This day couldn't get any worse...could it?
756 Words
I could see in my reflection that my cheeks were bright red and flushed with embarrassment. It was a stark contrast with the white clouds just outside the window of the plane. Just remembering the mixed emotions on the faces of my family was enough to flush my cheeks, even days after I made a complete buffoon out of myself. It was so completely embarrassing. Just remembering made me blink my eyes to hold back tears. I closed my eyes and could see it all again so vividly .
My grandmother had been the first to speak.
"Is this some kind of prank? Is this a joke? What are you wearing? Why are you holding a....."
A look of realization flashed across her face and she turned to my mother, who looked completely mortified, and said "Have you taught her ANYTHING??"
This time my mother voluntarily hung her head, in shame. No. She had not given me any education about my witch heritage or my magical abilities. My father was irritated any time she tried so eventually, she just gave up.
Everything I knew about magic and witches was what I had seen on television at the pack house or in the movies. We also read a lot of popular books. Everything I ever knew about witches said they travel on broomsticks! How was I to know??
No one knew quite how to react. My grandmother was angry. My mother wanted to fall through the floor. My father was physically holding his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter and the remaining members of my family just stood there... in shock... not knowing whether to laugh or feign anger, to appease my grandmother.
"Sophia. Go upstairs. Take OFF those goggles and that awful outfit. For Goddess' sake put on something nice and hurry. We have to be at the airport in an hour." my grandmother commanded. Never taking her eyes off of my mother. I didn't want to be in her shoes later, judging from the look on my grandmother's face.
AGAIN, how was I supposed to know? I rushed upstairs. Ripping off the hat and goggles and throwing the scarf and jacket on my bed I quickly put on a black cardigan to go with the jeans I was already wearing.
One last look around, for now, and I rushed back downstairs to the great hall to say my goodbyes.
"Four."
I snapped back to the present and wiped away the tears that had formed in my eyes. What did she say?
"Excuse me, Grandmother? Four?" I asked.
"Four." She repeated leaning her head back into the head rest and closing her eyes.
"Four what?" the confusion must have been apparent in my voice because she opened her eyes and said "Four years. Earlier you told yourself this will only be for two years. Well. It is four. Not two."
I seriously think she waited until we were on the plane so I wouldn't totally explode at the news that instead of two years of school remaining, like I had back at the pack school, I would now have four years! It was like starting over!!
I was at a loss for words. This was the second time in as many days that I had absolutely nothing to say. I felt everything starting to spiral out of control in my mind and through the ringing in my clogged ears I heard the captain announce that we were making our final approach.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Denver International Airport. Local time is 4:37pm and the temperature is a balmy 72 degrees.
For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until I turn off the fasten seat belt sign." He said something more about the airport being a mile high and its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level. Which is 5280 feet or 1609.344 meters
I couldn't listen to anything else. I was still trying to process this latest piece of information.
'Four years. This is SO not fair!!'
I quickly glanced over at grandmother, who was now sleeping.
I have to be careful what I think around her, sleeping or not. I start to gather my things and gently nudge grandmother to wake her so she can do the same. It was time to exit the plane and start the hour long journey by car to the school . This was like ripping off a bandage. Might as well get it done and done quickly.
- Writer
