Work Text:
Hi there! My name is Shirley Bell! I’m 15 years old, and I attend Lovelace High School! It’s a pretty decent smattering of all kinds of teens from all walks of life, and the teachers really support you no matter what you want to do in life. Sure, it’s got its bullies and all, but doesn’t every school? I work really hard so I pretty much pull mostly A’s! But I’m not that great in Lit, so I usually average a low C if I’m lucky… Those damned essays! They’re so long, and you have to spend the whole time talking about things you’re not even really sure of! So it’s intimidating to even start, usually…
My best friends are Cass Berry and Delia Whetu, my favorite class is Home Ec, my favorite color is baby pink, I have a pet turtle named Eliza… My mom’s an office worker and my dad stays at home and takes care of my baby sister Penelope.
I think I even have a crush at school, too.
Head of the band club, Victoria Gutierrez. She’s so fun and so talkative, there’s never a dull moment around her! She looks like she rolled out of bed pretty much every day, but… She’s so cute! I’ve almost thought of joining, just because she makes playing music look so fun! But it’s probably too late in the year, so I guess I can bear listen to her ramble on about her gigs and how inept her peers are… And see that twinkle in her eyes… That’s enough of an experience for me. Teehee!
I have my friends over every other Friday, and we watch a movie, eat dinner together, play some games (we’re really really super into RPG Maker games right now! The cute ones with all the anime pastel art and the creepy characters!), watch videos on YouTube and then we end up going to bed around 1 or 2 in the morning once we’re done trying not to wake up my parents.
Huh… That’s what normal people talk about, right? School, family and friends…
The truth is, I’m really not all that normal at all. And nobody knows it…
I’m also a witch, on top of all that.
I mean, I’m a girl who can cast spells and do magic stuff, so that’s probably the word for it, right? I even have a magic wand! But I don’t remember the witches in storybooks transforming into different outfits… Anyway!
I know it’s totally unbelievable, that anyone, especially some teen girl like me, could have magic powers, but it’s true! I can run super fast, and jump super high, and I can make these big hearts appear and attack people with it! It’s supposed to be, like, a powerful attack, because there’s a lot of “love and courage” in my heart.
That’s what Eliza said, anyway. She can talk! In fact, she’s the one who told me I had magical potential, and that I was supposed to protect my city. Jeez, I just sound more and more unstable by the minute…
If you’re still listening, I have another magic power. I think it’s the most important of all.
I can feel when people are sad, or in distress, so I can go to them and protect them from whatever’s hurting them! Usually it’s this slimey, blobby monster Eliza calls a ‘Jitterbug’, and the monster’s of whatever colored magic is hurting that person. Like, if the Jitterbug is blue, it means the person feels sad and pensive and alone. If it’s red, it means the person is feeling unheard, like they have to act out for attention - it’s usually bad! If it’s green, the person feels sluggish, and useless. If it’s black, the person is stressed, like they can’t rely on anyone but themselves! Apparently there are more colors, but those are the main ones Eliza’s taught me to look out for - they’re called Melancholic, Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Choleric, respectively.
When I use the right magic to cancel out the Jitterbug’s attacks, I can help the person stop feeling any of those four things in excess, so they can be happier and more balanced in their life! Sanguine beats melancholic, phlegmatic beats choleric, and vice versa! It’s a pretty restless job, but somehow I manage to juggle it with school and socializing and all that stuff. And that feeling of knowing you really helped someone makes it so worth it.
And more people have been getting Choleric Jitterbugs lately, it’s really worrying… But this morning, my dad was reading the paper and said there’s some kind of killer on the loose!
He showed me the column, filled with a few testimonials from people who claimed they knew him or had seen him. They say there’s a big scar across his nose from where his dad hurt him as a child. Others say it was from bullies at school… Either way, apparently he’s had a rough life. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, but… He’s still a killer! A rough life isn’t an excuse to take it out on other people and kill them!
That’s probably part of why there are so many black Jitterbugs, maybe people are worried for their loved ones… I don’t know what I would do if someone I knew was killed. Even with all these magic powers I have, I can’t heal someone or raise the dead! I’d feel so useless, I can’t even… Imagine how awful that would be.
I have to work harder than ever to protect my city. Not just from the Jitterbugs, or whatever’s sending them, but from itself, too.
My dad said he would be out most of today though, probably out late, to visit his brother and sister in law, since their baby was going to be born tonight. I wish I could go too, but I’m loaded with homework. Damned essays… But Mom was gonna be home, and she asked me to pick up dinner from Lou’s on the way home from school so we could recook it later, gave me the family’s orders, and kissed me goodbye.
So I walked to school, went through the day, ate lunch with Cass and Delia, bumped into Victoria a few times, laughed awkwardly, got a headache in Lit… Same old, same old. I decided to stay after class for a while with my Lit teacher despite my growing pain, just to make sure I understood the point of the essay, and I ended up staying an extra hour just cause she wouldn’t stop talking! Ugh…
And so it was time to go home.
So… It’s a funny story, really!
I was walking home from school today, Thursday, alone like I usually do. I passed the Lou’s Burgers joint like I always do, decided to treat myself since picked up dinner for everyone, and I was on my way.
The walk home from Lou’s is about twenty minutes, and half of it is on this narrow, bumpy, half-developed sidewalk, so it’s a pretty conscious struggle not to just trip and fall right into the road! But I’ve learned how to manage.
I enjoyed the walk, and I wouldn’t have wanted to transform and jump my way home even if it was safe to and no one was looking. I really like long walks, actually, especially when it’s starting to get dark. It’s December, so it gets dark early now - that’s my favorite time of year, actually.
So… Everything was normal, until it.
Well, wasn’t!
I heard cries for help, from somewhere! Somewhere CLOSE! I heard a man, his voice cracking in sobs of “No… No… I can’t do this…”
It hurt just hearing it - and my headache didn’t make it much better.
My head turned this way and that frantically, gripping the bulging bag of food in my arms, its warmth now a sharp contrast against the cold chills racking my arms.
So I just started running, like crazy.
I ran in the direction of the crying, reaching shakily in the drink pouch of my backpack where my magic wand rested.
As soon as the cries became audible outside my own head, I screeched to a halt, still not looking where I was going. There was a tall hedge between me and the corner on which the man clearly was. I threw my backpack and Lou’s bag to the ground, lifting my magic wand on high.
“Lovelyyyyy Valentine Witch… TRANSFORM!”
All at once, a great pink ribbon wrapped around me, fitting itself to my figure - and how to best accentuate it. It formed a tight but modestly-cut top against my chest, adorned with little white frills and black buttons, and two dark pink heart-shaped patches at both sides of my waist. And then the ribbon billowed at my hips, fraying and tying itself into a baby pink tutu. Finally, the ribbon laced around each leg, forming lovely ribboned ballet slippers - and so my transformation was complete. To save this man, I had turned into Lovely Valentine Witch, my magic alter ego!
I left the bags where they were, running past the hedge into the peril that awaited me - someone’s driveway. I saw the man who called for me. He was hunched over, wearing a wrinkled suit, with the coat half-off. This guy had been through hell - you could hear it in his sniffles and gasps. The occasional whimper. I could practically hear his face scrunching up, vibrating with an anxiety attack. From where I stood, I saw the black slime pooling at his feet - this was definitely the beginning of a Choleric Jitterbug!
I rushed him, practically bumping into him, so overcome with emotion for this poor guy.
“Sir! Please, step aside! Someone wants to get you!” I cried, pointing to the Jitterbug forming under him, though he wasn’t looking at me.
He turned his head to face me, tears coating his face, lips quivering.
“You’re right,” he whispered. His eyes were so, so wide.
My nose scrunched up, puzzled.
The rest of his body turned to face me.
A long, diagonal scar decorated the bridge of his nose. I looked at his side, where the coat didn’t cover. Splotches of thick, sticky red coated the cuffs of his sleeve and caked that hand.
“You…”
He stroked my cheek with the cold, bloody hand. I felt the Choleric Jitterbug’s developing arm at his feet, slither over my foot. Cold. A thin, black sheen coated my shoe.
“You can help me, can’t you?”