Blowing Magic Dust
“You’re so ugly, Natalie! I don’t know why you show your face in school.”
“Yeah, you’re hideous. No one likes you, why don’t you get that. No one wants you, that’s why you’re parents left you. You were so repulsive that they wouldn’t dare to keep you.”
“Ha ha, good one, Carmella. That was excellent. You remember to stay out of our way, Natalie. We don’t ever want to see your ugly face in our way again!”
This was my life, a dark hole of hatred and cruelty.
“Listen you dim-wit, you better answer me when I talk to you!” Carmella pinned me down against the school locker, allowing Angela to smack me straight across my face as the usual beating.
I tried ignoring them like I always did, but they never left me alone. When I tried to be with myself, they’d follow me. Trying to escape in a metropolis like New York is nearly impossible. Humans wander everywhere, in pairs, groups, and large clusters.
At school, my classmates would haunt me. All of them would constantly chant my name, and frequently remind me of hideousness. They were right, I had no beauty. My restless tangles could never pass for silky locks like Angela‘s, my pointed nose was more than slightly askew. Even my hazel eyes belonging to my father were too far apart to be human. Everything about me was imperfection; every part of me a flaw. My school bullies always called me “wrong”, “hideous”, and “revolting”. In their minds they truly believed that no one would love me. I was too erroneous to even live in a world where works of art like themselves roamed freely.
I knew it too, that I was wrong. I knew I was a mistake, not worthy of anything. The reason of my birth was horrible accident. My true purpose in the world was to be alone. Too bad no one let me isolate myself.
Walking among the streets of the city, repulsive looks were shot at me. My peers would whisper to each other quietly, thinking I couldn’t hear them or see them. I saw them, I heard them, all their words of hate. When I wished that they would stop talking behind my back, things became worse. Rather than speaking poorly about me behind my back, they began confronting me about it. Numerous times I’ve been thrown against lockers, thrashed against the floor. Students pouring their lunches about me, always knocking down my books.
Some of them would even pity me, trying to feel sympathy towards a mistake. I’ve heard them say watching me get bullied was like watching a turtle flip over on its back, left helpless to the dangers of the jungle. School was a jungle, full of hyenas, lions, and beasts. Wild monkeys throwing their droppings on me, the wildcats ripping me to shreds. The hyenas were the watchers, the ones that stood back and laughed. And what was I? Well I was the hideous Borneo, bearing a face to dreadful to be ignored.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone, Carmella?! Don’t you guys have anything better to do than beat me?” I shrieked, trying to writhe out of Carmella’s filthy clutches. She wore long, dark flowing hair, and a prissy face cold as stone. Her eyes were bright green like a cats, her fearless cackle like a witch.
Angela and Carmella both erupted into blaring laughter.
“We’re doing you a favor, Natalie. Someone like you needs to learn there place in this world.” Angela sniffed, her nose shooting into the air.
She swiped one polished claw over her shoulder, brushing her golden locks away from her face. Her crystal blue eyes blazed with a wicked fire, challenging all who would look upon them.
“My place in this world is to be alone!” I cried, struggling to break free.
“Your place in this world is the garbage!” Carmella guffawed, throwing me head first into the school trash can. The trash can immediately tumbled forward as I thrashed about to remove myself.
A roaring wind of laughter. The whole school was watching me, their heads thrown back in laughter. Each time I made a movement, their beady eyes would follow. It was as if I were a circus freak only born to make the world laugh. I was made for their amusement it seemed, never to escape the eyes of wicked wanderers.
The second I was out of the trash, I rushed back to my foster home. The leftover remains of children’s sloppy Joe’s and casserole surprises were adorned in my chocolate tangles. Red Gatorade was splattered across my face. Bits and pieces of chewed up gum stuck to my ragged clothing. Carmella was right, I was trash.
Racing to get back home, I zipped passed a thousand watchful eyes. Rude comments, poor insults, and loathing escaped their motoring lips. It didn’t matter to me, I knew what I was and I just wanted an escape. Ever since this whole mess started, I dreamt of living in a world where people would be mesmerized by my presence. A world where people envied my beauty, my gentle voice, my soothing song. Everyone would bring me gifts and presents to thank me for being so kind and beautiful, and I’d grant them to live in my company.
I knew something like this would never be possible, being hideous and awful as I was. My voice sounded like a raspy croak, my singing like an accordion choking. Once I reached the entrance of my foster home, the doors swung wide open. Daren and Matilda were arguing again, getting on each others last nerves. Daren, my foster dad, stormed out of the apartment, not ignoring my presence.
“What the heck are you doing here, you bloody leech?! What did I tell you about respecting my home? Someone as poorly dressed, hideous, and worthless as you better not come into my house dressed shamefully as this!” Daren knocked me onto the hard concrete with a quick jab against my chest.
“You better start carrying your own weight around here! The dishes are piling, my clothes aren’t folded, and you shrunk my favorite pants! By the time I get back here this place better sparkle, otherwise you’re never going to see the light of daylight again, you beast.” He savaged, kicking me into the garbage bins by our door.
I nodded rapidly back up at him, filled with fear. My heart started racing, the stinging in my chest bursting into flames.
“Now get out of my sight, you filthy garbage!” He ordered in a commanding bark, and I was off.
I ran down the streets, leapt over obstacles in the process. Where was I to run away in this overpopulated state?
I continued to dash the streets, my eyes not watching where I was going. I could’ve been running straight to my deathbed and I wouldn’t of noticed. Through my overflowing tears, I could see that the sun had disappeared. Only a dim glow from somewhere unknown illuminated my path. I paused to take a breath, my hands on my knees. I panted heavily, sounding like a breathless dog. My head faced the ground as I wheezed, and I noticed something was wrong.
The solid concrete of the city had faded into lush, green vegetation. Dewdrops rested peacefully on the healthy meadow. I looked up to the sky, seeing the only light that brightened the darkness, the moon. I reversed my head to look around me, I was surrounded my thousands of trees. The trees rocketed into the air, their tops kissing the night sky.
I was standing directly in the middle of a small clearing in a forest, the moonbeams being distorted through the treetops. Right in front of me lay a tiny branch, covered completely in white dust. I stepped forward cautiously, and leaned over to pick up the powdered branch. I held it up to my lips and said,
“With this magic dust all my dreams will come true. All my fancies, my hopes, and my wishes. A world of happiness and joy is the world I will live in, a world where I am accepted. Thank you for bestowing upon me this treasure, and for granting my every wish.”
After chanting my the spell, I blew lightly on the branch. Clouds of the white dust wafted gently through the air as I blew. I continued to blow, but this time with more force. The magic dust danced with the flowing breeze, flying softly on my graceful gust.
My eyelids fell forward, and I imagined the world I’d always dreamed of. My mind pictured a bright blue sky, clouds dancing about it. Suddenly, my body felt numb, then I couldn’t feel anything. I felt nothing, and everything all at the same time. My senses left me, they knocked me out cold. However, a tingly flutter grew within my chest. A flickering light began to blaze. It felt like flying, as though I were carrying no burdens. I imagined being lifted into the heavens, carried by a cumulus cloud.
A silver gate, sheer and pure, awaited in the sky. They slowly opened when I arrived. The cloud floating cloud gingerly tossed me into the air. I thought I would fall, as though my whole dream world were transitioning to a deadly nightmare. Instead, two soaring wings grew from my back and fluttered through the skies. They flapped swiftly, carrying me upward effortlessly. My feet useless dangled below me; I would no longer need them if I could fly.
Using my new wings, I darted through the shining gates, further into the dreams.
My world of paradise awaited beyond the gates, my wish had come true.
