Wizardness

Kevin did a double take. He’d seen something out of the corner of his eye, again. It was happening more and more often. Kevin shook his head. There was nothing to be done about it.
Kevin went on about his day. It was routine, clean the toilet, collect the feminine hygiene products, empty the trash. It was another late night shift at King’s Family Restaurant. He glanced at the mirror. Something had been there, in the mirror. Now it was just his face. He could see the crows feet at his eyes. There was gray streaking through his beard and black hair.
How could he still be doing this shit work at 39? Kevin sighed and grabbed the stuffed garbage bag. It was full, stretching the flimsy plastic to its limits. It had been a busy day at the outlet mall. That fucking mall was a plague.
As he left the bathroom, he collected the “Closed For Cleaning sign” and ignored the scowl from the old white woman that smelled of too much perfume. She was obviously trying to cover up some other body odor.
Kevin repressed a shudder as she screeched, “It’s about time.” He heard her mutter under her breath, “Black people are so lazy.”
Kevin clenched the bag tighter, his knuckles turned white.
He walked past the cash register where his manager was chatting with the hostess, Kevin noticed her name tag was red – she was a minor. Kevin sighed. She’d be leaving soon, it was almost ten. She lit up when she saw Kevin. Not because she liked Kevin, but because he always saved her from their creepy manager.
“Hey, Jim.” Kevin said loudly.
Jim let out a heavy breath. It spoke volumes. “What do you want, Kevin?” Jim sounded annoyed.
“Little white lady in the bathroom was racist. You should make her leave.” Kevin said bluntly.
“Look, Kevin. We’ve been over this. If we had every racist white person from Western Pennsylvania leave, we’d have no business.” Jim rolled his eyes at the hostess.
Sarah, made a disgusted noise. “Jim, you’re gross. Oh, look it’s 10, time for me to clock out.” Sarah mouthed, “Thank you.” To Kevin.
Kevin nodded and picked up his bag of trash. As he turned away from Jim and Sarah, he saw something flicker out of the corner of his eye.
He glanced back, there was a darkness enveloping Jim. Reaching out towards Sarah. Tendrils were caressing her.
“I can walk you to your car.” Jim said. There was a light sheen on his forehead.
“I’m already heading out to drop this off, Jim. I can make sure she gets to her car safely.” Kevin interjected.
Jim turned towards Kevin. The whites of his eyes were black and the pupils were white. “No need Kevin. You need to get bags from the Kitchen, she needs to go before then.” Jim turned to Sarah, “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
Sarah gave Kevin a pleading look. Kevin tried to give her a reassuring look, but ended up shrugging more than reassuring.
Jim gestured towards the front entrance. Sarah deftly moved to avoid his touch. She was way too young to have perfected that subtle dance. Kevin moved towards the back of the restaurant. He noticed other employees were looking towards Jim and Sarah. A few of the women had concerned looks on their faces.
Marrissa grabbed Kevin’s arm as he passed, “Do something.” She hissed at him. Kevin returned a tight nod.
“Follow me out the back. You know how this could go for me.” Kevin muttered.
He rushed out the back door with the trash. He heard a scream. He sprinted towards the source of it.
Jim was forcing himself on Sarah. Right there in the middle of the god damned parking lot. There was a bus full of Asian tourists pulling into the parking lot from the Mall. Kevin saw a few camera flashes.
Kevin grabbed Jim and threw him to the ground. Sarah sobbed. Kevin heard her slide down the car.
Jim threw himself at Kevin. He seemed to grow in size. Wings of darkness unfurled behind Jim. Fire blazed from Jim’s eyes as he threw a punch.
Kevin tried to dodge, but his knees weren’t in the based shape. Old soccer injuries. Jim’s punch was a glancing blow, but still managed to cut Kevin.
Kevin countered with a body blow. Using Jim’s momentum against him. Kevin cried out in pain, something gave in his hand. He’d punched walls that were softer than Jim’s abs.
Jim staggered back. He drew himself up. He seemed to tower over Kevin, the restaurant, and the bus.
Behind him, Kevin heard Marrissa whispering to Sarah. Encouraging the girl to get out of the way.
Marrissa stood next to Kevin, “What the fuck is that?”
Kevin sighed in relief, “You can see that too? Thank god. He looks like a balrog, that thing Gandalf fought in Lord of the Rings.”
Kevin could feel the look Marrissa was giving him, “That was a book, this is -” She cut off as Jimrog launched at them.
He sprinted at them, darkness trailed behind him, like a smoky sail.
Kevin knew there wasn’t much he could do. Jim was easily 10 feet tall now. What Kevin still had, though, was a trash bag. He dodged Jim enough to retrieve it.
Poor Sarah’s car was destroyed. Marrissa was able to avoid Jim, because Jim was focused on Kevin.
Kevin grabbed the bag and threw it into Jim’s face. The bag tore. The contents, while mostly paper towels and tampons, combusted.
Jim cried in fury. It was enough for the three of them to get back past Jim and back inside.
Kevin cried to the patron’s, “Get out the back! We’re being attacked! GO.”
People stared at him in disbelief. The bitter old white lady began to laugh at him.
“Marrissa, grab some knives and whatever you can find from the kitchen. Maybe get the glove for the mandolin.” Kevin ordered. “Sarah, get these people out of here. They’ll listen to you.”
Both Marrissa and Sarah nodded.
Kevin grabbed the mop from his cart. It wasn’t going to do much, but it was better than punching that monster again.
Jimrog barged through the front door, shattering the glass, as Kevin grabbed the mop. The patrons screamed behind him. Kevin slammed the soaking mop into the top of Jimrog’s head. The fire there went out. Jimrog’s head was temporarily obscured by a halo of steam.
Inspiration struck Kevin then. While Jimrog was distracted, he rushed to the balloon station. There was a heavy canister of gas. It wasn’t just helium in that canister. Kevin knew it’d be hard to use as a weapon, but maybe he could get Jimrog to smash into it and blow both the cannister and Jimrog back to hell.
Kevin felt Jimrog more than saw him. The tile cracked beneath the weight of the beast. Kevin lunged past the cannister.
Jimrog swatted at Kevin and his hand slammed directly into the cannister. It was hard enough to crack the steel. The cannister exploded outward. Steel shard flew throughout the restaurant. Kevin cried out in pain. A piece had flown into his calf.
Kevin struggled to get away. He still had the mop, so he used that to pull himself away from Jimrog. He gingerly rolled over, making sure not to bump the steel sticking out of his leg. The beast was no where to be seen.
Jim was there though. He had been blown back into the scammy claw machine game. He was inside the prize area. He was bent in half with his butt firmly seated.
Kevin couldn’t hear much of anything over the buzz in his ears. But he did see drops of blood falling onto the floor. He glanced about. There were a few people laying in their own blood too. He wasn’t the only one hurt. Kevin fell back to the floor. He dropped the mop leaving bloody streaks behind.
Marrissa appeared next to him. She was saying something, but he couldn’t hear her.
He was tired.
Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
He glanced over. The state police were spilling into the destroyed entrance.
“Fuck.”