I've always had this feeling, you know? Like I didn't belong. Like everything I did, everything I learned or said just
didn't matter one bit. It's like wandering through a forest, only to realize you've taken a wrong turn somewhere, but you
can't be sure since you've never actually been in this particular forest before.
Yeah. That feeling. You're so confused and getting just a little scared because you're lost and there's no one there
with you to set you straight.
I might have been surrounded by people - family, friends, enemies - all my life, but not one of them could turn me in the
right direction. Not one of them knew I was lost, or understood how to set me right.
Until I met her.
She wasn't very tall, wasn't very short. Her hair was dull and full of split ends. Her eyes were ordinary and just as dull-brown
as her hair. She was average-colored - not too pale, but not really tan either - and not really skinny. She wasn't fat, overweight...
anything like that. She was just a plain-Jane girl standing on the corner of Wesley and Smith, smoking a cigarette.
I think that the only remarkable thing about her was her shoes. They were bright, neon green and didn't really fit in with
her blue jeans and plain black T.
I remember thinking at the time that she almost seemed like she were trying to be unnoticed, like she was hiding
or something.
I'm going to tell you the whole story, from start to finish. Sometimes, I'll tell little bits of it where I wasn't even
present, but those are there because I learned what had happened after the fact from one of the people that were present.
My name is Sven Ruskkov, I live in New York, I'm seventeen and I'm allergic to peas. My eyes are blue but the rest of me
is brown. And this... This is my story.
It was a Saturday and I had walked the twenty-minute walk from my small apartment I shared with my older sister Ellonah
to the closest grocery store (Sav-a-lot; I hated that I had to buy the bags if I wanted them). She stood out front, leaning
against a lamp-post, cigarette hanging between her lips as she fumbled with an out-dated tiny black flip phone.
I paused then and watched her for a moment, trying to figure out what was up with her shoes (and what her bra-size was;
33B at the biggest). After a solid minute of me staring from across the semi-busy road, she looked up.
"What?" she deadpanned, looking boredly annoyed. "See something you like, kiddo?"
I scowled slightly at her tone. "Not really."
"Then go away."
I thought at the time that she might just be a whore (I assure you, I no longer think this). Now that I'd caught her attention,
she was watching me, even after I looked away and focused on the street, crossing when I could safely. I was passing her when
she suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, just above the elbow. I stopped and glared at her. "What?" I demanded, then added
spitefully, "See something you like?"
She snorted, vaguely amused. "Not really."
"Then let go."
"No." She looked into my eyes for a long, uncomfortable moment. "You're eyes are weird."
"Gee, thanks," I retorted sourly. "Can you let go? Now?"
She rolled her eyes and obliged this time. "Whatever." She fished in her pocket, pulling out a small, mostly-burned down
candle. It was black. "Use this tonight. You'll need it."
"I don't do that voodoo stuff," I replied, inching away.
She snagged my arm again, lifted my hand and placed the candle in it, closing my fingers on the slightly warm wax. "Trust
me. Just do it." She met my eyes again. "And you'll never see me again."
"How do you know I'd do it?" I asked, nervous and curious all at once.
She didn't answer and instead tapped my closed fist. "It's black. It stands for protection. Use it, please. You'll be thankful."
I stared at her like she'd totally lost it, trying to figure out if I could just drop the thing and run away. I really
wanted to, but... "If I do this, nothing weird would happen, right?"
She smiled. "No. Nothing weird. Promise."
Hesitantly, I opened my fingers and looked down at the small candle, it's wax gleaming slightly. Black... Protection, huh?
Go figure. I'd always thought that 'black' meant 'evil' or something... "And what does red mean? Like, a soul or something?"
She snorted. "No, red means fire. White is purity, blue is water, black is protection, yellow is wind, green and brown
are earth - depending on what you're doing with them - and metallics for the gods and goddesses."
Talk about a crash course in colors. "Right. Um... yeah. Bye." I put the candle in my pocket and hurried into the store.
When I came back out twenty minutes later, she was gone, and I went home before she could pop up again.
-
That night, Ellonah went over to her boyfriend's house for some 'quality time' (she meant fucking, but still thought of
me as the innocent, nine year old boy that asked her what 'sex' was). I just sort of sat around, the TV on and muted, bored
out of my mind. I was just thinking about going to bed when it started to rain. For some reason, I was reminded of the candle
stub still in my pocket.
Glancing around, as if afraid Ellonah was just around the corner waiting for me to do something weird, I pulled it out
and stared at it. I remembered the intense light in that weird voodoo witch girl's eyes as she implored me to use it. ...
well, it was just a candle, right? No harm could come from a candle...
Shaking my head, I set it down on a receipt that was just laying on the coffee table in the livingroom. For a moment, I
just sort of watched it wearily, like I expected it to suddenly light on it's own and explode or something. When it just sat
there, doing nothing, I shook my head and got up. I found some matches in a drawer in the kitchen and went back into the livingroom.
I stopped in front of the coffee table, then frowned. After a second's debate, I left the livingroom, walking through the
apartment and shutting off all the lights. Once that was done, I crouched in the darkened livingroom and carefully lit a match,
lighting the candle.
I don't know what I was expecting, but I was seriously disappointed when it slowly but surely burned down... just like
any other candle. I could feel myself pouting.
From behind me, I heard something glance against the window and turned. For a moment, I didn't see anything. It was just
a window. But then... The glowing, yellow eyes that almost blended in with the light from the street blinked. I yelped and
fell back on my ass, staring.
They'd already vanished.
