David wasn't used to extended family. He had moved from Sydney and went into hiding with his dad before he could even remember, leaving the grandparents on his father’s side behind. David had only ended up visiting a couple of times. Ultimately, back in Aussie it was really just him and his dad. So when he got welcomed by his other grandparents, an auntie and uncle, then a number of cousins, he didn't really know how to react. It had been one and a half years in the US already and he was still needing time to get used to seeing his mum as, well, his mum. It was about taking baby steps into this and all David could do is hope they were understanding. "I know it may not be easy to open up to them Chester." Claire had said before they arrived. "But its been over a year and they only live in the next town over. I couldn't really hold them back." She said the last part jokingly.
"You're doing it again mum." David replied with a peaceful closed lip smile and a calm tone. If he hadn't gotten used to things by now, he couldn't blame her either.
"Its David." She quickly apologized as if it were a slip of the tongue.
"Don't worry about it."The other thing David wasn't used to was gifts. He was used to making his own way since his father started hitting the bottle. So when David's newly met grandfather insisted he take the old pick up truck he was going to 'sell anyway', David had at first tried to say it was too much and hand it back. But no wouldn't be taken for an answer from his grandfather so all David could do was give a thank you. This was initially done with the intention of paying the man back somehow. But as the night they visited went on, David realized how little he actually had to give back. He just had to accept the gift at face value. David wasn't comfortable with this feeling, not being able to repay the generosity of someone he barely knew. He had the feeling come over him that, in a way, he was in debt to the man who was his grandfather. Nevertheless, his grandfather had carried on cheerily throughout the night as if it were nothing to him. David would get to know this new family and try to, maybe, see it as his own. That was the best he could do to pay back the favor.
A few days later, it was the very same
pickup truck that David was now driving up to the coven house in. There was some sort of coven coming of age thing, where kids his age become fully fledged witches and learn more magic over the summer. David's mum was very excited to tell him that she got him into it. 'It will be good to be around people your age, it will help you fit in more' she said. Not that David had much interest in fitting in more, all he really wanted was to catch up with his mum and see if there was a chance of her forgiving dad. But that was a big ask and in the one and a half years he has been here, David still had yet to build up the courage to bring up that to his mum. In his mind, going to the coven house was meeting her halfway. He would try to fit in with the new witches and then maybe he would be able to bring up that whole business to her.
But it wasn't the new witches who had made him hesitant to accept. Even though he was on the level of a child witchling, he wasn't bothered at all by them. It was the Sisters themselves. They had been far from welcoming to David and his past went he arrived. They insulted his dad for being a useless drunk, basically told his mum that she was stupid for ever leaving (or at least that is how he perceived it), and still wouldn't stop calling him Chester. His mum could call him Chester, he can forgive her and he has to forgive her, she’s family. But those Sisters, they aren't his family and they do it almost intentionally. In short, David was not looking forward to a summer of being 'looked after' by the Sisters.
The old pickup truck sputtered up the mountain into a parking area with a lot of awfully nice cars. Not too far from here was the coven house which he had visited last year, it wasn’t good to be back. He chucked on his backpack and slung his very packed duffle bag over his right shoulder before getting out and checking the back to see nothing had fallen out. Everything was accounted for back there. It was a bunch of exercise equipment David brought second hand. He had a life before he moved to the US and boxing was part of that life he planned on keeping. Both the weights and punching bag looked run down, scuffed, and patchy. But it reminded him of home so he really didn't mind. He also brought a stand for the punching bag because he doubted the Sisters would let him just hang it up in the coven house.
David had come quite early at a quarter past eight and there was a reason for it. He had hoped that a lot of them were sleeping in or something so that he could move his stuff in without making a fuss. Maybe even set up his punching bag without many questions coming toward him. But those hopes were taken away when he opened the door to about 10 witches hanging around near the entrance.
"Uh g'day" he said toward any eyes turning into his direction, but he noticed most were still looking at a pin board. Due to his height he could see over most of them and noticed room assignments. Room 6: Arken, David, Caleb. Although he smelt something damn good coming from the kitchen, David went immediately up the stairs toward his new room. He mainly just wanted to get his bags off before he sat down to eat.
Heading into the room he saw one bed and a set of bunk beds. Without a single thought he chucked his bags on the normal bed, he really did not feel like bunking in for the summer. From there he started packing his clothes into the draws. Normally, he wouldn't care about it and just head down for breakfast. But there was another reason for him doing it. After he had finished packing, very quickly at that, he pulled a litre bottle of cheap whiskey out of his back and hid it in his sock drawer. David would save it for a special occasion, for example, his first night in the coven house.
It wasn’t long before David was back down stairs again, ten minutes tops. He was sporting black shorts and a white singlet with sneakers for the warm weather and the work it would take to get his exercise equipment set up. But first thing was first, breakfast, and pancakes did not sound too bad at all. He stacked up his plate and sat at the dining table. A group of about 4 girls talking by the window and one sitting down from the table listening to music. He didn’t feel the need to interrupt either of them, so he began eating with pace. Hopefully, he would have time to set up his stuff before the Sisters got them doing activities for the day. Speaking of the Sisters, he had also hoped they would just skip on the introduction part.
As David ate he noticed a ferret get mighty close to his plate. Reflexively, he picked up his plate out of reach. He had been in some bad places before, and he knew a rodent when he saw one even if he had never seen a ferret specifically. But then he remembered what his mum said about some witches having familiars. They are usually well behaved, he thought. So he put down his plate again and pet the ferret. It then proceeded to take a bite out of his pancake and run off.
"What the hell? Hey" David tried to stop it in a very half hearted kind of way. Ultimately, the ferret couldn’t take very big bites so it didn’t bother him much. He just cut that little bite mark off.
Mentions:
Astro @Hitman
Fading Memory
Suicharte
Damycles
Lildear18
Izurich
Duoya
Mixtape Ghost N
Rabidporcupine
