March 26th, 2017

It was cursed from the very beginning,
From the toll of the start
The fear, the love they're living,
Fated to be pulled apart...

     The world is changing.
     We all know inside that the Earth is at a pivotal point, and it seems that some people may be awakening, yet the coastlines may be under water before we know it. 

...................................................
   
    
     Part I
     ...It's the 26th day of the third month of the year, and up in his little room, a teenage boy stares up at the white ceiling while listening to his a music station on his vintage radio. He can hear the waves crashing on the beach outside the house. He likes to keep his bedroom window open, letting the waves send him to sleep at night. Tonight is the last night of Spring Break.
     It is getting darker and darker outside, so he makes his best attempt to finally rip himself away from his still whirling thoughts, and concentrate on the collection of second-year algebra in front of him. There are so many distractions though...
     ...The clock ticks.
     A car rushes past outside.
     The song on the Hits One radio changes once again...

     "...I don't understand why you're so cold to me...," sings the radio, "With every breath you breathe, I see there's something going on..."

     ...The urge to check his phone gets the best of him and he snatches it off the nightstand and scrolls through Instagram. He waits for the stroke of midnight that will allow him to begin his ritual.
     An hour earlier he had set up his display of witchcraft instruments on an old tablecloth. It had taken a surprising amount of commitment just to find each eclectic ingredient he now used for the spell. He had even taken the deck of tarot cards and several other materials from his mother's closet.
     Arthur closes out of the tab on his Android device and taps into the Facebook group of everyone who is using the spell.
     He scribbles down the answer to the last question of the assignment, and sets up his phone on a folding chair to record a live video.
     In just a couple of minutes, his sorcery will begin.
     The items he uses include an ash tray of sand, two candles, a bowl of water, a feather, a bowl of salt, and a box of matches.
     He must whisper the incantation so as not to wake the other residents of his house.
     He counts down the last few seconds, starts the video, and begins the precursor blessing as a sweet-smelling breeze surfs in through the open window.
     He moves through the next steps of the ritual without error and finishes lighting the candles, chanting the incantation, burning the evil of the world, and closing the ritual.
      Arthur concludes the casting of the spell by extinguishing the white candle. Satisfied with his participation in the improvement of the world through positive intention, he ends and posts the video.
     He shuts the window, sets his alarm for 7:40 a.m., plugs his phone in the wall to charge, tosses his faux leather jacket on the floor, and goes to bed.
     As he falls asleep he pictures a basketball bouncing on a sunny court, cold drinks, and skateboards in the park. If only the day would come soon when he could mess around at his friends' summer school classes (and thoroughly annoy teachers and faculty members in the process).
    He anticipates all the things he looks forward to doing when school finally gets out for the summer. Although being popular and attractive has it's many benefits, school is still prison for an imaginative person like Arthur.