DARK ELEMENTS: A TALE OF MAGIC Sneak peek 1st chapter by M.P.Norman

DARK ELEMENTS

A TALE OF MAGIC

1

A NEW BEGINNING

Seated on the passenger seat of a black Honda CRV, a teenage boy stares glumly through the window. He grimaced as he hears the rain beating against the glass pane. Thud, thud, thud. The wiper blades doing a horrible job smearing the miserable weather away.

Sebastian Proctor hands nervously dance across his leg like spiders forging a path across his flesh. A tuft of black hair sprouting underneath a cap—his favorite team emblazed on the front—and diamond blue eyes gazed back. Outside, a doppelgänger flying next to the vehicle, like a witch on a broomstick. He kicked the floor in frustration as his face stretched into an unhappy frown. The ghostly double mimicking his emotions.

He swears he can hear a cackle of laughter behind the glass.

Then his hands fidget some more.

Through the window was a very peaceful sight even with the dreadful weather.

Green rolling fields filled his endless vision. And it was hard to imagine why he was so depressed, although anybody who has been young once can understand a day full of adventure and fun ruined by dreary raindrops. But the boy’s adventure wasn’t full of fun and hadn’t been ruined by rain. In fact, he was now on his way to meet his estranged grandparents for the very first time since his father’s unfortunate death—eight weeks ago—in an awful car collision.

Not his father’s parents; they had died before Sebastian was born. But the boy would be staying with his mother’s parents. And just like ‘his’ father’s parents, the young boy’s mother had died when he was much younger too. So his mother’s parents were the boy’s only living relatives in the entire cosmos of the universe. He was now going to be living with them for the foreseeable future.

However, there was something else troubling Sebastian.

There was a scowl in his bright, blue eyes as well as on his lips, and he gazed through the smeary pane as the rain increased its continuous bleak rhythm. He missed his father; he was kind and loving, and memories came and took his thoughts away.

Seb remembers the happy times. The way his father took him to parks and playgrounds after school. Baked toffee-top treats and cakes on long wintery nights (a trait that his mother used to do, and apparently made her husband promise to keep—if anything ever happened to her), even though, sometimes the cakes would turn out undercooked or hard like pine cones.

But deep down, like a wishing well, the boy wondered if his grandparents would be so kind and generous too?

“Sebastian?” a voice calls.

He turns away from the rhythmic tap, tap, tap of the torrential rains, leaving behind his Twisted Twin and faced the ‘voice’ behind the wheel of the black car. A lady named Mrs. Tallgate smiles back. She was the social worker at the orphanage where Sebastian had been staying since his father’s unfortunate death. She was towering and lean just like a tall gate, and surprisingly her surname matched her appearance too. She wore matching pearl earrings underneath a bun of black hair that was kept up with far, too much hairspray that smelt like a fancy French shampoo.

A smile brightens her delicate face. “We will soon be at your grandparents’ home, Sebastian. Isn’t that great?”

“Mmm…” he mummers from the passenger seat, unconvinced by her positive tone.

“Your grandparents are so eager to meet you, my dear.”

“Uh,” he says, trying to focus on the words. Yeah, right! He thinks unashamedly but adds, “I’m sure they are!”

And on, and on they travel.

∞

Mrs. Tallgate’s job was to put unfortunate orphans under the care of their closest relatives. But the luckless boy’s situation had taken longer than expected. She’d searched through boxes of birth records in the deep, dark, bowls of her office building, and navigated the dreaded work computer at the local council, sorting through online-data basis. But there wasn’t any trace of the boy’s relatives. And unfortunately, the boy will turn 16 in a months time—legal age as an adult—and will be moved from the orphanage to foster care.

Who knows where he would end up? She thought if she didn’t find any living relatives sooner or later. But Mrs. Tallgate was excellent at her job.

Eleven glitzy awards and numerous Achievement ribbons over a phenomenal career later, she was the best child allocator in her region: if not, the entire country, and was brought in to help the York Child Agency like a Detective on a case. Eventually, striking gold, she found his grandparents hidden away in a small English hamlet called—Rose-Heath—in the Southwest of the United Kingdom close to the city of Bristol.

∞

“They’re lovely by all accords,” she adds with a confident nod. “Naturally, there will be a bit of an adjustment period to your new surroundings.”

You don’t say, he thinks, but keeps quiet and stares out of the window yet again. Not because he was trying to be rude to her, but because he didn’t know what to expect from his—New?—grandparents he’d never even met before. Never even knew they existed until yesterday morning while eating breakfast at the orphanage.

And Sebastian had no other relatives to speak off. No cousins or auntie or uncles. Or great aunts or uncles or even cousins who were twice or three times removed and lived in faraway countries across distant oceans like New Zealand and Canada.

And so, because they were his next of kin: blood is thicker than water, and all that jazz. Sebastian had no other choice and had to go and live with his grandparents in ‘Kinship’ care.

He didn’t like the fact, but, overall, he was relieved, though. He was one of the lucky orphans who actually had ‘loved ones’ in the vast universe to take care of him. Otherwise, he would just be bounced from one orphanage to another, not knowing the outcome of a stable and functional life.

“Sebastian,” Mrs. Tallgate says. “I understand your pain. You’ve been through a lot. Trust me, I do. I’ve seen people go from the darkest moments in their lives to living a happy, fulfilling life. I’ll be honest with you,” and she sees his downcast face gleaming through the glass, “some children never get a second chance in life.” Sebastian bowels clench. “If life seems scary and the world doesn’t make sense, please remember, sometimes… situations… well, they always work out for the best.”

Life has had a few surprises up her sleeve, he thinks, and being an orphan wasn’t one of em’. “Not always,” he starts, but she interrupts him.

“But sometimes they will. You can do it too. I believe in you.” She sees how mentally strong he is, but, also can hear the sorrow in his voice. It was slight but just enough to know the boy was hurting deep inside his shell. Adjusting to a new life was never easy. Her job was never easy. Never precise. “Sit back and relax, Sebastian,” she adds. “We’ll arrive shortly.”

All he does is nod.

Mrs. Tallgate nods in return.

Then the women goes back to navigating the car.

Seb’s nose was still compressed against the window. She’s wrong. It wouldn’t be okay, he thinks. I’m just a spectator watching Apollo 11 heading to the damn moon.

And he knew how that mission turned out.

He sits quietly, reliving the last months. All the adults avoided what actually happened when people died with words like ‘passed away’ or ‘gone to a better place’ and ‘moved on’ but Sebastian knew better. He knew more than all of the members of the procession at his fathers funeral, and was aware that you didn’t ‘go somewhere else,’ you didn’t go ‘anywhere better.’ You were just dead, plain and straightforward. He hated it but knew it was true. It was completely different from his mothers ‘passing.’ She had died when he was only three. He couldn’t remember the details. Could hardly remember her face, and what he did recall, came from a few photos in which his father had given him, and are now in his bags in the back of the car.

But it wouldn’t be okay.

He understands: Mrs. Tallgate was just trying to be supportive. She had to be, it was part of her job. But, at the end of the day, she was lying, and they both knew the fact.

He gets it, shit happens, and he’ll have to move on.