For a few seconds he stood enchanted as he watched his sister silently and solemnly walking away down the stairs. Once she was out of his sight he summoned all the energy around until once again his entire body was ensnared in red hue. The ever present and oddly reassuring pink line linking hearts glowed with ambient brilliance as he toiled internally with his emotions.
"Don't you ever come in here again you heinous bitch!" He snarled waving his hands ahead like a blind man would to navigate. For several minutes he wandered the upstairs leaking his magical enchantments to ensure no other energy projections would interrupt again. Certain that there were no stray energy – typically left over from projective spells – he calmed down enough to quench the enshrouding energy and joined Ashleigh who had curled up on the couch, remote in hand, flicking aimlessly through the movie channels.
"You ok?" He asked in a low voice walking past her into the kitchen area. Ashleigh didn't respond but he assumed she would have nodded rather than say no. He fetched bag of microwave popcorn, kept for secret midnight pleasures, before popping the paper bag into the microwave for three minutes. With the monotone hum of the microwave droning on he joined Ashleigh on the couch choosing to sit closely by her side more for her comfort than pleasure.
Ashleigh stared absently at the screen, the flickers of images suddenly having lost all meaning, her mind raced trying to process and make sense of all that had happened within the last few hours. She was no longer was alone in the world – she had a family, a brother, who by all accounts loved her more than any sibling should. She had long figured out it was indeed David who must have found her when she was in the woods, gave her his shirt, and questionably left her. She had a mother, albeit, a psychopathic, possibly delusional mother but the question of who she was or came from was, for now, partially answered. But what was most perplexing of this whole situation was not the normality of having found family, but her whole perception of reality had been twisted upside down. From a seemingly normal date, that now seemed light-years away, to an unforgettable nightmare... magic was suddenly real, David was magical, their mother was magical.... she was magical...
From physical, emotional and psychological exhaustion she allowed her head to slump to the side taking a small amount of illicit pleasure from the close contact of touching David –her brother, she reminded herself.
She still loved David such was obvious from the on-going yet pleasant shivers their touch elicited. And even though she had only just found the true extent of their relationship Ashleigh found herself debating societal judgement towards her feelings.
Society has always taught that incest is wrong, a way of beasts not man, universally banned with punishment it's the topic of many writers who want to dazzle their readers in awe. It is a thing to be glorifiable yet frowned upon. But is it so? After all what is the true perversion of incest? Who does it harm? From a medio-legal standpoint there is an increase risk to genetic deformities within a child and yet from the same standpoint is there not an increased risk of genetic deformities from smoking, drugs or other variables, if so why are they not banned as is incest? Why does the tobacco company flourish instead of sinking against the burden of babies addicted to nicotine, or born with missing limbs? ask yourself that same question next time you judge someone.
With a heftily sigh Ashleigh sank lower into the side of David who tenderly wrapped his arm around her side allowing them more comfortable and deeper contact. For a few seconds she watched the movie vaguely aware of the plot before the loud ping of the microwave timer interrupted the tranquillity. She sighed again when David hefted himself up and away to fetch the popcorn but silently scorned herself in remembering that although she loved him he was now officially her brother. What they had could never happen again, what she felt could become nothing more than in infatuation.
David returned and placed the bowl of popcorn on the armrest beside Ashleigh. Four times during the movie he caught her glancing back and forth at him but he remained still only paying attention out of the corner of his eyes while still maintaining the illusion of watching the move – truthfully he had no idea what was going on. With a sigh of his own he focused on the screen letting his arm slip behind his sisters slender frame taking pleasure from the tingling of his fingertips as he brushed across her skin.
Half an hour passed before the movie ended, the two lovebirds on screen ending with a romantic kiss to the backdrop of a small restless Italian city. Ashleigh stirred very slightly shifting her body just enough for him to notice. She had fallen asleep. Her eyes lightly fluttered closed as her shallow breathing blew timed wisps of air at his arm. Hypnotically her chest rose and fell in tandem to her breathing, she looked truly beautiful. Carefully using enough magical energy not to disturb her slumber David used a levitation spell at the remote to move it from her armrest to his hand before powering down the television shrouding the room in darkness. With a final look at his gorgeous sister he smiled.
Chapter 2: Past and present
David knelt on the dirty floor, blood and mud caked his still bare legs. His whole body felt numb as if a part of him had just died, thin slivers of tears ran down his face washing away the spatter of blood in parallel lines. He didn't know what to do; it was like his body and mind were both frozen in time. Ashleigh was gone... not mere seconds ago his sister was cradled in his arms weeping like an infant child and yet now here he was alone surrounded in an otherwise undisturbed world. What had happened?
David struggled to open his memory, the last image being his sister caked in blood and tears naked in his arms before everything went red, and when his eyes opened she was gone... There was one obvious explanation; it had to be the book. That pink line he always fretted about thinking that their mother may see and understand truly the extent of their involvement was suddenly torn from his chest leaving a void in his heart that he knew neither how to fill nor how to get back.
For five minutes he remained slumped on the ground, a low distant rumble foretold the warning of a storm. Only minutes later the skies opened releasing their torrent of rain, still David remained frozen, rain lashed at his body while the wind buffered him from all angles. Blood, mud and tears were washed away along with the remnants of the scene; the once dried mud from their coupling became slosh in the downpour. A thunderous boom echoed around him before a searing light of blue forked down to the ground snapping him out of his shock.
Without bothering changing David ran back to the house. The landscape moments ago so serene and peaceful was now ominous, the trees became shadows as thick black clouds blocked the sun. When just he and his sister had set out neither paid attention to where they were going, aimlessly wandering around amongst the trees they were just happy to be close and with another but as David ran now he found himself pulled by a new force in a direction he knew would lead to the house.
Finding out what happened first was the key and for that he needed the book. He avoided the house all together careering around to the back yard to the shed. A quick scan of the door revealed no curses and no lingering energy, a simple shockwave spell shattered the iron lock and he swung open the door scanning the dark interior for the wooden chest. Given the storm, that and no invention of the light bulb, the interior of the shed was pitch black. Feeling his way around he divulged deeper into the darkness before he knocked his shin against something hard on the ground, the dull thud of wood appraising that he had found his target.
As he had done so many times before, using his hands, he scanned the chest for any curses or energy signatures but once again found nothing. Obviously all of their mother's magic curses and spells were hindered useless now she was gone. Summoning what little energy there was in the dark gloomy shed he cast a simple 'be light' spell washing away the darkness with an incandescent luminous blue/white light emanating from a hovering orb just above the chest. Inside the chest was just as before, a few towels and cloths scattered above in a vain attempt to hide what lay underneath prickling with untamed energy... the book.
As soon as his fingertips touched the cover of the book underneath the mountainous layer of cloths a surge of electrical energy crackled above lighting the entire woods for a split second in a white/ blue colour. Slowly the layers of cloths and rags dropped over the edge of the wooden chest spilling onto the floor as the book hovered out of the chest before wavering at eye level facing David. The book opened without assistance and the pages flicked across until the middle of the book was exposed. Amongst the old and tattered yellow pages stood a single white line:
The test has begun...
Ashleigh awoke to the mouth-watering smell of bacon, egg and sausage. The powering and savoury aromas battled her senses causing her mouth to water before her brain could even register she was awake. Groggily she sat up, realising she was in the living room on the couch she looked around and found David in the kitchen cooking, his back turned to her.
"Good morning sleepy." He said with his attention still turned towards the eggs in the pan.
'How did he know I was awake?
She thought to herself as she sleepily yawned, cracked her neck from the kink of lying on the couch and stood up heading towards the kitchen.
"We need to talk." She stated firmly standing beside David watching while he turned the eggs over, rolled the sausages and flipped the bacon slithers.
"We do." David nodded, "But you need to eat first." He grabbed a glass of orange juice and handed it her from behind not once turning around. "Go sit down, this'll be ready in a second."
