“It’s like you don’t even care!” Ellie screamed. “You think you can just return to your life after what happened to me.”

    “Ellisha–”

    “No, I don’t even want to know what you have to say! I don’t have time for names, or your lies! You said you wouldn’t leave me again, you said it wouldn’t happen…” Ellie’s voice trailed off as she slumped down on the chair in the dining room, and wept. I’m going to have to change the tablecloth again, Marion thought.

    “I’m going to find a way.” Ellie whispered. “I’m going to find a way to see him again.”

    “But you visit his grave every day, Ellisha. You just have to accept it, you have to move on.” Marion pleaded. “Remember what the therapist said, breath in, brea–”

Her voice was cut short by the stomps on the staircase, and the resentment in the air. 

After that, Marion barely saw Ellie anymore. Even the plates at her door were turned away. She was worried for her Elisha, but didn’t know what to do. Every time she tried to talk to her, she was turned away. Some nights Elisha didn’t even come home. Marion thought about calling the police, her husband, anything to bring her Elisha back. 

One night after a particularly strong conversation, Marion heard strange noises coming from Elisha’s room. She checked the clock. It was 11:50.

    “What is she doing up there? She’ll wake the whole apartment building!” Marion breathed.

She crept down the hall, and put her ear up to Elisha’s door. Behind the sturdy wooden frame only fear reached Marion’s ears.

These chants were repeated multiple times and Marion thought she also heard a whimpering of an animal after every line. She reached tentatively for the door, not sure if she should be scared, or horrified. 

Marion hadn’t been inside Ellisha’s room since the fight, it looked nothing like what she could remember. Something like red paint stained the floors, books were everywhere, the panes in her windows seemed to have been blown out. In the center of the room a hooded figure knelt over a whimpering dog. Its face was mawed and red paint leaked out of its side– Marion gasped and the hooded figure stood up to look at her. 

   “I see you’ve finally shown your face,” a menacing voice unlike any she had heard told her. 

   “What have you done with Elisha!” Marion shouted. 

   “Oh, Elisha’s been gone for a long time. It’s Ellie now.”

   Ellie raised the hood of her cloak and looked her mother in the eyes. Her face was scarred and broken, blood ran down her cheek, her hair was tattered and ripped, but it was Ellie. 

   “I said I would find a way, Marion. I said I would do it. Who knew necromancy was the answer.”

   “Necromancy, like that kids game you used to play with your friends?”

   “No Marion, sorry to have to break it to you, but magic is real. Haven’t you ever read Harry Potter, The Awakening, any book with magic in it? You think people have enough imagination to make all this up? It’s real, Marion, I’ve found it, and I’m going to use it to bring him back.”

   “You can’t be serious Elisha, snap out of it. You have to get your life back together, I’m here to apologize.”

While she wasn’t there to apologize, Marion would use any tactic to stop Ellie now. First dating a black guy, now this nonsense. Marion was humiliated that she had raised such a child.

   “You think I believe that, Marion. Even after seeing what I've turned into you still don’t trust me? Embarrassing, pathetic, that’s what you are! You’re just a husk of what a mother should be, a shadow.”

Ellie stepped back to reveal a full pentagram behind her. The stench of blood finally realized itself in Marion’s nose. 

   “I’m speechless. Elisha, did you hurt that dog? I don’t believe this, I’m telling your therapist!”

   “You think I care. You think I give a fuck Marion. I have no use for you. You’re useless, a waste of human life.”

Ellie smiled, revealing gnarled teeth and an ashen tongue.

   “Ellie, watch you language. Be respectful to–”

   “But now that I’m thinking,” Ellie interrupted. “This dog isn’t quite big enough, maybe I need something– hmm–bigger for the sacrifice.”

Shadow tendrils exploded out of Ellie’s body. Two wrapped around Marion’s rists, another two around her ankles. Marion fell to her knees as a fifth caressed her cheek.

   “Do you see now Marion,” Ellie boomed. “Do you see the power that magic has granted me?”

Marion knelt there speechless as she stared blankly into space. The fifth tendril wrapped slowly around Marion's throat, and a choking scream escaped her.

   “Be quiet Marion, you’ll wake the apartment building!” Ellie teased.

Ellie revealed her scarred hands from her robe pockets. She raised them to her mouth and blew Marion a final kiss. Marion struggled under the binds of Ellie’s spell. Her body twitched and her mouth trembled. Finally her head dropped, limp as a rope. Ellie released her binds and Marion's body fell to the floor.

   “Oops” Ellie muttered, “I fear I went a little too hard and ruined the body.”

She shrugged and Marion's scarred, feverish body floated to the center of the room. It collapsed in the center of the pentagram like a deflated balloon.

Ellie chanted one last time.

White light erupted from the ground as Marion’s body disappeared. 

Jeremiah’s hand reached from the light.

            “You didn’t know him like I did, the way that he and Carlton played basketball together, the way he looked at me when we first bumped into each other in the halls. You can be sorry but you won’t ever understand the full amount of pain that I'm in.”  I felt bad about my response but I couldn’t hold back the pain any longer, I had to let it out and it just happened to be when Anne was talking. 

             Anne creeped up into a ball, taking up the least amount of space in the car as she could. I could tell that my words were too harsh. I saw the tears starting to form in her eyes, or maybe those were my tears that I was mistaken as hers. 

            “Look I’m sorry” said Anne, “I know that I'll never relate because I'm not in a biracial relationship, but my relationship is seen as different and not as accepted as well.” she took a long pause, I heard her voice starting to tremble, shaking more and more with each word she said. “I shouldn’t have been so close minded about you guys dating and him being black. I wish that things went down differently and I hope we can work on repairing our relationship.” 

              These words hurt me. I wanted to forgive her for what happened but a part of me couldn’t just move on from the fact that it was so hard for her to be able to accept us. 

             The car went silent, neither one of us wanting to speak about what was just said. We both knew that it would take a lot of work and time to heal. I want to repair our relationship, Anne wants to repair our relationship, we both want to repair our relationship. It was forever going to be a work in progress but we could do it and we would. 

“NO! HE WAS MY SON! I will not stop until he is brought to justice Commissioner. “

“All right. I’ll get him in on this. He’s the best one we have.”

“Who’s HIM?”

“You’ll find out eventually. And please, Call me Jim.”

She walked away after this, seeming confused. I sighed and put down my cup of coffee and notepad. Checking my gun. Loaded. All 6 shots in their place in my .38. I head up to the roof and turn on the signal, aiming it towards the clouds in the night sky. Waiting for him to come. 

It’s been an hour. I’ve smoked 3 cigs already. Trying to quit but it’s hard. I hear a loud but muffled landing behind me. Whipping my head around, I see him. Armed to the teeth. His deep dark voice comes out muffled

“What is it Jim?”

“There’s a killer on the loose. He’s killed multiple black teenagers in the past few months. His first victim was a kid named Jerimiah. Good kid. Never got in trouble and just got a girl. Her name is Elisha. Lives over there.” and I point over towards a bigger house on the corner of the street. 

“His mom lives near her.”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Oh one more thing, He tends to target them alone and at night. Should be your specialty.”

I look over and he’s already gone. I chuckle to myself and forget that he does this all the time yet every time he does it, I’m still surprised. 

Next chapter

As I dive off the building, I feel the wind pushing against me. My cape flails in the wind. I quickly grab my grappler and fire at a nearby building. It catches on one of the gargoyles pulling me towards it. I use the momentum to release at a good moment and activate my glider, soaring through the air towards where Jim said Elisha lived. I land just on their front porch, legs buckling from the landing. Hurts more than usual. Probably from lack of sleep. I knock on the door. A few moments later, a young girl, probably 18, answers the door and screams running back inside. I wait a few moments and what is probably her mother comes. She jumps. Startled by me. 

“I thought you were a myth.”

“Can I come in? The commissioner asked me to investigate Jerimiah.”

“Miah. He preferred being called that” the young girl called out from the halfway between tears of fear and sadness

“Miah then. Can I come in? I only have a few questions.”

“Of course. Please, make yourself at home.”

We talked for an hour. Mostly her. From what I heard, A police officer came after to inform them of the murder but he has an Alibi for the death. On patrol on the opposite side of town. After I finished up with them, I went to Miah’s mom's house. She was there crying. Scared by me but then realized what was happening. She informed me that the same man came over afterwards and spoke to her. 

I’m flying to the police station to talk to this… James Ferlib. He’s a dirty cop with a drug addiction and an alcoholic. I got a description of him and that his shift ended a while ago. He left to the northern side of town by central park. I go on the rooftops but close enough to see everyone on the ground. I find a man fitting his description walking away in a light brown trench coat and fedora following a young black teenager. It all comes together after a few moments. He quickly turns into an alley and I lose him for a second. 

BANG

I hear a gunshot. It echoes all over the park. Nobody bats an eye. Sometimes I feel like this city is worse than Gotham was. I failed that city but I will not fail this one. I jump down into the alley but he hears me coming. Rolls to the side as I land on the ground. A small crater from where I landed. Boots barely lessened the impact. I look over to see him with a .45 in hand. A young teenager with a bullet wound in his side. He’ll live. I need to worry about James. 

“Put the gun down and I won’t hurt you.”

“We both know that’s a lie.”

He raises his gun and shoots me. I barely see it coming. Good thing my armor is bulletproof. Still stings for a bit. I leap towards him and he easily dodges out of the way. He’s been well trained. I’m able to get up close to him but he anticipated that. He tosses the gun aside and prepares to fight. We fight for about 10 minutes. The longest fight I’ve been in. We’re both badly bruised and bleeding. One of us is going down and I refuse to let it be me. I cough up blood on the floor. More than I would like. I slowly stand up, faking exhaustion, and I shakingly raise my fists waiting for him to make the first move. He does. He leaps in the air aiming for a kick. That’s his last move. I dodge out of the way and grab his leg mid-air and slam him into the ground. I sit on top of him, hitting him repeatedly until he stops struggling. I get off him. Nothing. I check his pulse. Still alive. Unconscious for a few hours probably. A day at the most.I pick him and the kid up. He’s fine. Bullet shot through him. I freeze the wound to stop the bleeding. He screams of course. I call an ambulance and Jim. The ambulance gets here first. I load up the kid and James into the truck. Jim comes shortly after with Ellie, Marion and Nelia. I tell them it was a dirty cop who did this. They all start crying. I can see the relief and acceptance in all their eyes. As Jim turns his back to comfort them, I quickly disappear. There are other crimes in this city and I’m needed there. 

     “Ok.” Miah says as he walks into Ellie’s kitchen where Ellie’s mother is cooking. It smells like candles, Jeremiah thought. After 2 minutes of walking in Ellie’s absolutely gigantic house, he sees Ellie’s mother. 

    “Nice to meet you Ms. Eisen.” Miah greets Ellie’s mother. Ellie’s mother is surprised to be greeted while cooking, she turns around and sees a Black man standing in her kitchen. 

    “AHHHHHH.” Elie’s mother yells while throwing a spatula at Miah. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU THIEF!” Ellie’s mother’s words echoed like a shotgun. Miah runs to find cover not knowing what to do. 

    “I’m your daughter’s boyfriend Ms. Eisen!!” He screamed fearing for his life. Just as Miah said that, Elie’s mother stopped. She looks carefully at Miah, seeing his almost green eyes. 

    “Oh, my daughter did say that her boyfriend is coming over today..” Ellie’s mother said in a calmer voice than some seconds ago.

    “Hi.. I’m Jeremiah..” Miah reaches out his hand for a hand shake. 

    “I’m Ellie’s mother, you can call me Marion. That’s what Ellie calls me..” Marion nervously shakes Miah’s hand.

“Hey,” I remembered what had happened last time, I felt my heart beating faster. “I heard what happened and I wanted to ask how are you doing?” Being brought back there, made my heart beat even faster.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” I replied, I didn’t want this to turn into what happened before.

“So the guy was black?” she said, I fumed. “What does that even matter, yes he was black, and because he was black, he was shot dead in central park,” I said, “He was holding a basketball, dribbling in a park, and was shot DEAD!.” I kept going, there was nothing but silence on the other side of the phone. “So yeah, he was black, and maybe because he was black, he was shot dead.” She replied “I’m sorry.” Yeah right, I slammed down the phone and cried. I cried like it was happening again. I cried like when my mom left, cried when I felt as if I had nobody left. I cried and cried, the phone just kept ringing. 

 “He wouldn't listen to me. I told him to stop running but he wouldn't listen,” the officer spoke in a confident voice. Deep down he knew he was wrong, everybody knew. But nobody cared. 

“Why did you shoot him, he wasn't the right guy,” Ellie started to tear up. Miah looked nothing like the guy who was being looked for, why would he be killed. She couldn't understand, how could someone be that wrong. 

“Listen, the boy looked like the person I was looking for. It's simply a misunderstanding, I thought he was someone else. Maybe he could've saved himself if he'd stopped running when I told him to.” Miah and Ellie's families were outraged when they heard the officer say such things. How could the officer be so fine stating that. He had no remorse. Ellie finally understood, Miah was black, and that was the only reason he was murdered. 

Ellie now gripped Marions hand. She started to remember all the talks her and Miah had about how him being black made his whole world different from hers. Then his touch ,his lips, she loved him so much. She just wished they didn't have to be in this cold, sad room, wishing he wasn't gone. 

“Jeremiah did not deserve this. You are a murderer, you killed him because he is black,” Ellie was breaking down. Miahs family behind her broke down too. They were surprised to hear Ellie stand up and speak the truth like that. 

“That's not true,” the officer said in a worried voice. Now there was sweat dripping from his head. By the end of it, the officer was found not guilty. Miah and Ellies families were heartbroken. It was like they were wiping out people of color as fast as they could, and too many people were ok with that. 

Ellie could finally see the privilege she had, and only wished for Jeremiah to be back.

“You ready?”  Ellie spoke softly.

“Yea.” Mia said with his beautiful shiny eyes , looking at Ellie.

The door slowly opened .They walked into the house together and there was Marion sitting on an old classical rocking chair making tea.

“Hello, this is Jeremiah.”-Miah said as Marion looked at him despicably .

“Take a seat, mister.”-Marion said.

Mia and Ellie sat down together on the sofa across from Marion.

“Hello Ellie.” Marion greeted Ellie in a strange voice.

“This is Miah  , he’s my boy-” 

“SHHHH, you all want tea?’’Marion interrupted.

Ellie knew exactly what she was trying to do. She grinned “ this  typical bitch ”, then said “No, but please be respectful to our guest.”

“I know, you don't need to tell me.” Marion answered Ellie irritatingly .

“Yea, just like you left the family 2 times” - Ellie whispered to herself angrily .

“So where are you from Miah?” Marion asked Miah.

“I'm from Brooklyn,” Miah said.

“How did you meet Ellie?” Marion asked Miah, looking at him deeply.

“We met in school and got along, “ Miah responded happily .

“Really?” Marion replied narkly.

‘Yep”- Ellie said.

“I’m sorry to say this but you guys have to split up.” Marion said , fraughtly. 

“This is for the good of you both,” Marion said chillingly, as she put her hands together.

Ellie stood up swiftly and triggeringly said:”You’re a racist bitch , you don’t know anything about us , you want us to split up because Miah’s black.”

The hot cups of tea that Marion made are ready on the table , the tea is swaying because of the noises around it.