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marssspellmans-blog · 6 years ago

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To Be “Family” #1

To Be "Family" Chapter 1

Summary: Mars Moreau is a young urban witch living in an orphanage tied to the Church of the Night. She was the daughter of an old friend of the Spellman's, and in times of trouble, witches should gather.

The skyline in front of a honeydew sunset was mesmerizingly beautiful, Mars inhaled and laid her back against the roof of the cold house she grew up in. This was her favorite place to be. Above her past, all her problems; under the warm-colored sky, watching the clouds pierced by skyscrapers.

“It’s beautiful.” she admired, taking another deep breath in.

“It’s pollution, you know it, right?” added Evelyn, all-knowingly. It was pollution, it’s New York City. Why was she spoiling the moment? Mars shrugged her shoulders.

“Whatever it is, it’s calming me.”

Evelyn laid next to her and lit a cigarette, Mars coughed, exaggerating.

“Girl I know you’re faking it.” Evelyn half-smiled. Mars smiled back and nodded.

“That’s my go-to reaction to you smoking.”

All those years of sharing the same room along with 4 people, Mars always liked Evelyn more. Even though they weren’t the best of friends, they always had each other backs and in cases like this, secrets.

Evelyn believed it was harder for them, to live in the city as a witch and try to stay undercover. She wanted to see the church, she wanted to be a part of all that. In the orphanage they only celebrated Sabbats, other than that, they were far away from the original church. Yule was her favorite time of the year. The house would be decorated all over, and the Yule Fire would burn for days. She loved getting cozy in front of it with the other kids.

Mars couldn’t care less about the church, that’s why she was often criticized by her peers for being so invested into the “human world”. She loved the celebrations, of course, but she found the human lifestyle more interesting. She sometimes felt forced into the path, although she never complained. Maybe that’s why Evelyn and Mars weren’t as close as Evelyn is with the other kids. Mars wasn’t an outsider, but yet, something distanced traditional witches from her. No matter how hard Ms. Carson worked, as well as the other caretakers, Mars’s ideas never changed. She just learned how to blend in overtime. They decided she was harmless.

Just, different.

As the sky changed her colors to an indigo night, lights from the buildings lit up every corner in the city. Mars was up on the roof thinking, ever since the visitors from the Academy of Unseen Arts left. They always donated large amounts of money and sources to the orphanage, just like the Church of the Night. That’s why they were never miserable, compared to the other orphanages. Ms. Carson said this was the privilege of being one of them, and that was the reason why they should always be grateful and pay them -and the Dark Lord- back with several duties.

Mars sighed. Evelyn rubbed the red, sizzling tip of her cigarette to the wall and killed it. She left without saying a word. Mars watched its light smoke rising up in the air and vanishing. It was kind of like the thing she would’ve wanted to do to get out of here. The Academy visited because they wanted them in, and she wanted her friends, her high school. Sadly, she was taught that she couldn’t do anything against her destiny, which was determined by the will of the Dark Lord and his disciples.

She looked up to the starless sky, the city lights were killing any light that shone brighter than New York City itself. She rose and dusted herself off. One last look at the concrete jungle and she went back to her room.

When it was the dinner time, all everybody talked about was the Academy. Mars sat down next to Evelyn, even though Evelyn had more friends around there, she never left Mars alone. It was like this since day one, so they didn’t want to spend their dinner time with anybody else.

Mars caught Evelyn staring with her almost-white eyes, multiple times while eating. It was clear that she wanted to ask her a particular question, just didn’t know how to directly ask it.

“What is it, Eve?” said Mars, smirking because she knew Evelyn hates being called that.

“Don’t ever call me that.” she snapped, which made Mars’s smile even wider.

“Fine, what is it? Tell me.”

Evelyn looked at her directly in the eye, put her fork and knife aside and wiped her mouth.

“What do you think about the presentation, you know, the Academy’s?”

“I think it was pretty rad.” Mars knew this question was going to be asked, but she didn’t really prepare answers. By that I mean, the right ones. “I liked the professors. Some of them were hot.” she added, trying to take the attention back to somewhere else. Preferably on that Ambrose guy, because she saw how Evelyn was gazing him, and she already prepared herself to tease her with this fact.

“Marsienne, you know what I mean,” answered Evelyn, she only called Mars with her full name when she wanted to seem serious. “Also, I agree. Some were hot.” she added while smiling.

“Look, you already know that I don’t want to give up this life that I have here.”

“Mars, it’s not the life that is meant for you. You are constantly hiding and you know, staying here means...giving up on your power.”

“How, though? I could still be a witch here, an urban witch. Wouldn’t be bad in my opinion.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be as easy as you imagine it to be,” she said with an asserting tone. Mars wished that this didn’t turn into an argument. “He would call you, and you...you would have to go.” Evelyn leaned back, with a satisfied expression, as if she made a point and there wasn’t anything left to say.

There were things left to say, she just couldn’t bring herself to say them. Mars rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know, Evelyn.” Her voice sounded desperate, even though she was fighting against it, she knew Evelyn was right. Mars just hoped she wasn’t.

“You do know,” insisted Evelyn, “you just don’t want to admit it yet. It’s okay, I think you will realize that this is the best option for you, too. You have one more year left, I have less. What will you do if you don’t become their student?” Evelyn pointed out the one truth Mars was trying hard to avoid, that this was an orphanage, that they weren’t adopted and that they had limited choices of what to do.

Mars believe she could survive New York. Her grades were high, she already got scholarships and everything. She could just pick a school and work part-time. She could lead a normal life, only with a little touch of magic. At least, that’s what she wanted to believe. Simply, that was not the truth.

Not the truth she was programmed to believe.

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marssspellmans-blog · 6 years ago

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To Be “Family”

To Be "Family" Introductionary Chapter

"Dear employee,

We are sorry to inform you that we are downsizing. If you have received this e-mail, sadly you will no longer be working with us. We will imburse your last month's payment to your bank account. We thank you for your service."

Her eyes skimmed through the text four more times after reading it, it couldn't be true. After working until the last drop of her energy was drained, for two years? She couldn't believe that she was the one sacrificed. Being fired over an e-mail was even worse than being dumped over a text. Even though she felt all her efforts are thrown on the scrap heap, her gut didn't let her be angry.

Mars took ten deep breaths as the guidance counselor advised her to, and she turned off her phone. Her friends could wait until they group up to go out this afternoon. She was like the piggy in the middle of two bad ideas: calling the boss to ask what the hell was this e-mail, or doing absolutely nothing but pitying herself. She caught a glimpse of her reflection on the dark screen of her phone, the disappointment was masking all over her face and she had lost the warm, welcoming smile she usually had.

"It's okay," she whispered to herself with an asserting tone, convincing herself, "something good will come out of this."

She walked at the edge of the sidewalk, waiting for a cab to pick you up in New York City was just as pointless as her plans to hex the employer. He wasn't guilty, after all.

As soon as she put her arm up in the air, a taxi passing through -not interested in stopping in the busiest road of NYC-, stopped right in front of her. A group of people waiting before glowered at her, but today she couldn't care less. Mars was thought not to use her powers for mundane things, but she simply -again- couldn't care less at that moment. She opened the car door and sat with her backpack on her lap, her nose wrinkled with disgust as she picked up on the sweaty, sharp smell in the cab. The signature scent of NYC transportation was unavoidable. She tried to inhale as less as she can while faking a neutral expression so she didn't offend the driver.

"Hi, 320 7th Avenue, please," said Mars, leaning quite forward.

She decided to turn her phone back on just in case Ms. Carson, the matron in the orphanage, had something urgent to say, which she seldom has. But there were texts from her roommates and friends that were waiting for her. She decided to call Ms. Carson before responding to any of them. Ms. Carson picked up immediately, she was always so easy to reach in times of trouble.

"Hey, it's Marsienne."

"Hello, Marsienne. How are you? There are going to be a few visitors from the Academy, they want to see all the witches and warlocks here. I know you will be out with your friends, but will you be able to come before 6 pm? This might be important."

Marsienne smiled as she went on and on, right after asking how she is. She was always talkative and energetic, not like a regular matron, right? Mars knew she made the right call to lift her spirits, even though she never really liked the idea of leaving New York to the Academy of Unseen Arts.

"Sure, I will try. I called for something else though." Her thoughts were all over the place as she tried to find the right way to break the bad news.

"What is it, sweetheart?", her comforting tone encouraged Mars.

"I can't work anymore, I'm fired. They said they are downsizing." She gazed through the street while looking for her wallet as she was getting closer.

"Oh, Marsienne... I'm so sorry to hear that."

"But my scholarships are still valid, I won't have to worry about college money. Also, this is going to be my senior year, maybe I can get even more scho-"

"Are you still determined about college?" Ms. Carson's voice wasn't as enthusiastic anymore. This was the one and only topic Mars didn't agree with her about.

"We'll talk later, Ms. Carson. I need to go, I'm almost there." Mars rushed wearily, this was a topic to avoid while talking to Ms. Carson and she accidentally blurted it out, again.

"Marsienne...Fine, but you must come to the Academy's introductory meeting."

"I will. See you there." Ms. Carson hung up.

The taxi pulled upright where Mars showed them to. Usually, Mars didn't like using magic to make people do certain things, but this time it was only for saving money purposes.

"Hey, excuse me." The driver turned to face her. Her eyes sparkled with mischief. The driver lost the expression on his face, just blankly looking into her eyes, mesmerized. "Thank you for the free ride." She got off the car and started walking to their designated meeting point, the diner. She saw Zara and Dan ordering, and rushed.

When she finally sat down next to them in the booth, her friends were already laughing at something.

"Hey, Mars, we ordered for you too. But listen, I got a joke." Dan gushed. This was probably not funny at all but he could never contain any emotion in himself, so he was spreading happiness all over.

Before even Mars could ask, Zara shushed him from across the table.

"Shut up, seriously! Mars, he was constantly talking before you got here. My brain hurts."

Mars laughed, "Come on, can't be that bad. What is the joke?". Dan excitingly clapped his hands and changed his expression as if he is going to tell them something extremely important.

"What happens when a Jordanian, a Bosnian and a French-American walks into a bar?"

Zara and Mars looked at each other in the eye, resigned. Dan shook his hands to remind them to ask the question and get their attention back. They continued his joke, even though they both knew what's going to come out of it.

"What, Mr. Novak?" mumbled Zara. She seemed like she had enough.

"They get drinks, talk, and have fun. What'd you expect?" concluded Dan. His audience wasn't amused.

"Wow," said Mars, "if I had a mom I'd see this on her Facebook page." Zara laughed along and added, "Girl, I already did."

As they continued to make fun of each other, their food arrived. After the waiter served and left them alone, Mars decided to give flash news to her closest friends.

"Okay, I have a joke." Typical of her, always trying to make her problems funny so that they have less power over her.

Zara rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on, let me just eat in peace."

Dan hit her hand jokingly and turned to face Mars. "Proceed."

"Guess who has two thumbs and got fired today." No one said a thing. "Me!" she added. Nobody can tell why, but they laughed. After Zara calmed everybody down and asked what happened, Mars explained, they ate more, got milkshakes. This wasn't the worst problem that the booth has witnessed. As they continued to talk about other things that matter to highschoolers, hours went by.

"Guys, I need to leave. I promised Ms. Carson to help around with the babies. Maybe we'll hit the mall tomorrow, after school?" Mars explained -and lied- as she prepared to pay. They hugged and said goodbye.

Mars never liked lying to her friends, she never liked how sometimes she needed to disappear from a "normal teenager" scene. "Maybe in college," she always thought, "maybe in college I will be free."

She wished it was that easy.

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