Magic

• Jia Ying Kho, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2011

Her body tingled with delight as the liquid seeped viciously into her blood stream. Her drought was over, and it didn’t matter which way – sniff, smoke, swallow; all she needed was that little bit of magic to transform her. She was no longer the Buddha faced girl with a mind moulded in a shape of an A; she was the seductive Cinderella that escaped her evil step-mum’s shackles of control. No longer did she need to worry about the earthly flaws tainting the perfect world she was stepping into, she was Queen and all she needed was the armour of her secret substance. It kept her alive, it gave her a life.

Trivial pursuits of success and happiness were engulfing the atmosphere, polluting and bombarding her dream world. Everyone tried to fulfil their own selfish desires, little did they know she had already been to the moon and back. If only they knew her secret. But they couldn’t feel what she was feeling - she would forbid it. The magic was her right and hers only. Long gone the days where she was the underdog, exploited by the world – she didn’t need those cruel demons that haunted her day and night.

Lies sprouted from her weed-lined mouth. Greed overcame her sweet Bambi eyes – mind powered over self, it seemed that suddenly the world made sense. But those epiphanies lasted just enough for her to glimpse through the promised land. She wanted more. She had learnt her lesson about being content – it never got you what you wanted. Money is a small price to pay for happiness and besides, if her Mummy and Daddy really loved their angel they would pay enough attention to see that her school grades were dropping. For once they let go, and this was an opportunity to die for.

She felt a gaping hole through her life, the feeling of pure bliss was flying right out of her reach. Cravings growled through her brain, commanding her to do whatever it takes. Soon, a second did not pass when she was lost in her pilgrimage to the land of dreams and nothing satisfied anymore. She was nothing more than a slave; life pinned to the drug.

Down she lay, in the snow-white bed of peace. Her body lay in a disfigured mess, tattooed with her past. People whispered warnings of the sins of the world, and there the evidence lies. She was in a no-man’s land, nailed into the coffin of life and death. They tried to keep her alive, but her soul had given up. Life seemed like an illusion, nothing could rid of suffering and grief. She poured her trust out into her magic substance, only to find it was a magic trick – a temporary cure to a life-long search for answers. The blackness seeped into her system, calming every nerve in her body and put her into a place of serenity.