Forgotten Dreams

"What have you done?" the headmaster bellowed, all eyes now turned to me as he stood over the unconscious body on the playground, blue sparks still dancing across my skin like lightning. “I-I didn’t mean to.” I stuttered, not sure of what to say. “This is the third time this month.” the headmaster sighed. I looked at the ground, ashamed of what I had done. “Paige, I understand how hard it can be to control your magic, but you need to stop this. Killing people isn’t going to help anything.” I felt rage boil up inside me. “It's not my fault. She was…” I hesitated, feeling tears burning behind my eyes. “She was making fun of me because of my parents.” My mother was a Wiccan, and my dad was just a regular human. I wasn't even supposed to be able to use magic, yet here I was at one of the most famous magic schools in the world, Begrelts Academy Of Magic. “Paige, you do realize that I'm going to have to file another report for this, don't you?” the headmaster half-whispered. “Yes sir” I mumbled, hearing some kids snickering at me. “And you do realize that one more incident like this and you could be expelled?” I glanced at the crowd that started to gather around us. “Yes sir” I sighed, I've already been kicked out of nine other schools and I couldn't afford to be kicked out of another one. The headmaster glared at the onlookers and started walking me toward the office. As we passed Mrs. Harper, my potions teacher, he leaned over and whispered something to her. She nodded, pulling her phone out and dialed the nurse's number. He continued toward his office, while I dragged myself along behind him. He opened the door to his office and sat down in his chair. His desk was smooth and dark, possibly walnut of mahogany. His nameplate read Mr. Weich, and the papers on his desk were stacked neatly. He dug through a file cabinet before pulling out a light cream colored folder with the name “Paige H. Burgett” and set it on his desk. “Stay here while I call your mother” Mr. Weich sighed, walking out of the room. I sat for what seemed like hours, waiting for him to come back. He finally walked back into his office and sat down in his black leather chair with a sigh. “Your mother is on her way to pick you up.” I just nodded my head. “Why is it always my fault?” I muttered, but he didn't hear me. After briefly skimming through my file, he stood up and led me to a dark room across from his office. “You are going to stay here until your mother arrives,” he said, somewhat sympathetically. I looked to the floor, hoping he would leave soon. As if he read my mind, he left. I sat down in the corner of the room, hugging my knees to my chest and started to cry. All the kids made fun of me, they called me a half breed and said I didn't belong at a magic school. They insulted my mother for being a witch by choice instead of by blood. It was true, I didn't belong here, I wasn't even supposed to be a witch. It was a one in a billion chance that I would be born with magic and I was. I heard a knock at the door and hastily wiped the tears from my eyes. Ms. Gordon, the school secretary poked her head in the small, dimly lit room. “Your mom is here to pick you up,” she said warmly and lead me out of the room and through the maze of hallways to the main entrance. My mom smiled when she saw me, but I knew she didn't mean it. I followed her out to her car and got in, buckling my seat belt and secretly hoping my mom wouldn't say anything to me. I leaned back in the passenger seat and closed my eyes while my mom started the engine and pulled out of the parking spot. Her blue almond-shaped eyes were dull, her once thick, straight brown hair was thinning and turning grey. It was clear her last spell had backfired, aging her more rapidly, just one of the many dangers of being a Wiccan. We sat in silence for the entire ride, and as soon as we pulled up to our small, two-bedroom, log cabin style house, I walked quickly up the stairs to my room and locked it. I sighed and plopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I lay there for a while before looking over to my dog who was stretched out on the rug. I sat down next to him and began petting his short, brown fur. He yawned and looked sleepily up at me. "Why does everyone always blame me Remmy?" I muttered and buried my face in his soft, brown fur. He looked quizzically at me before barking softly and l*****g my nose. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it when I heard a knock at the door. I shuffled over and unlocked the door, opening it a c***k. "What do you want mom?" I asked "I thought you might want to talk about what happened." my mom said sweetly. "Not in the mood," I said, closing the door on her. "Please Paige, let me in." She called. I sighed and opened the door, holding it for my mom as she walked in. "Paige, Please sit down." she cooed. I obediently sat on the edge of my bed and faced my mom, afraid to say anything to her. "Paige, I was talking to Mr. Weich earlier today and..." she trailed off "and we think that you're magic is too powerful for you to control." "What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat knowing what she was talking about. My Mom let out a long, sad sigh. "It means that we think you should be, how should I say this, removed." I knew it! "Removed?" I said, trying to sound innocent. "We both agreed that the board of magic should, well, we think that it would be safer for everyone if you were executed." "Executed?!" I practically screamed. "I knew you never loved me. No one could ever love the half-breed, the freak, the mistake!" My mom gave me a hurt look and walked out of my room, closing the door behind her. I sobbed, knowing what I had said wasn't true. I lay in bed that night thinking back on my short life. 15 years was too young for someone to leave this world. I began to wonder, "Is there an afterlife?", "What happens after I'm gone?", "Am I ever going to see my mom again?" I pondered these questions until I eventually passed out from exhaustion. I awoke the next day, knowing that in a few short hours I would be gone. I took a shower and got dressed before going downstairs for breakfast. My mom was already standing by the door, holding her car keys in one hand and a granola bar in the other. She handed me the granola bar and began walking to her lilac-colored van. I climbed in and my mom started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them we were parked in front of an old, stone castle. We got out of the car and walked toward the door, knowing each step led us closer to my death. My mom paused before the giant wooden door and embraced me for the last time "I'm doing this for you Paige." she choked back tears and kissed my cheek before releasing me and pushing the door open. We walked down a long winding hallway that led into a large circular room. I glanced around nervously, seeing many men and women in different colored robes. An elderly looking man wearing a white robe walked to the middle and gestured for me to walk toward him. My feet felt like lead as I approached the man. The man put out his hand as if asking for a handshake. I cautiously grasped it and immediately felt a strange tingling sensation throughout my entire body. I glanced down at the man's hand, blue flames radiating off of it and traveling up my arm to the rest of my body. At first, the tingling was mild and somewhat comforting but soon grew into an intense burning feeling. It felt as though my skin was melting off my bones. I looked up and locked eyes with the man, that was when I realized that I was dying. I started to fade in and out of consciousness and an intense scalding feeling burned my internal organs as if I had swallowed boiling water. I looked over to my mother. We locked eyes for a moment before she pulled out a knife and made a small slit in her palm. A blood oath, vowing to never have another child. A single tear ran down my mother's cheek, mixing with the small pool of blood that had formed at my mother's feet. Then everything went black.