Temperance's Bones

Earlier, she looked into a mirror. The memory began to flood her mind. She looked into a mirror, and actually saw herself as someone else might- as a boy might. “Jake. Jake sees me this way. And if so, they do, too.”

The thought ran through her mind repetitively. As fifteen year old Temperance’s eyes grew heavy, and as she lay in her bed with her arm resting over her stomach, the problems she had with being the nerdy outcast of a girl seemed like a distant reality. Like a dream. That was a common feeling at night for her, however. She was tired enough to forget the pain, but knew that when she woke up again and started a new day, it would all return.

Tempted to begin drifting off, Temperance kept herself awake a little while longer to think about her situation. If only her mom were still there. Her mom that smelled like oranges, and who loved dolphins. Her mom who was the easiest person to talk to. But it seemed that she wasn’t coming back.

She had gone missing, along with Temperance’s father, and now it was just her and her nineteen year old brother, Russ, living in the house. Tempy wanted to ask her mom for advice on Jake. Jake was that boy in school who wasn’t a jock, or anything special what-so-ever on the social pyramid, but who was so charming that he attracted everybody, even if they wouldn’t admit to having been pulled in. And yes, that included Temperance.

But who would give her the time of day? People wouldn’t even make fun of her, seeing as how her brother was one of the coolest guys in the school. No friends and not even a healthy, small dose of criticism or harassment. Other than Russ, she was alone.

“How could I talk to Jake?” She tapped her index finger against her wrist. She bit her lip. After going through multiple scenarios in her head, she thought back to something she had overheard a few weeks ago in the bathroom.

Temperance was in the stall, not crying, or wallowing in a deep, lonely depression like some girls tended to do while in the school’s bathroom, but rather, thinking to herself about her biology homework, and taking a relaxing breather between her sixth and seventh hour. Then, Marlie Chelt had walked into the bathroom with a friend and had been talking about Briana, a girl who was known to be a quote ‘Witch’. Nobody believed she was a witch like in the movies, with powers and a flying broom, and certainly not Tempy.

But Briana was said to have a few tricks up her sleeve as an herb-focused Wiccan and there were some surprisingly cheerful success claims from students here and there who had bought charms and spellbags from Briana. Hesitating, her eyes shooting open as she remained still in her bed, Temperance slowly let the words ‘love spell’ roll through her mind. “Could that be real? Maybe Briana can help me… help me to turn things around.” Tempy thought.

So she decided that the next day at school, she would try to find Briana and beg for help. Temperance had liked Jake for a year now and had only gotten a single glance from him within the past few months. She was getting desperate. She looked over at the picture of her mom and dad on her bedside table, and then fell into a deep sleep.