He stood there, coffee mug in one hand, phone in the other, just staring at her face.
“What? Say something.”, she demanded.
“You…I saw that. I saw you move that plate just by staring at it”, he sounded like he was choking.
She sighed. She’d have to be more careful. She didn’t want to do what she was about to do, especially because she had grown to like him.
“It has to be done. You know it does. You know the rules”, that voice whispered. The stupid rules. How annoying. She sighed again and twitched her hand. He dropped dead. The post mortem would show that he had had heart failure. Or a stroke. Whichever his family was more likely to believe in.
She clutched at the tabletop. A bout of nausea had hit her, as it always did after a major life-ending spell. She wasn’t born with special powers, no. She had worked her ass off and earned her place in The Piklak.
Looking at him lie dead, with only an expression of shock on his face, filled her with grief and guilt. I need a drink. She twitched her hand again and her coffee turned into Vodka.
“Don’t try to be Jesus.”, that voice whispered again.
“Jesus wouldn’t kill.”, she retorted.
Her phone beeped with a text message. “Meet. Crinchik Hill. 10 minutes.”, the text read. She downed the Vodka and strapped her backpack on. She set out on a slow jog towards the only hill in town– Crinchik Hill.
“What is it this time?”, she grumbled as she made her way into the clearing.
“Your mom, Holly. We found her.”, her boss Ghuler said. He was sitting on a rock, wearing his usual look– a suit with a black tie.
“I don’t care. I’m not going. Not again. Where is she now, Russia?”
“Czechoslovakia, actually.”, Ghuler replied.
“Sheko-what? Look, Ghuler. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me and my mom. With all due respect, though, STOP. I. DON’T. CARE. She can go hang herself and I wouldn’t even flinch.”
“Holly, listen to me. This is just your anger talking. Come on, now. She is your mother, after all.”, Ghuler tried to talk some sense into her.
“My mother? Biologically, yes, although I’m ashamed to admit even that. She killed a thousand people, Ghuler. A thousand! One frickin’ thousand! And the worst part? They were all innocents! She is dead to me. Dead, you hear me? Let the mortals capture her and put her in their tiny mortal prison cells, because I am not going after her.”, Holly screamed, and in a fit of anger, twitched her hands and vanished from the spot.
“Your mother killed people and now she’s a criminal? Oh, the irony of it all. You just killed an innocent too, Holly! Does it matter if it’s one person or a thousand? Murder is murder!”, Ghuler shouted into the empty air.
The leaves only rustled in response.
The Piklak was a highly respected secret society of sorcerers. It took years of training and rigorous testing to become a member, and earn the title of ‘Pikkilaka’. Pikkilaka were strong-willed and intelligent, and were always fit enough to run a 10k marathon if needed. They trained in secret and took an oath to kill anyone outside the community, if they found out.
Holly’s mom, Waneta Fitpip, had been a Pikklaka for over forty years. She had steadily risen through the ranks to become the Vice President of the Piklak. Wise beyond her years, Waneta was loved and respected by everyone in the community– everyone except her daughter, that is. The power that came with being the Vice President had left Waneta with the belief that people would always listen to her. She was used to having her way, and she did not like when people disobeyed her. Funnily enough, Holly was a fiercely independent girl. She challenged authority with every chance she got, and did not take lightly to being ordered about. And thus it came to be known to all the Pikkilaka that Waneta Fitpip and her independent daughter Holly, were perpetually at loggerheads with each other.
Despite this tension between them, though, Waneta and Holly developed a mutual respect for each other, and it wasn’t just because they were mother and daughter. They each admired the other’s guts, and deservedly so. Waneta was the one who had told Holly about the secretive Piklak. She had trained her daughter and taught her everything she needed to know, to pass the tough entrance tests. Holly, in turn, had done her mother proud. She had soared through the entrance tests and secured herself a place on The Wandering Council, which was the toughest of them to crack. In the years that followed, Holly had gone on several dangerous missions and emerged victorious from each one.
Alright. Let’s do this.
“Ma? I know you’re here. Ma? MA? MAA!! Stop hiding! I can sense your aura, I know you’re here. MA!”, Holly screamed. She was in a garden in Czechoslovakia. It was breathtaking, even in this anger-filled moment. The fallen autumn leaves, the old trees…
“MA!”
The leaves rustled behind her.
“Holly, baby. You came!”
“Yes.” Her heart broke when she saw her mom’s face. Waneta had bags under her eyes, and her wrinkly face looked so devoid of life. Her shoulders were sagged and her clothes looked half-burnt.
“I didn’t mean to, baby. I really didn’t”
“I know, ma.”
“I don’t know what happened. One minute I was just standing there, and the next minute…they were all…dead. I don’t know what I did or why I did it. Your mother is a murderer, baby. A mass murderer.”
“Ma–”
“Don’t try to console me. It won’t work.”
Holly dropped her bag and embraced her mother in a tight hug. When was the last time we hugged? I can’t even remember. This hug feels awkward. Their love-hate relationship had made sure that they had always kept each other at a distance. If they spent too much time together, they would just end up fighting. The control freak and the rebel.
Police sirens wailed in the distance. The man-hunt had begun. Holly teared up at the thought of her aged, respected mother rotting in a mortal prison. Waneta sobbed at the pained realisation of the crime she had committed.
We’re in the middle of the garden. It will take them at least ten minutes to get to this spot. Holly made some calculations in her head. 2 minutes to pack mom’s things up into a bundle. 1 minute to utter the spell that would take us away from here. 1 minute before the after-effects of the spell wears off, to leave no trace behind. And most importantly, 5 minutes to convince mom to come along. That still leaves us with 1 minute of buffer time.
“Holly. Holly!” Her mom interrupted her train of thoughts.
“Yeah ma? What is it? Tell me quickly. There’s not much time left.”
“Bye, baby. I will miss you. And I love you. Always remember.” So saying, Waneta flicked her wrist and disappeared.
“Wait…what? Where have you gone? Ma?” Holly cried out in disbelief, but too late. Her mother had already disappeared.
Frustrated, she screamed out into the garden before flicking her own wrists and disappearing.
The next morning, she woke up with a grunt. It was just as she had feared. Her mother had made headline news.
Woman aged 65 kills 1000 people and turns herself in.
65 year old criminal pleads guilty.
Mass murderer sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.
Brutal mass murderer now behind bars.
Holly stared out the window, coffee mug in hand, her kitten mewing by her side. The years spent fighting her mom’s case had turned her into a cynical loner who was no longer surprised by anything the world threw at her. But the revelation that her mom was bipolar– that was a shocker.
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