Star of Success

I wake up at the sound of the harsh wind hammering on the windows, the strong force almost shattered them if it weren’t for my sister, Blaise who lazily walks to the kitchen and shut them close. She humps on her way to my room and drop on the bed next to me and pull the covers over her head, after allowing the freezing temperature sneak into my bed, making me shiver. Sighing, I open my phone to check the time and it is already nine in the morning. I huff and turn back to Blaise who’s looking at me with her big, doe, brown eyes, grudgingly. I got used to her morning behavior, it was annoying at first but completely understandable. She pulls herself next to me, seeking a morning hug, I wrap my arms around her back and then pull away before she gets too clingy and demands to sleep for the entire day. Shivering, I wrap my robe around my shoulders and enter the kitchen, I stare at the window after turning on the boiler to make myself a cup of coffee. It’s pretty windy outside and the dark grey clouds that are floating dangerously in the sky are signaling a storm that is about to arrive. I hear my sister enter and take out a mug from the cabinet. She brings my mug to her side and pours us both coffee, neither of us speak as we enter the living room. We wrap blankets around us and take our first sip, my sister doesn’t usually talk in the morning but after drinking her coffee, she turns into a chirpy bird that spreads enthusiasm around her audience. She always knows how to brighten up my day, even the darkest clouds wouldn’t ruin her mood. I lie there and let its warmness consume me. A little bit of its bitter flavor, replaces the dryness in my mouth and increases my energy to endure the torturing I receive throughout the day. My day isn’t usually complete if my boss doesn’t bicker about the details of my work, ignoring my achievements, and brags about herself in front of every person in the world. However, I don’t have to go to work today thanks to the storm, but I still have my chores to do. So, I swing my legs off the couch after finishing my coffee, and pull on a hoodie and leggings and slide into my fuzzy socks. I don’t bother tidying my short brown hair, I comb it with my fingers on one side, which did the job. My obnoxiously annoying boss gave us an order to work from home, this day was an opportunity for me to enjoy my day at home, wrapped up with heavy blankets, sitting in front of the fireplace, and drinking coffee with my sister as we enjoy a movie marathon all day. But when my boss, Dolivo, gets involved, all the fun plans I make, evaporate in thin air. I head to the kitchen and open the fridge, taking out cheese, bread, ham, and five eggs. I open the cupboards and search for the fry pan, I swim through the utensils trying to find it but fail, as if it disappeared into nothingness. But of course, it did, I sigh to myself and snort. I turn around to see my cheeky sister holding the pan in her hand and grinning childishly. I try to take it from her but she hides it behind her back and then makes a ‘whoosh’ and poses her hands in front of me in a way magicians do after performing a trick, showing me, it magically disappeared. I’m really not in the mood for her games so I shrug my shoulders and cut the bread and spread cheese on it. Before I put the ham slices, I hear a clang of metal and turn to see the pan on the stove and the crisping sound of melting butter make me stop in my tracks. My sister takes two dramatic steps to the stove and breaks the eggs without touching them by holding her gaze at the levitated eggs in front of her. I raise my eyebrow at her while she returns a shocked look as if not believing my reaction. “I don’t want to get my hands wet with eggs,” she says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. She sprinkles some shredded cheese and scramble the eggs before serving it on the table. I take a spoonful and put it on my sandwich. “I went to the store yesterday, and I got a few stares,” my sister suddenly mumbled. “What did you do?” I drop my sandwich and stare at Blaise angrily. She looks at me innocently and gives me a small pout, she creases her eyebrows and plays with her fork. “I had a fight with the manager for telling me that I’m not allowed to eat grapes in the store…so I told him I will buy it, I mean we used to do that when we used to go shopping with mom and dad, right? And now he said that it’s not permitted, so I got a bit mad and blew up the grape section,” “BLAISE!” I yell. “I know, I’m sorry, but I don’t think they still suspect us,” she says lowly. I sigh and lean back to the chair, now I know why she made me breakfast and performed her little show. I roll my eyes and shake my head in disappointment. “We swore not to use our magic in public, they already fear us.” It’s a lesson I always tell my sister and remind her of our promise. Our ancestors held magical abilities for about two hundred years, and it was passed to each generation. Every child born in the Adhara family receives a different gift when he turns eleven years. Legend says that my great-great-great grandparents were struggling to survive in the war, and tried everything they can to keep their four children alive. One night, while the entire family was sleeping, the kids woke up in the middle of the night to find their room shining brightly, as if the sunlight was directed entirely in their room. The kids were looking around the room in awe, it was a sight to glorify; a cool breeze of air flowed around them and rose them in air for a few seconds then gently placed them on the floor. One of the children, Maurice, fell backwards and clutched the bed for support. He gasped when the hard wood, slowly started glowing and turning the old wood into hard, solid, gold. His sister, Elizabeth, ran into her parents’ room to wake them, it was a short run since her feet took her in less than a second to them. Once she woke them, it was hard for them to believe what they saw as they entered their children’s room: Maurice was touching everything and turning it into gold and then tapping it again to remove the expensive element as he touched his brother’s hand and laughing at his petrified face. The latter, Thomas, jumped away from his brother and flew high in the room till he touched the ceiling. Jefferson, was gasping at the mirror as his face was changing its shape and color. At that moment they knew their lives were about to change for the better, they built the mansion that we now live in, all thanks to Maurice who bought it with his gold. They hid their gifts from the world for a long time and raised a family and they all lived together richly. All their kids grew with new gifts and passed it down to the next generation. Their happiness, however, didn’t last long, Thomas’s grandson had made a small scene in the market which draw the whole village’s attention. He set fire to a stack of corns with his hands and hell broke loose at the terrifying sight. They demanded their death on the spot, Thomas rushed to his family’s house and warned them, the young mothers took their children and fled from the town before anyone noticed their departure. The rest of the men and their wives stood their ground and demanded a fair argument, but none of the villagers wanted to listen. Just before they could defend themselves with their gifts, an unknown stranger sent a large fireball at the house, burning everyone in it. The house was magically left as it was, expect for a triangular sign with a burning flame inside it that is still etched in my living’s room floor, which is currently covered with a rug. Everyone was left in shock as they stared at the burning flames that flew directly into the room, swallowing all of my ancestors hungrily. The news of their death was sent to my grandmother and her sisters, they spent the night crying their eyes out, but none of it really mattered. Their families were gone, they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere and their children’s cries from hunger filled the quiet town. It was stated by one of the grand-children, who was blessed with gifts of wisdom, that the fireball that was sent thrashing into our home was made by a powerful sorcerer and has brought a curse to those who fled. He warned the mothers that a lifetime of misery shall set upon them if they don’t separate. That was the curse the evil sorcerer tormented the family with. So, the sisters took their separate ways in the life and each continued her life with her children on her own. They kept moving from one town to another and kept their secret away from the rest of the world. We only returned to this mansion about seventy years ago, when my grandfather came to this town and demanded his mansion back. The town only agreed to welcome him and his family back, if they were clear from any source of magic. He made an excuse that the magic died and we’re born normal. Since then, we’ve been living peacefully, the people still give us loathing stares and sometimes drag their kids away from us, as if we’re about to tear them apart if they get close. My parents weren’t bothered at all whatsoever, instead they found it hilarious, and made us live our lives as normal as possible. They took us to school and we managed to make new friends who weren’t pleasant at first as they called my home, the witches’ house. We were quite a happy family, until my parents’ sorrowful death three years ago. They died in a car crash leaving us the responsibility to take care of this house. All in all, we managed, and now have jobs with a fair salary and food on our table, what more could we ask for? I shake the thoughts away from my head and stand up to continue my unfinished business that my boss left me. “We’re safe Stella, no one believes in magic anymore,” my sister tells me after taking a bite from her sandwich. It may sound relieving to hear, but…it still kills me that after all my family’s been through, we’re left to ignore their existence. The famous stories we’ve been proud to know and be part of, are left to fade away from our memories. I lay on the couch in the living room with a large file in my hands, I have to make a few calls before noon and make sure that the equipment will arrive next week before the show. I rub my forehead and throw the file on the table after checking that everything is ready for next week. My sister comes into the room with her laptop in her hands and places it on the table. I realize that she’s working on a new project, since I read a different title on her screen. She’s studied literature and is currently working as an editor and an author. She sits next to me and waves her hand in midair: two mugs of hot tea fly into the room and gently stand in our palms warming us from the nasty frostbites. My sister looks at me for a moment and then takes a sip from her mug. She seems lost in her mind, trying to choose the words she wants to start the conversation with. It only takes her a matter of seconds before she places her mug on the table and turns to look seriously at me. “Do you know that with a great imagination grows a world full of magic?” I raise my eyebrows at her weirdly. Where is she going with that? Blaise responds with a stack of papers in her hands and a cheeky smile playing on her lips. These papers hold pictures of dresses I drew in my free time. I always had a thing for designing dresses. I even majored in it, but when I was searching for a job, the company I’m currently working for hired me, I was shocked when I heard that I’ve been hired in a sales manager assistant’s position. My sister hasn’t dropped the subject of searching for another job since. Even if I wanted to change my position and I’m willing to do anything to do so, that’s the only company that’s close to my hometown and my sister’s office as well. I snatch the papers from my sister’s hands and put them on the stand next to me. “Where did you get these?” I ask slowly. “Where you hid them,” she replies in a boring tone, “you have to show them to that hag at work,” “That hag is too busy looking at her nose in the mirror, she’d just rip them off and I don’t want my work to go into the shredder,” “You won’t lose anything if you show them to her, and besides, if she does anything to you…you’ve the magic to do worse. Three days after the storm, everyone returns back to work. I walk into the building where my small, humble office takes place in the farthest floor possible. I take a quick glance at the windows, three mannequins were placed, wearing the latest dresses she designed. Her style isn’t bad but it could use some changing. One of the dresses’ sleeves are too puffy and yet she decided to give them leather gloves. The other has a skirt made from long peacock feathers at the back of it and she matches them with a loose crop top, brown shirt. It totally ruined the gorgeous skirt! I take my time to look at the third dress, it’s actually lovely, but if it were only a different color. That woman has the worst taste in picking palettes. She must be fond of her grandmother’s old skirts. I keep my face blank and enter the hall, but not before rolling my eyes at the headline of her building that’s covered in gold: ‘Dolivo’. I get into the elevator and wait for it to stop. I enter my office and before I could even sit, I hear clattering heels coming in my direction. A tall woman with dirty blonde hair wrapped in a tight bun, and her intimidating brown eyes scan everyone dangerously in the room. That woman is Amanda Dolivo, the boss of this place and everyone’s nightmare. Today she’s wearing a very tight blue dress with white heels and a white coat, she drops the coat on her assistant’s shoulder and calls my colleague’s name. Annie Devine, pops from her office pale, and follows her after she drops her glasses and places them neatly on her wavy brown hair and pats her black shirt to remove the wrinkles. Once they both enter, everyone in my department lets out a sigh, I take my pad and make a few calls and add some numbers. A few minutes later, I hear Annie's loud voice coming from the inside along with Dolivo's usual shrieking. I didn't hear much, they were yelling at the same time, but I caught a few words concerning Annie's delay in the paper work. But that's hardly fair on Annie. Dolivo keeps giving her several tasks at once and isn't satisfied easily, or until she sees Annie staying up late in the company finishing off her work that Dolivo is supposed to be doing; but of course, her highness would never work that hard...her nails are very delicate. It doesn’t take fifteen minutes before Annie leaves the office and closes the door harshly. I go and stand at her door to see her packing her things in her bag, more like throwing them in. I’ve never seen her this angry before. I mean she does fight with Amanda a lot, but their conversations are always quiet and Annie isn’t so argumentative. She takes two steps closer to me and looks at me dead in the eye. “I think today is the day you get promoted…you are a fighter. Make. Her. Life. Hell. Bye Stella and good luck with her,” she says the last word in such disgust and leaves the office with her head high. I huff and close my eyes. Annie was the reason I could survive this place. She’s not a stuck up and treats everyone kindly. I wish I can be like her, but I can’t help it. If I didn’t like someone, I couldn’t just smile in their face and act so sweet to them. Like how on earth will I spend my entire afternoon with Amanda every day and keep smiling? She’d be lucky if the day passes and I don’t throw something at her head. I don’t even pass my office when I hear her poisonous voice call my name. “Adhara, my office right now.” I silently gulp and walk slowly to my boss’s office and roll my eyes at the golden words carved on her wooden door, ‘Lady Dolivo’s Office’. Lady indeed, I resist the urge to roll my eyes before knocking on the door and hear her high- pitched voice calling me to come in. I try to smile as I walk into her very luxurious white and silver office. “Good morning, Mrs. Dolivo, you called?” I greet the middle-aged woman who’s sitting on her desk, drinking her coffee and observing drawings of her dresses plastered on her board. She doesn’t even bother to look at me, I sometimes think she’s scared I would burst her office into flames and burn her alive, not that I haven’t had the idea before, but I couldn’t possibly do that. Mainly because I don’t have the gift to do so. Our story is spread across the district and a wide majority of people believe in the tale, since my ancestors’ gifts were on every one’s tongue. The story passed from our small town to several cities nearby. I keep my smile plastered on my face and wait for her to acknowledge me. “Yes, I know Ella, just take a look at these outfits. Aren’t they extraordinary?” she says snatching the sketches from the board and placing them gently in front of me. I smile and nod my head in agreement. I personally think that she added a lot of unnecessary bows and exaggerated with the amount of glitter on the shoulders. One of them had too much ribbons on its skirt, it made the entire outfit out of fashion. I wonder how this woman made it as best designers in this city. “As you might have heard, Devine was fired. So, congratulations, you have been promoted as sales manager,” she says nonchalantly. I nod my head and try to keep my fake gratitude smile. “That’s very generous of you Mrs. Dolivo, but I’m not fit for this position,” I say waiting for her reaction. When she doesn’t say anything, I proceed, “I studied fashion and have a degree. My job as sales manager isn’t quite suitable. I’ve brought my sketches with me, and I’m hoping you would give me a chance to prove myself as a fashion designer,” I take out my sketches and give them to her. She takes a quick glance and sneer; she takes my drawings in her fists and crumple them into a large ball. “These my dear, are horrible. If you didn’t tell me, you drew them, I would’ve assumed a child was drawing a princess dress she watches on television.” Dolivo says mockingly. She throws my sketches into the trash next to her and turns back to her computer. I calmly stand up and take my drawings from the trash and put them in my bag. Annie has been working for this woman for years, with a smile stuck on her face and handles the tasks she’s given ever so politely and keeps nodding her head, refusing to let Dolivo down. Annie went through a lot with Dolivo, she keeps getting humiliated and yelled at no matter what she did, but in my case, I refuse to let anyone humiliate me or mock my art, especially that talentless woman. I can’t be like Annie, not even for a day, I can’t act calm or behave the way she does when Dolivo’s around, I shoot Dolivo a death glare walk to her desk where her ugly sketches were still displayed on the desk. Several ideas are occurring to me right now, I don’t know whether to rip the drawings or a***e her office. Either way, I won’t leave her office humiliated like this, I’m not the type to stay silent when something goes wrong. I take them and watch her looking at me curiously. “You know what I think Amanda? This dress’s bow is too large to be placed on the chest is perfect to hide your ugly face if you wear it, not a coincidence you thought of making it up, is it? This one has a horrible diversity of colors, I assume you were inspired by your puke you throw up after drinking all night, thinking why you end up living alone. This one I assure you; you accidently tore the arms of the dress and can’t sew it back so you decided to cover it with glitter. I’ve been working in this hell hole for three years and I’ve been doing my best to aid this company, but you don’t deserve it. I had to deal with your bitchy attitude every day and I can’t handle it anymore, I quit.” I say that loudly making sure everyone in the building hears me. Mind you I don’t like attention but this woman needs to be taught a lesson. Every time she comes to work, her nose touches the ceiling and I think it’s unhealthy for her neck. I depart from her office, leaving behind me her menacing screams and curses at me. I wear a mocking smile as I pass a crowd of people who were obviously ears dropping. I’m not shocked at the slightest to see a few clapping silently and give me hushed praises, but one thing caught my eye; I stand shocked at my sister who is looking at me wide eyed and a huge grin etched on her face. She grabs my shoulder and steers me into my office, I notice that my things are already packed in boxes and ready to be taken away. I stare at her perplexed as she gives me a wink, she grabs a couple of boxes and put them under her arms. She nods at the door for me to follow, I take the rest of the boxes and follow Blaise to her car. We place my luggage in the backseat and hop inside. Once we leave the building, a moment of realization hit me; I’m jobless, I disrespected my boss, and I called her a b***h. I sigh loudly and run my hand through my hair, my mood suddenly changes from euphoria to anger. I’m very close to break down and my sister here, is humming a song to the radio and smiling to herself. “Blaise, what the hell did I do?” I yell angrily. “You created history!” Blaise cheers. “I just quit my job,” I state frustratingly. My sister doesn’t reply, she simply smirks at me and stops in front of a restaurant. I get out of the car confused, I thought we’re having spaghetti today. Silently I follow my sister to a table whose seats are attached to a wall. She sits in front of me and gives me a wide smile. I return a glare and cradle my head on my palms. I’ve always admired her positive mood but right now, I can’t bring myself to smile back. I hear her huff and call my name. I look up to see her staring at me closely as if I would suddenly throw a tantrum at her any second. “Stella…I wanted to break the news after lunch and when we’re getting ice cream, but I don’t think you’ll last till then. I found you another job,” Blaise says lowly. My eyes perk up at her and widen. My lips twitch into a smile and stare disbelievingly at my sister. “What? How?” I say almost in a whisper. Before she can reply a waiter comes to our table and takes our orders. My sister orders a French onion soup with extra garlic bread on the side and I order a steak, potato wedges, and gravy on the side. Once he leaves, I give my sister my full attention, and flash a wide grin. “I was in my office when two gentlemen entered,” she says turning completely red, “one of them is an author and wanted me to edit his book, he gave the office a call last week for an appointment. When I gave him my card, he was shocked to see that we’re from the Adhara family. He then asked me where we lived so I told him in Griffin Tail. You should’ve seen the look on his face, he was so shocked he started jumping in my office. He then gave me his identification card: his name is Edward Varon and the man who was with him is Arthur Varon.” My jaw drops instantly, my thoughts are running wild, the Varon family are relatives of ours. In our mansion, a magical drawing of a family tree grows on a large wall in our living room. Whenever a new member joins our family, the tree grows a new branch with their name on it. I always check the tree and try to memorize each member. The Varon’s family are the closest to us. But they haven’t tried to contact us, afraid that they will be cursed. However, we always hear in our town that my uncle came to visit along with his son my parents’ grave. They never stop by, but they send us their greetings and deliver us a few gifts on the doorstep. I doubt that the curse is still working, my sister thinks it was broken years ago. But the rest of the family thinks otherwise. I shake the thoughts away and continue to focus on my sister’s interaction with our relatives. “Your uncle was over the moon to see me, but he was getting jumpy and checking the office every now and then as if a sword was going to fly across the room and stab him across the chest. Anyway, we had a really long chat about our lives. His son, Edward is a new litterateur, and that’s his first book he has written. His father, owns a fashion market and he needs some genius minds to help him become successful. So…I showed him your designs and turns out that he liked them so much that he requested to meet you in person next week on Monday.” “But how? We never heard of his company before,” “Yes, because the villagers are so ecstatic to talk to us,” Blaise says rolling her eyes, “they only talk to us when they want us to stay away from their newborn babies, in case we curse them,” Her eyebrows crease in anger and her eyes hold frustration and sadness. “I think they’re hilarious,” I say shrugging my shoulder, trying to lift her mood by grinning sheepishly. “Hilarious? Do I need to remind you of the day we were blamed for a murder of a lamb? And when Tobias found it with only its bones and a pool of blood around it, he immediately called all the villagers to attack us, while his wife fainted dramatically in her house,” Blaise says, giggling. I remember this day very clearly. It happened a year ago, in the morning our neighbor found one of his lambs dead in the fields. He started yelling along with his fellow farmers that we have cursed the lamb and tortured it for fun. The entire town came to our mansion forcing us out, but my sister was to quick for them. She called the police after shutting the door with such force, the ground shook in my home. When the cops arrived to the crime scene, they did whatever it takes not to laugh or beat them with anger. It was obvious that a wolf had snatched it overnight and ended up eating it, like any wild animal would do. Since then, we were free from their horrid assumptions, but I know that we will never get rid of their dramatic scenarios.