful. I sit myself down in the love set and pull my knees to my chest wrapping my arms around them. I stare out the window into the dark. The moon is so bright here. It makes the forest look like a fairytale. Lightening bugs fly all around the tall redwoods, it’s really quite beautiful. I see a head peering through my window. I sit up and walk closer. Then Travis pops into view and scares me half to death. I fall back and land on my ass. Thankfully my mother didn’t hear it because she would have burst through the door trying to find out if I was ok or not. Travis open the window and I can hear him laughing “I am so sorry are you ok? I told you that I was going to come get you.” I look up at him from the ground extending my hand for help “Ya well that was like an hour ago I thought that you forgot or something.”
“How the hell could I forget something so beautiful?” Our eyes are locked on each other and electrify is running through my body. There is something that is drawing me into him. It’s a power in my chest that I have never felt before. Uncontrollable passion surges through me. Our fingers tips touch and I feel a BUZZ that wakes me up out of the trace. I rip my hand back and he picks me up at my shoulders as if I am a feather. “Do you feel it Niki, please tell me that you felt it!” I shook myself out of his grip and said “Felt what?” His face is covered in sadness and disappointment. Why do I insist on hurting this man? I don’t know why I cannot accept him. It is wrong. I am not going to become dependent on this man. I am strong and no one will ever take that away from me. He looks to the ground “Well what do you want to know Niki. I said that I would tell you everything. We cannot talk here though let’s go for a walk.” I nod my head and climb out the window and over a bush.
“Ok tell me what a Mystic is.” I charge out with the first question. “A Mystic is someone who can see the future. They are valuable to us. Female Mystics are among the most valuable. There have only ever been 3 female Mystics that have been accepted to the Royal Court and only one that can morph but she is the Queen. If you are accepted to the court you will make the fourth. Mystic are always rulers of our world but only if you are chosen by the previous King or Queen. They can see the future so they protect our race from being discovered and attacked. Of course there are Mystic’s that are not ruling over the race and they make up the important members of the Royal Court. When our race is ruled by a Male Mystic, the years are dark and the race become vicious. They kill for no reason and can only morph when the moon is full. When men rule over the race it’s dangerous and we risk being discovered. ” I cut him off “Wait, what the fuck are you are talking about. Morphing? Race? How are you guys so different from regular people?” He runs his hand through his hair and says “Well because we are not regular people we are Werewolves. There are other types of races that we coincide with like Shifters, Pyros and many others. The werewolves are larger in number so we rule over all. ” My mouth drops open. “I was told that I was fucking insane because of what happened that night.” I start to scream and my eyes well up with tears. I fall to my knees and start to rock back and forth. Travis kneels down and wraps him arms around me. I fell so comforted in his arms. I accept him and rest my head on his chest. “Niki, what happened? What are you talking about?” I shake my head back and forth. “Niki if you let me, I can find out without you having to tell me anything.” I look up at him, “How?”
“Well, you can see the future, I can see the past, memories and hear thoughts.” I nod my head up and down and he puts his hand on my cheek and closes his eyes. It seems like they are only closed for a second when he pushed himself off me and takes gasps for air. “You’re…you’re… chosen! It’s already been done there is no stopping this!” I get up to my knees recovering from my break down. “What are you talking about? Chosen for what?” He sits up and grabs my hands. He looks me dead in the eye and calmly says “Niki, the large white wolf that attacked you, you know the one with the black spot on its eye.” I nod my head yes. “Ok babe that was an Royal. Her name is Renee and she is the most powerful female Mystic of our history. She also is a born werewolf. She was over 500 years old. The green mist from her eyes was her life essence. It means that you absorb her Mystic power into what you already possessed and it makes you that much stronger. Not only did she give you her powers she gave you the ability of morphing. She is Queen over our race. Since you were not bite by a werewolf and you were given the gift from Queen Renee, you will become a pure blood. ” My eyes grow wide. I can’t process all this information. I am learning about a totally new world that I thought only existed in a fairytale. He continues, “Your awakening is on your 18th birthday and yours just so happens to land on the Blood Moon. You are going to get all the power of the Blood Moon on top if Renee’s power and your own that you were born with. You are going to be the most powerful Queen that our world has ever seen.” Travis begins to look concerned and puts his hand on the side of my face and says “Hey Niki are you ok? Are you sticking with me?” I nod my head again unable to speak. There are no words to explain how I am feeling right now. I motion for him to continue, “OK so when she gave it to you, she died. Mystics and Werewolves are immortal but when you are Queen or King you have the choice to leave this world and travel to the
after world when you are 500 years old. Not counting the time that you were a human.”
I begin to loss what mind I have left and my head begins spinning like a top. I don’t know what I am supposed to think. I mean how could I believe all this. For my whole life I have been told that I crazy and nothing that I was seeing was real. Now I have Travis telling me that I was not only right, but now I there is a whole world out there that no one knows about and I am about to take over. Why am I so important why couldn’t they pick someone else? I am sure that there are other Mystics in the world that welcome this sort of gift. I on the other hand, do not. I don’t want this. I don’t want to be chosen to rule over a world I know nothing about. This world has nothing to do with me and I want to keep it that way. Sweat begins to bead up on my forehead. Panic sets in and I need to get away from this. I stand up slowly without saying a word and start to run down the shore. My feet beat against the wet sand and my hair whips behind me. I hear Travis shooting after me “Niki wait! Where are you going? Please come back it’s not safe!” I ignore him and keep running down the shore. The sand is flicking up my back and the wind is throwing my hair around in knots. I run until my legs cannot carry my any longer and I collapse on the sand. The cold sand makes my pants damp and squishes between my fingers. I breathe deeply in and out trying to calm my racing heart and stop my spinning head. “NIki?” I look up and Travis is in front of me. “What Travis! Can’t you tell that I am trying to get away from you! I need space!” He falls to his knees, grabs me by my shoulders and pulls me into his chest. I hear his heart beating in my ear and it calms me. I feel safe and warm in his arms. This is something that I haven’t felt for anyone in a very long time. “NIki, if you want me to leave tell me and I will.” I feel passion rush through my body and I desperately want to tell him to get off me and stay away but the words won’t come. I can’t open my mouth to say the words I need to. But I don’t want him to go. I want to stay in his arms. I want to feel his embrace and stay with him forever. Where are these thoughts coming from? What hold does he have over me that I cannot escape? He puts his index finger under my chin and pulls my face up to his. I look deep into his eyes and I see sadness and worry. He is waiting for my answer and I can’t give it to him. I don’t want to surrender myself to him. He brushes my tangled hair behind my ears “Niki tell me you want me. Tell me you need me. I need to hear it and I know that you feel it.” I can’t fight it anymore. I have to let go. I feel like I will perish right now if I don’t tell him. “Yes Travis. I need you. Stay with me.” He grabs my face with both of my hands and brings his face inches from his. I can feel the heat grow between us and the desire is burning through my body and I don’t think that I can contain myself any longer. He looks into my eyes and whispers “Kiss me Niki.” I drawn back a moment and his hands tighten around my face. “Niki don’t fight it. It will only make your body burn more.” How does he know that I feel this way? There is something that he is not telling me but right now I don’t care. Right now all that matters is this Greek god that kneels before me begging for a kiss. I lean forward and my lips brush against his. Passion is pulsing through every part of my skin like sparks of electricity and I feel his love for me. He deepens the kiss and wraps his arm around my neck and dips me to his side. I feel my world open and everything becomes clear. He runs his hand down the front of my shirt and to the top of my shorts. Lifting my shirt he places his hand on my bare skin. My stomach retracts at the electricity he sends through my body. I don’t know what I can do. I don’t want him to stop, I want him to take me. I throw my hands around his neck and pull him on top of me. We fall onto the shore and the cold sand sticks to my back cooling me slightly. “Niki, I love you.” He whispers the words that I dread into my ear. But instead of feeling fear and pulling away I respond “Travis I love you.” What is wrong with me? What am I doing? How can I give into this him? He releases out kiss and looks into my eyes. “Niki I need to tell you something.” I sit up on my elbows yearning for more. I don’t want to talk anymore. I don’t want to know anymore about what I am supposed to me or what my future is. “Please Travis I don’t want to know not now. Can’t this wait?” He pulls away from me and sits on the back of his heels looking to the ground. He runs his hand through his golden hair making it stand on end. I can tell there is a serious in his voice. I sit up from my back and sit Indian style in front of him.
