by Dani Swanson
Izzie felt sick in the pit of her stomach. She sat there with her mouth gaped open as she just stared at Denisha. She could hear the hushed rustle of Zyon in her bag stating that the girl shouldn't have messed with his princess or something along those lines. She purposefully smacked her backpack against the lockers to shut him up. "That's not great news. Poor Meredith."
The girls watched as a group of men wearing exterminator jumpsuits came around the corner and headed to Ms. Johnson's classroom. They were carrying buckets, flashlights, and what looked to be a camera on the end of a long pole.
Denisha's face hardened and matched that of her friends. "You know what I mean. You’re right, it's sad for Meredith, but what are they going to find? You saw the size of that mark on her leg. We would have seen something that large scurry off. I'm sure she'll be fine. You must admit, though, the timing of her karma is just perfect. She has been bullying girls since she hit puberty before the rest of us. She's mean. Just mean. "Denisha scrunched her face up in a look of disapproval. She's had plenty of run-ins with Meredith over the years, especially when it came to try-outs for school plays. Meredith usually got cast for the lead just based on her popularity and not for skill. It was as if Meredith sought Denisha out and purposely made her look bad during her audition, even if they weren't trying out for the same part. "Okay, you're right, I just don't like her." Denisha shrugged. "Do you want to come over and help me cut out some patterns?"
"I'll come over and keep you company while you cut out some patterns." Izzie pulled out her phone and sent a text to her mom about where she was going. She was sure that all the parents were already notified of the half-day. Izzie grabbed her fairytale book, headed out the door with her friend, and started the long walk to Denisha's house. "Man, I wish we were old enough to drive."
"You'll be old enough in a few weeks. Do you think your parents will get you a car?" Denisha gave a big smile, hoping that her friend would be able to tote her around until she turned sixteen in January.
"Ha! You think that they would do that? Nathan had to buy his own car, and he just turned eighteen before they would allow him to do so. It's a good thing he doesn't mind driving me around, or it would be mom bringing me to school every day. "
"Well, speak of the devil." Denisha nodded with her chin at Nathan and his friend John rolling up next to them in the beat-up Ford that Nathan had bought. The front fender was a silvery color, while the rest of the car was black. Nathan didn't seem to mind, though; he was happy to be able to call it his own. "Hey, Nate! Help a girl out?" She gave Nathan a wink and started walking toward the trunk with her bolts of fabric before he even responded.
"I was looking all over for you! I thought something may have happened to you." Nathan seemed very worried.
"I'm fine. Just headed to Denisha's house since school is over for the day."
"And your sweet brother is going to give us a ride there." Denisha was already at the trunk waiting for Nathan to open it.
"Only if you stop calling me Nate. "He popped the trunk for her.
"Sup, John!" Denisha climbed into the back seat behind him.
"Hey, Denisha." John was less than thrilled to be picking them up. Denisha has an obvious crush on him and had followed him around for the last two years like a lost puppy.
"Thanks, Nathan." Izzie smiled as she climbed into the back seat. She heard an "oof" from her bag that Nathan could hear as well. He nervously looked at the others to see if they had noticed. Izzie slightly shook her head, adjusted the bag, and opened the zipper, acting as if she was looking for something. Zyon was smashed between a couple of books and did not look pleased as he climbed out. He winked at Nathan, who he now allowed to see him as he climbed into the back window of the car.
"That's so weird…." Nathan said as he glanced at Zyon, lying out in the back window.
"What's so weird?" John asked without looking up from his phone.
"Yea, Nathan, what's so weird?" Izzie questioned as she kicked the back of his seat.
"Oh, that Meredith chick being in the hospital. I wonder what bit her?"
"It was me." Zyon laughed. "She deserved it."
Nathan's eyes got big as he met the glance of his sister in the mirror.
"Yeah, I don't know. We didn't see anything in class that would have done it." Denisha offered to the conversation.
"Yeah. We DIDN'T see anything." Izzie’s voice cracked as she tilted her head to the side. She kicked her brother's seat again for good measure as he pulled up to Denisha's house.
"Thanks for the lift, big bro!" Denisha hopped out of the car and grabbed the bolts of fabric from the trunk. "You two are more than welcome to stay if you'd like. I think I've got enough money to order a couple of pizzas."
"No, we better…."
Nathan cut John off. "Pizza sounds great. Here, I worked some extra hours last week. I'll get it. Guys, I need to talk to my sister for a minute. John help Denisha into the house with all that fabric." Nathan gave John a playful shove in the arm. John rolled his eyes, got out of the car, grabbed an arm full of fabric, and followed Denisha to the door. She was grinning from ear to ear as she fumbled with her key in the lock.
As soon as they were far enough away, Izzie started raising her voice to her brother. "You can't do that. You can't act like you can see him!"
"But I can see him, and he just said he bit that girl. Iz, she may die!"
She paused for a moment and looked out the window to make sure that everyone was inside. She let out a little sigh before talking. "I've been dealing with Zyon a lot longer than you have, and I can tell you that you can't act like you can see him. You can't let people hear you talking to him. They will label you as crazy. Do you want that?"
"No one thinks you're crazy."
"Mom does. When dad is around, I'm sure he picks up on it too. I'm not like you, Nathan. I don't have friends; I have Denisha. Everyone else has labeled me as the weirdo that talks to herself. Don't hang around Isabella Smith, weird stuff happens when she's around. Zyon knocks stuff over by accident. Or the cats start to freak out. And heaven forbid someone you trust enough to talk to listens to the craziness you start spewing about the little green man protecting you from the shadows, they just label you as crazy behind your back. Don't react to him. It hurts you." Tears were rolling down Izzie's face as she glared at Zyon. He gave her a sad look back.
"I was just protecting you, Iz. That girl is always picking on you."
"You didn't have to bite her! Just ignore her. Zyon, you can't keep driving people off or hurting them!"
The boggle slid down the seat and grew to his average size, which was about up to her knee. He sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. "I'm just trying to do what I was charged with. I'm sorry that I'm making you cry."
"Man, you're dangerous! You need to stay away from my sister!" Nathan made a swipe at Zyon with his open hand, missing the boggle.
Zyon grabbed Nathan by his wrist and bared his teeth. "You don't want to try that human." He hissed, showing his unexpected strength as Nathan let out a yelp from the pain.
"Zyon, don't you dare hurt my brother! I will start talking about you again, so help me!" Izzie grabbed the boggle's arm and tugged it away from Nathan. Zyon didn't remove his gaze from her brother as he continued to growl at him like a rabid dog.
"I will never do physical harm to your sister. I have been charged as such, and a boggle always keeps his word. Now my word to you, Nathan, if you do anything that will harm Izzie, I will eliminate you. It'll be more than a bite; I promise you that."
"STOP!" She screamed at the boggle as she pushed him over. "You will not hurt my brother. EVER. Do you hear me?"
"My only job is to protect……"
"DO YOU HEAR ME?" She instantly stopped crying and just stared at the boggle with her most stern look she could come up with. She fidgeted with the sparrow charm on her necklace as she watched Zyon get situated on the seat. "Nathan is the only person in this world that I trus
t completely. He's never been mean to me or thought I was weird. He just loves me, and I swear to you that I won't let anything happen to him."
"Iz, this thing is dangerous, and I'm just trying to protect….."
"He won't leave; I've tried over the years. He is always there. I'm sorry, Nathan, but you asked to be a part of this. Now, our friends keep looking at us from the window. We need to go inside…..and I don't need protecting." Izzie reached into the front seat and adjusted the mirror so she could fix her face. "In the bag, if you want a ride." She said without looking at Zyon. The boggle shrunk down to the size of a small doll, climbing into Izzie's bag, sitting on top of her books.
"Just ignore that he's there, Nathan." She picked up her bag and started to go up the walk. "And no more biting people!" She shook the bag with her words.
They made their way inside, and John and Denisha were sitting on the couch; she was pinning the hem of the cap for Little Red Riding Hood while he was playing a game on his phone.
"Everything okay?" He questioned, again without looking up.
"Yeah, we just had some family drama we needed to discuss. No worries. Did you order that pizza yet? I'm starving." Nathan plopped down next to Denisha while Izzie quietly took her spot in her favorite chair in the house – the overstuffed blue chair with dingy gold buttons that sat in the corner. It was always comforting for her to sit there.
"Yep. I got two. I think the total was like 28 bucks or something like that. It'll be here soon." Denisha tapped his stomach in response to the auditable growl coming from it.
"Great!" He dug into his bag, finding his wallet, and placed enough at the door for the pizza, and to tip the driver. Zyon had made his way out of the backpack and walked around the room, checking everything out. He liked to explore the different places that Izzie took him. Nathan was having difficulty not watching him walk around as Izzie completely ignored him and had her nose buried deep in her book.
"What are you studying over there?" Denisha questioned her friend as she moved to the floor with her project.
"Just reading ahead for English class."
"How far ahead are you already?" Denisha knew without asking that Izzie was probably through the whole book and rereading it now.
"I'm reading a dark poem by Hans Christian Anderson called Skyggen that translates to The Shadow. It's for the quiz on Friday."
"Well, don't be stingy, tell me what it's about, so I don't have to read it." Denisha was not joking as she now had her scissors out and was slicing through the velvety scarlet fabric.
"You're really not going to read it?" Izzie glanced over the top of her book and saw Zyon examining the crystal figurines on the bookshelf.
"Why would she read it? She's got you to give her the answers!" John nudged Nathan with his elbow to pay attention to his ribbing.
"He's not wrong." Denisha shrugged as she continued her project.
"Besides, I did the same for you during Black History Month last year and gave you the real stuff to write your project on instead of the half stories in the textbook….and if I remember correctly, you got an A."
"An A-plus, actually," Izzie smirked behind her book. Fine. Pay attention." She cleared her throat and started to tell the plot summary of the poem. "So, a guy basically gives birth to a shadow via a fire that he's having. He has a grand time as he plays with this shadow, it which cast across all the way to the patio of another house. When he woke in the morning, his shadow is gone, and he's sad about it." She licked her finger as she turned the page; Zyon's attention was caught when Izzie started talking about shadows and was on the arm of the chair, looking at the pages of the book as she was reading. "The guy is a writer, and he goes on with his life until one day there is a knock on his door. It's his shadow. He's returned to him, but now he is in human form. The shadow comes in, and they discuss life like a deep conversation about it. The writer tells the shadow of the good that there is in the world, and the shadow tells him he's wrong, and everything is about being evil. The man gets old and becomes sick while the shadow is now rich and growing fat. I think the growing fat part is a reference to being wealthy also as it meant he could eat, but I'm not sure if that is where they were going with it. Anyway, the shadow takes the man on a trip on the condition that he now will be the shadow of the shadow, and the shadow will be the master or the "man." She made air quotes in front of her. The shadow meets a princess, and they fall in love. The shadow tells the man they will not be trading places again, and the man is killed. This was considered a dark fairytale and was to teach us that good doesn't always win. Sometimes the evil tricks the good and prevails."
The room was silent as everyone was watching Izzie.
"That's why I protect you from the shadows," Zyon said softly, as he patted Izzie's arm. Nathan nodded at him.
"That reminds me of that crazy dream I had at your house back when we were like eight….. You remember that? I swear you were awake for it. She swears I was dreaming, but I remember her standing at the window, and all these shadows melded together and turned into this giant bird. I went to put my glasses on, but when I turned back around, there was nothing there."
"Because it was the middle of the night, and you didn't have your glasses on, and there really wasn't anything there." Izzie gave her a head tilt and a wide-eyed look. "And I'm supposed to be the weird one."
Denisha chuckled and stuck her tongue out at Izzie. "Duh, why do you think we're friends?"
The doorbell rang, and John and Nathan jumped up from their seats. "Food!" John raced Nathan to the door. "Here you go, man. Keep the change." John handed the delivery guy the cash stack by the door and came back in with the food.
"Dude, you just gave that guy like a twelve-dollar tip! With my money!" Nathan slugged John in the arm and took the pizzas. The girls awkwardly watched from the table where Denisha was setting out some plates and a few sodas out of the fridge.
"My bad, Dude! No need for violence. Here you go." John took a crumpled up ten out of his pocket and gave it to him. "It's okay." John held his hands up as he made his way around the table. Denisha made sure to grab the seat right next to him.
Luigi's has the best pizza in town. Denisha had ordered Izzie's favorite. Meatball and pepperoni with extra cheese. She took a deep breath as she savored the aroma of her lunch. She moved her plate and purposely dropped a meatball toward the floor that Zyon caught in his mouth and swallowed whole.
"Thanks, Princess!" He said with a burp as he made his way back to the chair; Izzie had been sitting in for a little nap. Nathan smirked and shook his head at his sister.
At that moment, a chime came from all their cell phones at the same time. "School email kids."
"Did they find something?" Izzie questioned with a mouth full of piping hot mozzarella.
"No……Meredith died! The school is going to be closed for the rest of the week!" John lowered his phone and set it down on the table. Everyone stopped eating and just blankly stared at each other. Izzie glanced over to the chair and saw only the eyes of Zyon staring over the arm of the chair back at her. "I wonder what could have bitten her that would kill her?"
10: frankie
As time went on, the blur of high school was over, and Isabella was on her way to college. She decided to go to St Mary's. She wasn't a devout person by any means, but the school had a great teaching program and writing programs, both of which she wanted to study. Denisha left the state and moved to New York. She wanted to become an actor on Broadway and would not take a moment away from that dream and waste it by going to college. Denisha had sang and danced her way through school. She had all the starring roles in the theater productions, and her singing voice was unmatched, especially by any high school student. Izzie stuck to her fairytales and excelled at writing stories for her creative writing classes. She was even dabbling at writing poetry.
Nathan had taken a gap year and stayed around the house to protect his sister, and to watch Zyon. He was going to St Mary’s as well and had just started
a summer term before Izzie started in the Fall.
Izzie was working part-time at the Blue Moon Bookstore the entire Summer, saving money for her big move to college. Izzie couldn’t wait to go, and actually had just put her notice in at the shop earlier than expected. She was ready to get out of the house, away from her mom. Jack had been travelling more and more, leaving Sami the sole parent at home. Sami overheard Izzie talking to herself again that morning and took it upon herself to tell Izzie that no one was going to pay attention to a weirdo like her in college. Izzie left in a tizzy, slamming the door behind her.
"Oh, good! You're home! I was hoping we could make some cookies together. I got all the stuff laid out. I figured we would try that new recipe you sent me. It looks good, and your cute little fingers will be perfect for making the thumbprints for the chocolate in the middle of them." She gave Izzie a colossal smile.
Izzie forced herself to swallow her pride. She placed her bag down by the banister with a loud thud.
"Sure, drop me on the floor and go play with the lady that calls you a weirdo. It's cool. I like having concussions." Zyon crawled out of Izzie's backpack and started his way up to his usual spot on the shelf.
"How was work today?"
"Fine." Izzie stared into the mixing bowl as she carefully cracked and separated egg, ensuring to only get the egg yolks in.
"How was your day?”
"Fine." She gave a little more of a chipper inflection to her voice in hopes that they could bake without talking.
"Are you going to talk to me? Or tell me everything is "fine."
"You should just say fine again. Your mom's head will explode." Zyon started to climb down from his spot as he could see that Izzie wasn't going to be doing much more baking with how this conversation was going. Izzie started to giggle at Zyon's remark.