Governors, mobsters, senators, bootleggers, ministers, witches, demons and spies had all darkened the doorstep on that old porch and now it was Nolan’s turn. He hopped off of the bus, still a little shaken from his encounter with the witches from his dream, not to mention seeing through the snake’s eyes. But these kinds of things happened often enough that he bounced back fast. He couldn’t tell David what had happened but David didn’t care anyway. He was a talker more than he was a listener and that made the go by more smoothly for Nolan. David just talked and talked as Nolan laughed along and processed his internally craziness.
The kids sat down and thankfully the tables only held 4 kids each. Nolan and David sat with a couple of the quiet kids from another grade. Compared to these two Nolan almost felt outgoing and being around David helped him feel almost like he mattered. The two older boys were kings of the table for a few minutes but as his burger arrived at the table, Nolan saw the two witches walk in the front door. They went up to the front counter and talked like old friends with whoever was there, then they were seated at a table about twenty feet away from Nolan.
This was a lot more than uncomfortable. Nolan was terrified. He could feel the two of them, he was always feeling other people and what they felt but he didn’t know it was their feelings. He just thought that was how they made him feel. In reality, he was recognizing in himself the terror they felt for him, and more importantly the terror of the spirits of the dead giants that followed along with them. The dead giants were even more afraid of Nolan than the witches but they could have fooled him. In his mind, he was the one afraid and he needed to get out of there.
Nolan scarfed down his burger at lightning speed. One of the perks of being a ten year old boys was the almost supernatural ability to consume large quantities of food in no time flat and he used it. The teacher came by shocked that his plate was empty. There were grown men who couldn’t eat this whole burger just a few feet away but this child had eaten ever bite, all that spilled off of the bun and the fries too. He must have been growing. This was Nolan’s chance to ask if he could go back outside and sit on the bus but the teacher would have none of it. He would have to wait at the table until the rest were finished.
Nolan prayed inside of his head. “Jesus help me, I don’t know what to do and I’m scared! Jesus help me!” David once again noticed Nolan’s lack of being present in the room and how he wasn’t listening so he grabbed him by the arm. “Did you hear me?” David asked. Nolan didn’t hear him, but his hand encouraged Nolan somehow. Like some of the fear had left his body and moved into David’s. “Whoa, man what is that?” David asked with a funny look. “That was weird, did you feel that?” Nolan wasn’t really sure what David had felt or how to explain it so he just said, “No, what do you mean?”
As David explained the shock and the feeling of a ghost moving from person to person and then leaving his body, Nolan noticed the witches out of the corner of his eye. They were talking to the man from the front counter again and words flashed in Nolan’s mind almost like they had been forced in. “When you take his plate, get me something that’s touched him.” It didn’t hurt but it seemed like it should have. It was like pain but not in his body as he felt the words jammed into his mind. It was the witches, they were asking for an object to put into their hex bag.
Practice Outlaw 