Chapter 4

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"How are you, Charles?"

"You doing okay, Charles?"

"Nervous for school, Charles?"

All weekend it's all I have heard, I appreciate everyone at the guild being nice to me and asking if I am okay, but I lie. I have been telling everyone I'm fine, I have been telling everyone I'm looking forward to starting school tomorrow. But if I am honest, I'm scared. Only at home or the guild, do I feel safe and happy. But anywhere else I get threatened. People will stop and stare at me then start whispering to their family or friends, I've seen people pull out their phones and record me walking past them.

Madison takes great offence to this, and she calls people out and asks them why they are recording a child, She makes me laugh, small but mighty my sister.

Mum and Dad didn't need to call anyone out, they gave people a cold stare and that would work as a treat.

Tracy heard two men threaten to kill me if I ever hurt anyone they knew when I went into a shop.

"Why would he hurt people you know?" she screamed at them. "What makes your family so important ay? Your family will be safe if they don't hurt him, but if they do, I'll hunt the both of you down" She was so cool! She scared those two men I could have sworn one of them peed their pants.

Marvin appeared a minute later towering over myself and Tracy, and the second man may have peed himself.

I now find myself laying on my bed staring at the ceiling, pushing down the urge to be sick, thoughts of what school might be like, oh god. What if the kids are like the adults I have met, I will only have Kevin, Lincoln and Yasmin and I don't want to get them in trouble, especially on the first day of school, and what makes it worse I had forgotten about the rookie rumble! A giant free-for-all, battle royale between the first and second years.

Mum won it, she beat Dad in her first year and in her second she won it again beating Dad, Uncle Tommy, and Marvin, She was the number 1 ranked student in her year, and every year she was there. Now I must participate in this year's one, with kids whose parents may or may not want me dead, or best-case scenario just not in the school.

"Did you sleep at all?" Mum asked me in the morning as I came into the kitchen dressed in my school uniform, bold white shirt, plain navy blue school blazer that has the school's crown on the front pocket. My tie, blue with two yellow strips at the bottom, was loosely knotted up, I learned from Dad how to do it over the weekend I don't think it has gone well.

"I tried to sleep but I'm a bit nervous," I said, it wasn't a lie I am nervous.

"Nothing to be nervous about," she said. Stepping closer to me, she had her fluffy grey dressing gown on. She untied my tie and then pulled up my collar, "Watch me closer, your father can do this without magic, I can't, and I can't show you how to do it with magic in case you choke yourself, can't be having that" she puffed her cheeks out and then stepped back took a look at the tie, I'm still so tired I don't care, she can do what she wants and I will stand here and eye up the toast getting buttered by a knife in the background.

"Yeah, that's not gonna work" Mum handed me a piece of toast and a cup of orange juice. "I'll get Dad to fix it when he comes down, Lincoln's is in the Living room" I yawned, took another piece of toast and left for the living. Lincoln was sitting dressed in his uniform, he looked at me when I walked in and nodded at me hello. He must be tired too. We watched Dungeon Dash together and woke up properly.

Dad walked with a piece of toast in his mouth and coffee in hand. He once again showed me how to make my tie.

"Nicholas" Mum yelled from the Living room, which made all of us here jump out of our skin, "why aren't you dressed? We must go soon!" Dad exhaled loudly drank the rest of his coffee and stood up, in shorts and a top I had only noticed, and he left and came back 10 minutes later, dressed well in nice pants and a clean grey shirt.

Charles King, Lonely hope, part 1.Where stories live. Discover now