It was stuffy in the small two bedroom apartment due to all the candles her roommate had burning around the house. Esme walked around the apartment blowing out various scented candles in irritation. She'd reminded her over and over again that this was a fire hazard. While Esme had renter's insurance, she'd much rather not risk death by fiery candle inferno. She collected the numerous candles and was about the toss them all in the trashcan when she heard crying. She placed the candles on one of the kitchen counter tops and sighed loudly as she made her way to her roommate Liz's room. She didn't bother with knocking on the bedroom door since by this time these crying episodes were routine. Liz had a dick for a boyfriend that resulted in an on-again-off-again relationship for the past six months. Esme had already made it clear she disliked him the first time he made Liz cry, so now he avoided coming to the apartment.
"Broke up again, huh?" she asked as she leaned on the door frame.
Liz turned to look at Esme as she sniffled, nodded, then sobbed once more. Esme rolled her eyes but moved to plop down onto the full size bed next to Liz. She patted her friend on the back since there wasn't much else she could do for Liz besides be present. After about fifteen minutes the sobbing turned to sniffling and then she eventually seemed to have calmed down.
"I'm not going to bother asking what it was about this time or lecture you. This time we're getting smashed from TV drinking games," Esme stated with a you-can't-say-no look.
She dragged Liz out of the bedroom and into the sparsely furnished living room filled with mostly thrift shop and consignment items. She maneuvered Liz - who didn't resist - to sit on the old futon that served as a couch and sometimes a bed to friends that were too drunk to drive. With a few quick trips to the kitchen she came back armed with a bowl of popcorn, another bowl with chips, and a plethora of alcohol. She turned on the TV and switched to the classics channel that played re-runs of shows like I Love Lucy and I Dream of Jeannie. She ran back to the kitchen to grab a couple of shot glasses and set them down on the super tiny coffee table (well that's what they called it).
A couple of hours later they were both beyond saving and there were empty bottles on the floor. Liz stumbled as she made her way into her bedroom and returned with a thick, black leather-bound book, barely making it back to the futon without tripping over herself.
"I'm going to curse him and you're helping," Liz proclaimed with slurred speech.
Esme couldn't help but crack up at the proclamation. She'd never been into any of that type of stuff. However, it seemed like it would be a funny ordeal and if it would help Liz feel better she would do it. She rubbed her eyes and sniffed trying to muster some sobriety into herself.
"Fine, fine. Whatever you say your witchiness," Esme drunkenly cackled at her own joke.
Soon enough the only light in the living room was provided by those same scented candles Esme had been trying to dispose of earlier. Liz had pushed aside the mess from their drinking game and drew a large circle with various symbols with white chalk onto the poorly maintained hardwood floor. It was a copy of the diagram from the spell Liz wanted to cast.
"What is this spell supposed to even do?"
"Grant a wish," Liz yawned out. It was getting close to midnight and they were both starting to feel sluggish and tired.
"Where did you find that spell book thing anyway? It looks legit for a prop," Esme asked as she snatched the book out of Liz's grasp, feeling a strange surge go through her.
"Some old dusty book store. And it's called a grimoire," Liz answered irritably as she completed the chalk diagram.
Esme blinked a few times and squinted her eyes to read the tiny handwritten text that shared the page with the drawing. It was probably the spell that was associated with it. How Liz even knew what this spell was supposed to do was beyond her since it looked like it was written in Latin. This whole thing made her want to shout out the word 'trope' because it seemed like it would fit into every witchcraft movie and TV show that ever existed. Esme went to hand over the book to Liz, but had found her friend had passed out on the floor.
"Pft, all this work and you're not even going to do the spell," Esme grumbled to herself.
She looked back at the foreign words and laughed. What harm could it do to play along and read the spell. It was all a bunch of hocus pocus anyway. She cleared her throat, mouthed the words a bit trying to figure out how they sounded, and then recited the incantation. The flames of the candles all extinguished at the same time and the smoke produced seemed to create this hazy fog in the living room. They had turned off all the lights for the ritual, so now Esme was left in pitch black darkness. She fumbled around trying to find the box of matches or lighter they had used earlier for the candles. In her search she crushed a small glass jar with her hand and cut into open her palm. Cursing out loud and probably smearing blood all over the floor, she managed to find her zippo lighter and flicked it open to produce a small flame with barely enough light to see what was going on. The candle smoke that should have long evaporated swirled the perimeter of the diagram and made it impossible to see what was at the center of the vortex. She probably shouldn't have, but she stuck in her bloodied hand without really thinking and the next moment the smoke burst outward from the center of the diagram and revealed a dark figure.
"W-What the fuck?"
"Broke up again, huh?" she asked as she leaned on the door frame.
Liz turned to look at Esme as she sniffled, nodded, then sobbed once more. Esme rolled her eyes but moved to plop down onto the full size bed next to Liz. She patted her friend on the back since there wasn't much else she could do for Liz besides be present. After about fifteen minutes the sobbing turned to sniffling and then she eventually seemed to have calmed down.
"I'm not going to bother asking what it was about this time or lecture you. This time we're getting smashed from TV drinking games," Esme stated with a you-can't-say-no look.
She dragged Liz out of the bedroom and into the sparsely furnished living room filled with mostly thrift shop and consignment items. She maneuvered Liz - who didn't resist - to sit on the old futon that served as a couch and sometimes a bed to friends that were too drunk to drive. With a few quick trips to the kitchen she came back armed with a bowl of popcorn, another bowl with chips, and a plethora of alcohol. She turned on the TV and switched to the classics channel that played re-runs of shows like I Love Lucy and I Dream of Jeannie. She ran back to the kitchen to grab a couple of shot glasses and set them down on the super tiny coffee table (well that's what they called it).
A couple of hours later they were both beyond saving and there were empty bottles on the floor. Liz stumbled as she made her way into her bedroom and returned with a thick, black leather-bound book, barely making it back to the futon without tripping over herself.
"I'm going to curse him and you're helping," Liz proclaimed with slurred speech.
Esme couldn't help but crack up at the proclamation. She'd never been into any of that type of stuff. However, it seemed like it would be a funny ordeal and if it would help Liz feel better she would do it. She rubbed her eyes and sniffed trying to muster some sobriety into herself.
"Fine, fine. Whatever you say your witchiness," Esme drunkenly cackled at her own joke.
Soon enough the only light in the living room was provided by those same scented candles Esme had been trying to dispose of earlier. Liz had pushed aside the mess from their drinking game and drew a large circle with various symbols with white chalk onto the poorly maintained hardwood floor. It was a copy of the diagram from the spell Liz wanted to cast.
"What is this spell supposed to even do?"
"Grant a wish," Liz yawned out. It was getting close to midnight and they were both starting to feel sluggish and tired.
"Where did you find that spell book thing anyway? It looks legit for a prop," Esme asked as she snatched the book out of Liz's grasp, feeling a strange surge go through her.
"Some old dusty book store. And it's called a grimoire," Liz answered irritably as she completed the chalk diagram.
Esme blinked a few times and squinted her eyes to read the tiny handwritten text that shared the page with the drawing. It was probably the spell that was associated with it. How Liz even knew what this spell was supposed to do was beyond her since it looked like it was written in Latin. This whole thing made her want to shout out the word 'trope' because it seemed like it would fit into every witchcraft movie and TV show that ever existed. Esme went to hand over the book to Liz, but had found her friend had passed out on the floor.
"Pft, all this work and you're not even going to do the spell," Esme grumbled to herself.
She looked back at the foreign words and laughed. What harm could it do to play along and read the spell. It was all a bunch of hocus pocus anyway. She cleared her throat, mouthed the words a bit trying to figure out how they sounded, and then recited the incantation. The flames of the candles all extinguished at the same time and the smoke produced seemed to create this hazy fog in the living room. They had turned off all the lights for the ritual, so now Esme was left in pitch black darkness. She fumbled around trying to find the box of matches or lighter they had used earlier for the candles. In her search she crushed a small glass jar with her hand and cut into open her palm. Cursing out loud and probably smearing blood all over the floor, she managed to find her zippo lighter and flicked it open to produce a small flame with barely enough light to see what was going on. The candle smoke that should have long evaporated swirled the perimeter of the diagram and made it impossible to see what was at the center of the vortex. She probably shouldn't have, but she stuck in her bloodied hand without really thinking and the next moment the smoke burst outward from the center of the diagram and revealed a dark figure.
"W-What the fuck?"
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