Sara Ghost

From Sara Ghost: I lock the bathroom door, strip to get in the shower. My arms are specked with white lines from little cuts. But I don't cut in the house. I want to, now, really badly. I imagine cutting really deeply, like with a steak knife, leaving a puddle on the green tiles. Bleed out the fear, the worry, to make me ready for whatever horrible thing Jack Misra is going to do to me. Did I really just say "Eew" like a five-year-old who doesn't like what's on her plate? Why didn't I have guts to say, 'Dad, this guy is a pervert and he's going to rape me?' My dad's … disgusting and my mom's a beast and I'm growing into a mix of both of them. My mom's big butt and fat lips … and dusty skin, my dad's round fat face and muddy eyes with pinched eye sockets and even a little of his mustache if you look closely. I imagine taking a big butcher knife and cutting around the edges and just peeling my ugly face away and flushing it down the toilet. Even Jack Misra wouldn't want me after that. Go on, Jack. You wanted to @#$%@# a pig, but will you @#$%@# a faceless bleeding monster? Sara Ghost is a novelette (a long short story) in the School of the Ages series about young magicians in New York City. To learn more about the characters in this story, you can read Book I: The Ghost in the Crystal; Book II: Level Three's Dream; short story collection Tales of Christmas Magic; and, August 2012, Book III: The War Against Love. The Ghost in the Crystal is available in India exclusively from Vitasta Publications.