Thursday, April 11, 2013

SNOW BRIGHT by Summer Day: "Sara Bright" #THREE




Sara Bright

    After half an hour, it was getting dark. Lavinia was invisible but she was also lost in this part of Los Angeles. She’d taken the bus practically to the other side of the world – her parents would be horrified – and she wasn’t sure how long this invisibility potion would last. It was due to wear off, and she knew she’d be tired when it did. How could it be safe to sleep on some park bench, here?  
    Finally, Lavinia and Sara had reached a group of homes at the foot of some hills on the outskirts of the city and on the edge of a vacant lot. This was not a nice place to live; at least it didn’t seem nice until Lavinia noticed Sara walking into a ramshackle house, through the back door and down the stairs towards a trailer.
   The van was old and a bit rusty looking. The night was folding in; but something strange happened. The minute Sara entered the trailer it lit up with fairy lights. It looked like a tiny, mobile palace. Lavinia wondered if, apart from Sara, only other gifted people could see this.
    Lavinia walked closer to the van. All you could hear was the crunching of her feet and the slight shiver of her shoulders in the breeze. The closer she got, the more tentative she became. Through the window, Lavinia could see Sara talking on her cell and singing along to a song when she started doing the dishes. But even the dishes seemed like an easy chore; they literally started doing themselves and Sara settled on the couch and flicked on the television. Her life was not as bad as Lavinia had imagined it to be. In fact, it was magical.
   Lavinia thought she should go – it was obvious Sara was a conjurer – she could manifest and move objects, one of the most powerful gifts of all. She made Lavinia feel like a fraud. After all, without her cell, what did she really have? Perhaps this girl could do other things that would make her a match for Lavinia. Lavinia’s envy grew.
    Sara seemed settled in her perfectly lit luxury trailer and Lavinia knew her own parents would be worried about her.
    Just as she turned, a leopard started running towards her in the distance, not really running – he was moving so fast, it was like he was merging; his paws barely touched the ground. Then he merged into a boy and the boy became Jack Hunter. He was a shifter, of course. The leopard part of him must have picked up her scent.
    I should never have worn that perfume, Lavinia thought as she stood her ground. Then, just as Lavinia was about to run, the teenage boy walked confidently towards her, pulling on his shirt.
   As he moved closer, Lavinia noticed he was smiling.
   “Don’t worry, whoever you are. Your perfume put me off.”
    Lavinia froze, knowing if she ran, the ground would crunch beneath her feet.
   During basketball practise, Jack could run faster than anybody else. Lavinia had never seen him actually merge. She knew he only did it when other people weren’t around. It was a pretty freaky condition. He looked so normal. Sara  wondered what he was doing all the way out here in the dark; it made sense that he liked to run in the hills at night,  just being a wild animal, unless… He started walking away from her towards Sara’s van in the distance.
   Then Lavinia knew.
   Sara and Jack were meeting up with each other.  
    The boy knocked on Sara’s door as Lavinia could feel her body re-emerging slightly in the dark; she felt woozy, sleepy and angry. She wanted revenge; Jack was hers. Lavinia was sure he’d invite her to homecoming dance but if he didn’t, she was going to use all the power she could to make him take her.
    Lavinia saw her fingernails emerge first. The color chipped from the trauma of invisibility. She knew she’d have to hurry home before she fell into a deep, trancelike sleep, which gave her an idea.
     Reluctantly, jealously, she left.