Chapter Three

“You look beautiful tonight.”

“H-huh?” Omile’s eyes remained staring at the floor, counting each board in her mind, not daring to move them from the lines on the hardwood floor.

Her heart was pounding against her chest so fast she was worried that it was going to burst out and fall out on the floor. Her palms felt clammy and moist as she tightened her grip a bit too hard on the other boy’s hand. This was a bad idea, she should never of come. The music was trashy and too loud, she could barely hear her own thoughts over the obnoxious people and out of date music around her, and people were constantly making comments about her actually showing up to a dance and sorta being social as if they were compliments. Which they aren’t. It only made her regret coming even more. It was all just too much to handle. Omile pressed herself further against the boy as someone backed into her and she tried her best to keep her eyes either closed or focused on the shine of his black dress shoes or the way his pants were just slightly too short and allowed his black socks to peek through the gap between his pant legs and shoes.

“I said you look beautiful tonight.” He whispered into her ear, causing Omile’s face to rapidly change from ghost white to a dark red and she looked up at the tall man, even in heels she only came up to his chin.

“O-oh thank you. You do to.” Omile ducked her head down again and counted each step they took. “I-I mean, you don’t look beautiful-I mean! No wait….you look good, you look handsome...yeah. That’s the male term….” Omile mumbled as she tried focusing on the ground beneath her.

The boy laughed softly and continued dancing to the slow, calm, beat of one of the few romantic songs that the dj had played. “Thank you.” He said softly.

The song melted to an ending and Omile quickly pulled away from the taller boy and stumbled off of the dance floor over to one of the white clothed circular tables, her dance-mate following close behind her. Omile rested her elbows on the table and then laid her head on her arms, breathing in and out slowly to try and calm herself before she got any worse. The young man patted her shoulder and offered to go get her a cup of water, which she lightly bobbed her head to without lifting it up from her arms. As he left the gymnasium and out into the main entrance area to retrieve the drink, a still flawless looking Victoria sat down next the disheveled Omile.

“Salem too rough with ya?” Omile looked up and shook her head, giggling a bit.

“Nah, I’m just overwhelmed. Too many people.”

“You wanna just go walk around for a bit?” Victoria leaned forward and lightly put her hand on Omile’s arm.

“Yeah, after Salem gets back with my water.” As she said that Salem came back with a small plastic cup of water and placed it down on the table next to Omile’s hand.

“Hey Salem, that guy over there has been eyeing you the whole time you two were dancing. I think he want’s to see how good you can really be~. Why don’t you go ask him to dance?” Victoria says motioning over with a nod of her head to an awkward looking guy sitting at one of the tables by himself and fumbling around with his phone.

Salem turned his head to observe the boy Victoria was talking about and let out a soft whistle. “Alright, no hard feelings, but I’m off to go be gay. You ladies enjoy the rest of your night.” He smiled and clicked his fingers before promptly walking over to the table the other boy had been sitting at.

Omile grabbed her water and then stood up after Victoria and waited for her to lead the way. “Well, I’ll see him sometime tomorrow afternoon.” Victoria shook her head at the two boys who were already making out and then grabbed Omile’s arm and guided her out of the busy gymnasium. Omile sipped on her water and looked around the not as busy entrance section. It was mostly just people waiting in lines, the station that was set up with a prop and camera gear seemed to have had most of the people, and the drink/snack area had small clusters of groups around it all buzzing about different things. Victoria walked over to a set of stairs next to the picture taking section and sat down on them carefully so that she didn’t sit on the poofs of her dress while still avoiding from flashing anyone. Omile tossed her now empty cup into a nearby trash bin and then sat herself down on a step below Victoria.

“Hey, Omile?”

“Yes?” Omile turned to face her better.

“Can you help me get some things for a spell?”

Omile’s eyes widened and she frantically looked around the two of them and then turned back to Victoria and shushed her. “Shhh, be quiet about that kind of stuff. I know it’s common but it’s not that common.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and spoke quieter. “Can you help me or not?”

“Depends, what kind of spell is it?”

“Doesn’t matter right now, I’m just having a hard time getting some supplies for it and I need some help.”

Omile sighed. “What are you having trouble obtaining?”

      “Well, I need a rose, some lavender, some Jasmine Oil…a quill and some red ink...and uh b-black candles….” Victoria started messing with her dress and avoided eye contact with Omile near the end of the list, her voice getting softer after each item was listed.

Omile abruptly stood up, her dress poofing out, and furrowed her brow. “What do you need those for?!”

“Omile, sit down. You’re gonna cause a scene.” Victoria hissed, pulling her back down as a few people turned to face them from the commotion.

“What kind of spell do you need black candles for?” Omile harshly whispered after people turned back to what they were doing and lost interest in the two of them.

“It doesn’t matter, just help me please?” Victoria begged, slightly looking up from her dress and over to Omile.

“No, I’m not helping you with anything that involves black candles.” Omile spat out and then stood up again, walking back towards the loud and busy gymnasium.

“Omile!” Victoria stood up and followed her. “Where are you going!?” A few people watched them and Victoria bashfully (find word for tiptoe running)  into the gymnasium.
Omile fumed past the people on the dance floor, occasionally bumping into them and apologizing before continuing and returned the table they were sitting at earlier and grabbed her bag then looked over to the table that Salem and the other boy were previously sitting at before she had left with Victoria. She spotted the two boys, the newer one pressed against the wall while Salem had his hand next to the others head and his other hand resting on the boy’s waist while they talked and made her way over to them and stood behind Salem, waiting for them to finish talking so she could ask him a question.

“You have a shadow.” The other boy pointed over Salem’s shoulder.

“He-hey what's wrong?” Salem turned around smiling but his face immediately dropped when he saw Omile on the verge of tears.

“I need you to take me home…” Omile mumbled softly, sniffling a bit, and played with her hair. “Please.”

Salem stood there speechless for a few seconds, majorly confused as he tried running through his head what could have gone wrong and then turned to Victoria who had just walked up to them and sighed. “Omile, please! I’m not asking for much just help me find some of the ingredients!”

“No!” Omile turned toward Victoria. “I’m not helping you in any way with this whatever it is spell!”

“Hey, hey, hey, whoa what spell?” Salem pushed his way in-between the two girls and looked at the both of them. “And be careful where you discuss this kind of thing.” He looked back to the boy who looked to be very confused and mildly concerned.

“It’s the spell.” Victoria quietly stressed while leaning in a bit closer to him.

Salem mouthed an “Oh” and then turned to face Omile.

“Whatever you’re about to tell me I don’t care. Just take me home please.”

“Omile, if you help us you’re going to be doing a lot of people a great favor.” Salem
put a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re in on it too! What is wrong with you two?!” Omile shrugged his hand off her shoulder and threw her hands in the air. “Whatever, please just take me home. Now. I don’t want to hear anymore on this subject.”

“Omile…” Victoria stepped closer to her.

“If you’re not going to shut up and take me home then I’m going to walk!”

“That’s too far of a walk.” Victoria grabbed Omile’s hands and stepped even closer to her.

The other boy stepped forward. “Uh, hi, I don’t know what’s wrong but…” He faced Omile and Victoria. “You are aware that once you leave you can’t come back in, right? And please, keep it down. You can get us kicked out of here for causing a scene.”

“You know what, screw this! I’m just gonna walk home.” Omile shook Victoria’s hands off her own stormed off, leaving the others to follow behind her as she exited the building.

“Hey wait!” Salem chased after her promptly after apologizing to the other boy while being followed by Victoria. Salem turned around to face Victoria while following Omile and glared at her.

“Did you honestly think she was going to help! I told you she’s too good of a person to do anything like this!

“I was hoping she would let me explain why but she blew up in my face and ran away!”

“Obviously! Why don’t you ever listen to me?!” Salem pushed the door open and called after Omile.

“Because I know her better than you do!”

“Clearly not!”

Victoria rolled her eyes and opened the door as well and chased after Salem and Omile. By the time they had caught up with her she was already getting onto the street to walk back towards the city and Omile was shivering with both of her arms wrapped around her exposed shoulders. God how she wished she had her cardigan. Salem ran in front of Omile and put his arms out, she was staring at the ground and tried to maneuver around him but he just kept moving in front of her. Omile wrapped her arms around herself more and looked at the ground.

“Move please, you’re in my way and it’s cold.” She spoke quietly as Victoria met up with them, letting out heavy breaths and bending over a bit to catch her breath.

“Don’t walk home, I’ll take you back.” Salem said shrugging his jacket off and placing it on Omile’s shoulders.

Omile went to go pull it around her then shook her head and shrugged it off, handing it back to Salem and started walking again. “No thanks, I’m fine with walking home.”

“Omile...” Victoria straightened up and grabbed Omile’s arm which Omile violently jerked away from.

“Don’t touch me!” She turned and glared at Victoria, looking as if she were about to hit her.

Victoria staggered back a bit and let out a soft plea to not get hit. Omile looked at how her arm was and immediately dropped it to her side, her eyes growing soft for Victoria suddenly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. Can I please just go home?”

“Yes, let’s go.” Salem put his jacket back on and then guided Omile back to the small car with Victoria walking behind the two of them, grabbing onto Salem’s arm.

The three teens sat awkwardly in the small cramped car. Salem was in the driver’s seat with Victoria next to him and Omile was in the back behind Victoria. Omile secretly enjoyed the warmth from the heater as she sat looking out the window with her knees sticking up and close to each other and watched as the buildings blended together in the yellow light of street lamps and building signs. Victoria was resting her elbow on the car door and had her head held up by her fingers as she mumbled curse words to herself and whispered about how much of an idiot she was. From what Omile could hear she found out that apparently in the rush of everything Victoria had left her purse at the dance and had everything in it with no way to get back into said dance.

At first Omile smirked to herself about how ironic it was that she was so caught up in the drama that she was stupid enough to leave something so valuable to her at the dance and even let out a soft giggle, but then when she saw how distressed Victoria was from the side mirror felt bad for thinking such a way about her friend and decided to cast a spell and make it so that the purse was sitting on Victoria's bed for when she got home. Hopefully she practiced that spell enough to remember how to not only move the purse but everything inside of it too. Why was she such a good person? Victoria doesn’t deserve to have her purse. Omile’s too soft on her.

Salem would occasionally look back at Omile in her seat and frowned while trying to understand how she felt about this entire situation. Honestly, he knew not to go to Omile for help. He knew she would react this way. Anyone would. Why Victoria thought telling someone what they were planning was a good idea is beyond him. Omile’s probably trying to figure out how to break off their friendship by now. At least any sane person would. Salem sighed and went to go turn on the radio which earned him a growl from Victoria, and decided to just continue driving in the uncomfortable silence.

Salem pulled up to the flower shop and parked the car in front of one of the parking meters then turned in his seat to face Omile and was about to say something when Omile just got out and walked over to the front door and unlocked it. Salem put his head down and groaned. “I’ll be back.” He mumbled and opened his car door and climbed out, running to the door as well. Omile stepped into the shop and as she was closing it Salem stuck his foot in the door and asked if he could talk. Although she didn’t really want to talk she made no movement at all and he took it as a yes and slipped into the shop. Omile sighed and closed the door behind them, keeping her eyes on the ground and away from Salem at all cost.

“What do you want?” Omile grumbled as she locked the front door then walked over to the closet door.

“What happened between you two?” Salem asked, following her.

“Can we please not talk about it?” Omile unlocked that door and then opened it.

“Nope, what happened?” He continued, stepping in front of her as she tried to walk into the closet like space.

“Salem….” Omile looked up at him and then back at the ground. “Can you please just drop
it; this isn’t a good environment for my flowers.”  

Salem scoffed and then stepped into the small room and ascended up the staircase. “We’re talking about it Omile, so either you stay down here or follow me up.” At first Omile stood there, actually considering staying down on the main floor but when she looked up and saw the look of “no way in hell are you getting around this so get your a*s up here” on his face she groaned and followed him up, but said nothing.

Omile walked up past him and opened the door and then walked into her room of a house and opened the fridge, pulling out a container of juice. “Do you want any?”

Salem shook his head and leaned against the counter. “What I do want is for you to tell me what happened.” He crossed his arms.

“Victoria wants me to help her find red ink and black candles! Do you know what kind of spell that could possibly make!? Not a good one! Not one I would ever even think about making! Salem, what kind of spell is it? Who does she want to hurt and why?” Omile exclaimed, slamming the container of juice on the counter.

Salem shook his head and sighed. “Sweetie….”

“Don’t sweetie me.” Omile hissed, turning her head and giving him a deadly glare. “What kind of spell is it?” She angrily opened a cabinet and pulled out a glass.

Salem fiddled with his fingers for a while before answering quietly. “It’s a death spell.” Omile’s eyes went wide and she dropped the cup she had gotten out for herself on the floor, glass shattering everywhere. “She-we want to kill our parents.” He didn’t even dare to sneak a glance at her.

Omile was speechless. “Look, I know you don’t understand what they do to us, but trust me Omile, it’s worth death.” He looked over at her pleadingly.

“Nothing is worth death, Salem. They may treat you like s**t, but nothing is worth the death of somebody. Especially your parents.”

“They don’t care about us!”

“That doesn’t matter!” Omile slammed her fists on the table. “They’re still your parents, they would give their all for you two!”

Salem scoffed. “Not everyone's parents are like your’s Omile’s. Some parents don’t care. Do you think they wanted us?”

“They wanted you.”

“Bullshit. They saw me desperate to be taken in by somebody, anybody, and took advantage of it. Next thing I knew I was just another person around the house to take care of the little ones while they’re out drinking! Victoria and I basically raise my little siblings and if they ‘disagreed’ with how we treated them we got beaten! We got denied food, sometimes for weeks depending on the situation. I was a teenager who needed a family and they were a family who needed a free sitter because Victoria wasn’t doing good enough. Don’t you ever say that they wanted me, cause if they did I wouldn’t have bruises all over my body.”

Omile stood there speechless, a blank expression on her face as she tried to wrap her head around what she had just been told. Salem sighed and dropped his head again.

“Omile trust me on this. They deserve to die.”

Omile looked over at him, tears welling up in her eyes. “Salem...I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, once they’re dead things will be better.”

“You can’t kill them Salem. They’re bad people, yes I know, but please don’t kill them. Call the cops or something, but just don’t kill them. I can’t live without you and Victoria.”

“I don’t believe that. You were just about to walk out on us, and you know it.” Salem glared at her.

“D-do you really….take me to be that kind of...friend?” Omile gave him a sad look and replayed her walking out the gymnasium at the dance in her head and didn’t see anything that implied she wanted them out of her life. After no response Omile clenched her fists and glared at Salem. “Get out of my house.”

      “Omile-”

      “I said get out!”

      “Omile, please...”

“Just get out! You think I’m a bad friend then I’m going to be one! Just get out!”

He sat up from the counter and kissed her on the head, whispering “I’m sorry, you’re not a bad friend at all.” and then left the kitchen. She stood there and listened to the sound of his footsteps smack against  the the metal steps on the staircase and listened to the sound of the bell ringing as the door downstairs opened and closed. Omile sighed and stepped over the glass, crunching a few pieces as her heels stepped against them, and made her way down the stairs to go lock the front door behind Salem, noticing that the car was still parked in front of the shop, and then came back up to clean up the glass on the floor. She walked past the mess and into her room to go change into better clothes for picking up broken glass compared to her heels and dress.

Omile pushed open the door to her room and sat on her bed to unstrap her shoes. After taking them off she stood up and walked over to her closet and slipped out of her dress. She hung it up on a hanger and then placed the hanger on a hook glued to the inside of the closet door. She pulled out a baggy t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and quickly changed into them. As she put her hair up into a messy bun and then put on a pair of tennis shoes and walked out to the kitchen. When she stepped into the tiled mess her phone started going off, Clear’s jellyfish song ringing muffled through the purse cloth. She carefully stepped over the pieces of glass to get to her bag and then answered her phone.

“Hello?”

“Thank you for getting my purse home.” Victoria’s sad yet, hopeful voice came through from the other end. “I hope our little fight didn’t ruin any chance of friendship.”

“You’re welcome….and of course, I’m still your friend. Don’t worry. I just…” Omile sighed. “I just don’t know what to think right now.”

“It’s okay, I understand. It was asking a lot of you, and I hate to say this but can I ask you another question?”

“No, no more questions Victoria, I can’t handle anymore of your questions.”

“Omile, this is important.”

“I’m sorry but I got to go. See you tomorrow. Love you, bye.” Omile hung up on her and placed her phone on the counter before she could hear Victoria respond, her eyes started watering more and her voice started to crack at the end of the conversation.

She slowly slid down the side of the counter and placed her head in her hands, sighing deeply. Her friends are murderers, well, more like soon to be murders. They want to kill their parents. What does someone do in that situation? Do they call the police? In any normal case maybe, but this one isn’t normal. It’s not like she can tell them that her friends want to make a spell to kill their parents! Well, she could….but then they would be put in the loony bin and they might recommend counseling for Omile….and let alone what would happen to her friends. Even though the police are informed of and taught to handle magic doesn’t mean all of them believe it. She heard her phone ringing on the counter, the annoying vibration sound of the case buzzing against the counter increasingly growing more and more annoying. The only good thing coming from her phone was the song playing. It was slow and soothing, which kept her from throwing it across the room.

After letting it ring three times in a row she decided to stand up and clean the mess. She opened up the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a pair of thick gloves. After pulling them on she knelt down and moved all the big pieces into a big pile and then scooped them up into a bag and tossed it into the trash bin. She then grabbed the broom and dustpan from next to the fridge and swept up all the small pieces. As she was dumping the contents into the bin her phone went off again causing her to jump and get some glass shards everywhere. She groaned and set the stuff down and walked back over to the counter to see who it was. One missed call from Victoria, two from Salem, and one message from Salem. Groaning yet again she turned her phone off and picked up the mess she had made from being frightened.