The Talisman

"Take this talisman, darling," Mum said, placing a clear stone in my open hand. I felt like an eight year old receiving her weekly pocket money.
"Mum..." I sighed. Her superstition wore me out sometimes.
"It's a talisman of protection! I'm trusting you with it, now you're sixteen."
"Well, your spells didn't work before. I still got bullied."
"But you never had your hair pulled again, did you?" Mum said with a patronising I-told-you-so tone. She smiled gently and stroked her thumb against my face. "I'm so proud of you, Kate. You didn't have to go to Sixth Form, but you are. I know school's better now-"
"They still think I'm weird," I said flatly, cutting her short.
"Who cares what they think? You got Fyn now anyway."
Yes, Fyn,  I thought sourly. My only real friend who still teased me about my batshit crazy mother.
"I don't need the talisman. Everyone leaves me alone now," I said.
"Please wear it, sweetheart. Just under your clothes? I worry about you. So many people disrespect the spirits. I don't want them punishing you by mistake. Here, take it," and she pressed the stone into my palm. I felt its cool smoothness depressing the skin.
"Okay, fine. I will."
"Good girl," Mum smiled, hugging me. I smelt her lavender perfume and breathed it in. I always felt safe around Mum, despite her -certainly- unconventional beliefs. "Think of it as taking a piece of me to school," she said softly, releasing me. I unclasped my hand and ran a thumb and index finger along the black string. I glanced up at her wild curls and pierced face.
"And this is supposed to protect me?"


I felt normal on the way to school, besides the unusual spot of coldness on my chest. I'd gotten into Sixth Form with several B grades and a few As. My friend Fyn wasn't so accomplished, having gotten in with one B, several Cs and a D in English, which he had to retake. I sometimes wondered if he befriended me only to help him with that.
"Kate!" he called, waiting at the gates with a cigarette in between his teeth. He laughed when he saw my disapproving grimace.
"You know I hate the smell," I told him curtly.
"I hate your new hair colour, but you don't see me complaining," he grinned. I touched a black lock of hair defensively. "Then again, I could get used to a goth chick."
"Shut up and put that thing out. Let's go," I told him. I normally ignored his wisecracks, but as much as he annoyed me, I couldn't help but smirk.


Similarly, I was normally ignored too. The exception was Fyn, who took an interest in me for mixed reasons. Then there was Sally Henderson. She was the new kid. I considered her 'new' still anyway.
After joining mid-way through year eleven, she quickly became a talked-about figure of the year. She was "one of the guys." Mouthy, funny, kind of butch. Apparently she was kicked out of her old school, but she worked surprisingly hard here. Some boys started teasing her for various reasons and she quickly sorted them out. Somehow, she climbed the social ladder.
Now she was at the top.
And then there's me, at the bottom. Luckily, I was never in any of her classes and while she threw her weight around on the field at lunch, I stayed tucked away in the library or ate for a very long time in the lunch hall.


"Kate, over here. Next to Harry. Opposite, I want Josh Harding and... Sally. Sally, sit here please," said my Health mentor. My heart sank when I found out Sally had taken Health and Social Care too. Now it was pumping away in my feet.
The three on my table chatted away, led by Sally, of course. I was directly opposite her. Sometimes I glanced up and met her eye and could've sworn I felt something hug against my chest. Something small and round...
Maybe it was because the teacher was there, or Sally had to be careful now she was a Sixth Former. Nothing happened that lesson. In fact, I even plucked the courage to make a contribution and put my hand up.


I wish I hadn't. An air of hostility surrounded Sally and only I seemed to notice it. She sharpened her pencil and placed it on her desk, the tip facing me. I stared down at it, like a finger pointing in my face.
I pushed those old, familiar feelings of dread away after school. I went up to the library to study, still kitted out in my sportswear from PE. I saw Fyn sitting at a computer. I dismissed my Health work and decided to focus on helping him instead.
"Do I have to use semi-colons?"
"If you want a good grade," I replied.
"I only want a C," he said carelessly, scrunching his nose.
"It's better to aim higher, then you're more likely to get a C anyway."
"But punctuation. It's proper finicky," he complained. I then spent the next hour trying to convince him to work harder.


Pale sunlight presided over the school campus. Fyn and I walked across the carpark, which was near-empty. It was five o clock and the sinking sun blinded me. I averted my gaze and a cloak of panic was tossed over me.
There was Sally, coming out of the gym. Her face was a deep pink and she sucked in great breaths, as she clambered up some steps and started through the car park.
"What're you staring at?" she shouted.
"Oh shit," I mumbled. Fyn had been walking ahead, but he spun around on his heels and blinked uncertainly.
"What was that?" she bellowed again. Some kids were milling around outside school, but now their attention was pinned to Sally, and presumably the figure frozen in the distance. Me.
"Nothing. She didn't do anything," Fyn said, coming to my side. I felt my heart beating against the stone on my chest. It was warm and smooth.
"I'll be the judge of that. Think you're clever, Kate? Well, I heard your mum's not very clever. I heard she's a witch," she said venomously, spit spraying between her teeth. It didn't surprise me that it'd circulated to her about my mum. Everyone stayed away from me as a result of my mum, whether out of fear they'd be hexed (she didn't practice that anyway) or because they just didn't want to be seen around me, thanks to the rumours and general distaste for me back in school.
"None of your business," I said weakly.
"What're you going to do? Put a spell on me?" she retorted. The spectators chorused a laugh behind her. A triumphant smile stretched across her face. My jaw clenched. I was sick of the same mantra.
"You're already bewitched as it is," I scowled. The words escaped my tongue before I could stop them. She made an ugly snarl and before I knew it, her hand curled and she twisted her body away. Her fist came back at me. Instinctively, I shut my eyes.
I felt a short-lived, searing burn against my chest. I hissed in pain and my eyes opened. Sally hadn't touched me. Her fist veered off in a totally different direction and her whole body went with it. She was flung onto the ground by an unseen force. I backed away quickly, as did Fyn, whose mouth had fallen open. I reached into my coat and felt the stone. Hot and smooth, against my fingers.
"What was that!" Sally yelled. The kids were high with a nervous excitement.
"I wanna go, come on," I said quickly, grabbing Fyn's sleeve and bee-lining in the opposite direction.


"That was crazy!" Fyn exclaimed, on the way home. He walked along beside me in an animated fashion, hands gesturing and face contorting in so many expressions. Expressions of shock, of jubilance, of fear...
As we walked, the wind blew away bits of litter and birds flapped out of the trees, crowing and screeching. The stone had cooled considerably. It felt like a chunk of ice now. I wondered, was it the 'talisman' that had intervened? Sally wouldn't throw herself aside like that. I was pretty sure it was physically impossible anyway. I turned the key in the front door
"Hi, sweetie. How was your day?" Mum asked as I got in.
"Alright," I said mildly. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. If I'd said the talisman had worked, she'd jump for joy and maybe be a bit smug too. I had so many questions about the occurrence anyway.


I went upstairs to my room and laid down. I took the stone in my fingers and twisted it around and around. I could see the doorway through the stone; blurry and warped. I wondered if it was the equivalent to a guardian angel or garlic against a vampire. It was certainly my garlic today.