Work Text:
Little Misfortunate
My name is Aine and I was about ten when it all started. I was happy as could be. All smiles and sunshine. I had a perfect family and home. Nice friends and good grades. One summer I went on a vacation with my parents, and we traveled to New Jersey. They had said we were going to see our family. No one had ever mentioned them, but I was excited nonetheless.
After we got off the plane, we headed to the subway. My parents were right next to me as I stepped onto the train. I turned around and they were suddenly gone. I quickly jumped off and searched for them. They were walking away from the train fast, almost jogging. When my mom spoke, I was stunned. She said, "Greg, are you sure this is right?"
"Of course," I heard my dad say, "if we had given her up, we would've looked bad."
I immediately stopped walking. What did they mean by that?, I thought. I knew the answer though. We had been running low on money. They had realized that I was the most expensive thing. It was the only way to get rid of me without ruining their reputation. At first, I blamed myself, but now I know they’re just shallow cunts who think only of themselves.
That wasn't the last incident. As I grew older, one after another, they began to happen. Sometimes it was something small, like false rumors about me spread around school. Other times, they were much worse. Finding out about fake friends, getting mugged, any bad thing you can think of, it happened. People started to realize, it only happened around me, so most avoided me like the plague. The ones who didn't try to stay away from me didn't last very long. Every foster family would give me up after a week. There was one that lasted two, but in the end, they threw me out on the streets. By then, I had the route to the adoption agency engraved in my brain.
Eventually, I got used to it. I thought it wasn't completely horrible. I mean, it wasn't like I was dead. For a while I was able to maintain my positive view. I always told myself to keep my chin up and walk with my head held high. It was when things started piling up, that I finally gave up.
Now I'm a friendless twenty-year-old college student. At first, I was quite surprised I was invited to go to college. I don't normally have that type of luck. That was until I saw the college. It was a school for the disowned and disliked. There was litter everywhere, the walls were permanently stained, and most of the kids looked like they had been to juvie at least once. Just perfect. I had no other choice than to come since no other colleges would have me. That reminded me that no one else would have me either. I thought, Why? What did I do? All I want is a friend, to make life a little less lonely. I knew it wouldn’t happen though, that’s just my life.
On the first day, we were forced to join a club. Of course, I didn't make it in time so mine was chosen for me. Guess who got to join the fantasy club. It wasn't all bad though. All we did was sit around an old, musty classroom and do nothing. Until Gracie appeared. She looks like an angel on the outside, but I have never met anyone as frightening as her. She's the club's president. She made us participate in ‘sacred rituals' meant to summon magical beings. Which to Gracie's astonishment never worked.
Besides trying to avoid Gracie as much as possible, I didn’t do much. I had no friends to go out with, and I didn’t want to cause trouble so I’d avoid leaving campus as much as I could. I’d walk around the buildings and try to admire them or at least not look at them in disgust.
Almost all the buildings were falling apart. Some even had alarmingly large stains that looked like dried blood. The white paint on the buildings looked more yellow, like if they were the teeth of a tobacco chewer. I would walk around after dark when barely any people were around. I had to stop after doing it though. Not even two weeks after I started, there was a curfew for no reason.
Another thing I did was wander the abandoned part of the college. Sure, it was dangerous, it was completely unstable, but it didn’t matter. The world was unstable wherever I went. There though, there was no one else that could get hurt. My favorite place was on the third floor. There was a hole in the ceiling so you could climb up onto the roof. I could see the entire campus from up there and more. To the west, there was a large lake. It was heavily polluted but I couldn’t see that. On the east side, I could see starlings forming strange shapes in the sky. It was the loveliest place in the world to me, so I was completely miserable after they tore it down a week after I had discovered it.
One day in the club Gracie was forcing us to participate in a DNA ritual thingy. Someone had to spit into a ‘magical' bowl and everyone would sit in a circle and chant weird things.
"Nice try Daniella, but the spirit wasn't interested in you," said Gracie, "Aine, you're next!"
I let out a small sigh and spit in the bowl. What is the point of this, I thought, it's not as though it'll work. I started thinking about how much better this would be if I had a friend. And that's when the bowl started glowing. Suddenly, a girl materialized out of thin air. She said, "So, you want a friend, Aine?" I fainted after that.
I woke up in the nurse’s office. As I looked around I realized everyone from my club was there, except Gracie.
“Where is Gracie?” I asked.
One guy answered, “When the girl appeared she went berserk. She started talking about how she was right and everyone who ever doubted her was wrong. Then she started laughing uncontrollably and never stopped. They ended up carting her away to an asylum.”
I then sighed and laid back down. I laid there as everyone left. Before I could close my eyes to try to sleep, the girl who appeared after the ritual was in front of my face.
“Hi, there! I’m Vanessa!” she said.
“And I’m going to sleep,” I replied.
“No, you don’t! Don’t you want to know how I got here?”
“No, not especially,”
“You’re funny. I’m telling you anyway. It’s because you have magic in your DNA!”
“Now you’re the one being funny.”
“No, I’m not. I’m serious.”
“No, you’re crazy. Please leave, I’m trying to sleep.”
“Would you change your mind if I told you I know you wanted a friend?”
“No, since it’s pretty easy to tell I’m lonely.
“What if I said I’ll be your friend?”
“I’m not that desperate.”
“Too bad, cause now we’re friends!”
Vanessa snapped and a weird portal looking thing appeared. She then grabbed my arm and tossed me in.
I landed in a heap on the ground. I stood up and wiped myself off, glaring at her the whole time. When I looked around I realized we were no longer in the nurse’s office. Vanessa said, “Welcome to the Underworld, the place you came from. Now that we’re friends, I thought I’d show you around.”
I may have looked angry, but I was extremely happy. I had a friend and a home. Everything I had ever wanted.
But for how long?