I'm in my apartment now; I just slammed the door shut behind me and locked it. I have a box of white chalk in my bedroom desk drawer. I'll run over there, take a piece of chalk from it, and draw the circle on the wooden floor in the living room.
I'm in such a frantic state, drawing this circle in such a hurry. I'm sure it isn't a perfect circle, the radii all equidistant from the centre, but it seems close enough. I don't remember any passages in the books I read saying anything about the magic circle having to be perfectly round. I'm just so scared after seeing that 'elephant man' on the street behind me, one of Mama's spells, that I want this magic circle of protection finished and ready as soon as possible.
Oh, shit! I forgot to get that large ruler I also have in my bedroom desk drawer, the one under where I had the box of chalk. I'm so frantic to get this done, I'm not thinking straight, and making myself take needless extra trips! Anyway, I'll get the ruler, then use the chalk to draw a pentacle in the circle.
There, the lines are as straight as I could make them, and measured as equally apart from each other as I could make them. Again, they aren't perfect, but close enough. I'm in a hurry to keep Mama out, and I must balance accuracy with urgency.
And now, I'll light five candles and put one at each point of the pentacle touching the circle; then I'll turn off the lights. Mama had a box of candles in one of the kitchen drawers. I'll get them...Oh, where are they?! Here they are. There's a lighter in here, too--how convenient.
There...all the candles are lit, and I can turn off the lights now. My notebook is in the circle, so I can get in and chant that verse to sanctify this zone of protection. I hope my pronunciation of the words of the ancient language is close enough to be effective; I hope their spelling in the ABCs is consistent with English pronunciation. Here goes:
Wana baka waigo,
Iman kuchi zdega
Kalu bodi gana.
Sibato woli zuku.
Whoa! Suddenly, I feel this warm vibration all around me. It's soothing. My magic must be working! I must have done it all right, or at least well enough. I feel safe in here. Mama can't get at me!
Oh, what peace of mind! I can go to sleep here. I'm warm enough for now; I won't need my blanket. I'll just get a cushion off the sofa, which is just outside the circle, and use it for a pillow.
Ooh! When my hand went out of the circle to grab the cushion, my hand felt a little chill. For a few seconds there, it felt none of the soothing vibrations in here. There really is a clear difference between my zone of safety and everything outside.
Hey, out there, the mirror on the far wall, just beside the TV. I see not only my reflection, but also the image of some horrible-looking old woman with long, shaggy grey hair. In the dark, the face isn't easy to see.
Oh, that must be Mama's ghost! She's frowning, obviously mad because she cannot get at me in here. Well, good: let her be mad. I'm safe in here. I'm glad she's mad.
I'll bet she's mad not only because the magic circle and pentacle are keeping her out, but also because she hates the messy chalk marks on the wooden floor. She was always a neat freak, yelling at me for being a "slob," as she'd always called me. Well, she can't do anything about my messiness now, not as long as I stay in this circle.
Of course, I'll have to leave the circle for this and that.
Oh well, I'm not worrying about that now.
I'm getting some sleep. I'm exhausted.
**************
Uh-oh. I gotta take a piss!
How long was I sleeping? Let me click the light on my watch. It's 12:00 midnight now; I slept for about three hours. The bathroom's out in front of me to the right. In between the bathroom and the mirror by the TV is the hallway leading to the front door. To get to the bathroom isn't far, of course, but it's well outside of my circle.
And that mirror. I can see Mama's ghost there, looking right at me. She isn't frowning any more.
Now she's grinning at me.
With those cruel eyes of hers.
I can't hold it in any longer. I have to pee.
Whatever she does, I'll just have to deal with it. I can't be like Howard Hughes and piss in bottles just to stay in this circle. I'll have to go out for other things, anyway: crapping, getting food, going to work...
Ugh! I'm already hating this life.
Anyway, I've gotta go.
I can see her grinning at me in the reflection.
She's waiting for me to sprint.
Oh, well, Mama. Have at me.
This has to have been the maddest dash ever. I banged my foot on the bathroom door as I was racing in here. Oww, that hurt!
Unzip my pants, whip it out...aahh...
As it's pouring into the toilet bowl, I'm trying to resist the temptation to look at myself in the bathroom mirror on the medicine cabinet. I don't want to see Mama's ghastly face there.
Oh, I finally emptied myself. That feels much better. I'll zip myself up and wash my hands, keeping my face down so as not to see the mirror reflection.
Pour the water on my hands. Lather up the soap. As I'm rubbing the lather on my hands, I can feel my heart pounding and my body shaking.
She hasn't done anything yet, thank God, but I'm still vulnerable out here. I've got to finish up here and get back in my circle as fast as possible.
OK, I'm rinsing the soap off...come on, hurry up and get all off my hands! There, now I'll just get a towel and wipe them dry...there.
Hang the towel back on the towel rack on the wall behind me, there. And now I can get out of...
What? I just absent-mindedly looked in the mirror. I don't see Mama with me, but I...don't see myself...in it, either.
Instead, I see...
My God, this is the sickest hallucination I've ever had!
My head is a giant nose! It's got tiny eyes on it.
On the tip of the nose is a small foot!
Below the foot is an...asshole?
I'm touching my 'head,' and feeling the big nose; I'm touching my 'nose,' and feeling the tiny, wiggling toes on the foot. I'm inhaling, and smelling...shit.
I scream out loud, but hear the roar of a huge fart. As I'm running out of the bathroom, hearing Mama's cackling the whole time, it's awkward for me: as I stagger toward the circle, I look down at my feet, but I see hands there instead!
Finally, I reach the circle, falling into it.
Whoa, that couldn't have just been one of my hallucinations! I never see or hear things anywhere near that surreal! A man with the head of a blue elephant? My head as a giant nose with eyes on it? My nose as a little foot? My mouth as an anus? My feet as hands? These were all Mama's magic, surely!
I can see her in that mirror reflection over there, still grinning and laughing at me. I see myself with the nose-head, the foot-nose, and the asshole-mouth. As I feel my face, everything feels normal here: I can feel my hair, my forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. I'm looking down and seeing my feet as feet.
I can see the clear difference between how it is inside the circle and outside. My magic circle of protection clearly works. I just have to have protection for when I have to go outside of it.
That will mean making a witch bottle. I'll get a bottle of lemonade out of the fridge, drink it all down, wash it, get some scissors, and clip my nails and some of my hair to put in the empty bottle. Then I'll piss in it. Since it's past midnight now, I'll go out and bury it on the front lawn outside as soon as it's ready.
Well, I guess I'm gonna have my nose-head, etc., for a while. Off to the kitchen for that bottle!
As soon as I've come outside the circle, I've felt my feet turn back into hands. I'm clumsily making my way to the kitchen. Time to open the fridge...
What? My hands are feet!
I'll have to go down on my ass and open the fridge with my feet-hands. This is going to be awkward...there. Reaching up to get the bottle...more awkwardness...there. It's too awkward for me to drink with my feet-hands. I'll have to put the bottle between my hands-feet, and drink it down that way. Off with the cap, first.
Gulp it down my asshole-mouth...Eww! The lemonade is piss!
What a mess I've made all over the kitchen floor after spitting it out. That was stupid of me: of course, Mama was going to change more things, upset me more, and thwart my plans! I should take the bottle with the scissors back to the circle and do everything there. The scissors are in the kitchen drawer...there, got 'em with my foot-hand. Back to the circle.
Oh, shit! I forgot to put the cap back on the bottle. As I'm staggering back to the circle, I'm spilling piss on myself!
Finally, I'm back in. My body's back to normal, and my lemonade is real lemonade. I'll gulp this all down, clip my nails and snip off a bit of my hair, and put them in the empty bottle. I'd rather piss my own piss into it than trust the piss Mama put into the bottle outside the circle, for obvious reasons.
There, I drank it all down, and I'm glad I got rid of that horrible piss-taste in my mouth. Oh, I can see Mama's ghost in the mirror; she isn't smiling anymore. That scowl on her withered face is really reassuring.
I'll just clip all my fingernails...there...put them in the bottle. I guess I don't need to wash it; if I did, she'd still be smiling, waiting for me to come back out to use the kitchen sink, then have a chance to frustrate my hopes once again. There, I've cut off some hair, and put it in, too.
Now I'll just wait to pee, and after that, chant those sacred, ancient words to sanctify the bottle. Then I'll bury it outside, and I should be all the safer from Mama's ghost.
Tomorrow, I'll go find a shop that sells amulets and sachets.
Hey, I feel a piss coming on. Unzip, and let it out...aahh!
I'll chant that verse again, then go back to sleep.
I see Mama's really frowning in that mirror reflection.
Good.
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