The Magic of Onyx

I was walking home from work, kicking rocks with my worn-out boots, dreading the rest of the night. I enjoy Halloween enough, but I was at the weird age when I couldn’t get away with Trick-Or-Treating anymore, and I was too young to go downtown for extravagant Halloween parties. Deep in my self-loathing, I stumbled across a few young boys messing with something. Soon after my realization I heard squealing.

“Hey!” I yelled, “What are you kids doing?” As I quickly approached them.

“Shrug off!” one of the troublemakers replied. “We’re busy with a Halloween tradition here lady!”

“What tradition?” I said cautiously, stepping into view of what they had.

“Is that a cat?!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing to it!”

The kids were holding down a black kitten, and various tools were lazily left on the ground.

“I said go away lady, we’re in the middle of something!” one of the brats retorted angrily as he yanked on the kitten's ear. Another painful yelp escaped his tiny mouth; I couldn’t let them hurt the kitten anymore.

“Leave him alone! I’ll call the police!” I threatened.

“Fine, you take him. Crazy lady!” The kids all scattered in different directions while yelling back countless profanities at me.

I crouched down to the kitten, he seemed unharmed. I slowly reached out my hand to show him I was there to help. The kitten gently licked my hand and nudged my fingers with its nose.

“You’re safe now, little one,” I said softly as I scratched the kitten's head.

“You’re adorable, do you want to come home with me?” I asked as if I would get a reply. “I’ll feed you and take care of you, oh! I think I shall name you… Onyx!” I said as the kitten crawled into my lap.

“Well that’s a little cliche, isn’t it?” I hear in my head.

I stared down in disbelief at the small black creature. He glanced up at me and stared directly into my eyes.

“Yes, I am talking to you, human.” His sparkling parchment eyes didn’t look away.

My jaw dropped in astonishment. “No way…” I trailed off.

“Yes, way.” Responded the kitten, eerily calm. “You saved me, this is your reward.”

“My reward is I can talk to you?” I asked, still unsure of how mentally stable I was at this point.

“Not just that…” the kitten purred “Why don’t you hold out your hand, human.”

I obeyed without a word, I mean if I’m going crazy I might as well indulge my furry friend. I slowly uncurled my fingers and opened my palm. The black kitten stretched his little paw and sliced my hand with one tiny claw.

“Ow! What the!” I pulled my hand back in response and the black kitten just stared at me for a moment before he spoke again.

“Watch the blood trickle, watch it closely.”

I opened my palm again and my dark red blood began to transform. I was definitely losing my mind. In place of red, it began to shift and almost shimmer dark purple, the blood lifted away from my palm and began to congeal into a glimmering purple blob.

“What do I do?” I stammered, tripping over each word.

“Think, imagine! What do you want that blob to be?” The black kitten said impatiently.

I stared at the blob, now floating and shifting just above my palm. The small slice was gone, all that was left was a shimmering purple scar. I imagined a pumpkin, I mean it was Halloween after all!

I could practically feel the black kitten sighing at me “A pumpkin? Really?”

I couldn’t stifle my laughter. He rolled his parchment eyes at me. “At least throw the pumpkin!” He said, clearly impatient with me again.

I laughed more and scratched his chin, soon he was purring. I glanced around for my target and spotted a splintered tree. The roots were drying up and looked like wooden snakes slithering in the grass. Without hesitation, I hurled my shimmering purple pumpkin at the tree and it exploded like nothing I had ever seen before. The shards of wood went flying and my reflex was to lift my arms above my head. The moment I lifted my arms the shards halted, my purple magic was stretched thin and engulfed all the shards, freezing them in the air.

“I…” I didn’t even know what to say.

“It’s okay.” My furry friend comforted me “There is a lot you can do with these powers, and I will teach you. Now relax.”

I closed my eyes and soon all the shards dropped to the ground and my little glimmering blob returned to my hand.

“Now simply close your hand around your magic and imagine it rejoining you physically.”

I obeyed and felt a sharp sting in my palm. I opened my hand again and saw my tiny scar grew slightly darker but still shimmered.

“I guess Onyx will work, ironically I quite like it,” Onyx said as I scratched his belly. “I like it too” I responded gently laying my scarred hand on my knee “and thank you, for whatever is going on.” I chuckled and continued scratching.

After a few moments, Onyx stretched slowly, crawling out of my lap, and began trotting around me as I scratched behind his ear.

“Let’s head home” He spoke suddenly, and I could swear he was grinning at me. “This is going to be fun.”

…

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-Clever & WTF