Wand

Prologue: Ten Years Ago

The bus traveled noisily through the green expanse of the rural countryside. Outside, lush mountainside cascaded the view, along with birds flapping through the clear, blue sky. It was a solemn sight – one that would inspire an artist in making his magnum opus.

Inside the bus, there was also silence, but due to the fact that there were only a few people there. On the back seat, a lone girl of sixteen sat while listening to some music that was passed through the white I-Pod headphones she wore on her ears. This particular girl had long, silky black hair that was very carefully combed. She wore a simple red blouse topped by a black jacket, blue jeans and a pair of dirty white sneakers. The bright colors of her outfit complemented her slightly tanned skin, though her dress wasn’t much of a tight fit for her slender build.

Samantha Yeare’s green eyes gazed at the marvelous view outside. How long had it been since she’d seen such untouched beauty? She rummaged through her memories and triumphantly got hold of the answer – ten years. Yup, it had been ten years since she left her hometown and set out for the busy streets of New York. And now, finally, Samantha, or Sam as she had been usually called, was coming back to where she belonged. Or at least, where her father belonged.

Sam reviewed her memories again and remembered the day before her mother announced that she was leaving for good and taking her daughter with her. She blushed whenever she does reminisce it, but it was – though she wouldn’t admit it herself – one of the reasons why she was excited to come back home.

Sam went back to a time ten years ago.

“Hey, are you alright?” asked a six-year old Sam. The question was addressed to a young boy of about her age, who was crying beneath a huge oak tree. Cowering, he had sat there miserably for some time that the girl tried hard not to notice, but just couldn’t.

The boy looked up to her, his dark blue eyes wet with tears. He had short blonde hair that was combed neatly, very fair skin and a pleasant face. Sam smiled at him and the boy answered it with a sniff.

“Are you hurt?” asked Sam tentatively.

The boy shook his head. He then stared at Sam for a while and pointed at the branches of the tree above them. The girl looked up and saw something on the branches, glinting gold on the sunlight of the morning, recognizing it as a silver necklace with a golden cross as a pendant.

“Is that yours?” queried the girl. The boy nodded. “How did it get there?” To this, the boy did not answer and shrunk back further into the shadows of the tree.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it for you,” Sam offered with a smile. The boy looked up at her in surprise but by then, she had already hugged the huge trunk of the tree, took off her slippers and started a precarious climb.

The boy watched in awe as the girl expertly ascended the large tree. Not long after that, Sam reached the long yet narrow branch that held the boy’s pendant. She sat on the branch and crawled towards it – the necklace was on the farthermost tip of the tree’s finger-like extensions. As the girl moved, it sent some of the leaves to the ground, showering the watching boy in a rain of green.

Slowly, Sam crept on like a caterpillar. She had to be cautious – she was hovering at least ten feet from the ground. At last, she could almost reach the golden necklace. She just needed to move a little closer and then…

A snap. The branch broke and sent both girl and pendant falling to the ground.

When Sam opened her eyes, she saw the fair-haired boy staring at her. She jolted up and found herself sitting on the ground below the tree – the same spot the boy had been crying on a while ago. She looked at the boy and noticed that he was already wearing the cross pendant. With the pendant, she remembered the fall and the –

“Thank you,” said the boy, the first time Sam ever heard him speak. His azure eyes sparkled and he gave out a very radiant smile that the young girl felt something peck near her chest – something she hadn’t felt before.

“You-you’re welcome…” said Sam nervously, wondering why she was so anxious all of a sudden. She tried to stand up but felt then a sudden sharp pain on her knee that made her yell in agony. “Ow!”

Sam looked at her knee and found out that it was bruised. She did hurt herself after all. Worse, she couldn’t even stand because of it. She tried to touch it and it hurt. Badly.

The young girl was about to cry when the boy touched her knee with his right hand. Samantha looked at him and saw his focused gaze as he stared at the bruised spot with concentration. He murmured something incomprehensible and to Sam’s astonishment, his hand glowed with warm golden light.

Sam gasped and felt the pain seeping out. And when the boy took off his hand, she noticed that the bruise was gone. The girl tried to stand up and was perfectly back on her feet; it was like the wound wasn’t even there in the first place.

“Whoa…” muttered Sam, still astonished. “What did you do?”

The boy smiled at her, under a shower of leaves. “Magic…” he said simply.

“Magic…” muttered Samantha, as her reverie ended. The teenage girl shook herself – there was no such thing. Ever since that incident, nothing had ever happened that proved its existence. She had once told herself that that memory was just made-up – nothing but a fragment of her imagination.

But half of her mind said it was true. It was too vivid and too realistic to be a faux. She could still remember the feeling of the oak leaves falling on her head, the feeling of dread as she fell from the tree and the feeling of awkwardness and nervousness when the boy smiled at her.

Sam shook her head. At least now that she was returning, she could finally find out if what had happened that day really occurred. And that boy, if ever he’s real, Samantha wanted to meet him again. If he is real, that is.