*Jackie*
Chapter 1
Jackie stared blankly at the pages in front of her. There was no way this was real, it couldn’t be! Magic didn’t exist and this was just another fantasy book from an era when people believed in witchcraft.
Just a money making scheme from whenever the fuck this book was made, she thought to herself.
She placed the dusty old book back on the shelf with the other trinkets and literature from god knows when, and continued to heft her chunky frame around the isles of the second hand ‘bits and bobs’ shop. Most of the items in the shop wouldn’t look out of place in most of the homes and surrounding buildings in the dusty old town she found herself in that day.
At 18 years old she had been dragged from her room, (or sanctuary, as she liked to call it) by her parents who wanted to visit this little town due to its charmed reviews on ‘days out near you.org’. The fact that it was a 2 hour drive filled with reminders for Jackie not to eat too many snacks, and stating “The sunlight will be good for you honey”… was not her idea of a thrilling adventure.
Her parents had wanted to investigate some art gallery and Jackie decided to escape them for a while and snuck into the shop whilst they were mid conversation.
Further into the junk and old things she ventured until the glasses were knocked from her face, when suddenly bumped into a tall man's chest.
“Ouch, that hurt” she exclaimed, as she stumbled and thumbed for her glasses. Co-ordination wasn’t one of Jackie’s strong points and without her glasses she couldn’t see past her chubby nose.
“Geez, I’m surprised I didn’t see you coming, here, take this luv” The man stated in what sounded like a Cockney accent.
Jackie grabbed what she hoped to be her glasses but the metal object clunked in her hand and she had little idea what it was.
“If you wear that, we’ll know there’s a faacking cow coming…..
Moooo ya cunt”
The blurry man disappeared into the haze around her along with his laughter as he exited the shop.
Jackie found her glasses and put them on. As the world came back into view, so did the rusty old cows bell that the man had given her.
Tears welled up in her brown eyes as she tried to cover her face with as much of her black hair as possible, cursing last week’s hair cut which left it resting above her shoulders.
Heaving all of her two hundred and fifty plus sized pounds from the ground, Jackie stumbled her five feet six inch frame towards the door, looking even more emo than when she arrived.
The light burned her tear stained eyes as she burst outside into the street. Still hurt by what had just transpired, Jackie made her way towards her parent’s last location hoping that she could leave this horrible place and return to her sanctuary.
She passed people with her head down trying not to make eye contact with anyone else. Frustrated and overly warm from the sunlight which she was unaccustomed too, Jackie began to feel breathless due to her lack of physical exercise and poor diet. “Fuck that son of a bitch” she seethed. She was mentally beating herself due to feeling like a fat unhealthy cow, the man’s words ringing in her ears “Mooo ya cunt”, the tears began to well up again as she reached her destination.
Outside the art gallery she spotted her dad inside near to the door. Tapping on the adjacent window got a few looks of annoyance and disgust but fortunately she also got his attention. He could see that she was upset and hurried outside to see if she was ok.
As he opened the door her began to ask, “What happe..”
“I want to go home right now” she uttered in a tone filled with that of someone under duress.
“Ok” was all he said and he went inside to get her mother,
A moment passed and he returned with her mother in tow… “What’s going on, I was really enjoying that stunning imagery of the highland cows….” Jackie broke down in tears right there on the spot. “Honey what’s wrong…?” her mother questioned.
The only reply was a soft sobbing as her dad helped her make their way back to the car. “let’s go home”