Maggie uses a magic mirror to become a teenager for a week. She goes to High School and realizes all the ways kids can be cruel. Luckily, she discovers that she has a vengeful ace up her sleeve...

Featured Song:
Nightmare by Halsey

Maggie woke up early and left the Black Pearl for school. She didn't want to face her father after last night's debacle. And she was afraid he would put her in the closet again...

Maggie didn't think it was possible, but she was convinced that her father had finally lost whatever was left of his sanity! He was mad! Bananas! Cuckoo! Nutty! Doo-lally! Positively mental! And she was pretty sure she drove him there by using the Mirror of Maturitas. And what's worse, she actually felt guilty about it...

It was too early for first period and Maggie needed to get her mind off her home life, so she decided to go to the library and look up telekinesis. After yesterday's pipe incident in the principal's office, followed by the brat tripping and the deliberate mirror shattering, Maggie was certain she had the power of telekinesis. But how she got it was still unclear...

Maggie walked through the shelves of books, briskfully and carefully reading the book spines, until she came across one title: Supernatural Abilities of the Human Psyche.

Maggie snatched it up and gazed through the index, until she found Telekinesis under page 237. She flipped the pages and read through the paragraphs, but there was nothing there that she hadn't read about before.

Then a paragraph that talked about immortality and telekinesis caught her eye. Legend had it that when an immortal being used black magic to combat against it's immortality, it could cause mystical and physical effects. That must be it!

"Hi, Maggie" Came a voice behind her.

Maggie jumped and slammed the book shut. She turned and saw Thomas Katt standing behind her. His flowing blond hair pulled back in a pony tail and his shirt was open exposing his chest. In short, he was a tall drink of water and Maggie's newfound hormones were making her dehydrated!

"What are you up to?" Thomas asked.

"Reading..." Maggie replied, wanting to slap herself right after.

Of course he knows you're reading! Her brain scolded her. Don't you think being in a library was a big enough hint?!

"What are you reading?" Thomas asked.

Maggie tried to come up with an answer, but her mind went numb with awkwardness. "S... science" She stammered.

"Oh, great..." Thomas nodded. "Hey, listen if you don't have plans... I was wondering if you'd like to go to the prom with me?"

"...Prom...?" Maggie said absent-mindedly.

"Yeah... you and me" Thomas smiled.

"Uh..." Maggie stared at her shoes. "Alright..."

"I'll pick you up at the docks at seven o'clock then" Thomas told her.

"Alright" Maggie repeated, wide-eyed.

Thomas gave her a shy smile and walked off.

Maggie stood there blinking awkwardly, like an explosion just went off in front of her. Did a guy just ask her out? To the prom? A cute guy? Maggie always knew she would bag a hottie, with her gorgeous looks, but... YAHOO!

Maggie spent the rest of school day feeling like she was on top of the world.

☠️🩸☠️

That evening aboard the Black Pearl, the crew sat around the table eating their dinner in complete silence. Captain Jack's temper had increased since Maggie turned herself into a teenager. The crew didn't want to do anything to antagonize him. Maggie was still walking on sunshine from Thomas' prom-posel that morning. She didn't even notice the crew on edge or her father's anxiousness.

"Eat your apple cake, Maggie" Jack muttered.

"I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake" Maggie replied absent-mindedly. "So I don't get pimples."

"Pimples are nature's way of chastising you" Jack told her, as if it were the most casual thing to say.

Maggie fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she tried to keep her expression neutral, although she knew it wouldn't make a difference.

"Daddy, I've been thinking..."

"Oh no..." Jack muttered.

"I've been thinking that, while I'm like this, I should start to socialize a bit" Maggie said.

The crew froze in mid chew.

"What do you mean, socialize?" Jack's jaw grew taunt.

"I've been invited to prom" Maggie blurted out.

Jack's eyes snapped up and into hers. "Prom?" He bawked.

The crew took there plates and cups and scuttled up to the main deck to eat.

"Yeah, the high school prom" Maggie shrugged. "Everybody's going."

"Why do you want to go to that for?" Jack asked not breaking eye contact with her. "What are your intentions?"

Maggie groaned. "Please Daddy, I really wanna go" she told him. "I have to go, so I'm not weird."

"What do you mean you're weird?" Jack asked.

"I mean, all the kids think I'm weird and they laugh and make fun of me" Maggie admitted. "I don't wanna be weird, I wanna be normal. I wanna try and be a whole person, before it's too late!"

"No one has a right to tell you what you are, Magnolia" Jack told her. "Since when do you care what other's think of you? I taught you better than that!"

Maggie sighed. "The boy who asked me is named Thomas Katt" she explained.

"A boy? Absolutely not!" Jack shot down the idea.

"He's a very nice boy" Maggie countered. "And I'm sure he'll come to meet you, if you want?"

"No, no, no, no, no--"

"Well, I already accepted, Daddy!" Maggie snapped.

"You're not going to any prom" Jack told her sternly. "And if you try to, I'll put you right back in your closet!"

"Not everything about high school is bad, Daddy" Maggie moaned in frustration. "Not all boys are a danger. Why can't you just trust me to watch out for myself?"

"Go to your closet right now and calm down" Jack demanded.

"He's a nice boy, Daddy" Maggie pleaded. "You'd like him, I promise."

"A boy!" Jack scoffed. "You are not going near any boys, especially after you got your blood."

"Miss Desjardin told me it was perfectly natural" Maggie said.

"So is pregnancy!" Jack told her. "And that's what you're going to get, if you keep running off to that school and not listening to me! You have no idea what you're doing, Maggie and you're going to end up with nothing but regrets!"

Maggie sighed heavily. She had no idea what her father was babbling on about. She just wanted to experience being a teenager!

"Listen, if that boy comes around here looking for you" Jack said gently. "I'll tell him to go away and that you're not interested. You'll stay here with me and we'll figure out how to get through this."

"No!" Maggie snapped.

"Yes, we are" Jack told her, getting up from the table. "You're never seeing that boy again, you're not going back to that school and you're going to stay here and do as I tell you! Understand?"

"No, Daddy!" Maggie screamed. "Get back here and talk to me!" She stared at Jack's plate, causing it to rise off the table and zoom across the room, whizzing past Jack's ear and shattering against the wall.

Jack's eyes widened as he turned back toward Maggie. "How did you..." he trailed off.

"I'm going to that prom, Daddy" Maggie told him. "And things are gonna start to change around here."

"How..." Jack muttered under his breath.

"Isn't it wonderful, Daddy?" Maggie said. "It's the Mirror of Maturitas. I think it's power clashed with my immortality and caused me to have telekinesis."

"Wonderful?" Jack cried. "Maggie, it's dangerous!"

Maggie's face fell. "It's not dangerous, Daddy. It's me! Me! If I focus hard enough, ai can move things."

"Maggie, you can't keep using that power" Jack said. "For all you know it could be making things. We may never get you back to the way you were..."

"I'm not going back to how I was!" Maggie told him.

"Yes, you are" Jack shook his head.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to" Maggie argued. "I shattered that mirror. Being a telekinetic teenager is who I am now, so you better just get used to it."

"What?" Jack cried. "Why would you do that?"

"Because it was important to me and I wanted to" Maggie told him. "Maybe if you listened to me, you would know that. Now prom is what's important to me. And I am going and you can't stop me. And I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

☠️🩸☠️

Prom night had finally arrived, the gymnasium was decorated, the boys were getting their suits pressed, the girls had cleaned out every cosmetic counters in town.

As dusk fell, Maggie took a bath and began doing her hair and makeup. She put on her dress she had bought when she went shopping. At the time she thought she was jumping the gun by buying a dress for a date, before she even got one. Turns out she was right... as always.

It was a white silk dress, with silver lace outlining the elbow-length sleeves and pleats of the skirt.

Maggie admired herself in the mirror. Thomas would be here any minute, so she began to touch up her makeup.

She noticed her father standing in the doorway, staring at her dress in horror. She sighed under her breath. She didn't like the way he stared at her, with such shock and worry. He looked at her like she was a warped, distorted, mutated version of someone he used to know. It wasn't a good feeling when your own parent looked at you like that...

In a way, Maggie was touched that her father worried about her, but she was also angry that he didn't trust her to take care of herself.

Maggie picked up the corsage from her vanity. "Look what Thomas sent for me. Aren't they beautiful?"

Jack couldn't help glancing at her low-cut neckline. His heart skipped a beat and his breath hitched.

"I can see your dirty pillows." He told her. "All the boys will."

"Breasts, Daddy." Maggie sighed. "They're called breasts, and every woman has them."

"Forgive me, I'm still in shock" Jack said in a humorless tone. "It was only a few days ago, I had a little girl. Now I have a woman." His eyes got big and sad as if he would burst into tears any second.

Maggie heard footsteps on the docks, she rushed to the rail and sighed in dispair when she saw it was only some sailors.

"He's not coming" Jack told her.

"He is coming, Daddy" Maggie argued. "Now stop it. I'm nervous enough."

"No, he's not coming." Jack shook his head. "He's not going to show. He's not the kind of boy you think he is. He only wants you for--"

"Just go away!" Maggie snapped.

"Maggie, just listen to me for a minute" Jack protested.

Maggie groaned in frustration.

"I don't care how grown up you think you are now" Jack told her. "Kids are cruel! Kids will always be cruel! It's in their nature! You can't change that! And that boy, regardless of what he says and does, he's going to take advantage of you! And I don't want that for you! You're so much better than that, Mags!"

"That's your opinion, Dad!" Maggie snapped. "Things are different now! Kids aren't like that! Believe me, I was one for much longer than I ever hoped to be!"

"He's going to laugh at you" Jack shook his head sadly. "They're all going to laugh at you."

"No one's going to laugh at me."

"Stay here with me" Jack brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"I don't want to stay here with you, Daddy." Maggie rolled her eyes. "Now sit down and be quiet."

"You can go into your cabin and I'll meet him at the docks" Jack nodded. "I'll tell him that you're sick. I'll tell him that you changed your mind. I'll tell him whatever you want me to..."

"SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET!" Maggie glared at her father, causing him to go flying backwards onto the deck.

The sound of footsteps on the dock caught her ears and she turned to see Thomas walking towards the ship's. An anticipated smile lit up her face.

Jack began to get up. "Listen, I'll tell him that you changed --"

"SIT DOWN!" Maggie glared at him again.

Jack felt an invisible weight land on his chest, pinning him to the deck.

"Just stay there!" Maggie snapped. "And don't say a word until I'm gone. I'll be home early. I love you."

Maggie took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She walked down the gangplank and down the docks towards Thomas.

Their eyes met and she smiled at him, imagining all the sweet things he would say to her. Would he become adorably tongue-tied? Would he tell her she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen?

Maggie approached him at the end of the docks. "Are you ready?" He asked her.

Maggie's smile grew taunt to keep it's shape. "Sure" she answered, taking his hand and following him down the street.

That's it? Are you ready? Nothing at all about her looks? And he didn't seem the least bit smitten by how gorgeous she looked? What's with this guy?

☠️🩸☠️

Lanterns hung from the ceiling of the gymnasium, giving it a warm lowlight glow.
Maggie and Thomas could hear the band's music booming before they even entered the school's gymnasium. It was then when Maggie's nerves began to act up. She imagined this as her Cinderella moment. But she didn't feel like Cinderella at the ball, she felt like the same old Maggie Sparrow with a million sets of judgmental eyes weighing her down as she entered the gymnasium.

The dance floor looked more like a battlefield, where you had to dodge awkwardness like a hailstorm of bullets. So Maggie took refuge at a table near the punch bowl, Thomas got up to get them punch. It was pink and tasted weak.

Maggie noticed one familiar face in the crowd moving toward them.

"Hi, Miss Desjardin" she said.

"Hi, Maggie" The gym teacher smiled. "You look so pretty."

"Thank you" Maggie said modestly. "I know I don't, but thank you anyway."

"May I sit down?" Miss Desjardin asked.

"You can have my seat" Thomas offered, getting up. "I'll be right back, I'm just going to go talk to some people." He told Maggie.

"Sure" Maggie nodded.

Miss Desjardin smiled at her as they sat together. "I remember my prom" she chuckled, remembering. "I had a date with the captain of the cricket team. And he must've been about six feet tall. So I went out and blew my allowance on these dreadful three inch tall heels, so that way our goodnight kiss would be less awkward. So we went on his horse and buggy and the axel on the buggy broke about half a mile to the prom and we had to walk the rest of the way. Well! By the time we got there, my feet were so covered in blisters, all I could do was sit there. It was too painful to dance." She and Maggie laughed. "But regardless it was still a great night, because my date just sat with me and we talked... all night long. It was still pretty magical experience." She paused. "Has your experience been like that so far?"

"It's... nice" Maggie answered.

"Just nice?" Miss Desjardin asked.

"It's... it's like being on the moon" Maggie smiled absent-mindedly.

Miss Desjardin nodded. "It's one of those experiences you never forget it" she patted her shoulder, before getting up and walking off.

Maggie sighed contently, looking out at all the dancing couples. She decided that Miss Desjardin had a point, she should take this opportunity by the horns. A prom only happens once in a person's life... unless this was an annual event, Maggie was still pretty foggy on the in's and out's of high school events.

Maggie got up, in search of Thomas. When she didn't find him at the punch bowl, she checked the bathrooms. She walked into the boy's room and looked for him. A boy standing by the washing basin jumped at the sigh of her.

"Hey! You can't be in here!" He told her. "This is the boy's room!"

Maggie looked him up and down. "So how'd you get in?" She smirked humorously.

The boy sneered and rolled his eyes, before storming out.

Maggie heard Thomas' voice coming toward the bathroom and she fled into the nearby custodian closet.

"Did they ever jip us on the punch this year!" One boy said.

"I know" Thomas agreed. "At least the decorations are better than last year."

"So I meant to ask you" The other boy asked. "What's with that newbie date? What's her face, Maddie?"

"Oh, Maggie" Thomas nodded. "Yeah, I originally asked Connie to the prom, but she asked me to take Maggie instead. I think Miss Desjardin's punishment really got to her and gave her a bleeding heart."

Maggie's eyes fell in disappointment. Her heart went off like a grenade in her chest and the shrapnel tore into her guts. She thought Thomas asked her because he liked her, turns out she was just a pity date.

Maggie felt hot tears fill her eyes, but she blinked them back. She couldn't think about that. She was just going to forget all of that! She was going to enjoy herself tonight regardless. Everything had been going great up until now and she refused to let her emotions screw it all up!

If Maggie was a pity date, then she would be the best damn pity date Thomas Katt ever had!

Maggie waited until Thomas left the boy's room, to fix her makeup and exit. She found him at the punch bowl.

"Hey" He smiled, although now it lacked all authenticity. "I didn't know where you went, I thought you ran off on me with someone else."

"Oh, I would never abandon you tonight, Thomas" Maggie gave a small lopsided smile. "You were so kind to ask me, after all."

Thomas' eyes avoided her glaring ones. "Don't mention it" He chuckled lightly.

"Don't bet on it" Maggie frowned.

"What?"

"I said, let's dance now" Maggie painted on a smile.

Maggie and Thomas joined hands and started towards the middle of the dance floor. Maggie placed her head on his shoulder, her ability to care what he thought of her had disintegrated. She smirked when his body tensed, realizing she was suddenly so close.

After a few minutes of dancing, Maggie's nerves settled and she felt herself getting caught up in the romance and dreamy perfection of the evening. The scent of Thomas' cologne, along with the warm bathing glow of the hanging lanterns, it all felt so warm and divinely romantic. Like they were the only two people on earth, and therefore the most perfect couple... almost perfect. The one thing that could make this moment better was-- and as a pirate, Maggie knew it was a dirty word-- honesty.

"Thomas" Maggie said absent-mindedly. "Why...?"

"Why what?" Thomas asked.

"Why am I here?" She asked softly.

"Because it's the prom" Thomas answered, obviously.

"Why am I here with you?" Maggie asked.

"Because I asked you" Thomas replied.

"Why did you ask me?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Why did you want to?"

"Because you liked my poem... Only I didn't write it. I got someone else to."

"Oh" Maggie sighed under her breath. That made sense. From what she'd seen of Thomas tonight, he was a man of few words. And none of them were very caring or intelligent, like that poem she heard on the first day of school. It seemed there really wasn't much more to Thomas Katt, aside from what you saw.

The band stopped playing and everyone applauded. Then the principal came on stage and announced that everyone should take their seats and cast their vote for prom king and queen.

Maggie and Thomas returned to their table and read out the names on the ballot sheet. Tracy Croksnoot and Steven Paltrow... Connie Bouche and Raymond Narcissique... Stacy Rouge and Richard Gormond... Katelyn Perkins and Cornelius Cockley... Madison Melange and Samuel Tratley... Maggie Sparrow and Thomas Katt?!

"Thomas... we're on here!" Maggie gasped.

Thomas nodded. "Don't worry, if we get picked all we do is get up on the stage and get a pair of crowns" he explained. "Then they play a song and we have to slow dance."

"Oh..." Maggie exhaled slowly, considering it. Well, she always knew she'd look good in a crown. But in front of all these people... she wasn't sure.

"Who do you think we should vote for?" She asked Thomas.

"Let's vote for us" Thomas shrugged.

"Can we do that?" Maggie asked.

"Well, why not?" Thomas passed her the pencil. "C'mon. To the devil with false modesty."

Maggie looked at the pencil, thoughtfully. "To the devil" she smiled, taking it and putting an X near their name.

Tracy Croksnoot came around to collect the ballots for the teaching staff to count. Before she made it to the teacher's table, however, Steven Paltrow pulled her in for a kiss and carefully dropped the stack of ballots behind her. Still kissing Steven, Tracy kicked the stack of ballots under the stage and took another stack of ballots from Steven's jacket. She handed the new stack to the teachers for counting.

Finally the Principal walked up to the stage and ready to announce the winners.

"Attention everyone" he called out. "Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, this year's chosen prom King and Queen."

The crowd cheered in anticipation.

"You've all casted your votes and the ballots have been counted" The principal announced. "This year's prom King and Queen are... Maggie Sparrow and Thomas Katt!"

Maggie's heart soared as if it had angel wings. She won! They won! And most of her peers voted for her! They like her, they really like her!

Everything was in slow motion as Maggie walked through the crowd of applauding students and teachers. This is the experience she wanted. This is how high school was meant to be. Maggie was the best pirate and now she was the best person in this high school.

The minute the principal placed that crown on her head, all the emotional scarring and yelling at her Dad proved to be not in vain. Maggie revealed in the applause from her fellow students, her shoulders pushed back and her head held high. It felt good to do that again. Just when she thought her smile couldn't get any bigger, it kept growing. She felt like a princess...

Then it happened....

Out of nowhere a cold, thick shower soaked Maggie splattering and thumping against the top of her head and seeping through the fabric of her dress. It wasn't until it began drizzling and dripping from her hair, down her arms and chest, that Maggie noticed the color and smell and immediately knew what it was...

Fish blood. She was covered in it.

The applause stopped abruptly and everyone stared at her in wide-eyed shock. Maggie whimpered in horror. It was like she wanted to cry, but the tears eluded her. Her feet were like anchors, holding her in place. She felt like an exposed, drowned rat, she was so self conscious she didn't even feel nauseous from the smell of the grotesqueness she was covered in.

The bucket that held the blood came tumbling down from the gymnasium rafters and hit Thomas in the head, knocking him unconscious. It made a noise like a gong.

Someone in the crowd began to laugh at that, it wasn't the sort of laugh like the hysterical awkward kind you do when you your mind goes blank in a horrible situation. It was mean-spirited and obnoxiously rude. Soon the laughter grew louder as the whole gymnasium joined in. Everyone was laughing, even the teachers, even the Principal. Even Miss Desjardin...

Maggie could suddenly hear her father's words echoing in her head.

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

They're all going to laugh at you!

Maggie had read stories about people dying and coming back to life. They say that sometimes, you have what's called an out-of-body experience. Where you're soul leaves your body and you can see yourself lying lifelessly in bed as the doctors pound on your heart to get it working again.

That's how Maggie felt in that moment. She could see herself in her own mind. What she must've looked like to the crowd. Her eyes bulging out of her head and coated in blood, standing there like a shaking, scared idiot who was going to burst into tears any minute. While the crowd guffawed, cackled and snorted at the sight of her. Each wrinkled crease in their noses, each patronizing hand they daintly held to their mouth, each head that fell back in laughter. It was all pounding away at Maggie's heart, like a doctor trying to start it up again.

But at this point, Maggie's heart was out of sympathy.

She jumped off the stage, in front of the crowd. She stumbled in her high heel shoes and fell backwards against the stage. That caused the crowd to laugh harder.

Miss Desjardin still smiling from laughing, ran toward her, holding out her arms to her.

Until Miss Desjardin veered off to one side of the gymnasium and hit the wall. It was the strangest thing, she hadn't stumbled or tripped or anything. It was as if she had been pushed by an invisible force.The teachers stopped laughing when that happened, but the kids continued.

Maggie glared over at the gymnasium doors, which slammed shut abruptly, like two hands clapped together. A few of the boy's in the back noticed the doors shutting and tried to reopen them, but they couldn't. Which didn't make any sense, the gymnasium door weren't made to lock, in case of a fire.

Maggie glared at the lanterns overhead and they came smashing down one by one onto the dance floor. The kerosene splashing onto the flame causing the whole dance floor to catch fire.

The kids began to scream as the roaring flames grew bigger, catching the bleachers. They ran toward the door, pushing and shoving like a herd of cattle trying to avoid the inevitable slaughterhouse. Some tried to run around the gymnasium, in a frantic search for another exit. One terrified boy ran into the table holding the punch bowl, causing it to spill everywhere. Four other kids ran and slipped on the spilled punch, landing flat on their faces.

The teachers and principal were shouting over them, trying to maintain order. Maggie glared over at the principal-- the bumbling fool who couldn't even remember her name-- and sent one of the broken lanterns flying at his face, knocking him unconscious. At that point the teacher began to scream and panic just as much as the students. Some even began throwing the students out of their way, trying to find their own means of escape.

It wasn't until the curtain of the stage caught fire, that Maggie began her descent from the stage. She walked across the gymnasium floor slow and deliberately. Admiring the chaos she had wrought on these shallow, hypocritical, pubescent brats. There was just no pleasing high school students, was there? As popular and perfect as you can be, they'll still hate you and laugh at you! They wouldn't recognize an amazing girl like Maggie, if she trapped them and burnt them to a crisp! Well, now Maggie was fed up with trying to gain their approval.

Maggie took another minute to savor their screams of horror and pain, before opening up the gymnasium door for herself and walking out.

With the shock and shame still radiating within her, Maggie began her long and lonely walk home.

She left the high school premises and began walking down the hillside path down the to the town below. She was at the bottom of the hill when some of the local men rode by on a horse and buggy, carrying casks of sea water. The local fire brigade trying to save the school, whatever was left of it.

Just as the sounds of the fire brigade buggy fell faint, she heard another horse and buggy growing closer. This time from it was coming from the school, instead of towards it.

Maggie saw out of the corner of her eye, that it was Cindy Bellamy and her boyfriend Daniel Samson.

"It's Maggie!" Cindy growled. "Run her down! Kill her!" She told Daniel.

Daniel snapped the reins and shouted to the horse to go faster. Maggie turned to glare at them and the horse detached from the buggy and went running off by itself. Maggie glared at the buggy and it launched off the road and went rolling down into the ditch with Cindy and Daniel screaming in it.

Satisfied, Maggie proceeded into the dark town, to the docks and onto the Black Pearl. Her father was nowhere to be found and the crew would've been sleeping at this point. Maggie headed down to the galley and began boiling some sea water for her bath.

She peeled off her ruined dress and took out a fresh bar of lye soap and scrubbed the dried fish blood out of her hair and skin and nails. The basin's water was scarlet red by the time she was through.

Maggie sat there in the water contemplating the last few days. She now understood that maturity was not something to rush into, that something horrible happened to people when they reached the point of teenhood/dom. They lose a large portion of humanity, they become brainwashed by an unspoken status quo. They know that it's ridicule or be ridiculed. Teenagers are so ready to believe that the world is unrelentingly cruel, that they think being cruel back is the only way. No wonder they aren't adults yet.

Maggie began drying off and walked into her cabin, changing into a nightgown. She turned and saw her father standing there. He looked at her with sad and forlorn eyes.

"Daddy..." Maggie sobbed, unable to hold back the tears.

Captain Jack rushed forward, wrapping his arms around her and petted her wet hair. He brought her over to the bed and she laid against his chest.

"It was terrible, Daddy" Maggie wept. "They all laughed at me. I..." she choked on her tears. "I don't want this anymore. I wanna be a little girl again."

"I hated them for what they did to me" Jack said absent-mindedly. "They taunted me relentlessly. Teague meant to talk to me about the birds and the bee's, but he never did. I had no way of knowing what was happening to me at the time. Grandmama had shoved me in the closet and started drinking. And when she drank, she got loud and she hollered like the old, drunk bat she was... all night long. I couldn't sleep. I went to school the next day and I was so tired, I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I nodded off during arithmetic and didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until Mr. Brandes slammed his ruler onto my desk, that I woke up and noticed everyone was staring at me in shock and disgust. I looked down and realized I had an erection. I tried to cover it, but they had already saw it. They laughed at me, the same way they laughed at you. And the ones that didn't laugh, shouted crude comments at me. The girls... they were the worst of all. They glared at me and curled their lips in disgust. Staring me down like I was some miserable, filthy insect that they wouldn't even have the courtesy to step on and put out of it's misery. I'm still seeing those looks in my mind all these years later. I tried going back to school the next day, but from then on they taunted me. They'd chase me around the schoolyard yelling "Hey, Jack-Off!", "It's Jack-Off!" The boys would stuff sticks in their trousers and shake them at me. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, I dropped out of school and I ran away from home before anyone in the family could find out about it. I should've told you this sooner, but I was ashamed. This all could've been avoided and now... look at what they've done to you, my Luv." Jack hugged her close, rocking her as he kissed her cheek.

"Daddy?" Maggie asked.

Jack smoothed her hair. "What is it, sweet girl?"

"What's an erection?"

Jack's face fell. He was so caught up in his own high school embarrassment, he forgot Maggie still had the mind of an eight year old.

"Never mind" he replied soothingly. "Just relax, my Luv. Daddy's here. Daddy's going to make it all better..."

Maggie relaxed into her father's embrace, until she felt a sharp jab into her calf. Her eyes widened in shocked pain. She looked down and saw that Jack had stabbed her with a peice of glass.

"AHHH!" She shrieked in pain. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?! Ye demented dread-head! You just stabbed me!"

"I'm sorry, baby girl " Jack told her. "But I had to! That's a shard from the Mirror of Maturitas. You have to break the mirror and stab a peice into whoever was affected by it's power. It was the only way to turn you back into a little girl again."

"It hurts like a motherbugger!" Maggie snapped angrily.

"Come, come now! It can't hurt that bad" Jack shook his head. "I didn't even stab you that deep."

"Daddy..." Maggie groaned.

But Captain Jack was right, Maggie's limbs began to slowly shrink back, her hands grew tiny, her hair became shorter and her chest sunk back to it's flat state. She was a little girl again... albeit, with a serious boo-boo.

Jack removed the glass, before cleaning, bandaging and kissing the wound. Then Maggie began to prepare for bed, but Jack stopped her.

"I have a surprise for you first" he smirked. He pulled a bag out from under her bed and gave it to her. "Change into that and meet me in my cabin." He left her to change.

Maggie opened the bag and pulled out a beautiful ballgown in her favorite color.

She put it on and went into her father's cabin to find him in a suit with his dreadlocks tied back.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked.

"Maggie Luv, as your father I needed to protect you" Jack told her. "But I realize now that I shouldn't have tried to keep you from experiencing adolescence. It was something you need to learn about for yourself. So when the crew and I heard your prom night wasn't a success, we decided to give you..." he swung open the door to the main deck. "Your own prom."

Maggie smiled as the crew were all dressed in tuxedo, even Jack the Monkey! They had hung lanterns and put out a table of snacks. It was magical... especially when you take into account that she was the prettiest girl there. Well, technically the only girl... but still!

"This is all for me?" Maggie smiled.

"On one condition" Jack specified. "I get the first dance of the evening..." he offered her his hand.

Maggie took it and they walked to the middle of the deck. Maggie stood on her father's boots as he held her hands, swaying from side to side.

"You know, I never got my prom either" Jack told her.

"You didn't miss out on much" Maggie told him.

"I suppose it's just as well" Jack picked her up, so they were face to face. "Because I could never top a prom date as pretty as you."

Maggie smiled, feeling more loved and accepted than she had for days. Now this was a magical prom night!

☠️🩸☠️

The next day, Captain Jack and the crew went into town in search of hangover tonic. They ended up having more fun than anticipated at last night's prom, on account of Jack the Monkey spiking the punch bowl.

Maggie stood outside the local apothecary shop, trying to focus on a peeble to make it move. But it was no use, her telekinetic powers had left along with her teenage body.

Maggie began tossing the peebles into the fountain in the town square, when she noticed a familiar face sitting at the fountains edge. A familiar, scarred face...

It was Cindy Bellamy! She survived the buggy crash after all. Looks like that kind of evil just doesn't die...

Maggie approached her. "Are you alright, Miss?" She asked innocently.

Cindy glanced at her, not recognizing her. "I'm fine" She said softly. "I was just had a little accident last night. Run along now..."

"Oh my" Maggie tsked. "Those bloody cuts look awful. Maybe you should just... cork it up." She smirked.

Cindy's eyes widened and her mouth gaped open in horror as she turned to look at the little girl's face.

Maggie glared her down with a knowing smile.

Cindy screamed and went falling backwards into the town fountain. Her dress and hair soaked, her mother came running out of the bakery to help her. But Cindy kept screaming hysterically and pointing at Maggie. But she was already heading back to the docks with her father, smirking mischievously.

AN:

I'd like to dedicate this in memory of actress Piper Laurie, who played Margret White in 1978's Carrie and Catherine Martell in Twin Peaks. She passed away earlier this month, after working in Hollywood for over 70 years.

1932 ~ 2023