Chapter Seven

Omile sighed as she locked the shop door behind her friend and then made her way back up stairs. Her stomach grumbled and she smeared her fingers over her tired eyes, holding back a yawn that was pushing at her lips to open up. She lazily dragged her feet up the metal stairs and pushed open the door, softly closing it behind her, and got herself a small bowl of the pasta that had been left out on the stove. She grabbed a fork out of her silverware drawer and then shuffled into her room. She set the bowl down on her desk and then walked over to a small tv sitting on a rolling stand across from her bed and turned it on, pressing the buttons to get to a station with cartoons. Satisfied with what was on, Omile turned around and sat down on her bed, wrapping herself up in the blankets, and picked up her bowl to enjoy the warm taste of alfredo pasta.

Omile hummed softly as she pressed the hard lead of her pencil down on the soft paper and lightly glided it across the page, tracing over the lines she had drawn earlier. Class was almost over and she had finished all her work so as a pastime she decided that drawing flowers would be more productive than working on any work for other classes while she waited for the bell to go off and release her from her class to talk to Salem, and hopefully Victoria too, but most importantly Salem. She looked up from her paper and turned to face the clock hanging above the open door. She smiled as she turned her head back and opened the flap on her bag, sticking the pencil in it’s little slot, and then closing that and unzipping her bag. She closed her sketchbook and shoved it in the back of the bag, which is where it belonged. Right up against her back since it was the biggest one. Her bag was organized from smallest to biggest and in the order of her classes, notebooks in front of the folders.

Just as she was zipping up her bag, and everyone was loudly putting their papers and folders away, the bell went off and Omile quickly stood up, told the teacher to have a good day, and rushed out of the classroom. She had six minutes to get to her next class and to talk to Salem since he was heading in the same direction. Looking up from the ground she immediately spotted the tall blonde and rushed over to him. He was standing in the middle of the unit area talking to a few people, Omile presumed were his friends, with his back turned to her. She met up with him as soon as he turned around, almost running into her, and he put his hands up to avoid any collision.

“Whoa there, it is not track and field day calm down. We got five minutes to get to class.” He put his arm around her shoulder and turned towards the hallway they needed to go to.

“We need to talk.” Omile looked up at him.

“About?” Salem high-fived someone that walked past him.

“When am I going to cast the spell on Victoria?” Omile leaned in closer and whispered quietly.

“Does tonight sound good? I know, I’m sorry, we were supposed to do that a while ago but I got caught up with Daman and we’ve been hanging out all week and I may have forgotten about it.”

Omile shook her head with a slight eye roll and then told him that tonight would work. Salem kissed her head when he got to his classroom and told her goodbye before walking into the room and fist bumping someone as Omile continued down the hallway to her classroom. She walked in as soon as the bell rang and awkwardly shuffled to her seat while the teacher got up from her desk and stood in front of the class to get ready to give her directions.

Omile looked up from her paper and smiled as the minute turned to the last one of the day and started pushing all of her stuff into her folders and then into her bag. Everyone around her stood up and walked over to the door as she finished zipping up her bag and stood up next to her desk. The bell rang and everyone quickly stumbled out of the room, Omile following suit and turning down the hallway to head towards Salem’s classroom. When she got there she walked in and greeted the teacher while walking over to Salem who was saying something to Daman. She waved at Daman, who gladly waved back, and then stood next to Salem.

“What ya doin here?” Daman asked.

“Salem's giving me a ride home today.” Omile smiled up at him.

“Might as well just take you over to my place since we’re hanging out today.”

“Can’t, I got a flower shop to run.” Omile wrapped her fingers around her bag strap. “We can still hang out tonight though.”

“Well, we kind of have to.” Salem put an arm around her.

“What do you two got going on?” Daman asked folding his arms and smirking a bit.

“Oh like you don’t already know.” Salem laughed a bit.

“Aaahh, I see. I see. Well, I’m going to miss my bus if I stay and talk to you two any longer. See ya later Salem. Bye Omile.” Daman leaned over and kissed Salem’s cheek and waved to Omile as he walked out of the classroom.

“Alright, let’s go get mrs. grumpy butt.” Salem said while turning them around and walking out the door.

“Why has she been so grumpy lately?” Omile asked looking up at the taller boy.

“She’s been arguing with herself a lot lately about what she should do.” Salem guided the two of them towards the main office.

Omile nodded. “So do you think I won’t need to cast the spell on her?”

“No, I still think you will.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry sweetie.” He kissed her head as they walked out to the main office and then stood in front of Victoria, who looked extra peeved off; more peeved off than usual.

“Hey sourpuss, what’s up?” Salem removed his arm from around Omile’s shoulders as they caught up with her.

“Look what Lexi sent me today!” Victoria frantically pulled out her phone from her bag and shoved it into Salem’s face.

Salem grabbed her phone and observed the picture that was popped up on the screen. “What happened?”

“Mom. Mom happened. She got mad at Lexi because she has bad grades, but Lexi’s bad grades are mom's fault because mom hasn’t been letting Lexi go to school because she would rather go out to the bar than watch her own children whom she ‘loves’ and ‘worships’.” Victoria spat out, while mockingly saying the words love and worship.

Salem looked over at her as she took her phone back. “Oh wait yeah. Hold on.” Victoria swiped through her phone before handing it back to Salem, showing a picture of her little sister with a big bruise on her cheek. “That’s because she didn’t make lunch for the kids. Because there was nothing there she could make.” Omile looked up at Salem.

“I don’t know what to do anymore! I don’t want this to continue but I don’t want to take away our siblings mom and dad! Salem what do I do?!” Victoria took her phone back and put it away.

“You already know what I’m going to say.” Salem stepped closer to her.

“Omile?” Victoria looked over at her.

“U-um….” Omile looked anywhere but at Victoria and shrugged.

“Hey c’mon, let's go home. We’ll talk about this later. Besides if we don’t hurry Omile’s gonna be late to work and then she won’t be able to come over to our place tonight.” Salem grabbed Victoria’s arm and lead the two girls out to the parking lot.

“Wait, I’m coming over to your house?”

“Yes, for dinner. Mom and dad aren’t gonna be home tonight. It’s our little brothers birthday so they’re going out of town and doing something with the little ones.”

“Yup, it’ll just be me, you, Salem, and Lexi at dinner.”

“Wait Lexi isn’t going with anymore.” Salem looked over at Victoria confused.

Victoria shook her head.

“God d****t.” Salem let go of Victoria’s arm and walked to the other side of the car and climbed into the driver's seat while Omile got into the back and Victoria got into the passenger side.

Omile thanked Salem for giving her a ride home and discussed the time for when he should be back later to pick her up before he drove off and she walked into her quaint little flower shop. Omile ran up to her room and changed out of her school clothes and into her everyday clothes, as usual, and dropped her bag off next to her bed. She quickly fed her cats and then ran back downstairs and put her apron on, walking out of the closet space and over to the front door to unlock it. Compared to other days, this one seemed to be really busy.

She was constantly buzzing around the shop and answering her customers questions or concerns about how to properly take care of their particular plant or about what kind of plant they should purchase and was barely able to make a stop at the cash register, not to mention even have a chance to get materials that her special customers needed, but all in all she was glad that she finally had a busy day. Lately she has had barely anyone come into the shop and she had barely any money left after paying all her bills. It also got her mind off of what was to come tonight, at least for a little bit. But as closing time kept creeping closer and closer and less people were busying her mind, the nagging thought in the back of her head got louder and louder.

At some point around eight o’clock the last customer said goodbye to the girl and left the shop, leaving an exhausted Omile waving goodbye at the door while she pushed all her hair up into a messy bun. She then untied her apron and walked to the back to hang it up and turned around only to jump back in fear from a body suddenly standing in front of her. Salem chuckled as she hit his arm and yelled at him for spooking her while she ran up to grab her bag and then quickly ran back down and outside to get in the car. Salem pulled out of the space that he had parked in and started driving back to his house.

“You ready to cast a spell on my sister tonight.” Salem chuckled and looked over at Omile.

Omie just turned her head and looked out the window.

“Look, you’re doing the right thing. You heard Victoria blow up about her mom today. I mean, at this point you probably won’t even have to do anything.” He smiles at her reassuringly as she looks over at him quickly.

“I’m still going to be counted as an accomplice for killing people if anyone finds out. And dark magic is illegal Salem. Just because it’s a hush hush to the public doesn’t mean that they don’t train the police to detect dark magic. And don’t give me the excuse on how most of them don’t even believe in magic because as I stated earlier it is still illegal.” Omile huffed and went back to looking out the window.

“I know, I know. Victoria’s mom got her magic taken away from her at a young age because she was careless with it.”

“Then how is Victoria still able to be a witch?” Omile questioned.

“She was already born, in fact, she was supposed to get them taken away too but back then, when her mom cared about her, her mom said that she had done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve to lose them. But all my little siblings are normal. As in, they have no magic in them.”

Omile nods. “My mom didn’t have any magic, but my dad did so I got it from him”

“Cool, my two older brothers both have magic. But since they’re twins it doesn’t work unless they are at least in the same room.”

“Must suck.” Omile laughed a bit. “Wait, you have siblings?”

“Of course, I know my birth family. I also have a little sister.” He looks over at her. “I’m actually rather close to my brothers, just not as close as they are to each other. They are….oddly close, even for twins.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah….” Salem looked ahead as he pulled up to the driveway. “They love each other a bit more than-”

“I get it.” Omile stopped him immediately and then unbuckled her seatbelt when the car stopped.

Salem chuckled and turned the car off, following Omile out of the car, and walked up to the front door. Omile stood off to the side of Salem and looked around the front yard. All she could think of was perfection. The lawn was neatly cut, the shards of grass evenly cut as short as they could possibly be and greener than any grass she had seen before. In the middle of the left side of the rather large yard was a huge oak tree, blatantly trimmed twice a week-mom must be a perfectionist-complete with a hanging swing off of one of the lower branches. Around the house was a beautiful garden, not as beautiful as what Omile could produce of course. No, these flowers were not tended to everyday or ever shown any love. They’re simply there for eye candy and looks of perfection. Just like Victoria and Salem. Omile frowned and averted her eyes the flower beds back to the almost white concrete of the smooth porch. All of it’s for show. Why else would they want it to be so perfect.

Salem pushed the white door open and waited for Omile to go in first before he entered himself. After standing there for a couple seconds without saying anything Omile then nodded and walked inside with her head down as Salem closed the door behind her. Omile held her bag close to her and stood off to the side while Salem walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch and started unlacing his converse. Omile stepped out of her flats and placed them neatly next to the white door and then carefully walked across the hardwood floor and over to the carpeted living room. Omile softly sat down on the cream couch, making sure to keep both her legs closed and back straight, and looked over at Salem who carelessly placed his shoes next to the furniture and then leaned back against the couch and getting more comfortable.

“This is a nice place, your parents must take good care of it.” Omile speculated while looking around the room hoping to break the ice.

“It’s really all for show.” Salem responded while pulling his phone out.

“Still, they put so much effort into it some love has to have come from it….” Omile suddenly thought about the flower garden outside and moved her eyes to the floor.

“You’re back!” Suddenly next to Omile was a giddy seven year old girl who had jumped onto Salem and curled up in his lap and an annoyed seventeen year old complaining about her messing up his text message. Omile smiled as she turned to face the two of them, even letting out a soft giggle.

“Hi, I’m Lexi.” The young girl held out her hand and smiled sweetly at Omile, closing her eyes and making a sort of laughing sound with it.

“I’m Omile, it’s nice to meet you.” Omile shook her small hand and made the same face, sound and everything, back to her in response. Omile opened her eyes again and saw Victoria’s head sticking out from an open door way and waved at her.

“You’re welcome to go help Victoria in the kitchen if you want, I’m sure she would love the help.” Salem said not looking up from his phone while trying his best to ignore his little sister as he awkwardly typed around her head and keeping her from reading the messages. Omile nodded and stood up as she walked over to the kitchen and was greeted by a hug.

“Oh gosh it’s so nice to finally have you over! I’m making pesto alfredo just for you~.” Victoria smiled and walked back over to the pot on the stove.

Omile smiled as well and followed her over to the stove. “Was that your sister from the pictures earlier?”

“Yeah, how did my make up job do? Can you see the bruises?” Victoria asked while mixing everything in.

“I couldn’t even tell.” Omile let out a soft sigh. “So uh….about your uh spell….thing….”

“Yes?” Omile noticed Victoria’s arm stiffen up a bit.

“When do you plan on doing it?” Omile leaned in a bit closer.

“Well, to be completely honest with you….I don’t even know if I want to do it anymore. I mean yeah, after seeing what they did to Lexi I have been considering it again but I don’t want to loose my siblings, you know what I mean? If they have no mom or dad where are they gonna go? God forbid the police let us keep them.”

“You could talk to child services. I’m sure they would let you keep them. It wouldn’t be any different for the kids, right?”

“But what am I supposed to tell them Omile? ‘I killed our parents because they were two pieces of s**t.’ They wouldn’t believe me, my parents haven’t started detaching themselves from them yet, if they will.”

“Victoria….”

“Why are you suddenly okay with this?” Victoria stopped stirring and turned to face Omile. “I thought you were completely against this?”

“I-I mean….it’s not exactly how one should go about it but….given your situation….”

“Salem went to go talk to you didn’t he?”

“Um….y-yeah….” Omile shoved her hands into her cardigans pockets and looked at the ground.

“That lying idiot.” Victoria went back to stirring. “Well….if he could convince you it was a good idea then I don’t see why I should find it a bad one. Can you pass me bowls please?”

“Wh-what? Just like that?!” Omile passed her one of the bowls.

“Yeah….I don’t want to see what’s happening to me happen to the little ones.” She put a spoonful of alfredo in the bowl and then directed Omile to place it on the rectangular table. “Besides, Salem managed to convince you. That’s proof enough for me.”

Victoria called Salem and Lexi into the kitchen as she filled up their bowls with the pasta. By the time they had gotten into the kitchen and sat down Victoria had distributed all of the pasta out to everybody and sat down herself. She smiled at Omile and sat down next to her and started eating. Omile softly smiled back to her and took a bit of her pasta as the others all sat around and talked about school with Lexi. Omile sat their quietly and slowly picked at her pasta, her usual tendency to devour it gone as she is now eating with others, only speaking when someone asks her a question. Dinner, which was the first peaceful one that family had had in a long time, soon ended and Victoria took Lexi to bed as Salem did the dishes.

Omile sat there awkwardly as Salem went around the table picking up the dishes and offered to help him many times. Salem insisted that he do them himself, causing Omile to continue sitting there and picking at her skirt. Luckily for her Victoria quickly came back and kept Omile company as Salem finished up the dishes.