Magical Girl Reunion Tour
Here is the first chapter of my adult magical girl book. I wrote it in 30 minutes and it has not been edited. It has many errors. Please enjoy and let me know if I should post more, or just keep this junk to myself.
Magda drummed her fingers on the steering wheel of her car. She hated traffic. Always had. The only thing that would make traffic better would be resounding political support of public transportation. Like that was ever going to happen.
She picked up her coffee cup and brought it to her lips. A measly stream of coffee trickled between her lips. Of course it was empty, not that she had any business sipping non-iced coffee on a sweltering day. She sighed and placed the cardboard cup back in it's holder. She knew she should have gone reusables years ago, but she loved the feel of the paper under her fingertips. It seemed a strange thing to admit. She'd come to terms with that little idiosyncrasy of hers recently. So paper cups it was.
In her passenger seat lay a 40 ounce water thermos. It was the only way she could think about it, especially when it clanged against something with a bong. She groped for it with one hand while she kept the other on the wheel. Driving home on the I-15 was always a nightmare at this time of day, and she was loathe to smash into someone. She snatched the rolling bottle with a thrill of triumph, slipping it in-between her thighs so she could unscrew the cap. Having her pencil skirt hiked up so high might have felt indecent if she wasn't alone. Although she couldn't imagine any man would find her attractive in a sweaty rumpled suit, her careful image melting away in the late afternoon Las Vegas summer.
It was always like this after work, her three piece suit too heavy for her Camry's antiquated air conditioner. Even after stripping off the jacket and vest more appropriate for a casino's industrial air conditioning, her shirt would still stick her back and her foundation would start to crease as she zipped along the freeways to her apartment in the quiet northwest side of town. Going home always sounded like something that should make her happy. Instead, she couldn't wait to go back to work.
With her business degree, Magda always thought she'd work in some corporate office or start her own business. Then she discovered the hospitality industry in college. Starting out as a receptionist at a major resort on the Strip, she slowly worked her way towards Concierge. Making hotel guests happy brought a sense of fulfillment to her life that she'd been lacking since her teen years. The smiles on their faces as she recounted wonderful shows and good food. The way they lit up when she got them the reservations or tickets they requested. The special events she helped plan. Who would have thought the cheerleader with good grades would end up smiling with a name tag on and love it?
After a battle with two different free ways and several potential fender-benders, Magda arrived home with a bag of Hawaiian food hanging from her wrist. When she first moved to Vegas, she never thought she would encounter the sheer amount of Asian eateries of every kind the city had to offer. Every strip mall seemed to have an Asian restaurant and a storefront church. Every time she thought about moving, he knew she would miss her job and the strange little things that Vegas had to offer. It had gotten under her skin and wasn't going anywhere.
She threw everything in her arms, including the food, down on the coffee table before heading to her bedroom to change. As she did every night, she paused in the hallway to look at the faded photographs hung on the wall. Five girls smiled out at her doing the various activities high school girls did in the 90s. Most days the pictures only evoked a smirk of nostalgia from her, but some days, like today, they brought a small pang to her chest. Magda knew she should reach out to her old friends. They went through a lot together.
And she had just abandoned them.
She reached out to touch one of the pictures, her fingers running over the face of a smiling blond girl. God, why did she ever bleach and dye her hair like that? Because she wanted to be blond once upon a time ago.
In her bathroom, she pulled out her pins and ran a brush through her thick chestnut hair. She was very proud of her hair now, how rich and dark it was. It was the kind of hair a fifteen year old didn't know how to appreciate. She splashed some water on her face and put on ratty sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. Immediately, she felt a little better. Then she looked at the pile of clothes that needed to go to the drycleaner. She no longer felt a little better.
Grumbling, she picked up a pill bottle off the counter and dumped a generic green pill into her hand. Sertraline. She'd been taking it for depression for so long she'd almost lost count of the years. She still had the nightmares, but all the bad was so much easier to manage medicated.
Magda padded down the hall, ready to fill her stomach with barbeque chicken and warm macaroni salad. She stopped, her eyes wide. Standing on her coffee table was a white mechanical animal the size of a Maine coon cat. Soft green light leaked from it's seams and from inside it's large ears. Liquid eyes the shade of well kept grass stared at her. It twitched it's tail.
"Viridian?" she breathed.
"Maggie. I call upon you again. Your skill are needed."
She stared at him in shock as she registered what the inter-dimensional magical robot animal said. Then she picked up a pillow off her couch and threw it at him, screaming, "Get the fuck out of my house!"
