Thaumaturgy Apatheia

Chapter One

Aris Goode sat patiently in her guidance counselor’s office while she waited for her counselor Mrs. Fields, a good hearted yet ditzy woman, to arrive for their appointment, which she herself was late for. Aris of course already knew why she was there, her counselor was concerned that she was not putting all of her effort into graduating and going to college and therefore not reaching her full potential. She was right; Aris was not putting much of any effort at all into school, not because she didn’t understand, not because she was lazy, but because she just couldn’t find it in her to care about her future. Aris knew she was smart, back when she did care she made straight As and achieved many academic achievements, but those days were long behind her.

Aris looked around the room she'd been in a many times before; as usual the desk was cluttered with paper which barely spilled over the keyboard to the ancient desktop that sat in sleep mode. On the neutral lavender walls hung framed certificates, pictures of flowers, posters with inspirational quotes, and random post it notes with all kinds of things scrawled in her counselor's professionally messy handwriting. On the wall opposite of where Aris sat hung an older looking oval mirror with a brass frame.

Aris stared at her reflection studying her own facial features; she had small brown eyes that puffed at the bottom making it appear as if she permanently had bags, eyes which hid behind the large black square framed glasses she needed to see. Her nose was wide and her cheeks were chubby which made her look a whole lot younger than she actually was, her lips full a dark shade of pink, her skin a light shade of ebony. Her thick neck length black hair fell in small wavy over her forehead underneath the little knit hat she wore almost every day.

Aris was still staring at herself when a frazzled with slightly disheveled clothing Mrs. Fields rushed into her office carrying a large stack of blue papers almost ten minutes late to their meeting. “I am so sorry for being late Aris,” she said as she drop the stack on her desk and sat down in her though it was obvious she would have preferred to plop. Mrs. Fields was a bird-like yet pretty woman in her late thirties, early forties. Taller than average with a boney frame, her skin was tanned from years living in North Carolina, she had sharp facial features, big brown eyes riddled with crow’s feet, worry lines permanently etched on her face from years as a counselor, and rosy cheeks that she boosted with blush. Atop her head laid a mop of light brown curls she extenuated with brightly colored scarfs and barrettes which often matched her bright clothing.

“No problem,” Aris said with a wave. “How are you today? You look tired.”

“Oh I am,” the woman said with an exhausted sigh. “But otherwise I’m fine. How are you today?”

“I would say I’m fine also but I’m here so…” Aris trailed off, looking at her counselor intently.

“Oh, no no no,” Fields said shaking her head, “you’re not in trouble or anything it’s just, you’ve been in your senior year for a little over a month now and you haven’t come to me about any colleges or scholarships or anything like that and well I think we should talk about these things. I mean Aris, you’re a very bright girl, you scored nearly perfect on your SATs and your ACTs, yet you’re just barely passing your classes, you haven’t invested in any extracurricular activities, and honestly I’m a tad bit worried.” She paused and looked me in the eyes a grave look on her face. “You do want to go to college don’t you?”

Aris sat and stared at her counselor silently. College had always been a fleeting thought to her; at one point she would have replied, “Of course I want to go to college,” but now she wasn’t so sure.

Reading the silence for what it meant Mrs. Fields frowned sadly. “Aris I know you’ve only been with us here for a year but I really do truly care about you and want you to succeed. That being said I can’t allow you to just throw your life away,” she looked behind Aris to the door and nodded.