Tara

She sprawled backwards, falling over the kitchen table and crashing to the linoleum floor. The coolness of her cheek against the floor was a momentary respite quickly ended by a hand gripping her hair, pulling her back to her feet. She could see red dots speckled on her blouse, the table, the floor, and only belatedly realized it was her own blood.

This wasn’t the first time her step-father had attacked her but it was the most brutal attack yet. His drinking, his failed career and the loss of his wife, Tara’s mother, had created a monster in him that was lashing out at the world, starting with Tara.

But tonight was different because Tara was different. It had started a few days before the attack, and Tara thought she was going crazy. She had been hearing voices that weren’t there and began to just… know things. Either she was psychic or psycho and she was leaning towards the latter.

The pain in her scalp intensified as he pulled her up to look him in his drunken face. Her head felt like it was on fire, like all of her was aflame and would burn to a pile of gray dust. Right about now, she welcomed the feeling and wanted to burn away if only to stop the pain.

She closed her eyes, waiting for a fist to smash into her face but it never came. Only after her step-father yelped in what sounded like pain did she look. The kitchen around her was bright and flickering yellow and red in the colors of fire, but she didn’t see anything burning.

It was the look of horror on her step-father’s face that made her look down, at herself. Ribbons of yellow, blue, and red licked along her legs in pulses that did not burn. She wasn’t sure what was happening but she liked the look of fear on her attacker’s face.

“No more!” she yelled, thrusting her hand out towards her step-father, who was already scrambling to regain his feet. A column of blue fire streamed from her arm and arced into the cupboards inches from the fleeing man’s head. The faux wood cabinetry that exploded everywhere blinded Tara but she still heard the backdoor slammed open and knew that he had run.

The surreal fire that sheathed her body faded away, and Tara crumbled into a heap on the kitchen floor, sobbing into her knees.

She knew this was it, she could no longer be in this house after tonight. Not after whatever had just happened. She wasn’t even sure she was human anymore but she was damned sure that it was moving time. Of all the things she didn’t know, where she could go was at the top of the list.

She thought of Chloe and Rider, her best friends. They were into new age magic stuff way more than she was, though she always played along in their séances and spells. They’d know what to do.

Maybe Chloe could find a spot in her basement for Tara and help her figure out what was going one, because she sure didn’t understand any of it.

She packed some clothes and essentials into a backpack and snuck away from the house in the dead of night.

She never saw the fire that jumped from her as she walked away because not one part of her had any desire to even look back. The lick of flame entered through an open window and a yellow glow began to grow throughout the structure.

Tara tapped lightly against the ground-floor window, wincing whenever she made too much noise. Just as her frustration was reaching a peak, the curtains rustled and a pale face framed by jet black hair stared at Tara through the glass.

"Chloe, something's happened," she whispered urgently.

"It's Magick, isn't it?" Chloe opened the window and pulled her inside just in time for Tara to collapse against her friend and begin sobbing all over again.

Between sobs Tara pulled back from Chloe, her head cocked inquisitively "How did you know? Wait, what did you do?"

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Stay tuned for the next episode of The 'Kers. Thank you for spending time here.

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