"Daddy, be careful! Watch where you're going!" Justin yelled as the waves crashed against the boat. The sky was dark and gloomy, thunder rolled, lightning flashed and his family was stuck in a boat in the middle of a lake. Justin's mother, Theresa, had him clenched in her arms, as they silently shed tears. Justin's father, Jacob, tried as hard as he could to make it to the shore, but he had been drinking and was very drunk.

"Daddy, why do you have to drink? Why? It is all your fault! It is all your fault!" Justin exclaimed with a lump in his throat.

Anger flashed through Jacob's face. His lips were a fine line, his raging blue eyes squinted, puples like a tiny pin drop, and nostrils flared. "Shutup and quit crying you little baby! I can't stand you anymore. We should've never had you!" he exclaimed with a slur.

"Don't you ever talk to him like that again!" Theresa yelled with here eyes wide open, eyeing Jacob straight in eyes.

Jacob leaned over slightly, then proceeded to get out of the drivers chair. He had trouble standing, but made it to the back of the boat. Justin held onto the seat, fearing for the life; nobody was driving the boat!

Theresa looked off into the lake, watching the waves crash down on the water and sides of the boat. Jacob came close to to her and whispered softly to her, "Listen. I don't care about you or your thoughts. Get out of my boat now!" Jacob replied in a calm, but angry voice.

Jacob then started to push Theresa out of the boat, Theresa hanging on to the ledge.

"You can't do that! Leave her alone!" Justin screamed as tears flooed his cheeks.

"Watch me," Jacob said, with cold heartedness. With that, Jacob started pushing Theresa out of the seat.

"I love you," Theresa said, looking at Justin. Cries of help escaped her as she fell into he cool waters. She frantically tried to stay afloat, and all Justin could do was watch in horror as she screamed and his father sped off.

Justin shot straight up in his bed. Breathing hard and dripping with perspiration, he ran his hands through his hair, sobbing.

"Why? Oh why did it ever have to happen?" he reapeted in a low whisper.

He fell back onto the bed and thought of things. Anything. The next day at school, what he is going to do on the weekend. Anything to get his mind off of the recurring flashbacks.

Ten years had passed since that incident, and since then, he constantly thought about it. A year of therapy corrected nothing, just made his dredge up old, painful memories.

To waste some time, he turned on the radio and turned it to the classical station to calm his nerves. Looking at his alarm clock, he whispered, "1:00, I am never going to make it through the day."

Rolling over on his side, away from the window which the moon shone into, he gently fell asleep listening to the music.

The morning sun shone in Justin's bedroom as he woke up. The birds were singing, and the sunshine was melting the last of the snow from winter. In a daze, Justin walked to the bathroom and had a shower. As he stood there, water pulsating on his body, he slipped into another daze. Eyes wide open, he could do nothing to prevent the flashback.

"Daddy! We have to go back and save her. I love her, I need her." Justin said as he paced on the shoreline, looking out into the lake.

"Forget about her. Just forget it. It was a mistake that we ever got married and had you. You ruined it all." Jacob said as tears welled up in Justin's eyes.

Justin kept his reply to himself, mostly in fear of what his father would do. He was drinking again and that made him lose his mind.

An hour passed and Justin fell asleep in the tent. He could hear his father outside, muttering something to himself. As he was about to fall asleep, he heard his father start up the truck and leave. Within moments, he heard the tent zipper come down. With the darkness, he could not see, panick stricken him. He lay there, stiff as a board, until he heard the familiar, gentle voice of his mother. "Honey, wake up, it's mommy." Justin instantly let out a cry of relief and he crawled over to his mother, sitting at the opening.

"But, how? When? Who?" Justin stammered as his mother took him in her arms and gave him a hug.

"I'll explain on the way" Theresa replied.

"On the way where?"

"Anywhere but here, I saw dad pull away, we have to move quickly!"

Justin heard a knock on the door and with that, his daze was over. He stood there as he told his mother he would be out shortly.

School went as usual. Homework in History class, project started in Science. Nevertheless, all day he had more recurring flashbacks. The one that replayed in his mind was the one in Math class.

Justin and his mother walked fast, but cautiously away from the campsite they were staying at. When they reached the store where Theresa's car was from earlier in the day, they quickly hopped in and drove away from the lake.

Justin could barely keep his eyes open, but he was intrigued at his mother's survival. "Mommy, how did you make it out of the lake?" Justin asked.

"As soon as you were out of sight, I started to swim towards the shore. With the waves and the storm, boats were out making sure everyone was in safe. They must have spotted my life jacket, because before I knew it, they picked me up. I told them all about what happened, and they were going to go after dad, but I told him I had to get you first." Justin's mother explained, with a grin on her face.

"I hope they get daddy good" Justin trailed off, mumbling things, until he finally fell asleep.

Justin awoke in a motel. His mother explained to him that her and his father were getting separated and that they would probably be moving to a new city. This was a lot for a four year old to comprehend, so he just thought nothing of it.

"Justin. Justin! Are you with us? How do you change percent to a fraction?" Asked the teacher.

"Umm. I don't know." replied Justin, with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Go figures," the teacher said in a snotty tone, and asked someone else.

As Justin walked home, he spotted something vibrantly colored beside a garage. Being the curious person he was, he had to check it out. It was a black candle with sparkles and a multicolored wick. He picked it up and smelled it. His nose filled with a weak, sweet but bitter aroma. He stuffed it in his already full bookbag. As he was finding a place, a card of thick, textured paper fell to the ground. Leaning over to pick it up, he read it. It stated, "user beware . . . use wisely." "Odd," Justin thought to himself. "Do they mean, 'don't burn yourself'?" he silently whispered with curiousity.

When Justin got home, he put the candle up in his closet. Descending down the creaky staircase, he kept thinking about the candle. "Why is there a special message? There isn't one on an ordianry candle." Justing mumbled to himself. To prove his point, he went to the cupboard in the bottom of the bookcases and pulled a box out. As he suspected, no note came with them. "What is so special about this candle?"

While doing his homework and watching television, all Justin could do is think about the candle. He was so intrigued, he had drifted off, thinking it was magic.

When Justin woke from his brief nap, he looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10:00. So he went up to his bed. As soon as he hit the bed, he was more awake then ever. He kept eyeing his closet, expecting something magical to happen, but, of couse, nothing did. As he was drfiting off into a deep sleep, he heard the howling of the wind and his shutters hit against the house. A shiver went from his head to his toes before he got up to turn on the light. Nothing happened. He tried his lamp, and again, nothing happened. An idea struck him--go get the candle and light it. Avoiding the mess on the floor, he slowly and cautiously walked over to his closet. He opened it up and reached to the top shelf and felt around. He felt the outline of the candle and felt the wax, so he brought it down and put it on his desk. Opening the second drawer of his desk, he took out the book of matches he kept 'just in case'. He struck the match tip against the rough surface on the book and watched the flame as it glowed. He lit the candle, holding the match at the wick until it was completely in flames. He set the candle on his window sill, and walked over to his bed. Images of surrounding objects--lamps, books, dresser and himself--were projected onto the walls. Justin laid back and closed his eyes. He thought of the forest a block away from his home and felt energy being drained form his body. As he drifted off into a deep sleep, his body went toatlly limp and felt like someone was playing tug-o-war with it.

Startled, he awoke laying on the cold, damp ground, in the midst of the forest. Rubbing his eyes, he rose to his feet. With the support of a tree, he put his glasses on and looked around. Justin realized he was in a forest, and thought this was a dream, so he pinched himself. "Ow. What is going on?" Justin said.

Scared, Justin started to perspire and breathe heavily. "Where am I? Can anyone hear me?" Justin exclaimed. All he could hear was the rustling of the morning breeze brushing past the trees, and all he could see was a narrow path and fog.

Justin started running down the path. Tripping over logs he could not see due to the fog, he fell to the ground and started sobbing. He had been running for five minutes and should have been out now, but he wasn't. "This is erie, very erie" Justin repeated in a soft tone. "Help me! Somebody help me!" He shouted, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Justing walked some more, trying to find other paths, but no matter what path he took, it led him back to the middle of the forest. Justin sat down on a log and thought about how he could have gotten here.

The candle immediately came in his mind. "I knew it . . . I knew the candle was magical." Putting the feelings of being lost in the forest away, he was astonished at the thought of the candle being magical. "But," he stuttered, "I didn't wish for anything . . . I just thought of the forest as I lit the candle--" he stopped mid-sentence, realizing what had happened.

As he kept thinking about the candle, he felt his body being drained of energy and the same 'tug-o-war' sensation swept over his body. His eyesight blurred and he awoke in his bed, facing the window where the candle had been. Justin could tell someone had just blown out the candle, and that was the reason he returned, because there was a trail of smoke leading up to the ceiling.

Stunned, all Justin could say was, "Cool!"

He jumped out of his bed and walked to his mom's room, across the hall. He opened the door slowly and quietly and crept over to where his mother lay sleeping.

He nudged his mother's shoulder. She responded by rolling over and saying, "What honey?"

"Did you just come in my room and blow out a candle on the sill?" Justin asked, holding back his perkiness.

"Yes, and you weren't in your bed. Were you in the bathroom?"

Justin thought momentarily, contimplating wheter or not he should tell her. "Yup." He decied to keep it to himself. He went back to his room and slept through the whole night without having a flashback, mainly because his mind was pre-occupied with the candle.

"Justin! Breakfast!" Justin's mother yelled up to him.

Justin finished getting dressed and went down to have his usual breakfast of Raisin Bran and orange juice. He got all of his books ready and headed off to school.

On the way to school, he constantly thought about the events which had happened in the early morning. He brought the candle with him, hoping for an oppurtunity to use it on purpose. He wondered if he should use it for a fun thing and go to Disneyland, or go into the near future and see what is going to happen. Then a thought struck him. If he went back to the time when his father pushed his mother out of the boat, and helped her, maybe his flashbacks would go away. Only he would remember it, but it would most likely clear his conscience. He decided to go for it.

Justin got very uptight waiting for school to be finished, so he told his teacher he had a massive stomach ache and headache and the teacher believed him. Justin had always been a good liar.

He got sent to the nurses office where they said they would call his mother, but he turned down the suggestion. "I'll just walk home, I only live a few blocks away--I'll be okay."

The nurse hesitated but finally said, "Okay, but make sure you get some rest."

With that, Justin left the nurses room and started walking home. He had to go somewhere where he could light the candle and it would blow out within ten minutes. "Where can I go?" he thought.

He looked at his watch--10:30. Justin remembered that his neighbor, Mrs. Bellerton, came out to walk her dog at 11:00 every day.

Justin lurked around her house for a few minutes, waiting for it to be closer to the eleventh hour. When his watch hit 10:45, he set the candle at the bottom of her steps. It was sheltered from the wind, if it did become windy and not too far away that she wouldn't notice. "Hopefully, she will blow it out," Justin thought to himself.

He took out the matches and lit the candle. As the flame hit the blackened wick from the previous lighting, he thought of the summer that the accident happened. The candle lit up with a crackle and when fuly lit, produced a large flame. Before drifting off, Justin smelt the fragrant aroma of insence, but also of pine. The smell made him drift even deeper into his self-conscous. The 'tug-o-war' sensation swept through his body and he was transported to the lake ten years ago.

"Come on. Hurry up! We're leaving right away!" Justin's father yelled from the boat.

Justin was walking around on the docks. "Do I have to come get you?"

Justin walked over to the boat and sat in the seat behind his mother. His father started the boat up and sped away before Justin could get his life jacket done up. Justin was uptight because he was the only one wearing a life jacket.

They boated out aways before his father slowed down the boat. Justin and his mother sat silent as his father opened up another beer. He had been drinking before and was already drunk, this beer was only adding to his abusive behavior.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Justin's father cackled as he glared at them. He sat there drinking and laughing. Justin's mother was reading a book, what she always did when he drank. Justin sat in the back seat and sensed the hatred between his mother and father.

A crackle of thunder boomed in the distance and a bolt of lightning lit up the dark geryish-blue sky.

"Daddy, this is bad! We will get hurt. Please go back to the campsite, please!" Justin cried.

"Ah, who cares . . . I will only be losing you two losers!" Jacob exclaimed as he threw his head back in laughter.

"Mommy, make him stop saying things like that. Please. Make him drive us back to the campsite. Please."

Justin could tell his mother had had enough of Jacob's belittling, for anger streaked through her face. She had a serious, rude look on her face, an as she fought away tears, she moved up a seat and sat beside Jacob. Justin was sitting in the back, trying to hear.

Theresa whispered, "You have a lot of nerve. Don't you ever say that again. Don't you ever say that to our little boy and don't you ever say that about me! I have had enough of you and your drinking. You are beyond help, you are pathetic!"

Justin caught most of what she said and he realized why Jacob was doing what he was doing. He sat there silent, like he was considering all of his options of what he could do. He got up out of his seat and walked to the back of the boat where Theresa was seated, looking out into the lake.

"I hate to do this, but I have to," Jacob whispered with an evil grin.

Jacob started pushing Theresa overboard and Justin stood in awe. Justin charged into Jacob and bit him. Jacob turned around, letting Theresa escape to the other side of the boat.

"You shouldn't have done that, boy," Jacob said with a cocky slur.

He then reached for Justin, but Theresa grabbed ahold of Jacobs hand and said, "Goodbye . . ." without making an expression. She then used all of her energey and pushed him overboard.

"Way to go mommy!" Justin exclaimed.

Theresa drove the boat back to the campsite as fast as she could and with that, Justin's magical illusion came to a halt.

Justin appeared to the side of Mrs. Bellerton's house, out of breath.

"Gees. Kids. Always playing pranks on little old ladies," Mrs. Bellerton griped as she picked up the candle and watched the dark black smoke rise into the air from the multi-colored wick. "At least the kid has some good taste in colors," Mrs. Bellerton chuckled as she examined the candle.

Justin walked down her path, leading him to the steps where Mrs. Bellerton was standing. "Oh. When did you get here?" she asked.

Justin thought for a second and then recollected the past illusion. "I was just coming home from school, I have a sore stomach and a headache, and thought I would cut through your lawn. I hope you don't mind." He then thought that was a sufficient excuse and continued walking. "Goodbye."

"Bye Justin. Do you know anything about this candle? Did you see the kids who put it here? I think I will have to keep it, I collect candles you know."

Justin shrugged, not really caring. "Well, that is a good one to add to it. It looks cool." He contemplated whether or not he should tell her of it's magical powers, but he decided not to. He thought he would let the old lady have some fun.

Justin never had a flashback like the ones before the candle lighting from then on, and if he did, it was of what happened in the magical illusion, and that always soothed his nerves.

*click here to return to the lobby*

©1997 Mike McCarthy