OFFERING (any gender, mid to late teens)
[one fist closed]
Monsieur, my class has about ten more minutes to wander around the square, shop for souvenirs. Then it's back to the tour bus.
[quick swallow]
But I'm not going back onto that bus. I'm not going back to the US. I'm not going back to school.
I want you to teach me. I know who you are; you don't run a junk shop, at least that's not what you really do. You go by many names but the secret groups refer to you as Monsieur Lacoff, master of the dark-
[slight swish, then quick swallow]
Well, I don't need to tell you. Anyway, the discussion forums all have different ideas but they all agree that you live in Paris, that you have finger nail missing on your left hand. It's more than that, though. I can FEEL it's you. I found you.
[quick swallow]-- ugh.
If you don't take me in, I'll try to make it on my own on the streets. I'll do what I have to do. If I go back to school, I might end up killing someone. My power is growing, my disgust with the other students is growing, my reflexes are growing.
Last month, I broke a kid's nose with my mind, hardly knew what I was doing. He was trying to humiliate a girl, blabbing to people about how she passed gas while they were making out. My mind flexed and I almost sent cartilage up into his brain. It's not safe for me to go back. People in my school are always looking at each other under a microscope, using whatever they can to take each other down. My--
[quick swallow]
--my mind wants to swat them like mosquitoes. It WILL do that soon. I need someone to teach me how to control this. I need you, Monsieur Lacoff.
I know [quick swallow]
I've HEARD that everyone in your clan has to give over some part of their body, a finger nail, a tuft of hair pulled out by the roots... a tooth.
[hold out fist]
I was able to push out two of my back teeth and still come out of your bathroom without calling attention to myself. My mind is keeping me from feeling pain but my stomach might get upset if I have to swallow any more blood.
Would you take my offering? Help heal me up? Take me to the secret dwellings? Anything you do will be an act of good.
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes.
If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"