Kingdom of Arzialla by Marilyn Arias (story reading txt) 📕

Coke.
I sighed. “Are you ever off on a Saturday?”
He shrugged as he took a big bite off of his Bacon Cheese Grillburger. I looked down at my Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard and used my spoon to slowly stir it. I watched as the different shades of brown swirled in a marble effect and brownie pieces and chocolate chunks floated and swam in the sickeningly sweet ice cream.
“Jason, school’s almost around the corner. We have to take our senior pictures at some point. And I’d rather it be before next month so that we can still have at least 25% off in our photo shoot.”
“We’ll do it. I’m not sure when yet but we’ll do it.”
Jason’s phone vibrated against the table. He picked it up and read the text message before typing his reply.
“Bryan?” I asked.
He nodded. “He says that the car is fixed but he’s still trying to find out what’s up with the left blinker.”
Jason’s old Riviera that his grandfather gave him has been having some problems, including transmission failure and the left blinker not being able to blink. The light to the blinker works perfectly but for whatever reason it wouldn’t automatically blink, in which requires Jason to make it blink manually. Bryan is a friend of his. He works as a mechanic in Toyota and he’s helping fix Jason’s car for a cheap price.
“That’s great! At least the worst is out of the way,” I said.
“Yeah. I’m going to meet with him on Sunday to see what he’s done and how much I owe him.”
I blinked at him. We were planning on going to the mall on Sunday…
“Oh, okay…” I said. Then I added, “Can I come too?”
“What for?”
“To be with you,” I replied, wondering what’s so wrong with me coming along.
“No, you don’t want to come.”
“Why not?”
“We are going to be talking about cars and things that you probably won’t comprehend.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“I’m just saying it’s going to be boring for you. And plus, it’ll be quick,” he said.
“How quick?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. An hour or so? I’ll visit you right afterwards.”
I stared at him for a moment before saying “fine.”
He took a big sip of his soda and shoved the last bit of his burger into his mouth before standing up and saying he needs to go to the restroom. I watched him take the tray and throw it away before going into the restroom. Just when I was going to take a bite of my ice cream, I saw that he’s forgotten his phone on the table. I picked it up and went into his memos and open up a blank memo. I was going to write something sweet like I love you, Babe but a text message interrupted me. A message from a girl named Miranda. My eyebrows came together as I opened it and found Nope, I’m free tomorrow. I’m always free for you <3 written in it.
What is this?

I checked the message that he sent her before the one she just sent him and saw That sucks. I wish I can make you feel better. You know what, I’m free tomorrow. Do you work tomorrow?
I even noticed how there is not a single message from Bryan.
I decided to play along. I replied Why? Lol
I put the phone down and took a bite out of my ice cream as I waited for a new text message. I glanced at the bathroom that Jason went into, checking that he’s not coming. Just then, the phone vibrated again. What do you mean why? You’re sexy. Your lips make my knees weak. ;)
Just when I was going to type a reply, Jason was practically shouting at me.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean what am I doing? I was going to leave a cute note for you but then I see this!” I said as I flashed him the text message. He took the phone from me and read the message.
“You went through my phone?”
“So? Is this why you’d repeatedly break up with me and act shady? You don’t even have a job, do you?”
He looked around at the people around us as he realizes how much my voice would raise after almost every word. He lowers his voice. “I do have a job. You can visit me at work whenever you want at Publix. I just lied about working full time.”
“So those rumors about you are true. You run off with other girls and you didn’t want me to know so that I can easily take you back in when you get tired of them. Right?”
“I can explain.”
“Don’t give me that shit. What is there to explain? ‘Look guys. I’m Jason. I’m so popular and hot and I have at least two girlfriends to choose from and make out with’.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re right. You only have one now as far as I know.”
He glanced back at the people. I could feel their glance but I didn’t really care at the moment.
“Look, let’s talk outside,” he said as he grabbed my elbow. I pulled away.
“No!”
“Anna, this isn’t the place. Can’t we talk in a place more private?” he almost whispered.
“No. I’m done talking to you. You never seem to want to pay attention to me. You always have excuses to not see me. And now I know why.”
I turned around and started walking away.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” I said as I opened the door and exited the restaurant.
“What about me? You drove us here,” he reminded me.
I opened the door to the driver’s side of my Sonata before glancing at him. “I don’t give a flying fuck about you at the moment. Ask that Miranda chick for a ride if you must.”

I lied about going home. As soon as I left Dairy Queen’s parking lot, I started crying. I started shaking and hyperventilating and the tears weren’t helping me see so I pulled over after driving for a mile. I kept my grip on the steering wheel and tried to calm down. I took deep breathes and tried to stop myself from having a panic attack. I was able to calm myself after a few minutes but I couldn’t stop the tears. I’ve been heartbroken so many times by this jerk for the past four years and I finally know the truth. I feel so naïve and stupid. I’ve been warned by so many people including Caitlin that he cheats on girls but I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to believe them.
I took my sleeve and wiped my eyes before looking at myself in the mirror of my visor. My eyes were completely red and watery. It’s obvious that I’ve been crying hard. I can’t go home like this…
I took my phone out and dialed Caitlin’s number and pressed the send button. I listened to three rings before she answers the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me,” I said, trying hard to not seem troubled.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Nothing, um…” I said. I had to pause to catch my voice and take a breath. “Are your parents home?”
I didn’t bother asking if Jenny was there since she went off to college.
“Dad’s working and Mom’s grocery shopping. Why? You okay?” she asked worriedly.
I swallowed, trying to catch my voice again. “I’d be lying if I said I’m fine.”
“What happened? Where are you?”
“I’ll tell you later. Can I come over?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”

I was able to drive to Caitlin’s house without much of a problem. I rung her doorbell and she answered the door almost instantly. At first glance of me, she was worried.
“You okay? Come in,” she said as she stepped aside. “You shouldn’t even have driven if you were like this.”
I shrugged and forced a laugh as I entered. “Oh well. I survived.”
“So what happened?”
“Jason.”
She paused and gave me a look of understanding. “Oh, Anna.”
“I should’ve listened to you.”
“Well, I can’t stop myself from saying that I told you so.”
“I know. I’m so stupid.”
She sighed. “Well, I just figured since you kept describing how he’d come to school a bit later than he used to. It wasn’t like I knew for a fact.”
He used to come to school about half an hour before class would start so he can spend a bit of time with me before having to worry about school when he first got his car. He would strangely break up with me and then ask to be back with me a couple times a year but when he started driving, he’d break up with me more often and he’d come to school later and later. I’d wait for him in the student parking lot, hoping that he’d come early like the good old days. I just figured that maybe he’s catching senioritis early and that he’s growing lazy to wake up extra early. I should’ve seen it coming…
I sighed and shrugged. “Oh well. Can we change the subject?”
“Yeah, sure. Umm… Gummy bears?”
She held out a bag of gummy bears that sat on her bed next to her laptop. I forced a smile and took them. I picked out a green one and ate it.
“So… what were you doing before I came in?” I asked.
“Meh. Nothing really. Typing up a story. Listening to music.”
“Oh…”
We just stood there in awkward silence before Caitlin quickly asked, “You want to play a mad lib?”
We’d play mad libs all the time, especially at troubled times to keep our minds occupied. We buy small booklets that would be full of funny mad libs all the time.
I chuckled. “Sure. Do you have one here? Where’s it?”
“I have one in my shelf there,” she said pointing.
I walked over to the wall where she kept her books in a shelf and looked for the booklet. Just then I spotted a great big, old book. I took it out to look at it better. It had a pentacle on the cover and there wasn’t a title. The covers were made of leather and the pages were yellow and crinkly. A red ribbon was used as a bookmark and for pretty.
“What’s this?”
“That’s, uh… That’s the book that Jenny and I used to be stupid.”
“What would you guys do, exactly?”
She was hesitant to answer. “Cast spells and crap.”
“And crap?” I joked. “Sounds interesting.”
She laughed at my smart-alleck remark. “It was until a certain point…”
“What point?”
“Um… Nothing. Nevermind.”
I looked at the book and started flipping pages. The words were hand written and all the spells weren’t written front and back of a page since the ink bled through. I noticed that a page somewhere in the middle of the book was torn out. “What happened there?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. It was like that when we got it.”
“Hm…” I said.
“Caitlin! Help me with the grocery, please,” her mom said, as she came in.
“Alright!” she said back. “You don’t have to help. Just relax.”
She left and I was alone. I flipped to the front of the book, looking for a table of context and found the book to have one afterall. I tried to look for the spot where the page was missing and I easily found it. I checked the page next to it to see what’s its page number. Number 35. So the missing page is page 36. I flipped back to the table of context and checked for number 36. In nice handwriting, it said “Dimension Bridge Spell”.