AU Pagan: Lacey: Planning a Ritual
Written for a random number prompt.
Lacey sat in the college cafeteria, staring into her hot chocolate. As always she was stupidly early, which meant spending time alone, but anything was better than being at home. Her parents would be arguing again, even though they were divorced, about the stupidity of her father’s gambling debts, and how it was going to affect her mother being able to stay in the house they’d bought together because his name was still on the mortgage. Thankfully she knew she always had somewhere to go, even if that was sleeping on the floor at Aurora’s. Lacey’s mother and sisters weren’t going to be so lucky, and she hated knowing that. She hated being reminded of that at least once a week, every time her parents had another big argument.
“Stop thinking about it,” Conrad said, as he slipped into the seat opposite her, holding his own drink. “Nothing can be done to change what’s going to happen, so instead let’s focus on something better.” He rummaged in his bag for a moment. “We have a ritual to plan.”
Nodding, Lacey turned her thought to nicer things. “Are we still focusing on healing Aurora’s nan?”
“I believe so. Aurora hasn’t mentioned anything about that changing, but…”
“We are still focusing on healing Nan.” Aurora sat down next to Lacey, three cookies in one hand and a drink in the other. “She’s happy that I want to do something to help and she’s heard about the power of prayer helping with healing.” Aurora smiled. “To be honest I think even knowing we want to help makes her happy.”
“How is she doing?” Lacey asked.
“The hip replacement went well, but she hates having to be in bed until it heals. You could come and see her if you wanted. She loves having visitors.”
“I might.”
“Things bad at home?”
“When aren’t they?”
“You know the floor’s always yours.”
Conrad laughed. “Maybe we should sic Hecate on your dad.”
“I dread to think what Hecate would do to him.” Lacey sighed. “I have thought about it, but right now I don’t think it will do any good. Nothing seems to be doing any good. Dad’s still gambling and won’t get help. He doesn’t believe he’s an addict. Until he does…”
“There’s nothing anyone can do.” Conrad sobered. “At least Mum’s getting help now. She’s been sober for three weeks.”
Reaching out with her free hand, Lacey squeezed Conrad’s. “That’s wonderful to hear. Maybe we should send some strength to her as well, so she doesn’t start drinking again.”
“That would be wonderful.” Conrad scribbled down a note in his notebook. “So we’ll be sending healing to Aurora’s nan, strength to Mum, and I wanted to do something a bit more general. Did you hear about that car accident last week?”
Lacey nodded. “One of the girls who was in it has amnesia and one looks like she’ll never be able to walk again,” she said, remembering what the newspaper report said. “The driver died on impact. Only the girl sitting in the back passenger side came out of it all safely.”
“Both the girls go to this college. Charlotte, the girl with amnesia, is in my English class. I wanted to send them some healing energy too.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.