The Wizard

I went to bed without dinner one night shortly after my 13th birthday under the pretense of telling my parents I hadn’t been feeling well as I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had been following me for the last week.

The hairs on my back pricked up hours later before I realized there was a faint outline of a man with red eyes hovering in my bedroom.

I screamed even if it didn’t matter since no one came to my aid because the man must have knocked out my parents; I was sure of it.

Each end of the man’s tailcoat spurted at me, breaking into a total of four pieces while they wrapped around my hands and feet.

A fog dragged us through the air and I made a loud thumping sound when I landed in a shed. I then shuffled to the exit, attempting to open the door only to discover it remained locked.

***

I gazed at the walls of the shed, biting down on one of my nails after realizing I had made 1,470 tally marks with the chalk the Wizard provided me, as if it were some sort of sick torture. Evidently, he wanted me to know how long I had been held captive. My gaze shifted to the fourth wall for a moment. It was scarred with pink, green, and purple tally marks, proving I hadn’t been the first to be held captive. After all, the Wizard only provided me with blue chalk.

The rays of the descending sunlight poked into the shed, signaling the start of dinner.

 A cloud crackled through the air, making a plate of toast and glass of water appear on the table.

Oh yeah, did I mention the shed also had a table and a chair?

I shuffled over to the table, shoving the piece of toast into my mouth in one sitting before gulping down the water in case the Wizard decided to take it away as a punishment.

A perfume wafted through the air while I continued sitting, as if the Wizard knew it would make me nostalgic for my Mom.

A shadow slashed by the window hours later since a daily evening check was another part of the routine.

The only problem was this evening was different because flames flowed out of my right arm, making me pierce the night with agonizing shrills. It must have been my punishment for trying to open the door at the end of the maze during my exercise hour in the morning today.

I sobbed all night, realizing enough was enough. It didn’t matter if I died. I was determined to sneak into the Wizard’s tower and steal his wand during my exercise tomorrow morning because using magic would be my only way out of the maze. It was the right decision as I guessed he sometimes took naps during that time since he knew I couldn’t leave the maze without magic.

I woke up the following morning while the door opened, as if on cue, which meant it was time for exercise.

I darted out of the shed, scanning the property, as I made my way to the tower.

I climbed up the wisteria, inching closer and closer to the window, and breathed a sigh of relief that he was napping.

I slid through the window, making sure not to make a noise before grabbing the wand. I climbed down the wisteria again and flinched when he almost woke up.

I clipped through the maze, and arrived at the door, waiving the wand. The door dissolved and I stepped through it before waving the wand again, causing it to seal.

I smiled. My suspicions were right. I was back in the real world at last.

***

The train honked, waking me up from my dream before rolling into the train station while slicing through the fog.

I scurried off the train, pushing my way through the crowd of people.

“It’s good to see you Lucy,” said a guy’s voice as I stepped off the platform and onto to the ground.

I flashed a smile. “You too Javier.”

A missing poster containing a picture of my face popped out at me in the distance, causing me to scoff. Someone must have forgotten to take the poster down or something, which was odd because I had been home for over a year now.

The wind whistled in the background, pushing a different poster towards me.

I glanced at the paper, realizing it was a picture of another missing girl who also happened to be a blonde like me.

 “It’s nice you’re finally visiting me. I mean you’ve been home for a little over a year now.”

I flipped my hair over my shoulders. “Well, you are my boyfriend.”

He grabbed my hand while we trekked towards the parking lot. “I know, but your parents have been kind of strict lately.”

“I guess they don’t believe my story since they still think I’m the girl that lied about not getting expelled from middle school.”

Javier stared at the scar on my right arm. “How did you get that?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. No problem.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. But they never found the man Lucy.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s because they aren’t looking in the right spot, and his name is the Wizard.”

“Is he the one who gave you that scar?” Javier asked.

“What do you think?”

I’d give Javier one thing; he was more patient than my therapist. But I knew the truth, and that was enough.

I ultimately kept the wand hidden in a drawer at my parents’ house because the Wizard was smart and must have had emergency magic even if his wand was gone. There was no doubt about it. He lurked in the background somewhere, waiting to prey on his next victim.

THE END

© 2015 Chris Bedell

E-mail: Chris Bedell

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