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He was the youngest in his grade, well, he was turning 13 and was in his freshman year of high school. His peers all called him ‘Nightmare’ thanks to his magic, which is the reason why he’s so far ahead in school. His peers weren’t his friends; he saw right through their fake offers of kindness. They just wanted him to do their work, and he did. He enjoyed the extra work; it kept his mind from wandering into the dark places his magic it to.
He would normally spend his lunch period sitting in the library reading or doing work, but one day, the last day of September, a one armed boy wandered in with a girl walking next to him. The girl saw Nightmare and whispered something in the boy’s ear, her face red. Nightmare ignored the two, he knew the people his age would only try and get him to do their work as well. He didn’t like doing their work; it was far too easy to distract him for more than a few minutes. He got back to reading, but curiosity got the better of him and he looked up again, only to find the duo walking towards him.
“Hey!” The boy asked. “Can we sit here?” He pointed to the empty chairs at the table Nightmare was at.
“Sure.” He said, his gaze quickly falling back on his book. The two sat across from Nightmare. They kept whisper yelling at each other, but at this point Nightmare could ignore the fire alarms going off if he so had to. The girl nudged the boy with her elbow, stopping their quiet argument.
“My friend thinks you’re cool.” He blurted out, the girl slapped his shoulder.
“Ok?” Nightmare questioned. His gaze was still on the book, trying to give the hint he didn’t want to talk.
“Yeah, I’m Lex by the way, this is Mia.” Lex held out his left hand to shake, his right missing, but a small flower was growing out of what seemed to be a birthmark on his stump.
Nightmare stared at Lex’s hand, pondering whether or not he should shake it. He reached out and grabbed the hand and his magic yelled at him.
“Pablo, but everyone calls me Nightmare. I don’t mind it.” He shrugged.
“Whoa, how’d ya get that name from?” Lex asked with the excitement of a dog whose owner dropped bacon.
“My magic.” He said flatly.
“What kinda magic do you have?” He bounced in his seat.
“Fear.” His gaze was back on his book now.
“That’s so cool!” Lex was silent for a second. “I have no idea what that is.” He smiled even though he had no idea what kind of damage fear magic could cause.
“It’s hard to explain. Easier to just look it up and ask questions later.”
“I’ll look it up right now! Mia, you wanted to talk to him, say something!” Lex nudged his friend while rushing over to one of the computers.
“Wha-Lex! You were supposed to be my wing-man!” She growled. She looked over at Nightmare nervously, now playing with her hair. “So,” She paused. “What grade are you in?” Her face was starting to turn red again.
“I’m supposed to be in eight grade, but in order to take the classes I wanted, the school put me in 9th.” He lost all interest in the conversation now.
“Oh wow, you’re so smart,” She paused again. “Whatcha reading?”
“My chemistry textbook.”
“Oh, chemistry, we did a lesson in science on chemistry. We got to mix different substances and see which are heavier and lighter than water.”
“I got to melt glass and reshape it.” He glanced over at Lex, the computer screen showing an article on fear magic.
“Glass is so pretty and cool,” She paused yet again. “You wanna hang out after school? My sister can drive us somewhere.” She put her hands flat on the desk, trying to reach for Nightmare’s hands.
“No. I have homework.” He ended, or at least tried to.
“Well, how about after you finish your homework? I can be out as late as ten as long as I’m with my sister!”
“My curfew is when school ends.” He lied, his aunt honestly wouldn't care if he just never came home, but he didn’t want the girl to know that.
“Well, then, get her to let you out after school, that’s why you don’t have anyone sitting here with you. I’ll see you again tomorrow, ok?” She started to gather her things.
“Great.” He sighed out.
“Really?” She perked up, clearly not getting Nightmare’s hints. “Great! I’ll see you here tomorrow!” She stood up from her seat and rushed over to Lex. She whispered something in his ear, then tried to drag him by his wrist. He didn’t move, his butt still firmly sat on the desk chair. She tried again, then she started yelling and pleading with him to leave, so that they could go outside, but Lex still sat in front of the computer. He was determined to learn about Nightmare’s magic. Nightmare chuckled at the boy’s stubbornness. The girl threw her hands up in the air and stormed out of the library, leaving Lex at the computer.
If Nightmare had to be honest, he was more looking forward to see what questions Lex would have after learning about fear magic, he seemed like a very passionate person, something Nightmare didn’t mind.
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The next day the duo showed up at the library and sat across from Nightmare again, Lex clearly more excited than yesterday.
“I learned about fear magic! Can I ask you questions now?” Lex asked. He was digging through his bag for something, Mia just played with a flashy pen she brought with.
“Sure.” He tried to sound uninterested, but in reality, he wanted to hear what the guy had to say.
“Ok, so,” Lex pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of his bag. “It said that all fear users’ magic talks to them, what’s yours sou-”
“So do you wanna hang out this weekend? My sister can take us to see a movie, or get something to eat, or go anywhere as long as she doesn’t have to drive on the parkway!” Mia blurted out.
Nightmare looked up at Mia with cold eyes. “It’s rude to cut people off.” He scolded. “Let him finish.” He turned his gaze back to Lex.
Mia scoffed offendedly as Lex perked back up. “Ok, so, what does your magic sound-”
“I was trying to be your friend, why are you being so rude to me?” She interrupted with crocodile tears starting to form. Nightmare just rolled his eyes.
“Because it's rude to cut people off, especially the one who got me to talk to you in the first place. Now let him talk; unlike you he listened, did some research, and now has questions.” Nightmare nodded at Lex to talk.
“You’re so mean! No wonder no one wants to be your friend, you, you asshole!” She shrieked before grabbing her bag with one hand, and Lex’s wrist with the other. “Come on, we’re leaving! We don’t talk to rude people!” She announced to the whole library. No one seemed to care, people were really just getting annoyed by the distraction.
Lex pulled his wrist out of Mia’s grasp. “I wanna talk to him.” He had a pleading look on his face. Mia yelled and swiped the table clear, knocking pen, pencils, scissors, even Nightmare’s work to the floor before running out of the library with fake hot tears running down her face.
Nightmare sighed, picking up the items that were carelessly hit off the table. He tapped his papers on the table before looking up at Lex.
“You were saying?” He asked, his full attention still on Lex instead of his work.