10 Apr 2012
6am
5P, Dorothea's Apartments for Wayward Witches and Wizards

Natalie dreamed. It was one of those dreams where she was quiet and wise in a new town, floating through the rowdy halls with the stained linoleum and the sound of slamming locker doors. The noise was all muffled and she smiled serenely, making her way. She felt calm and confident because she knew something no one else knew.

It felt like a Friday in spring. A teacher, a white man in pale blue and khaki made little effort to draw the class to order. Every desk was taken, and Natalie sat in the middle. She took a breath, held it, and filled her cheeks with pins and needles. The lights flickered. Her classmates animated at the change in routine. Natalie waited, then did it again. And again. She felt the air crackle. The teacher became concerned and attempted to calm the room. Again, with more effort Natalie urged the electricity in the wires, but this time it was too much and the ceiling fan shorted.

Outside under the tree, Natalie laughed with new friends while clouds darkened over head. A boy bumped into her on his way past, a boy with floppy brown curles and long eyelashes. He bumped her and changed into mud. Natalie watched in horror as the boy's form gave way to thick brown mud that held its shape for only a second before it fell to the ground in a splash. The boy was gone, dead, become nothing but a cold puddle in the grass.

Natalie fell to her knees, screamed, and wept. How had this happened? She hadn't meant to. She hadn't known she could do this.