I. Phoenix

As I sit in a jail holding cell crying, I feel something strange. The room seems to feel heavy, and the clocks are stopping. A woman in an all black dress, with a black hat and a veil walks in casually. She gives me a glare I can feel through the veil, and speaks in an authoritative manner towards me. “I have been watching you little eagle,” she moves her veil out of her face to reveal a middle aged pale face with well done makeup, blonde hair and piercing dark eyes. She then pulls out a large box wrapped in brown paper and puts it in my hands.

The box feels strange, almost as if there is something moving around inside of it.

“Now you must make a choice. Burn the box and become a phoenix, or do nothing and die as an eagle.” As these words go over my head at first, I realize what this is about and I nod, I have known this was coming.

This all began a month ago. It was a chilly October afternoon in Cleveland, Ohio and I had just gotten home from school for about an hour. I was the only person home in our ugly yellow painted living room, with a big fuzzy blue carpet in the middle of the room. I was watching a scary movie marathon, despite being told I was not to watch R rated movies.

My parents weren’t strict, but ever since I had “blossomed into a woman” last year; I had been suffering from vivid nightmares. My nightmares were so bad that on occasion I would be too afraid to sleep some nights.

While I watched a movie called Friday the 13th, the murderer in the hockey mask jumped from a corner and ripped a poor woman’s flesh to shreds. The mix of surprise and gore made me scream at the top of my lungs and jump right off of the black sectional sofa we had in our living room. At that very moment the television also exploded.

Unlike with the movie which was fake, actual fear had set into my heart as I pieced together what just transpired. Our nice new flat screen tv was smoking and in pieces. After I cleaned up the mess of plastic and glass pieces scattered throughout the living room, my mind raced to explain what had just occurred. Or worse yet; how to explain to my parents what had just happened. After that night, my parents would never look at me the same again.

When my mother and father came home, I told them the events leading up to the television incident. I immediately ambushed them with my arms outstretched and tears streaming down my scared, confused face. My father quickly dismissed my explanation as a lie; but just as all fathers do, still comforted me whole, wiping my smudged wet mascara tears on his brown overcoat. Before my father could even repeat, “Carmen tell me what really happened?” a second time, my mother immediately put her hands on his shoulders and cut him off.

“Baby go up to your room, me and daddy understand and forgive you, I read up on that brand of tv we bought and it’s been known to blow up sometimes at random. It’s not your fault”

Although my mother said it calmly and with love, the expression on her face was that of a woman who had seen a ghost. As I had told both of them what happened, my mothers face grew whiter by the minute. Her hands were still on my father’s shoulders with a grip so hard I could see the whites of her knuckles.

I walked upstairs to my room, then slowly and quietly I crept back down the steps to get within range to hear what my parents were discussing in the kitchen. They were at opposite ends of the table pouring themselves alcoholic drinks, which was rare for both parents since they hardly ever drank.

“Dave, she’s got it,” my mom said in a frightened voice, “Carmen is like my Grandmother, she has the blood.”

“You can’t be sure Isabela,” my dad said. “You were fine, your parents were fine. All your sisters, aunts and uncles… were fine. Maybe this was all a fluke? We’re looking at things wrong. Carmen probably just got scared and threw the remote at the tv.”

“My baby is telling the truth. I know she is!” my mom said. Just then she began to grab my dad and cry, “This is why I told you we couldn’t have children.” My mom paused as she began to cry so hard it had caused her to stutter. “ I love you, I love our daughter but she has the curse. My mother had told me and all my siblings since we were children about the curse. She had prayed and prayed we would not all get it everyday.” My mom once again paused and continued to cry. “And she had told us all not to have children, because it is coming soon. The devil always gets his wish,” she continued to sob. “And his wish is my beautiful baby Carmen! He wants my only baby!”

“We don’t know she’s a witch like your grandmother it could be a fluke, she could only have some of your family’s ‘power?’” My father spoke comfortingly.

“In my family 8 women have burned at the stake, 3 went insane and were never heard from again.” my mom said seriously. “And the 8 that burned at the stake; had spilled enough blood they deserved what had happened to them. I will protect my baby! I should have known when the doctor couldn’t explain the nightmares.”

“Dave, we must not tell her. We must keep it a secret as long as we can. If she tells people or tries to use this ‘power’, she could end up being experimented on or worse. The witch hunters won’t stop with just her. They will go after me you and both our families”

“Okay, I agree. I don’t want anything to happen to my 2 girls…. Ever.” my father said in a low pitch.

“We will watch Carmen and keep her away from triggers, I will call my mother and aunts so we can learn how to keep this hidden from her until she is old enough to be told”, said my mother.

Every night since I had blown up the tv; I had the same dream. It would be dark, and I would awaken to find myself bound in a giant spider web. With the only source of light being the glowing bright green glow stick like coloration of the webbing. A dark figure slowly approaches. The figure has the lower body of a black widow spider, but with the torso of a human woman with monstrous features. With her black dress, covering up her torso and her dark hair tied back, she gives off a grimacing smile, showing off her very sharp fangs that glisten in the low glow of the green silk.

As I try to scream, I notice my mouth is bound shut and an overwhelming hopelessness comes into my mind. I know I'm going to be eaten by this monster, and I know it waited until I was awake for it to eat me.

Just as the monster becomes seconds from digging its claws in me, an eagle flies in from the darkness and perches itself on her head. The monster with the woman’s torso stops in its tracks, and the eagle bows it’s head to me. As the eagle bows it ignites into flames, and in a miraculous way the eagle grows in size and stretches out its wings. The eagle’s whole body becomes morphed in the fire and the fire quickly spreads; consuming the monster, the web and the binds that contain me. When the fire gets to me I do not feel fear or worry about getting burned, I feel purpose and warmth.

For all of last month I had this same exact dream. Every time I would awaken, my eyes would instinctively turn to my bedroom window to see an eagle sitting on the window sill. Every night I would wake up at the same time at 4:44 am; and every night at 4:44 am that eagle would wait for me to acknowledge it and then fly away.

After a month of my dream about being saved by the flaming bird; my mental state had deteriorated. My grades had gotten lower, and I felt more isolated. I was scared to sleep at night! Some nights I would share my parent’s bed with them in hopes to prevent nightmares. It was safe to say, I was beginning to lose my mind.

My 4th period was gym class, and there were a group of senior cheerleaders in the class that had it out for me. I did not talk to them… ever, but one of the senior boys in the class had been very kind to me and so I would talk to him. His name was Roxas Welles. He was the nice senior boy that helped me find my classrooms on the first week of school. Sure he was cute, but more than anything it was just nice to talk to an upperclassman that wasn’t so rotten to me for being a freshman.

My best friend Bridgette, who was in the class with me, was sick. So being the introvert I was turning into, I spent the whole day texting her. The 3 senior girls had taken notice of this and been extra relentless to me during class that day. I really did try to ignore them, I always do. It wasn’t until we were changing after class and into our regular clothes, that I would find myself cornered by them.

“Whatcha doing slut? Sending all the senior boys some pictures while you're changing?” the blonde one barked at me.

“I don’t even think she speaks English, I've never heard her talk to us.” the tan dark haired one said.

“I’m just texting Bridgette.” I replied. It was at this point I knew they were not going to stop so I said something, in hopes they would take mercy on me and go pick on someone else.

“Oh you mean the other floozy that keeps trying to talk to our boyfriends? I don’t believe you. How about we just make sure.” the mean blonde barked.

As the mean blonde finished speaking her cronies began to rush me, trying to take my phone. I tried to struggle and fight back but there were 3 of them and one of me. I remember holding onto my phone for dear life while I was being scratched and strangled by 3 older girls. I felt scared and hopeless. All I could do was scream.

“Let me go!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. As I did I felt the warmth from my dreams and I blacked out.

“Well Carmen?” The lady in black’s voice stammers out.

Oh yeah that’s right, I’m in a holding cell for 3 murders I can’t explain.

“What will it be?” she continued.

“I choose to live!” I manage to stammer out. As I say the words; the box burns and I see an eagle begin to light on fire, just as in the dreams. I then feel the warmth as I see my body get surrounded by flames.

“Excellent.” the lady in black blurts out, “When you awake you will be home, with us, where you belong… Welcome to the family Carmen.”

Those were the last words I heard in my old life, and the story of how after 130 years the legendary familiar Phoenix had found a new master.