Innocent Times

by Gemma Owen-Kendall

  Jane snuggled down into her bed just after midnight, this evening she had been watching a couple of her new blu rays she had received today, it also helped her stop thinking about Pete and the surprise. As Jane closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she was somewhere nice and romantic, an enchanted forest that had a sparkling water. There was a bright moon in the night sky and a cool calming breeze in the air, Jane felt happy and safe in the forest. Then someone put their arms around her, it was Pete, Jane turned round and hugged him back, she was so happy to see him again.

  “Where am I?” she asks

  “Your dream place.”

  “Is this real?”

  “To me yes.”

  “How did you get into my dream?”

  “I am part of you now.”

  “But….”

  “Sssshhhhhh now.”

  Pete then moves in to kiss Jane, she finally got her first ever kiss and the person who she wanted to share this first special moment with. It was what both of them wanted to do for so long and it finally happened. The moment ended as Jane woke up. This was the best birthday present she had received, kissing the boy of her dreams. Jane began to cry, but this time these were tears of happiness as she got to see Pete again.

  The next morning Jane took a walk to the beach to where her and Pete used to sit on the cliff edge gazing down at the sea and watching the waves crash along the rocks. She stood on the cliff edge alone this time, just gazing away in the distance and thinking happy thoughts about her and Pete. Then her mobile phone bleeped again, it was another text message from Pete’s number, she decides she will read it later on and hoped he was nearby watching over her.

  Alternate Ending (From Fish and Freaks):

  The next morning Jane decided to take a walk to the beach to where her and Pete use to sit on the cliff edge gazing down at the sea and watching the waves crash along the rocks. She stood on the cliff edge alone this time just gazing away in the distance and thinking happy thoughts about her and Pete. Then her mobile phone bleeped again, it was another text message from Pete’s number, she decided to read it later on and hoped he was nearby watching over her. Then he was there standing right in front of her holding his hand out.

  “Jane, you can have your wish and join me?” he whispered gently to her

  “Will it hurt?” she asked him out loud, luckily no one was around to hear her what could have looked like she was talking to herself.

  “Don’t worry I am here with you every step you take.” He sounded just like and angel.

  “Oh I don’t know, I can’t leave my mother.” Jane hesitated, she was not a person who could leave the close bond she had with her mother.

  “but this is what you wanted, for us to be together again.” The tone in Pete’s voice had now changed and sounded forceful.

  His hand reached her arm as Pete started to slowly drag Jane closer and closer to the edge. She was just one further footstep away to join an eternal life with Pete….

  Witch

  Since the day I was born I have always been different to any human being; in fact, I am not a normal person. I was born a witch, but not the kind you see with black scraggly hair, a pointed hat, wart at the end of your nose and a broomstick. I look like any normal human with sapphire blue eyes, lips red like a rose, skin as pale as snow and long golden hair but I have a mark down my right arm, it looks like a birthmark as it is dark purple and disguises well as one until I use my powers when it glows like a light bulb. The mark is connected to my right elbow joint and goes down my arm and splits at my wrist connecting to my middle finger and my thumb. My parents have often told me the tale of my birth. My right arm was glowing brightly like a star and so my parents instantly knew I was different. My mother had seen the mark before on my great-grandmother, she had been a witch so my parents knew I was the next chosen one, that it was my destiny to help protect mankind from our enemies that walked upon this world. At delivery my father had to pay off the midwife and the nurses to keep quiet about my special gift and what sort of person I am. My great grandmother, Patricia, had left many notes and text books for the next witch in the family. It was full of different theories on how to control your powers and how not to reveal yourself as a witch.

  The secret behind my mark would have to remain untold as no one except for saving a mortal must a witch reveal her identity, but saving another human has its consequences as your life must be sacrificed unless the human loves you. This situation had happened before with my great grandmother, she healed my great-grandfather from his lengthy battle with cancer but sadly both of their lives were taken by our sworn enemies, the demons that walked upon this world.

  The demons have been a witch’s sworn enemy since the tale of the demon King, Valkron; he had fallen in love with the witch Gabriella and unfortunately her heart belonged to the mortal Richard Argon. Although this human never knew of Gabriella’s existence the demon king took Richard’s life to spite Gabriella in the hopes, she will love him once this man was out of the way. But the witch not wanting to lose her love, sacrificed her own life to save Richard’s life but because he did not know her, he did not love her back. She was one of the most beautiful witches known of our kind; Richard had wished that he knew who Gabriella was as they could have had a future together. To show his gratitude for Gabriella on saving his life, he paid for a statue of her to be created and placed it in his sacred garden for all eternity. The witch elders cast a spell upon the statue as they feared it would reveal our kind, and to this day the statue stands inside a gazebo on the grounds of a well known park area. The statue of Gabriella can only be seen through the eyes of a witch, any human can not see it. When a demon walks upon the Earth, they disguise themselves as humans so it is often difficult for a witch to detect one but they have a certain scent that only a witch can pick up, this scent is of lust and death.

  My parents still wanted me to live a normal life like any other child such as going to school and passing college, I am sure you can imagine what it was like for me during my school days. The other kids took one look at the mark on my right arm and instantly made fun of me, it was worse doing P.E wearing a t-shirt as this would reveal my whole mark. The comments and the laughs did hurt, but I knew one day all these living mortals would need my help. It was just wondering when this situation would happen. I had no friends through school except for Cleo, she seemed to take a liking to me knowing I was different to other kids and often wondered if there was a reason I was born with an enormous mark. Through my years of school I had never socialised with boys apart from the ones who bullied me, I had taken a liking towards a boy called Luke who was in the year above me. He was tall with spikey brown hair and emerald green eyes, his build was very athletic but he did play for the school football team and outside of school hours he was part of a swimming squad at the local leisure centre. From time to time I would go swimming with Cleo on a Friday evening at the swim disco within the leisure centre and I would often see Luke practising his lengths down the far side of the pool away from everyone else but I could never work up the courage to go over and talk to him. I always would hide my right arm under the water for as long as possible to have fewer people staring at my birth mark.

  I often wished I had spoken to Luke and got to know him during school, but I thought he would just see me as an outcast like everyone else did. From time to time I thought he was looking at me and smiling but I put it down to him smirking at the fact I had an enormous mark on my right arm. My feelings developed very strongly towards him into falling in love with him, my heart felt like someone had poked it with a pin when Luke had finished school and went onto college. I thought I would never see him again and the day he walked out of the school gates forever I went home that night and cried myself into my pillow, my tears sparkled onto my pillow like spectacles of glitter. Life was strenuous being a witch.

  Eventually I was glad to have finished school and looked forward to starting Franklin College this September, I was going to be starting
my A-Levels in subjects I wanted to study such as Drama, Dance, English Literature and Media Studies. A fresh start would mean to escape all the torment I had faced and hopefully try to forget all about Luke. My first day of college was just blissful, the atmosphere felt so open and friendly, straight away other people spoke to me normally like I was just like one of them and not an outcast.

  After college I would go for a walk to the park and visit the statue of Gabriella, I had called to her the previous night in the hopes she would watch over me starting at college and I wanted to go thank her in my own way. Whilst I was walking out of the primary entrance of the college through the automatic doors I passed Luke without realising it was him. He stopped in my path smiling at me, all the feelings that I had for him went flowing my veins and a warm fuzzy feeling spiralled round in my stomach, of all the places I thought I may bump into him in the future, I would not have expected him to be at the same college as me.

  “Hello Precious.”

  He spoke to me smoothly with a slight charm in the tone of his voice, I could not believe he actually knew who I was.

  “Hello Luke, it is nice to see you again. I did not know you went to Franklin College.”

  He just smiled towards me and for the first time I noticed his dimples on the right side of his cheek, I felt even more drawn towards him and it was like the world around us was empty, that we were the only two people who existed at this moment in time. Everyone else around was just oblivious to us.

  “Yes, I have just started my second year doing a course on sports studies.”

  I kind of knew he would be taking a course that involves sport studies but I thought he may have teamed up with a swimming coach and trained up to hopefully swim as team GB in the Olympics, he had so much potential behind but I did not understand what was holding him back.

  “Anyway I have to go but it was nice to see you again Precious.”

  He smiled towards me again then walked into the college, I just stood for a moment thinking about my feelings of Luke. I wish I could tell him how much I am in love with him but perhaps it would be for the best I kept quiet, if he found out I was a witch then things would only be more complicated and if a demon was nearby, then both mine and Luke’s lives could be at risk. I could not let the story of Gabriella be rekindled with my own personal love sick situation, I was not ready to die yet and it would not be fair on Luke to face a near death experience. All these thoughts going through my head gave me a headache, I needed to get to the park for a breather and call to Gabriella.

  I set upon my stroll towards the park. The weather was a warm and hazy Indian summer day with a slight breeze in the air. I listened to the birds singing their melodies and the trees whistling their leaves within the wind, I loved hearing Mother Nature on a pleasant day and blessed her kindness with a simple charm I cast from my right arm and to grace her for this glorious day. My middle finger nail slightly glowed as I held my right arm towards the sky and in the distance a rainbow appeared from my cast charm, I looked around just to check nobody saw me but the streets were empty and calm. I felt the wind moving through my long golden hair as though it was being stroked. It was calming and assuring that at this moment in time I was safe.

  As I walked onto the park grounds a gust of wind, collected a few fallen leaves and trans-spiralled them gracefully around me, I could see the fountain in the distance sprinkling calmly away and butterflies fluttering by. It was all so calm and tranquil. I walked gracefully along the pavement, I saw families in the distance enjoying the glorious sunshine by playing various games of football and rounders’ and I felt a little envious as I never played pleasurable activities with my family. I had no siblings to compete friendly games with and most of my spare time was used to study my gift, it was only the occasional Friday evening when I met up with Cleo but this was still an effort for my parents to even let me leave the house. I knew once I left school that they would calm down a bit more, take a small step back and let me get along on my own two feet. The stroll to the park was such a gift for me that I didn’t take the moment for granted.

  I wish I had been more alert as I had not realised I was being followed, to make matters worse it was by two male demons disguised as humans. I strolled towards my favourite bench that looked directly at the statue and gazebo. I sat down on the bench to prepare my thoughts to call out for Gabriella but something caught the corner of my eye, Luke was nearby leaning against the tree as though he was in deep thought about something on his mind. He had not seen another human walking towards him with a sword, the blade glistened red like fire and instantly I knew it was a demon heading towards him. My witch instincts took over and took control of my body, my eyes and my birth mark lit up to the sacred golden glow, it now destroyed my tranquil and calm moment. I could not let Luke die, somehow these demons knew of my love towards him and now he was in danger, I screeched out Luke’s name in the hopes it would waken him from his deep thought moment. He did not hear me, panic stricken I cast out an earth shake spell to get Luke’s attention. The ground beneath him started to shake and rumble. I saw Luke awake upon his deep thinking and look towards me.

  “Luke, look out…….. Run!” I yelled out to his direction.

  I saw Luke turn around and face towards the raging demon but it was too late, the monster stabbed him through the chest and walked on wiping the blood away from his sword onto his human outfit that the demon was wearing. Luke pained stricken held his chest tightly and collapsed to the ground. My heart began to beat faster and a sharp pain had torn through my heart, he was dying immediately. I looked towards the demon walking away from the scene, the next thing I didn’t realise I was doing I was casting the earth shaking spell again but towards the demon this time, the spell was even stronger than before as the pathway developed into a tidal wave and chased the demon. The spell caught hold of the demon and flipped the creature to fall and crash onto the concrete. The demon didn’t move so this was my moment to save Luke. I ran towards him as fast as my legs could carry me and allow me to move. Blood had spilled onto the freshly cut green grass and Luke was coughing for air.

  “Luke I am so sorry that I have put you through this, please forgive me.”

  He tried to talk to me but he was in too much pain and blood had filled his lung. It was not clear what he was saying. I held his hands that were still tightly on his wound, I felt the tears fill my eyes and begin to fall down my puffy red cheeks.

  “I need you to lay still and trust me. I am going to save your life because I love you.”

  I kissed his forehead. He was still trying to grasp hold of his life. I removed his hands away from his wound and placed my right hand over it. The ground beneath us felt like it was spinning as a whirl of my healing spell cast a golden and sparkling light around us. I lifted my head up towards the sky and called for Gabriella to grace me with my passing and to protect Luke through the transformation, I knew I was going to die. Luke’s wound healed, but the spell had knocked him out. The sky had changed from clear blue to a sudden grey overcast. The park had suddenly been deserted from the families that were playing nearby, I wasn’t sure if this was still Earth I was on or the crossing over to the after world and whatever it was I had unfinished business.

  The two demons appeared before me, their skin red with fury and their horns as black as night, both of their glances angered me so with all my might and my last breath I moved up onto my feet and stared back at them.

  “King Valkon has chosen you.” One of them sneered at me.

  “Over my dead body.” I screeched back at them.

  With my deathly minutes drawing closer before my life was over I held my right glowing arm towards the sky, a lightning bolt appeared and struck into my hand. I caught the bolt and zapped it towards the demons. Within a flash the demons evaporated into atoms of dust. I took a deep breath and felt my drained body fall to the ground. My time on this world was over.

  My heavy over slept eyes woke up in my bedroom, everything was still in it
s place except Luke was sat by the desk looking at me. I must have been dreaming, so I rubbed my eyes but again he was still sat there smiling at me.

  “Where am I? I am supposed to be dead.”

  Luke stood up and moved gently towards my bedside. His smile had changed to a more serious look.

  “No you are not dead but you have been in a deep sleep for a week, your parents have told me everything about you and all about the sacrifice you did to save my life. I am in love with you to Precious, I always have since the moment I saw you at school.”

  All this time that I had been worrying what he thought about me was all wrong, he had always felt the same way towards me. He leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips, I felt butterflies fluttering through my stomach and my heart skipped a beat, but I now knew both our lives had changed forever. I remember the words the demon had told me before my spell banished him. I was King Valkon’s next chosen mate and he will not stop at nothing until he has me. I gripped Luke at the thought of knowing what my destiny ahead will be.

  Spaceman Came Travelling.

  This piece is included in Christmas Gifts, first published November 2019. The inspiration for this short story was inspired from Chris De Burgh’s song, A Spaceman Came Travelling.

  It is always scary being on your own, seeing the days go by one by one, well it is for me, anyway. I can’t believe it has been nearly six months since my heart got broken by someone I believed who loved me but instead chose my best friend over me. So I vowed for the time being I wouldn’t love anyone on this planet in fear of it happening again. I guess you can still say I am only young and this fool was my first love, being only nineteen I still have a lot to live for. Luckily, I managed to find a small studio and get by working every single hour under the sun. But living this way by being alone did not last much longer for me, I can remember the day when a bright light shone through my window.