Salvage: Book 3 of the Magic Mutations Series

7: Olivia

November, 2018

"Olivia? Olivia! Honey, please talk to me," he pleaded from the passenger seat as I tried to keep both hands on the wheel with eyes straight on the road while I headed home after uni.

Though focussing on the asphalt whizzing past and the green, red, and amber lights was easier said than done when I had voices seemingly screaming at me from all directions.

He's not really there, Olivia... you're losing it, I continued to chant internally, determined to not look. I was absolutely sure that, if I pretended my mind hadn't dipped into a new level of insanity, everything would go back to how it was.

A very small part in the back of my head was whispering stupid hopes though, making it impossible to fully ignore this... new reality. No... Not a reality. A delusion for sure.

Unless, the desperation breathed in my ear, This is real and it's a delay from Marli's spell yesterday.

Why would her spell have a delay? That makes no—

"Olivia! Why aren't you talking to me? I know you can hear me based on the expressions on your face when I speak. Please don't shut me out now that we can properly talk. Please," the apparition of Ben tried again, cutting off my internal debate just before I could reason with the stupid optimisim that insisted I was somehow in my right mind.

But again, I shook my head and tried to focus my attention... which lasted almost a minute until the intrusive thoughts came back in and 'Ben' continued to shout at me.

Unable to withstand it anymore and knowing I'd be alone with this nonsense for at least the next few hours until mum finished work, I took a detour ten minutes from the house.

"Where are you going?" he asked, but, once again, I ignored him. He didn't need answers.

Besides... he was in my head; he should know where I was going already.

As the bottle-o came into sight, I watched him stiffen in my peripherals. "Don't tell me you're getting alcohol. Why?" he implored.

But I merely tensed my jaw and did my best to not fully give into the crazy.

Crazy... I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy.

"Why are you drinking, Olivia?" he continued to demand as I navigated through the drive-through, winding down my window in the process. "You don't have a party or anything tonight."

I bit my tongue until the taste of rust enveloped me, holding back my desperate retort of, 'The only reason you know what I'm doing tonight is because you're a figment of my imagination!' But I stood steadfast in my will to pretend he wasn't there... and the shop assistant was approaching, so I needed to act like I was still sane.

"Do you have ID?" was the first thing the guy asked me as his gaze flickered around my face.

With a slight roll of my eyes, I pulled out my licence and handed it to him. The guy—who looked no older than me—glanced me over, a slight upwards turn of his lips as he passed it back.

"What can I get you, love?" he then purred as he realised I was suddenly no longer jailbait.

"Ugh, if I had a physical body, I'd snap his neck for looking at you with those filthy eyes," Ben mumbled quietly—as though his volume mattered when he was only in my head.

"Just a bottle of vodka," I uttered back, trying to force a smile in return when all I wanted to do was cringe away. Responses like this from humans had become more frequent since I had transformed. And now that I no longer had people around me to ward them off...