Opulence | Teen Ink

Opulence MAG

May 1, 2008
By AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
5 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There&#039;s just too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry Kissinger<br /> <br /> Life it too short to let you matter.


I’ve been watching him for days now. When he leaves his house to go to school, I’m the one carefully tailing him, switching cars every day to make myself look less suspicious. If he ever sneaks out of his second-story room, I’ll be the one silently watching from a nearby tree. In class when he turns, feeling eyes on the back of his head, I’m the one who sent the hair on the back of his neck up on end. I am the girl whose shadow is always slightly overlapping his.

Being assigned to watch him almost makes me
feel like I’m not a stalker. Though I’m only 17, I’m a full-fledged member of the organization known as O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E. I’ve been with them since the ­tender age of five. It’s my home. Being an orphan, my office is also my permanent residence, the couch a fold-out bed. There are many others like me: no family. A lot of us are loners and haven’t chosen this route for ourselves.

I’m a tracker. I have been for years and some might say that I am the best at not being the best. In other words, I’m great at being invisible. Or at not being noticed. It’s not as hard as the others in the organization think. Being young and female is good, since most we track are young. Seeing me around younger people – my age, actually – doesn’t raise alarm bells. It helps that I’m cute. With a small frame, light hazel eyes, and short blond hair that curls under my chin, I don’t appear threatening. Of course, my ­organization-funded training doesn’t back that theory.

Soon I won’t be tracking down others with the power. They are finally going to give me an apprentice. After years of mastering everything I’ve been taught, they see my potential. That’s not to say I know everything. Even with my extended life I won’t be able to learn all the things I want to. If only this annoying boy would show the signs. It’s been almost a week. If he doesn’t show soon, they’ll reassign me. That much longer until I get my apprentice.

So here I am, sipping a latté and waiting for the Target to leave for school. I have been put in all of his classes in case something happens there, though I graduated high school years ago. Private tutors sped things up. With no family or personal ties, I had lots of time to devote to my studies. Martial arts black belts. Twelve languages, not including English. Everything a girl needs for a serious career in the agency. Such positions of power are not handed out easily. You must prove yourself many times over.

The Target and I have never spoken, but I know a lot about him. His file told me some, but after watching him for only a few days, I feel confident in saying that I know things no one else does. Not just the obvious, either. He resents his father and is protective of his mother, which makes me suspect the father is less than faithful. He smiles often but doesn’t make a lot of eye contact. He usually only speaks when spoken to. Although he has many friends, he isn’t close with any of them. The Target is observant, a watcher. This leads me to believe we would get along if he shows any promise.

I look down at my watch, then back at his house a few blocks away. The Target is late, which means I’ll be late too. Today my ride is a shiny black sports car, not out of place in this suburb full of midlife-crisis men. I turn on the engine impatiently. I’m fiddling with the radio when I hear something. I don’t feel any immediate danger, and I know to trust those feelings. But I ­also know that something is off.

Just as I am about to get out of the car and pretend to look in the trunk, the passenger door opens. I look up in surprise as the Target slides into the seat next to me. I grin, quite pleased by this turn of events. This is definitely a good sign. Perhaps intuition is strong in him. That would be good for my apprentice to have, complementary. I could handle having to deal with that.

“Hello, Lenna. Why have you been following me for a week now?” the Target asks lightly, conversationally, his first words ever said in my direction.

Ah, one of my many aliases. The organization set it up so that whenever I’m on a case, I get a new name, past, and present. It’s very powerful. The organization can basically do anything it needs; it has people everywhere imaginable. I’m just one of many, though there aren’t that many at the top, as I am. They don’t trust many to be trackers. Or to be apprentices. All of the full members have the power, though we control others to get things done.

My smile deepens as I say in my authoritative, professional voice, “My real name is Jade. I am a witch of the moon and a tracker for the organization known as O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E. You are also a witch. We would like to formally welcome you into the organization as my apprentice. Here is my card for verification.”

Jade Wordsworth
Tracker for O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E
Official Political Understanding Lending ­Everyone ­Navigation for Co-Existing Ethereals
Office hours: 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon-Sat
Phone: 555-5555
Proud league of witches of the sun and moon.
Worldwide.

“What do you mean ‘moon and sun’? Or ‘tracker’?” he asks, still looking at my card like it’s going to ­disappear.

“Types of magic. Moon is all about spells, the sun is more potion-based, though each type of witchcraft involves the other somehow. As a tracker, I find people like you and I bring them to O.P.U.L.E.N.C.E. Every witch must register, train, and become a member by law. In fact, the organization is like a government targeted toward witches,” I explain with a smile, loving the fact that this time I get to teach the newbie.

“Magic? Seriously?” he asks, eyes wide, meeting mine. They are large, yellow, and catlike.

I click a button on my left, automatically locking the doors. I put the car into drive, pulling out onto the road. As an afterthought I add as a courtesy, “I think you had better come with me.” .



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This article has 896 comments.


andy_footie said...
on Nov. 24 2009 at 1:31 pm
andy_footie, Chicago, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 9 comments
this is awesome!!!

on Nov. 23 2009 at 5:35 pm
phoenixqueen GOLD, Idaho Falls, Idaho
10 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;I cannot live without books.&quot;

wow! you could make this into a full-fledged book!

on Nov. 22 2009 at 7:53 pm
13akellermeier GOLD, Bowling Green, Ohio
12 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you&#039;re gonna get.&quot;

wow! you're an amazing artist and you have such a creative mind. great job, keep it up!

on Nov. 21 2009 at 11:26 am
ariwrites94 GOLD, Deltona, Florida
17 articles 4 photos 59 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.&quot; ---Plato

Awesome! great job!!! u r a very talented writer! i enjoyed your article very much!!! If you have time could you read my article "Held Hostage" and rate and comment? Thanks and keep writing!!!

on Nov. 21 2009 at 7:15 am
wow awsome storie i loved it :)

WingedReader said...
on Nov. 20 2009 at 4:23 pm
Brilliant! What can I say? I loved it!

You are a truly talented writer... I'd love to hear more about this!

on Nov. 20 2009 at 10:09 am
toxic.monkey SILVER, Tashkent, Other
6 articles 0 photos 210 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Homo homini lupus&quot;

this sounds really intriguing... but it's so undetailed! where is it? why is she here at all? how does the dude look like? how did she end up in opulence?

on Nov. 18 2009 at 12:47 pm
I really liked it, but I'm a little lost. I can't exactly understand where the story takes place. I really like the way you wrote the thoughts and feelings of Jade though.

on Nov. 17 2009 at 7:51 pm
nikki..(: BRONZE, OKC, Oklahoma
4 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
IDK

THIS IS SOOOO AWSOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LUVED IT

on Nov. 17 2009 at 5:04 pm
twilighter_360 GOLD, NYOB, New Jersey
12 articles 0 photos 47 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;A bird dosen&#039;t sing because it has an answer.A bird sings because it has a song.&quot; -- Maya Angelou<br /> <br /> &quot;Give peace a chance.&quot; --John Lennon

FANTASTIC! i have NEVER read something like this before. u r a great writer

evie428 BRONZE said...
on Nov. 16 2009 at 8:33 pm
evie428 BRONZE, Ontario, Other
4 articles 1 photo 88 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.&quot;

Good job! This was interesting . . . I've never read something like it before! I like your fresh style of writing . . . . and am waiting for more!

on Nov. 16 2009 at 10:37 am
Lia Newman SILVER, Lake Oswego, Oregon
8 articles 0 photos 19 comments
I thought it was excellent. And I also think it was great how you posted your story as a comment. haha :) Loved all of the details, maybe you could use more dialogue to accelerate the story, instead of just more obvious things. Great story!! :)

Gymnast5 said...
on Nov. 16 2009 at 8:51 am
That was amazing! i love writing fictional stories and can not wait to read more by this author!

on Nov. 14 2009 at 7:26 pm
writergirl22 SILVER, In, New York
6 articles 0 photos 66 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Never frown. You never know who&#039;s falling in love with your smile.&quot; -Anounymous

wow i really liked that!

i've never read a story like that before and i thought that it was really well written!

on Nov. 11 2009 at 8:53 pm
Breakdancegrl SILVER, San Antonio, Texas
9 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Anything below perfection is complete and utter failure&quot; Hugh Himwich<br /> &quot;What the hell is a Hufflepuff?&quot; Dumbledore: A Very Potter Musical

beautiful. At first i thought the girl was lovesick. But thats good, it adds suspence

on Nov. 11 2009 at 1:28 pm
cheeseNrice BRONZE, Dell Rapids, South Dakota
3 articles 0 photos 5 comments
I thought that this story was a very interesting article, and I thought that it was very well written.

on Nov. 11 2009 at 1:28 pm
Cierra14 BRONZE, Dell Rapids, South Dakota
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
This story was different, in a good way though. I would not like to be in that girl's shoes..and its kinda scary to think what if you have a stalker..

on Nov. 10 2009 at 6:05 pm
sasssgirrrl22 PLATINUM, Pearl River, New York
27 articles 0 photos 266 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Giving up is not a part of my vocabulary.&quot;<br /> &quot;Don&#039;t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.&quot;<br /> &quot;Truth be told I miss ya, truth be told I&#039;m lying.&quot;

I like it alot. gr8 job!!!!

btw liked urz alot 2, daimon ;P

on Nov. 9 2009 at 9:28 pm
Kaylynn_Loveless BRONZE, Russellville, Arkansas
4 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;An artist is somebody who produces things that people don&#039;t need to have.&quot;- Andy Warhol<br /> <br /> &quot;Don&#039;t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.&quot;- Andy Warhol

talented :)

on Nov. 9 2009 at 6:09 pm
Very Wonderful. Analyze, will you, love.

Wisps of smoke danced into the wintry air from my lips, creating ornate designs that could never be replicated. I carefully tilted the corners of my lips into a smile that I meant to be wry. Of course, it's difficult to articulate emotions that I can't feel, but I find that irony is relatively simple to demonstrate. I inhaled the toxic vapors of the cigarette casually. Its sinister, black cancer couldn't cripple a seventeen-year-old boy with no lungs, let alone a heart.

I glanced in the direction of the horizon, and flinched. The sun was dying flamboyantly, casting its radiant colors across the sky. Its last waves of light caressed my cold, pale skin. I wanted to snarl rebelliously as I felt its warmth slide against me deviously.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

My muscles went rigid, and I had to focus madly on controlling my shaking hands. I would know that voice, that beautiful, disastrous voice, in the realms beyond that of Earth. I grated my teeth, reeling in the disturbing sensations that she unknowingly always aroused in me.

I cocked my body towards her arrogantly, and lifted my mouth into a crooked crescent moon. I felt my eyes flashing, but I worked vehemently to fixate an arctic, hard tone into the dark of my indigo irises.

“I find the sunset lifeless and meaningless, actually,” I countered flatly, and a beat too late.

She laughed merrily, and I struggled within myself as my mind and body became entranced by the beautiful movement of her laughter as the colors of the sun played about her.

“You amuse me, Darian. How can you have such a pessimistic view of the world? The sun will not be lifeless until it disappears beneath the horizon, and the night falls. It’ll rise tomorrow, though,” she said.

I dared not think of her name. I hated the way my soul-if I had a soul-thrilled when her voice lingered over my name. It reminded me of music. I had to close my mind defiantly as I thought of music. I wanted nothing that resembled passion.

“That’s an inane notion that foolish women entertain. You want poetry, and ridiculous vows of forever. You aren’t difficult to read. If you want that sunset to mean something, then you want unrequited love. It doesn’t work like that,” I growled unmercifully, angry at her for unleashing the flood of feelings upon me.