Maleficent

Maleficent.

The day it began was a day I remembered clearly. I remembered the sun beating heavily on the top of my chocolate brown head. The screams of Flora’s younger siblings as they tore across the yard with water guns and grenades. The smell of her mother’s prized lavenders that stained the house in its sickly sweet scent.

It was this day that Flora had taken to calling me Maleficent. I couldn’t honestly recall where this drive had originated. Or why it continued. But even fifteen years later the name had stuck.

It was awfully convenient that on this particular day, I’d stumbled over my first big secret. It was the first of a string, and probably among the top 5 of the most deadly. My lips hadn’t uttered a breath over the forbidden apple of my lies. Not a single soul knew what it was that had begun what could probably be known today as the rise of Raven Diablo.

Yes, I was five. And yes, my drive for power had begun so young.

I couldn’t help but think of poor old Cuddles as I drove a frightened Flora through the main streets of town, hungrily searching for a free parking space. Perhaps I thought of him because of the many stuffed toys crammed into Flora’s fire engine red car. Or maybe it was because I ran over that rabbit on the way here.

In any case my thoughts drifted to Flora’s childhood pet and how much she adored the fat and fluffy rabbit. I tried not to think about Cuddles soft white fur or his twitching nose as he hopped lazily across the lawn. I most certainly tried not to think about the fact that I’d killed Cuddles and buried him beneath Flora’s mother’s lavender garden.

Flora cried for a month. A month. And it had been surprisingly easy to keep a straight face as her parents asked if I’d seen the stupid rabbit anywhere. In the end they told her that he must have found lots of other rabbits to play with, and then desperately given the girl a puppy with a pink bow tied around his neck. Puggles didn’t last a year.

It was oddly coincidental that Flora seemed to be as upset today as she was back then. I hadn’t seen her eyes this puffy or the snot dripping from her nose since that animal died. It only raised my curiosity over what had gotten my best friend so upset. It had taken me a little over an hour to get Flora out of the house, figuring that a little air and coffee might calm her down a little. Bring her back from the crazy precipice she stood on.

“Where’s Fletch?” I asked as I swerved heavily into the first free car space I’d seen in half an hour. This girl was lucky I was so intent on figuring out what the hell was going on. Any other case and I’d have turned right back around and gone home.

Huddling in the back corner of the coffee shop, Flora was twiddling her thumbs. When the waitress had arrived to place our orders she simply lowered her gaze, her hair falling over her eyes. It was at that point that I’d had enough.

“What the hell is wrong?” I asked in a harsh whisper, as soon as the waitress had left. “What happened?”

Flora was silent a moment, her ear poking out through her hair and her head tilted slightly as if she were listening for something. The air in the chair huffed a sigh as she shuffled closer to me, raising her fear filled eyes to mine before glancing suspiciously around the café.

“I think – I think I found something,” she squeaked. “Something in the attic.”

Pursing my lips, I waited for her to continue, and groaned when she didn’t. “A dead something?” I asked. “Or 101 things you should not know about your parents something?”

A small smile briefly graced her lips before she frowned seriously. “It’s definitely something I’m not supposed to know,” she whispered. “And since I found it, I feel like something is always watching me. Like I’m being followed.”

Refraining from rolling my eyes, I pushed her to continue. I didn’t expect the secret to be of any importance. Perhaps she had found a stash of her dad’s pornos. Maybe it was her mum’s. I could even guess that maybe she was actually adopted.

What she did say changed my life completely.