Whatever You Want

Chapter 1

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Raven stood with her friends in body only, her mind lifetimes away, distracted by dreams of simpler times. Days before the invention of cell phones and social media. A world where she could talk to anyone she fancied, rather than the list of “popular approved” suitors. Attempting to date while circumnavigating the pitfalls of high school politics was proving too much for Raven. In her imagination she wore a corset and gown, dancing in the field of an Emily Bronte novel. Connor would ride on over, pull her up onto his horse and take her roughly in the barn.

“What are you daydreaming about?” Alissa interrupted the fantasy.

‘I can’t even have a love affair in my head without Little Miss Popular ruining it,’ Raven thought.

“Just wondering what sort of delight Darren has in store for us tonight,” Raven said with a touch of sarcasm, knowing that Alissa was not a fan of Darren and his unusual parties. A Gathering would be a better word for tonight’s special event of witchcraft.

A myriad of tealight candles and flashlights lit the abandoned Victorian mansion, casting long shadows on the faces of her classmates. Raven giggled as her friends, Kenny and Rhys, began using their flashlights as lightsabres.

“Guy’s, stop it, we’re gonna get caught if someone spots the lights,” Libby scolded them, putting an end to the epic battle.

“Nobody lives around here babes,” Rhys started to argue.

“Yes, but someone could drive past and see the place lit up like Blackpool illuminations,”

The boys snickered, “Okay, mum.”

Raven circled the room, watching as one her classmates drew symbols onto the floorboards in red chalk.

“Normally we would use blood, but I didn’t fancy sacrificing a goat,” he told the group who had gathered to observe.  Some of them laughed.

“This is stupid,” Alissa sneered. “Why are we even here?”

She pulled on Raven's sleeve and led her to the corner of the room. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she motioned for Raven to join her.

“Cigarette?” Alissa offered.

Raven shook her head.

“Are you going to make a wish?” Raven asked.

Alissa screwed up her nose. “Of course, I’m not. This whole thing is ridiculous. We should just get the others and go.”

“They seem pretty into it,” Raven replied with a half-smile as she looked over at her friends with longing. In all honestly, she loved all things occult and was happy her peers were also obsessing over witchcraft, rituals and seances. She knew it wouldn’t last. Last month it had been Pokémon Go. Next month it would be something else entirely, and there was no way to predict it.

Last Friday the group had gathered in the graveyard for a less than successful séance, when Darren, the self-appointed expert and leader of escapades announced he had discovered a spell to grant one wish to each of the attendees.  Word must have spread like wildfire because the turnout was double that of the séance.

As Darren prepared to read the words of his spell from his home-made book of shadows, he hyped the crowd with a dire warning.

“You can wish for anything you choose, so long as your wish causes no harm to another person or the natural order. Any harm you cause will return to you threefold.”

“Just get on with it,” Kenny jeered, impatient as ever.

Darren took a couple of tries to light up the newspapers in the metal bin at the centre of the circle. Grey smoke billowed up, making him cough and stand back until the flames died back a little.

“God of Chaos, hear our plea,”

“Grand the wish I tell to ye,”

“Accept the offerings into the light,”

“Hear the longing in our hearts,”

“Take our pain,”

“Twist it into gain,”

“By the power of three by three,”

“So, mote it be,”

The circle of her friends and classmates took their pieces of paper and personal items and placed them into the flames, giggling with nerves.

“Spells can’t grant wishes,” Alissa groaned. “Why is everyone so stupid?”

“I guess for the same reason so many people play the lottery,” Raven shrugged.

As her group of friends veered from the main group and walked up, providing Alissa with fresh ears to moan to, Raven took her chance to duck off. The flames were almost out as she approached. Darren smiled in encouragement, sensing her hesitation.

In her curled fist was a crumpled and sweat-stained note with the word, “Connor.”

Her offering was a small plush toy her Father had given her for her third birthday. She felt a pang of guilt as the flames licked at her furry friend, turning his coat from brown to charcoal black.

“Make sure you put this fire out,” Raven reminded Darren. “We don’t want to burn down the only haunted house in town.”

“We are staying till it goes out,” Darren assured. We; meaning his group of friends. His group of friends including Connor. Raven scanned the room as discreetly as she could manage, searching for her crush. He had his back to her, talking to his usual group. Raven didn’t linger to try to talk to him. She had a well thought out plan to get his attention.