Magical Girl Trixie

“Help! Somebody save me!”

It was a dark alley, and once she had reached the walls that sealed her escape, the girl turned around and realized that she was cornered. Slowly, but with a menacing look in its eyes, the ursa major, a gigantic bear with razor sharp teeth and a coat decorated with the colors of the cosmos, began to approach the shaking little girl. Drool dripped from its mouth as it bore its fangs, ready to take a large bite out of the frightened child, but all she could do was cry out for help, hoping that someone could rescue her before her time ran out.

Finally, the ursa major lunged at her, making her shield her face with her arms, but she knew that wasn't going to work. Her time was up. She was going to die.

But then, at the last moment…

“Fear not, little one! Your savior is here! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrrixiiiieeee!”

The ursa major, just as it was about to put the little girl into its massive jaw, suddenly froze in the air, no longer able to control its body. Then, it felt itself moving backwards, its body rotating until finally, it was face to face with the magical bearer that held it in the air.

“Sorry, ursa major, but you're going to have to find your dinner somewhere else! Begone!” Then, with my hands reeled back, I used my magical abilities to send the bear flying into the background like a shooting star. As soon as it was no longer in sight, I placed my hands to my hips and turned toward the girl, giving her a reassuring smile. “He won't be bothering you again, little one.”

With jubilation filling her face, she quickly got up to her feet, rushed over to where I stood and leapt her whole body forward to engulf me into a big hug. “Thank you, Miss Trixie!” she shouted while laughing. “Are you an angel?”

“I can see why you would think so, but no, I'm just your average do-gooder. In fact, there was once a time when I was just like you.”

“Really?”

Smiling to myself, I patted her on the head while her eyes grew wide. “And you know what else? Maybe one day you can grow up to be just like me!”

“I will! I'm gonna grow up to be just like you one day, Miss Trixie!”

“I can't wait to see what kind of woman you become, but I must be off. There are others who need me, and the only one who can save them is the Great and Powerful Tri--”

“AUFFHHH!!”

Being pulled out of my dream, I was forcefully awakened by a blistering pain in my gut. Upon opening my heavy eyelids, I saw my mother standing over me, out of breath with a bottle of vodka in her hand, and she was looking down on me with the amount of anger I had come to fear.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCKING SLEEP?!” She screamed, again sending another harrowing punch to my stomach. The pain was even greater than from when I had gotten home from school, and all I could think about was what I had done to make my mom so angry. Then it hit me: the shirt!

“Mom, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Please, just let me expla--OOOGGHHFF!”

Another punch, this one sent to my chest, making me fear that she had accidentally broken one of my ribs.

“You're sorry? You mean to tell me that I spend my hard-earned money to put clothes on your back, and you're sorry?!” This time, she sent another punch, only this one landed into my face, breaking my nose and sending blood flowing like a stream down my face. Quickly, I sat up and squeezed my nostrils closed, using my other hand to catch any blood before it found its way onto my bedsheets. “You see? You know better than to go bleeding on the shit I give you, so why the fuck did you ruin a perfectly good shirt?!”

“I'mb sorry, momb!” I pleaded, doing my best to both talk and breath through my mouth as my eyes started tearing up. “I love you! I won't do it again!”

“If you really loved me, then why don't you care about the things I give you? Was this whole thing a plan to get me to buy you another one? You know, most kids just ask their mom to buy them new clothes and their mom is happy to do that for them, but somehow, I ended up with a daughter who doesn't give any fucking thought as to what her own mother thinks!”

Suddenly, she was grabbing me by the neck. Breathing was already difficult as it was, but this time, when she held my throat, I could physically feel my lungs collapsing in on themselves. When I looked up to face her, though, I was met with a glare even worse than normal. Why did I have to ruin that shirt? Why do I always seem to fuck everything up?

“You know, Trixie, sometimes I wish you were dead. Then I'd have one less mouth to feed, one less back to clothe, and one less worry in my life, but thankfully for you, I'm a good mom. I am doing you a favor by giving you the life that you have. Don't you ever forget that.”

Suddenly, as she let go of my throat, I felt a surge of air rushing into my chest again. Panting like a dog, I heaved the biggest breaths that I could, trying to return to a normal breathing pattern before I accidentally hyperventilated, which would just give my mom one more problem in her life.

“I'm burning this shirt,” she said, picking the fabric off of the ground. “I don't want you accidentally wearing it and giving people the wrong impression, especially since it's probably just covered in your period. How many other shirts do you have?”

“T-two…”

“Huh?! Speak up!”

“Two, mom. I have t-two other shirts…”

“Good. Wear one of those today, and if you ruin another one, next time I really will kill you. Don't even fucking fight me on that one.”

“Yes, mom. I-I'll take good care of the ones I have.”

“Good girl. Well, you go back to sleep. I don't want you falling asleep in class again.”

“OK. Good night, mom. I love you.”

As soon as she walked back into the hallway, I got up from my bed and closed the door behind her. Then, before I made another problem worse, I went straight for my tissues and wiped off as much blood as I could. Fortunately, since I had passed out before putting on another shirt, the blood from earlier had just gotten on my face, hands and stomach. If any fell onto my bra, though, she would have made me go to school topless. I shuddered at the thought.

Once there was no more blood to clean up, I put all the bloody tissues into my garbage can and began working on my homework. Sure, mom told me to go straight to bed, but there was little chance of that happening with the TV blaring as loud as it was, and that was supposing I could actually ignore the pain in my stomach.

Well… as long as I could get everything done that I needed to, I was happy. In fact, all throughout middle school, I had never once been late on an assignment! Sure, my mom didn't put any kind of pressure on me to be at the top of my class, but then again, I never wanted to see what would happen if I came home with a bad report card.

“Well, English homework is done!” I said to myself with a smile, humming as I went to my next assignment. “Next is math. Bleh.”

To be honest, math wasn't that hard for me. In all actuality, I was probably more talented at math than most kids at my school, but doing equations wasn't nearly as fun for me as writing essays. In math, there's a right answer and a wrong answer, but when you write, you get to say whatever you want! It was like when I wrote papers, I was exploring another side of individuality that only came out when--

Creeeeak!

Oh, shit! Oh shit oh shit oh shit!!

“What did I just tell you?” Looking up from my papers, I saw my mom again, only this time, her hand was gripped to the doorknob, squeezing it in a way that could break it off at any second.

“I-I-I can explain!”

“Didn't I tell you to go to bed?”

“Yes! You did, but--I-I--”

“Why isn't your homework done already?”

“I don't--I mean, I didn't--”

“That's it, Trixie. I've had enough of you for one day. You are going to bed right now.”

“Y-yes, mom!” Quickly, I put all of my papers into my backpack and yanked my blanket over my body. As I looked back to my mom, though, she was already back in the hallway. Maybe this meant that it was all over, and all I had to do was put my head on my pillow and pretend to sleep? Well, it wasn't like I had any other option anyway.

“Oh, Trixiiieee.”

Out of curiosity, I squinted my eyes open to see my mom standing in the doorway again, this time holding her bottle of vodka again. Pulling my head out of the covers, I stuttered, “Y-yes, mom?”

“Have you ever tasted liquor before?”

“No! I would never! I p-promise!”

“Is that so? Well, I guess I believe you.” Really? You really believe me? “That just means that now's going to be your first time, then.”

“Huh?”

Reflexively pulling my head out of my blankets completely, my mom sent her bottle of vodka flying towards my face, shattering as it smashed against my forehead. The amount of pain I was in had reached an all-time high, with so much agony in my head that I couldn't even feel the rest of my body. Without a second's hesitation, I reached for where the bottle had hit me, searching my face and scalp for anywhere I might be bleeding, and though I felt shards of glass all throughout my hair, I didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere.

Then, as I looked back at my hands, they began to spin. I was suddenly feeling extremely dizzy and nauseous as the room around me began to toss and turn like a boat at sea. I was now doing everything I could just to not throw up, but that's when my room started getting darker. Suddenly, I couldn't see anything anymore, and with all the feeling lost in my hands and body, I fell back onto my pillow and once again, lost consciousness.

Later that morning…

By some miracle, I actually managed to wake up when my alarm went off the next morning, and to make things even better, I didn't wake my mom up when I left my room to take a shower! Again, I counted my blessings upon feeling the warm shower water hit my face, even if it meant pulling out shards of glasses from my hair and hoping that there wouldn't be any surprise pieces when I tried using the shampoo.

Once I was out and dressed, I made my way to the kitchen to make breakfast. I would need all the energy I possibly could if I were to make it through an entire day of school without falling over, but at least I knew I had gotten plenty of sleep!

Before walking out, I made one more meal, wrapped it in plastic foil and left a note saying, “I had to leave before you woke up, so I thought I would make you some breakfast! I love you!” My mom never asked me to make her breakfast, nor had she ever been mad about me leaving without saying a word, but I just thought that after all the troubles I had put her through lately, she at least deserved this.

“Alright!” I said to myself, holding my books firmly as I walked to school. “This morning is turning out to be good so far! Now I just need to make sure I don't make anyone mad!”

“Oh, Tripsyyyy.”

No. Not now! Not when this morning has been going so well till now! Can't you just wait until we get to school?!

Turning my head, I saw a figure standing underneath the nearby bridge, folding her arms and smiling at me. “Hey, I just wanted to say sorry about what happened yesterday,” Lulu Lemon said, walking closer.

“What? I-it's OK, really!” I stammered, hoping I could get out of there before something bad happened. “I'll see you at school, then?”

“Actually, I was kinda hoping you could do me a favor.” I wanted to run away so bad, but I knew that she would find me eventually, and when she did, there would be Hell to pay. Instead, however, she lackadaisically approached closer until her arm was around my shoulder, pulling me in closer and covering my skin with goosebumps. “You see, Trixie, I have something I need delivered to someone in the next class over, and I was wondering if you could do that for me.”

Was that all? That would be no problem! But wait…

“Um… Lulu, if you just need it delivered to the next class over, why do you need me to do it?”

“Well, you see, I would do it myself, but I'm super embarrassed about it.” Then, pulling her arm off of my shoulder and reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small baggie filled with a white powder. Cocaine. “You wouldn't mind just bringing it over to him, would you?”

“But… Lulu… th-those are drugs…”

I began slowly backing away, hoping that she would eventually get bored and beat me senseless without actually having me make the delivery.

“Come on, Trixie. I said I was sorry. Plus, you won't get in trouble if you don't get caught.”

“B-b-but, w-what if somebody looks in my bag and finds it?”

“Look,” Lulu said with her voice losing its cheerful demeanor. “Put it in your ass if you need to. Do you want me to pay you? I'll give you the fucking minimum wage! How does that sound?!”

This had gotten out of control. If I went through with her plan and got caught, it would mean the end for me. If I was lucky, I would be thrown in jail, but if I wasn't, I would come home to my mother. As I made eye-contact with Lulu, though, her eyes told me that she wasn't going to give me a choice, and the longer I waited, the more patience she lost.

“I… I…”

There was nothing I could do. I had no choice but to take the drugs, make the delivery and pray that no one ever found out. There was just one problem...

“I… I can't!”

...I was a coward.

Holding my books as close to my chest as I could, I turned on my heels and began running towards the school.

“Hey! Get back here, you little shit!”

I was using all the energy I had and then some to put as much distance between us as possible. My heart was racing, my lungs were pumping, and sweat was already beginning to trickle down my armpits, but even with all the adrenaline moving my muscles at twice their maximum speed, I was no match for Lulu Lemon's speed.

As soon as she caught up with me, she tackled me to the ground, turned me over and began hurling punches towards my face. The first punch slammed against my right temple, sending my glasses flying to where my books had scattered along the grass. The second slammed against my left cheek, making me involuntarily bite my tongue in the process, which was probably now bleeding profusely. The third struck me against my right eye, which then made me worry about how I would possibly face my mother the next time I saw her if I came home with a black eye.

Lulu continued throwing her fists into my face, taking out all the anger she had towards me until her muscles physically ached from the exhaustion. When she finally stood up, I was bleeding from my nose and mouth, my eyes swollen from the wounds as well as my pathetic tears streaming down my cheeks. She didn't look like she was done, though, which she reaffirmed by digging into her bag, pulling out an item from inside and smiling from ear to ear.

The item she had… was a switchblade.

“No… Please… I'll do anything!!”

“You already had your chance to do the right thing, but you made a poor decision. You can't back down from your punishment now, Tripsy.”

“Please! I'll make the delivery! I'll do anything you want! JUST PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!”

Lulu, however, just smirked.

“The world would be better off with you dead.”

My heart went from doing jumpingjacks to stopping completely. I wanted to run, crawl, anything I could physically do to get away from her, but I froze. My voice was caught up in my throat, making it to where I couldn't even make one last attempt to scream. Then, with all my luck having run out, she lunged forward with her knife, and all I could do was cry.

“Bye-bye, Tripsy!”

“Just kidding!”

Suddenly, Lulu froze, her eyes bulging as she looked down on me, not in anger, but in fear. Her entire body had stopped moving until finally, a few moments later, she dropped her knife to her feet, her eyes closed and she collapsed on top of me. Motionless.

Finally, with all the adrenaline collapsing in on itself, I pulled in enough air to my lungs to let out an ear-shattering scream. Reflexively crab-walking backwards, Lulu's body slid off of mine, plopping onto the ground and still not moving an inch. My breathing was picking up so fast that I was going to hyperventilate at any moment.

Is she dead? What the fuck is going on? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!

“Hiya!”

Suddenly breaking my eyes away from the body in front of me, I slowly moved my face up to see a person standing above us, smiling down at my battered face. She was probably in her late teens, and she was wearing clothes that didn't fit anything short of a costume. She had a sparkling dress that imitated the colors of the stars in the night sky, her necklace was in the shape of the moon, and her hair was a loud bright blue. Did she… Did she just kill Lulu?

“Nice to meet ya, little girl! My name's Dreamdrop!” As she held out her hand, I pathetically shrieked and crawled a few steps away, my whole body still trembling from my near-death experience. “Huh? No need to be scared. I’m not gonna hurt you!”

“What…” I began as tears flowed down my face once more. “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, her? Nothing, really. I just put her to sleep is all!”

“Put her to… sleep?”

“Yup, that's my magic. I'm a magical girl!”

My head was still spinning. Who was this Dreamdrop girl? What was Lulu going to do when she woke up? Was I going to die? Was it just a matter of time?

“You knoooow,” she continued while rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, “I still haven't gotten your name yet.”

“My name? My… My name is T-Trixie.”

Suddenly, her face exploded into the biggest grin I'd ever seen. “Trixie! It's so nice to meet you! Oh, we should probably get out of here before you-know-who wakes up. I'd hate to see what she's like in the morning!”

“Will she be OK?”

“Hmm? Sure! My magic only lasts for five minutes, and I hate to be that magical girl, but we've already used up three.”

“When she wakes up, what's going to happen? Is she going to try to kill me again? Is she going to find me when I'm at school? I… I…” Feeling defeated again, I brought my knees to my chest and bawled ferociously into my legs. “I'm so scared, Dreamdrop! I don't know what to do!”

As I continued to weep into my knees, the magical girl put a finger to her chin as she thought. “Weeeeell, the way I see it, you have two options. One, you could go to school and hope that this girl here slept off whatever she was going on about before, or option two, you could come with me!”

“Where are we going?”

The magical girl snickered. “We're going to Platinum City, where all the magical girls go to touch base with each other. That is, if you wanna join me.”

“Is… Is that really OK?”

“Sure! I'm not holding out my hand to stretch, after all!”

Nothing made sense anymore. Just this morning, I was making my mom breakfast. Then, out of nowhere, I nearly became a drug mule. After that, I was almost killed! Now, some teenager calling herself a magical girl was offering to take me to a place called Platinum City?

However, when I looked down at Lulu and looked up at Dreamdrop, I realized that no matter what happened, it would be better than being there when she woke up. Finally, with a smile on my face, I reached out my hand and took hold of the magical girl's open palm.

“OK, Dreamdrop. I trust you.”

“Yahoo! Platinum City, here we come!!”