Wicka

1. MY ESCAPE

Wicka and subsequent books belonging to “Chronicles of Elizabeth Blake” series are available on Amazon.

Alone.  Horribly and utterly alone was the most positive feeling I could muster.  I longed to be free from the despair that engulfed me.  I could barely focus.  Gwyneth, my best friend, had been excused from exams.  When your mother dies, you’re afforded certain concessions.  When your mother “figure” dies, you get to write exams. 

I looked around at my peers, who were concentrating on their papers, trying to write as much as they possibly could before the clock ran out. Their pens moved furiously. I chuckled out loud at how insignificant the entire process was when the teacher cleared her throat and gestured for me to continue with my exam. To appease my intrusive teacher, I glanced back at my paper even though I knew there was no hope of concentration. 

I found myself staring out of the window. It seemed to be a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, leaves and flowers were blooming, and birds were chirping. Why, with such bright and beautiful prospects in front of me, did it feel so dark and cold?

The bell rang, startling me and bringing me back to reality—a reality where, upon glancing at the half empty pages in front of me, I had next to no hope of passing this exam. I wondered if it was even worth turning in.  I didn’t care.  I just wanted to leave but had nowhere to go.  The teacher had to insist twice that student’s stop writing, I had already packed up my bag. 

Up until two weeks ago, grade eleven was proving to be an amazing year. I was at the top of my class academically, my soccer team had just won the championship, and socially, let’s just say, I was no longer a pariah. Things were great.

Gwyneth wasn’t as athletic as I was, but we pretty much did everything else together.  We lived beside each other, and our mothers were best friends. Our families were always together, and so, we felt very secure around each other.

That may have been why neither of us had ever really had a serious boyfriend. There was never a void that needed to be filled or a guy either of us liked enough to spend any real time with.

About six months ago, we overheard our mothers chatting about how lucky they were that we never got into any of that foolish “boy stuff.” It’s funny that we never felt abnormal; I suppose most people would have. 

Our summer was set to be incredible. Gwyneth’s family had friends who lived in Bay City. They kept a boat at their local marina and had invited us to stay with them for a couple of nights. It was going to be our first road trip. We would drive up together, spend a couple of days on the boat, and catch a concert before heading home. We were so excited. We had never been away by ourselves before.

It had taken a lot of convincing by Clara Hill, Gwyneth’s mom, but my mom eventually conceded that my staying with family friends at seventeen wasn’t the worst idea in the world. Although she would never admit to it being a good idea, the best we could hope for was that it wasn’t the “worst” idea. 

Gwyneth wanted to go shopping, insisting she had nothing to bring with her on our road trip. I didn’t like to shop but agreed to go with her as I always did. The longer I could go without having to enter a mall, the better. Gwyneth or my mom would always show up with a new shirt or pair of jeans when they felt I had sufficiently “loved” my current ones enough.

I brought a book to occupy myself with while Gwyneth tried on clothes. Vampires that wreaked havoc on normal societies while trying not be detected were my guilty pleasure. For some reason they intrigued me although I never understood why they didn’t just rise up and take over if they were so much more powerful than humans.