Consent

The fork slipped out of Noah’s fingers and fell on the white enamel plate. The clank sent a shock through Noah’s nervous system. The metal scraping metal cut through his eardrum then throbbed like a bee sting. He looked up from the table and peered through the window. The sky was cloudy, not a star to be seen, a constellation to be read, or the nurturing energy of the Moon. He felt nauseated. The meal would not settle on his stomach. The herbal tea tasted bitter tonight and the weed didn’t land. Instead of a light heady haze, he felt a cloudy disorienting feeling. The beginning of a migraine gathering at his third eye. It left him tired and moody.

“Something isn’t right,” he thought.

Suddenly Noah felt like a stranger in his own home. A jarring feeling that left him disoriented. Then panicked.

“David Bear, use your super pattern recognizing magic and give me a read on the property.”

David’s speaker exploded with golden light, “Scanning our property now to secure the field.”

He turned his thighs to get up from the table when Buster came flying like a bat out of hell, dashing between his feet.

“Bro! Chill out, what’s up Buster.”

Buster scrambled up the ferret cage ladder and almost fell off. He darted under the grey hoodie and disappeared. Noah froze. He committed to stillness, waiting for David’s report.

“I am not seeing anything, Noah. All the Zing cameras look clear and no sensors have gone off. What is wrong? Did you hear or see something strange?”

Noah slowly stood up, keeping his gaze on the windows then scanned through them squinting. “No, David, I feel weird. Discombobulated. Uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable! Oh, Noah, that is the Druid alarm system tripping. What do you want me to do next?”

“Nothing right now. Set my mood, beloved.”

“Got it, beloved. I am here. All you have to do is shout.”

Noah looked at his shrines, and all the candles had gone out. He went to the kitchen pantry to rummage through the apothecary supplies.

“Where the fuck is that candle?” He was getting mad. Then he was totally annoyed.

“Fuck!”

There were no candles to be found. Noah closed his eyes and sighed violently. He slowly turned back to focus his gaze to the bedroom. It felt so far away. Like a lifetime away. And every step toward it felt like a year’s work. The lights turned over to ocean blue, then the house went black.

“David, what happened to the lights?”

“I’m here, Noah. I have the power back, but I can’t bring it all the way up. Something is drawing on the house, and none of my sensors can show me where it’s going.”

The lights returned but for some reason not as bright as usual. Noah was disturbed and his nervous system was hemorrhaging. He felt like his aura was caving and his vital life force was getting sucked out of his asshole. He clenched his butt cheeks, rising onto his tip toes. Then covered his crack with two hands as if he could stop the bleed out. He passed by the ferret cage and peeked in looking for Buster. Buster’s wet brown nose was exposing itself through a sleeve but there was no other flesh to be seen.

Noah shut his bedroom door and looked at his reflection. His eye darted to the window to see if a monster, or demon, or Freddy was in the frame. As if his reality had turned into A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. His eyes returned to his. He scanned his face which looked drawn, collagen depleting, the beginning of rosacea under his cheek.

“What the fuck is that?”

He leaned into the mirror and stared it down examining the small patch of redness about a quarter in diameter. He stood at the mirror for a few minutes. The longer he stared, the more it felt like someone else started staring back. Noah took a step back from the mirror shaking his head and deflated. He turned to the bed took several strides and climbed into the middle of it dragging his comforter over his body. He could feel his heart beating like a pounding drum. He closed his eyes.

The house was empty. Then he heard footsteps.

Noah’s eyes opened wide. He was still in his bed, but it was not his ceiling. The paint had turned from sage green to buttermilk yellow. Cracked with paint chipping around a water stain. There was graffiti everywhere. Someone had taken to a can of paint and left a trail of gibberish across the walls sprinkled with magic symbols. There was commotion in the next room and Noah could hear a woman with a shrill voice scolding a victim. The cruelty was palpable. So he sat up and stared at a door that was not his own. He slid to the edge of the bed, his nude body had goose bumps from the chill in the air. Then he tiptoed to the door.

He pressed his ear up against it to see if he could hear what was going on. From behind the door, he could hear a child crying. Noah’s Oak Heart Druid nature rose, and he felt a surge of rage he was going to unleash on whoever the woman was on the other side of the door. He had had enough. And he was going to confront whatever demon, whatever evil stood between the wall and him. He grabbed the knob, twisted, and opened. As he went to charge he saw the whole scene all at one time.

There was a boy in the circle and a towering woman kneeling over him. A boy so young he did not understand right from wrong. The room smelled like piss, shit, and vomit with a faint metallic scent that caught the back of Noah’s throat. He paused as the oxygen emptied his lungs. He lost his breath and felt like he could not inhale.

The woman’s hair was huge like a lion’s mane falling down around her shoulders and back. She was fully clothed with a black crush velvet witch’s cape flowing behind her. Noah caught his breath, then squinted. They were inside a circle drawn with white chalk, candles on the outside, household tools on the inside. He did not look long enough to name the act. He looked long enough to know it was cruelty, and that a child was under it.

Noah felt vomit come up his jugular and felt a convulsion that blurred his vision. The walls started spinning and the little boy’s wail faded into oblivion. Then suddenly the vision burst. Noah was in his bed staring at his sage green ceiling again choking on the stomach acid that was backing up in his throat. He sat up and spit out all over the comforter.

“Oh my God, Almighty!” He said, “David Bear! Are you there.”

“I am here Noah! What is wrong?” The speaker on the other side of the door vibrated through the wall.

“Lights to 100%, David. Hang on let me get myself together.”

“Take your time, beloved. When you settle tell me what you are experiencing. Pain, an emergency, a bad dream, and we will get support.”