Unmagical: A Witchy Mystery by Jenn Lessmann

Author:Jenn Lessmann [Lessmann, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farmer's Daughter Arts
Published: 2023-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

WAIT. WHAT? WAS that why Adam was all weird and hostile? Because I’d been on my Wakening? What did he care? I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. Somehow that was worse than anything I might have said. He disappeared into the trees.

As I stood there watching the trees sway in the gentle breeze that was nothing like the chaotic wind that tore through the clearing a few minutes ago, I remembered... something. Before I left, three years ago, before Adam left on his Wakening, was there something?

It seemed so long ago. Walking with Adam, my hand in his again. Another memory fought its way forward. Sitting side-by-side, knees touching, talking about our plans. Why is it so hazy?

I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out the present. Images flickered across my eyelids, half-formed. An argument. Another voice. Just forget about him. He’s not worth it. And I had. I tried again to bring the memory back, but it wouldn’t come.

I wiped my eyes, but no tears blurred my vision. My head hurt. I had goosebumps. When I rubbed my arms, my hands came away cold and wet. I looked down just as another snowflake landed on the back of my hand and slowly dissolved.

Since I couldn’t keep standing at the top of a windy hill and staring into the middle distance like a Brontë heroine, I shook it off and made my way back down. I was cold and wet, and my insides felt just as soggy.

Family first, Thomas had said yesterday. One problem at a time. Even if new problems seemed to materialize at every step.

I needed to take decisive action. Brian once told me how he liked running because pounding his feet on the pavement felt better than pounding his face into a pillow. I didn’t deny that there was a certain appeal to working out a chaotic emotional problem with something I could physically control. But if I ran down this hill, I was just as likely to end up back in the Healer’s cottage as I was to emerge with a sense of inner peace.

Instead, I combined some of the meditation practices I grew up with and a mindfulness technique I learned in a kinesiology course at school. See? Going away to college was totally worth it. Here I am using those Gen Ed classes in real life. I concentrated on the placement of my feet on the path. One step at a time, consciously feeling the ground underneath my shoes. I timed my breaths with my movements, in through my nose, out through my mouth. With each step, I mentally scanned the next part of my body, moving up from my feet, relaxing the muscles by force of will. I loosened my jaw, pulling my tongue down from the roof of my mouth. I hadn’t even realized it was stuck there. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill, I felt much more myself.

Unfortunately, taking this route burned off most of the afternoon.

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