The ride back to the apartment was filled with uneasy silence. Sarah’s foot was pressed hard against the pedal, and nervously, Jasmine buckled her seatbelt and grasped onto the handle above the door. “Careful, last thing we need is an accident.” She finally muttered as Sarah nearly ran a red light.
“Sorry. It’s just very important that we get to them before something bad happens.” But even though her words were unapologetic, her foot did ease a bit. Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief.
“What do you think they’ll say?” Jasmine whispered, intending it to be more of a self-thought, but her words weren’t lost on Sarah’s keen ears. Her eyes drifted towards Jasmine warily.
“I wouldn’t blame them if they hate me, but right now I’m more concerned about their safety than their anger towards me.” Jasmine cringed.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Look Jas, weather you believe it or not, I know this is all because of me. That means it’s my responsibility to fix it, and to keep everyone safe.” She paused, her foot now switching towards the break, the jolt jarring Jasmine forward against the strain of her seat belt. “We’re here.” Before Jasmine could fully recover, Sarah yanked the keys out of the ignition and swung her door open, hopping out. Chewing on her lower lip, Jasmine followed suit and hurried after Sarah up to Tom’s place. Or was it her place now, too? Too much was happening all too quickly and she wasn’t sure anymore what was going to happen.
“Tom?” Sarah yelled, bursting through the door without knocking. Jasmine rushed in after her, eyes frantically looking around with slight apprehension. Tom hadn’t after all been thrilled that Jasmine had left in the first place, and she understood that in a way. He wanted to spend some time with her, but this matter was of importance and she couldn’t have just ignored it.
Walking into the bedroom, Jasmine found tom sitting on the edge of his bed, the crystal horse cradled in his hand, staring at it with intensity. He didn’t even seem to notice her presence. She paused, then carefully tiptoed towards him and just watched him for a moment, her heart aching for the loss that he must be feeling, especially after the truth that Caly had revealed to her. “Tom?” She tried once more, carefully sitting down next to him but still received no response. She paused another moment, then carefully lifted a hand to rest upon his shoulder. He nearly jumped at her unexpected touch, sending her own heart into a leaping fury. His face turned towards hers, his eyes burning with fury. Jasmine’s hands flung behind her, palms pressing against the edge of the bed to keep her from falling. She’d never seem him look like that before, and it frightened her.
A moment later, Tom’s eyes seemed to soften, as if he suddenly remembered where he was and who he was looking at. “Oh, Jasmine I’m sorry. I was just thinking about some things, didn’t hear you come in.” She frowned and shifted her weight again.
“It- it’s okay.” She hesitated again. “Were you thinking about your mother?” Tom averted his eyes again, the corners of his mouth twitching in agitation.
“Yea. Well what did you and Sarah find out?” He responded, quickly changing the subject. As if on cue, Sarah rushed in a moment later.
“Good, your home. I just called the others and told them to get over here.”
“What? Why?” He asked, looking towards Jasmine with confusion.
“There are some things, some bad things we found out, and Sarah needs to warn us about them.” Jasmine replied before returning to chewing on her lower lip. God that sounded fairly dumb, but it was the truth as far as Jasmine knew it.
Tom stared at both the girls with a look of annoyance and disbelief, and a moment later let out an exasperated sigh. “I still think you girls are taking this all way too seriously, but I know better than to argue with determined females. Alright, let’s go to the living room.” Tom sat up, gently placing the crystal horse back on his dresser before following the girls out of the bedroom.
The three teens ambled into the living room with minimal enthusiasm. Tom lazily plopped on the couch and patted the cushion next to him, glancing at Jasmine. Smiling slightly, she more than welcomed the invite and cuddled up next to tom, resting her head on his shoulder. Sarah chose the recliner chair. Uneasy silence seemed to envelop the room, the only moment apparent a shifting of eyes. Jasmine finally allowed her lids to take a permanent position over her eyes, snuggling into Tom like a comfy pillow after a long hard day.
A knock on the door interrupted Jasmine’s moment of peace however, and regrettably she sighed, opening her eyes and lifting her head from Tom’s shoulder. “It’s probably them.” She heaved, uncurling herself and trudging to the door. Sure enough, Jim, Caly and Beth were all waiting on the other side. Jasmine attempted to flash them a brief smile before opening the door wider, inviting them to come in.
Tom straightened, his own expression appearing agitated, and Jasmine didn’t blame him much, she knew he didn’t quite believe in all of this. But he didn’t know everything, yet. When she told him, she felt confident he’d understand.
“You guys want anything to drink?” Tom asked right away, as if in a desperate attempt to prolong the seriousness of the meeting ahead.
“Gatorade.” Jim said, flexing his arm muscle with pride. Beth turned towards him, and Caly frowned. Jasmine shifted, this get-together making her uncomfortable. Tom rose and headed towards the kitchen.
“Anyone else?” The rest shook their heads.
“Okay.” Jasmine began, trying to achieve a sense of order. “You guys, sit down, Sarah and I have a lot to tell you.” Jim scowled, but Beth and Caly obediently got comfortable. A moment later, Tom returned with a Gatorade and threw it to Jim, who caught it with ease before reclaiming his spot on the couch. Jasmine followed suit.
“Okay.” Sarah began uneasily, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Jasmine and I did some research on the scroll, and we found out some things that you’re probably not going to like. First of all, this power-thing you guys are having, it’s bait. She’s not giving you powers to make your lives better, she’s just using you.”
“Using us for what?” Caly inquired.
“Right now, she’s trapped in this spirit world for some reason. And she can’t do much in there, like an animal in a cage. And she wants to become like us. She wants to be alive.”
“Well I don’t blame her. In fact if she were alive, she could make us even better!” Jim quipped, grinning from ear to ear.
“No! You don’t understand yet. She’s not what you think she is Jim. She’s evil. The more powerful we get, the more she can feed off of us and if she finally does manifest, she’ll probably kill us all and who knows what else she’ll do to this world. We can’t let that happen!”
“Sarah, calm down. No one’s going to die here, okay?” Tom said soothingly, not harshly but not exactly supportive either.
“I don’t want anyone to, either.” Sarah closed her eyes, a heavy gulp taken down her throat. “I think it’s me.”
“You think what’s you?” Jim asked, his smile now crooked and amused.
“She can only manifest if someone here has the power for her to reincarnate into. I’m the one who practices magic. It has to be me.” She hung her head, as if ashamed.
Jasmine sat up from the couch and walked quietly over to the chair, putting her arms comfortingly around Sarah with a slight squeeze. “No, Sarah it’s not your fault. Just because you do magic doesn’t mean any of this is your fault. I don’t know if you are that person, but even if you are, you still didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m the one who insisted we read the scroll! I wanted to do all of this and now you’re all in danger because of me!”
“Cue the violins..” Tom muttered. Jasmine turned around and narrowed her eyes, this was definitely not the time for sarcasm and she expected better of him. He cleared his throat and looked away.
“This is serious, you guys! I have to find a way to stop this or bad things will happen. Doesn’t anyone believe me?” Sarah’s pleas became meek and desperate, like a small child trying to prove the impossible to grown-ups who stopped believing in fairies.
“I believe you.” Jasmine supported quickly, giving Sarah another hug. After a moment, Caly sat up too.
“I believe you.” He offered, chancing a look behind him and then quickly turned away again at the glare on Jim’s face.
“I never knew you guys were so anal.” Jim spat with distaste. “Think about it. Bait? And even if this God did become human, why the hell would she kill us? She could just do those now if she wanted to, right? But she’s not. She’s giving us powers instead, she’s making us better. If you’re too scared or blind or whatever to see that, then maybe you’re not as good of friends as I thought.”
Everyone remained silent for a moment after Jim’s outburst, obviously shocked at the harshness of his words towards them.
“That was way over the top, buddy. And the girls have a point if you’d get your head out of the sand long enough to listen!” Caly screamed back, which again took everyone by surprise. Caly was known for his cool head, not his anger. Jim especially didn’t take this change well. Standing up, he curled his hands into fists, his breathing slowing.
“Don’t make me sock you.” He said menacingly to Caly. Sarah finally jumped out of her chair and rushed towards Jim.
“What is your Problem?” She demanded. “I’m trying to help you. I’m your girlfriend and you haven’t given me the time of day since we went camping! All you care about is your muscles and your strength. You’re NOT the Incredible Hulk. You’re just Jim, and I liked Jim just the way he was.”
“Hey, I’m still me Sarah, and frankly I deserve a girl who’s going to support me in self-improvement, not sit there whining like a sissy because you’re scared of it.” Sarah’s jaw dropped, and everyone else was frozen with fear at the impending explosion.
Sarah sniffed, obviously fighting back tears from sneaking out of her eyes and putting her hurt feelings on wide display. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but you’re not the Jim I like. You’re letting this thing take over who you are, and I can’t be with you until you’re you again.” Turning around quickly, she sped for the kitchen without looking back.
“Fine! I don’t want a girl who can’t support me so piss off anyway!” Jasmine couldn’t believe how cold he was being. She didn’t care if she’d only known him a matter of days, she simply couldn’t keep her mouth shut for this.
“I can’t believe you just did that to her. Don’t you care about her feelings?” She shouted, outraged.
“Stay out of this. You’re just a charity case anyway, Tom took you in out of pity. It’s not like-“
At that, Tom angrily leapt up off the couch and planted his feet firmly in front of Jim. “Hey. Don’t talk to her that way. You have a problem with her you keep it to yourself.” Jim fumed, but backed off. It was too late to save feelings though, Jasmine’s chest heaved with dread, those words she’d unknowingly been expecting ever since she got here.
“Maybe he’s right, Tom. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here.” And with that, she followed Sarah’s suit, turning on her heel and heading straight for the kitchen. She heard voices behind her, Jim and Tom arguing, but she didn’t care anymore. It didn’t seem to matter who said what against her or in her defense, she knew the truth deep in her gut. She had no one, and there was no denying that, no escaping that no matter where she fled.
The sobs began flowing from Jasmine’s eyes, and there was no stopping them this time. She hunched in the corner, letting the feel of her wet tears slide down her cheeks, over her chin and fall onto her chest with no effort to wipe them off. She was surprised she could still see herself, she should be invisible. She was invisible, and unwanted. If she died today, would this world blink an eye? Would anything be different? Would her existence ever make a difference?
Jasmine leapt at a small tap on her shoulder, turning around expecting to have to face Tom, but instead it was Sarah. In her own anguish she’d nearly forgotten Sarah had fled in here, too. “Jas, are you okay?” Sarah asked softly.
“No.” She stated back through her sob. “I’m not. Maybe ..maybe Jim’s right. Maybe I am just a charity case that no one really cares about. I don’t even know why Tom wants me here. I don’t know if he loves me. Sometimes I think he does, but I don’t even know him. The looks on his face, the way he reacts to things, I don’t even really know who he is. I get it now. I’m just another girl, in just another place, with just another dream and none of it makes any difference.”
Sarah remained quiet for a moment before responding. “Jas, that’s so not true. You’re not a charity case, and you’re not just another person. There’s something in you, strength that maybe you can’t see yet, but it’s there. And I know in my gut that someday soon, you are going to do something that will change the world.”
“That’s kind of you Sarah, but please don’t.”
“I’m being honest, Jasmine. You are going to do something important, I promise.” Jasmine smiled softly, not exactly convinced of Sarah’s prediction, but she thought she should show some appreciation for someone who at least cares enough to try and make her feel better. Where was Tom? Why wasn’t he in here comforting her too, if he really did love her?
Her dismal thoughts were soon interrupted by shouting voices heard through the kitchen door. “Uh-oh.” Sarah muttered, rising to her feet. Jasmine followed her, tiptoeing towards the door. Jasmine pressed her ear against the wood.
“Both of you need to calm down or things are going to fall apart between us all.” She heard Caly quip, back to his calmer, sensible self.
“Shut the hell up, prissy-boy! You wouldn’t know the first thing about feeling like a man. You ever benched in your life?”
“Do you ever do anything else but lift? You managed to hurt your girlfriend with all of this, and you won’t listen to Jasmine or Sarah and what they’re telling us. It’s not like they’d lie about it, Jim.”
Tom finally piped in as well. “Yeah. I mean maybe they’re wrong, but we should at least listen. You’re getting way too into this, Jim.”
“I’m getting too into it? You want to see what I can do?” There was a moment of silence, and suddenly the girls heard a huge crash. In frenzy Jasmine shoved the door open and fled back into the living room, glancing at Caly cowering in the corner, and then at the coffee table upturned on the side of the wall.
“Oh my god.”