New
Kid
That’s
me.
The new kid.
Every year.
You get used to it.
New faces. You think you
recognize people all the time: “Look, it’s Sue,” oh no someone else.
“Hey that looks like Darik,” oops, wrong person.
And those are only the students.
Then there are teachers:
“Hello Miss… Cesan.”
“It’s not pronounced ‘Season.’
It’s more like Sezan.”
“Oh, I beg your pardon.”
“Pardon given.”
A pause.
Then “Yes, class, another comedian!”
“I’m a poet.”
A pause.
I show myself to a seat.
“Uh... Yes, thank you, Ms. Season.”
“Cesan.”
“Right.”
Every year.
You get used to it.
I wandered the halls, looking like a gypsy or hippie, depending on how
you look at me. Long blond-red hair,
rainbow head band, colorful shirt, sparkling jewelry, and dark jeans with a
rainbow belt. All in a day’s work
for a 16 year old, NYC-born teen. Did
I mention all the weird things? Besides
being a hippie, “peace-out,” kind of girl, that is.
I’m a soccer jock and, like I told my first period instructor, I’m a
poet. When reciting my poetry out
loud in a garden or in the woods, the birds stop tweeting, the rabbits prancing,
and all the animals seem to gaze at me. You
can practically see the lion and lamb snuggling up to each other when I speak my
writings. The funny thing is, is
that my poetry sucks. For example,
“The
bird is blue,
Like
the wind.
And
it flies,
Like
the wind…”
And
I write,
Like
an emotionless three-year-old.
I am glad the animals listen.
Though I also wonder if they are really nearing a heart attack at every
word. I wouldn’t be surprised.
“Summer!” I whirled
around and saw a senior grinning at me. “–
is hot! Oh sorry, not you.
I meant the season,” he snickered. “No,
no! I don’t mean you!”
Then turning to his friends he said, “That is
her last name, ya know.” The boy
and his friends burst out laughing. Ha
ha. Hilarious.
And immature and stupid.
I turned around and kicked him in the nuts.
He toppled over.
Now that was funny.
I whirled back around and continued to my next class.
“Ms. Cesan, welcome to my class.”
I love this teacher.
Straightforward. Good at
pronouncing last names. Oh,
I L-O-V-E this teacher!
“Thank you, sir.” He was
old and short with a round face and a bald head.
He was about my height so he wasn’t that short, but from his desk he
looked puny. On the board, he had
written Mr. Joe Filamorro. No wonder
he could pronounce names.
My classmates consisted of two cheerleaders (popular), one goth, me,
seven or eight friendly-and-nice students (popular), ten unknowns, and three
nerds. I had classified them all.
I leaned back proudly, pulling my hair back into a pony tail.
I saw three girls staring at me.
They each sat at different parts of the room.
There was the goth who had straight, black hair, cold blue eyes, and a
sharp face. She wore a black spiked
necklace and dark clothing. A silver
ring holding a black diamond of some sort rested on her finger.
I felt my own ring finger; I was carrying a gold band, emerald-jeweled
ring in the same shape and design as hers. I
shuddered when I noticed one of the unknowns staring at my ring also.
She carried a gold band with a ruby on her finger identical to the one
the goth, cheerleader, and I wore. She
had golden red-brown hair, brown eyes, and an overall pretty face, her pink lips
curving into a troubled frown when she saw my ring.
One of cheerleaders had a matching ring with a sapphire and silver band.
What are the odds, so far? She,
on the other hand, had very blond hair and glowing blue eyes.
Her face was like mine: not pointy, but not round.
Suddenly I heard voices, and lots of them.
They were droning on and on until I focused on Spring’s ring.
Spring? I stared at the
cheerleader’s ring and I heard it again, clearer this time.
My name is Spring.
Then I heard other things. Random
thoughts being stirred up into the air.
That must be Summer.
Now there are four. Does it
mean something? What will Felicia
and Dana say? Is John really gonna
dump me? I think I’m going to cry.
Don’t cry, Spring. You
don’t want to cry.
Those are her thoughts,
I guessed.
Then I shivered. And
shuddered. And planned to spend the
rest of the period shaking like a cornered rabbit.
I am reading her mind.
“Stop listening.” I had
murmured so softly I couldn’t hear myself.
The bell rang.
5th period.
Lunch.
********************************
I
sat next to the girl with the ruby ring. I
would not read her mind. I decided
to find out her name the normal way.
By talking.
“Hi.”
She looked up from her book and looked surprised to see me.
“Summer, right?” Her
voice was light; light like the wind.
“Yes.” My voice seemed
deep compared to hers.
“I’m Autumn.”
I blinked.
“There is a Spring.”
I spoke quietly.
“And a Winter.”
I stared, so many questions buzzing through my head, but I did not get to
speak because a man’s voice quickly intruded in my mind.
Gather.
The first season of the table time must turn the other way… and allow
her to lead…
My eyes widened, then thinned.
His voice sounded far away. Too
far to be heard. But heard anyways.
I gulped in large amounts of air before speaking again, “First season?
Spring?”
“You look dazed. Getting
visions,” Autumn asked me with a playful grin.
“Hearing voices,” I challenged, beginning to bang my head against the
lunch room table.
She pulled my shoulders back so my head could not reach the table and
spoke, “You’re destroying brain cells. What
did you hear?” I could tell she
didn’t really care what I heard, but it told her anyways.
“Gather. The first season
of the…” I paused trying to
remember, “The table time must turn the other way… and allow her to lead.”
“You were serious,” Autumn realized, picking up a curly-fry and
gobbled it down. Her eyes flickered
to la-la land and back and she murmured something like, “Morkella said it,
too.”
I nodded and bit into my sandwich. Mustard
and salami. Something to take my
mind off the frightening subject.
“I must be sick,” I said aloud. Out
of the corner of my eye, I noticed the goth and cheerleader heading our way.
“We’ve got company,” Autumn muttered as the two other girls sat
down with their lunches.
“Where did you get that ring?” The
goth had sprung her attack, but Autumn batted her down gently.
“Winter, it happened again.”
Spring’s eyes widened, but Winter scowled in her raspy-voice way,
“You’re just imagining it, Autumn. The
only voice you are hearing is yours in your head.”
I gazed at Autumn in wonder, “Did you hear a man?”
“No, Summer,” She said gently. “I’m
hearing it out loud. And… I am
hearing animals.”
Then, glaring at Winter, she spurted, “I saw my cat’s mouth move.
Morkella spoke.
She said, ‘Gather. The
first season of the table time must turn the other way… and allow her to
lead…’ What Summer heard.”
“I had a dream,” Spring said in a chirpy voice, “A voice said
exactly what your cat said. Then a
vampire appeared.” She shivered,
“He said, ‘You will still fly, but with different wings.’
Then he disappeared and I woke up with white feathers in my bed.”
Winter nodded, as if to say she had gotten her sign, too. “In the
water, the words appeared. But I
didn’t see my reflection.”
We ate for the following minute in silence.
“After school,” I finally said. “We’ll
gather.”
********************************
3:15.
We had all arrived.
Autumn bent low to the ground, eyeing a squirrel.
“Come forth, comrade. I
promise not to hurt you.”
I stared at her, one brow raised. Did
she really believe she could speak to animals?
The squirrel twitched its ear and squeaked.
Autumn smiled and replied, “I swear, Raincloud.
Will you now step forward?”
I will, he seemed to say.
The squirrel pranced forward and sat at Autumn’s feet.
My mouth fell slightly open.
“What do you need that measly, rabies-infected, bundle of fur for?”
Winter snarled.
Raincloud’s ears flattened against his head and he made a hissing,
clicking noise.
“He says,” Autumn translated, “At least he has fur.”
I smiled and sat down next to the squirrel and said to Autumn, “Do you
think he can find his way around these woods?”
I pointed to the woods that lined the soccer fields that we had been
heading to.
“Sure,” Autumn replied, setting the squirrel down.
I shrugged off some of my desperate questions.
The first day of school and already caught in an adventure?
Will my parents believe me if I told them?
I won’t tell them. I
don’t even know these girls! What
if they are all just lying to me and trying to mess with me?
Is this a reality TV show that my parents planned for me since my head is
always in fantasy novels?
“What do these rings signify?” I
wondered out loud.
“From what we know,” Winter began, “We all received the rings from
our mothers. Ones we trust.
They told us not to wear the ring unless ordered.
Today is the day they told us to put them on.
This is how we met. And this
is the way it should be.” She
snatched up Raincloud who had started nibbling on her shoes.
She pulled out some peanuts that were in her pocket – don’t ask me
why – and threw them at the squirrel who could not resist the salted delights.
Instantly, a BOOM exploded all around them. Something
was wrong.
Very wrong.
Then I heard them – voices, thoughts.
Oh my god, it’s happening.
The world is ending.
Oh, Autumn… you can do it. Just
think through it. Enjoy the
challenge on the way…
Winter, oh my poor baby. You
can’t stop it. No one can.
Destiny, Spring. Fate and
Destiny.
Summer, can you hear me? Please,
oh please, hear me.
My mother.
“Mom? MOM?!”
We are being attacked, Sunshine.
Talk to the animals, find your way, fly, then sneak in and kill the
attackers. No use talking to them,
they’ve been planning. But so have
we. And Summer?
“Yes, yes?” I sobbed.
Kill?!
I love you.
And remember the name ‘Frugal.’ Now
go! Though we will die in the end.
“I won’t let you,” I swore aloud, but she was
no longer connected.
I turned to the others and said, “Raincloud, get us out of here and
fast.” He shot off in one
direction and I took off after him, “Our mothers are in danger.”
Raincloud paused at the end of the woods and pointed his head straight
ahead. I glanced at Spring and said,
“Fly.”
On command, long, white-feathered wings protruded from her shoulder bones
and she spoke, but in an inhuman voice. “Grab
my hand.”
We paused for shock, A walk through
the woods to a death scene.
Raincloud hopped onto my shoulder and flicked his tail, knowingly.
We immediately grabbed each other’s hands, shaking, and found ourselves
in sudden flight. Small wings had
formed on our backs, from Spring’s touch and soon we were gazing at Earth from
a whole different view. I ignored
the sight: my mother was going to die. I
explained what I had heard as we flew and soon everyone was up-to-date.
We sat in silence until Spring dove suddenly, and then we were on the
ground and running.
Soon I saw them.
Four bodies laying still on the ground.
One with long, sweeping gold-gray hair and glowing cherry lips.
Shadows of birds swooped through the air.
The creatures were literally shadows.
Freakish monsters.
Then I heard her sweet voice again.
ShadowRavens.
They have great vision, but lack any other senses.
What we can’t see, they can’t see.
They suck souls and devour the dead.
We are still alive.
I paused, waiting for more.
Nothing else came. “What we
can’t see. They can’t see.”
I muttered aloud.
I found the other seasons weeping and running toward their mothers.
“No!” I cried.
“Winter? Make us invisible,
first.”
She opened her blue eyes wide and said, “Cloak us by the moonlight,
silver.”
Before my eyes, the other three disappeared.
They are repelled by living
animals. They like humans and hate
rodents.
I instantly picked Raincloud off my shoulder and
yelled, glad ShadowRavens could not hear, “Call the rodents: ShadowRavens –
those monsters – are repelled –”
– By their odor and size.
“– By their odor and size.”
Autumn nodded then yelled, from what sounded like next to her mother,
“Help me Raincloud!” Then as
quickly as she had yelled, rabbits, squirrels, and mice appeared.
Everything will fit together.
Including my death.
I rushed forward to my mother and, as all of us we doing, held her close
to my chest.
I heard four voices, all in my mind and in the others’ minds, too, You
must find Frugal… One… Allow her
to lead. One of the voices had
said, allow you to lead. I recognized
it as my mother’s. You have done well. I am
proud… Oh so proud. I love you.
My mother was dead.
