Looming in front of the bright fireplace Ms. Valeria cleared her throat. Her firm tone, contrary to her normal goofy one, suffused throughout the silent cabin.
"First I want to tell you all something very important, something inside you called gates. Everyone has what's known as the 17 gates of creativity."
She paused for a brief second before continuing. "When you're born you start at gate 1 of 17, only through training and developing your mind can you open more gates."
"Of course the more gates you open the more powerful you can become. All of your power lies within your thoughts but it's also important to be physically strong if ever need be."
I scratched my chin. The 17 gates of creativity. It's a term I remember seeing somewhere, or maybe hearing in a conversation, but I paid it no mind—not knowing what it truly meant until now.
Ms. Valeria limped over to the kitchen and pulled a chair from under the table, soon setting it down in front of the fireplace before taking her seat.
Reaching into her dress pocket she pulled out a pair of reading glasses and cloth—delicately wiping down the lenses before putting them on.
She finally opened the aged book that she's been holding onto. Her crinkled lips blew dust off the first page as she uttered one word—a word I'm sure I've never heard of before now.
"Vusks."
She adjusted her glasses before resuming. "A vusk is something anyone can own, it channels your imaginative power into a weapon you can use in battle. Let me show you."
Ms. Valeria stood up and turned to the fireplace behind her as she lightly closed the old book placing it in her seat. She stared at the crackling fire for a brief moment before promptly thrusting her hand into the flames.
I jumped to react but Marcel stole the words from my mouth. I watched as Anxiety plagued his face—his shriek filling the room. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"
A wave of panic surged through everyone's system. Dahlia covered her face in shock as Cleo and Luther jolted up. Jackson had an almost amused face while Runi was straight up frightened.
Ms. Valeria cackled—her loud laugh putting everyone on halt. She slowly pulled her hand from the fire. Her skin was unscathed.
She was holding something—a small book only a few pages thin—so small in fact she was able to hold it between her 2 shriveled fingers.
Using her other hand Ms. Valeria covered her face trying her best to hold in a laugh. Despite her efforts some snickers were able to escape her clutches. "Oh sit down, as you can see I'm perfectly fine." She gushed
The room calmed but was overtaken by confusion.
Ms. Valeria raised the small book in the air with a proud smirk. "This... is my vusk."
Cleo interrupted. "I thought a vusk was a weapon, that's just a small book."
Ms. Valeria was still holding her smirk. "A vusk can be a sword, a gun, a book like mine, or even a tree branch."
Luther blurted out in an unconvinced tone. "So you're telling me a tree branch can be a weapon?"
I kept to myself as I shook my head. Luther just had to start a scene.
He laughed. "Really? I think old Valeria got a couple screws loose." He mocked as he continued, "No way we believe a stick or a book can be a weapon."
He pointed to Ms. Valeria. "You sticking your hand in that fire was probably a trick too."
Hearing Luther's words I watched as Marcel's face twisted with irritation. "Don't disrespect Ms. Valeria." He spoke under his breath.
Luther's eyes met Marcel's as he let out a prideful smicker. "What was that? You wanna do something about it?"
Marcel glared at Luther—a fight was bound to happen.
Dahlia sighed in disappointment as she grabbed Luther's arm. "Stop it." Her eyes shifted to Marcel. "I expect more from you, don't entertain this doof."
Luther gave Dahlia a quick glance before turning his head in the opposite direction, almost like a child who was just scolded by their mother.
I saw something in Marcel that I've only seen once before. How defensive he gets over Ms. Valeria and others are almost natural, but then again it could just be his protective personality.
I checked on Alex as he slept—a little surprised that the noise didn't wake him up.
Ms. Valeria frowned, it only took one clap of her hands to silence the growing prattle.
"You boys argue too damn much, one day you might have to fight an enemy only being able to rely on one and other for survival."
The room was dead quiet. Ms. Valeria didn't curse often so we knew that she was serious.
Without saying a word she opened her vusk and flipped about 2 pages in. Just then the very fire from the fireplace swooshed into the air forming into a sphere—the heat quickly consuming the surrounding area.
Ms. Valeria barely twitched her finger as the fireball zipped through the cabin wall behind the couch—singing the sides of the hole before dissipating in the distance.
I was speechless. Looking around to the others they shared the same reaction. The sound of the wall getting blasted through awoke Alex as he calmly wiped his eyes.
A strong wind current leaked into the cabin as Ms. Valeria let out a haughty laugh.
Her voice grew stern once again. "Luther and Marcel you two will fix that hole in the morning, you are the reason it's there after all."
Luther smacked his face as he almost started to argue against it but Marcel punched his arm and nodded in agreement. "Okay, we'll handle it."
Ms. Valeria grinned like she always would—her smile so filling. "You never would've guessed that an old lady like me could blast a hole in the wall huh? It would've been a lot bigger if I was in my prime." she said flexing her old flabby arm.
She just sounded pissed as she scolded Marcel and Luther and now she's back to being jolly. Ms. Valeria can definitely be scary at times.
She chuckled as she tossed her vusk back into the now empty fireplace and sat back down.
Ms. Valeria reopened the old book that once occupied her chair. "As I was saying before you boys so rudely interrupted lil ol me, a vusk is a way to channel your imaginative powers."
She flipped a couple more pages of the old book—dust flying in the air with each new page turned. "You obtain a vusk by pouring your creativity into an item. The closer that item is to you the stronger your vusk will be by default."
We all scooched a little closer together with the night chill taking over the cabin.
Her eyes scanned the room before she continued. "Let's say I'm at gate 2. If I poured my creativity into a sword I've only just brought today, it wouldn't be as strong as if I poured my creativity into an item I hold dear to me. The more the item means to you the stronger it will be."
Ms. Valeria glanced to the hole leading outside. "Now of course I have to explain that fireball I sent flying through the wall. When a person unlocks creativity gate 3 their vusk gains an ability based on the user's true self."
"This ability continues to evolve and grow stronger with the more gates you open. My ability is to manipulate fire but I can't quite make fire."
She snapped the old book closed with a flurry of dust accumulating in the air. For such a big book she only looked into the first 3 or so pages.
"Since you don't get your ability until gate 3 your vusk is kind of useless until then huh, never thought about it that way."
Ms. Valeria let out a loud cackle and returned the old book to the very top of the bookshelf, she then neatly slid the wooden chair back beneath the table.
"Oh and one more thing." Ms. Valeria announced. "Cleo and Jackson, I want you guys to gather more firewood tomorrow."
"Me?!" Cleo spouted with confusion. "What did I do?"
Jackson let out a sigh. "Tomorrow was gonna be my chill day." He groaned—slouching over on the couch.
Ms. Valeria chuckled as she limped down the hallway to her bedroom. "Goodnight my beloved children."
**
We all laid in our beds as we prepared to go to sleep. The night air seeped into the bedroom making it colder than usual.
Cleo's hands covered his face as he murmured in a dreadful tone. "I have to get firewood tomorrow morning because of you idiots."
Luther sat up in his bed. "Watch what you call me Cleo. I'm not in a good mood right now."
Cleo sat up as well. "I also happen to be pissed off, who cares just sleep it off."
Marcel chimed in trying to keep the peace. "Can you both just go to sleep already? If you stay up Ms. Valeria might come check on us, then we're all screwed."
Luther scoffed as he layed back down and pulled the covers over him. "He's right, I don't need Ms. Valeria giving us more work to do tomorrow."
I started to close my eyes. Hearing everyone bicker became a lullaby to me. Shifting my position to my side I heard someone open the bedroom door. It was Alex
The dim light from the night sky peered through the windows shining perfectly on his warm ivory skin. The cool draft slightly moved his short scruffy blonde hair as the atmosphere made his baby blue eyes look almost magical.
His bangs covered the majority of his forehead as he poked at a distinctive beauty mark above the side of his lip. "What did you guys read about?" he mumbled in a low groggy voice.
Luther grinned—sticking his hand towards the ceiling. "Ms. Valeria told us about creativity gates and vusks. I'm gonna get my own vusk and become super strong."
Alex paused for a moment and without saying a word left as quickly as he came.
I seemed to be the only one to notice Alex's reaction but I was too tired to say anything about it. My eyelids became too heavy to hold open as my vision slowly distorted. I soon fell asleep.
**
About 2 hours passed before I awoke to the same nightmare I've been having night after night.
It's a scene of a dark alleyway with a small child in the center. Faceless adults male and female alike take turns kicking the child—their laughs echoing through the alley as their barrage of attacks never end.
It's almost like I feel every grueling punch and kick thrown at that poor child.
I forced myself up and sparked a candle near my bedside. Walking through the empty hallway I reached the tall dark staircase. I slowly creeped up the stairs to avoid waking anyone.
I walked down the dark hallway which was only being illuminated by my candle. I remember when I was younger I didn't even have the courage to leave the bedroom at night.
Walking into the lounge I saw it.
My brush and canvas.
Every time I have nightmares or bad days or even when I'm bored I come upstairs to paint. There's something about it that soothes me like no other, like I'm attached to it—drawn to it.
Staring at the brush Ms. Valeria's words ran through my mind. I gripped the brush tightly in my hand waiting for something to happen but I quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing.
I tried pushing my brain power into it but nothing happened. I even held the brush to my forehead thinking that would make it easier, but nothing worked.
"Maybe another night." I mumbled to myself.
I stared at the empty canvas in front of me thinking about what I should paint next. What felt like 10 minutes had passed as I sat there wide awake.
"I have to use the bathroom." My words came out in an annoyed tone. I wasn't able to think of any ideas and it irked me.
Sneaking back downstairs I made my way through the hall. The one rule for the bathroom was if the door was closed it was occupied.
As the bathroom door came into view I noticed it was open so naturally I was gonna walk in, I was until I heard a very distinct sound.
Someone was pissing in the bathroom.
I couldn't help but quietly giggle as I knocked on the open door.
I heard the toilet flush as the sink faucet turned on. After a few second Marcel popped his head out the door. "Why are you still awake?" He whispered.
I whispered back to him. "Why do I always find you in the bathroom?"
Marcel almost let out a laugh as he covered his face with his arm.
After using the bathroom myself Marcel and I sat on the couch. I looked at him with concerned. "You aren't tired?"
He sighed as he sunk deeper into the couch. "No I am tired, it's just that Cleo was snoring so loud I couldn't take it anymore."
We both looked at each other as we quietly held in our laughs.
He continued. "But it's more than just that, I have no idea what I could turn into my vusk." He started humming a familiar tune as we sat on the couch.
"This reminds me of back in the day when we had that fight." I said after recognizing his tune.
Marcel pushed himself off the couch as he began to stretch. "Well, let's be honest you did kind of deserve it."
I moaned under my breath while getting up. "Yes I did."
He snuck into the kitchen quietly opening the pantry door while still whispering. "Do you want anything?"
"Nah but thanks anyway, you gave me something to paint about." I whispered back. I shot him a quick smile and made my way back upstairs.
I faced the empty canvas once again.
I've always had a love for painting. As early as I can remember I painted while Runi would run around in the backyard.
Before I knew it my hand began to move on its own, it started to paint the setting of that day. The day I first met Marcel and the rest of the cabin, and the problems we had along the way.