Girls are so stupid. They are stubborn, loud, snotty, and ruthless.

Or maybe that's just my sister. It probably is.

Okay, so admittedly we both have sort of been at each other's throats lately, but we're siblings, aren't we supposed to do that? Either way, this prank war had gone a little bit too far. It started out small at first, a little salt in her cereal, a poked hole under the lid of my pop can, the occasional spider in her room, and then it started to escalate. It really started to escalate.

Maybe it was a little unfair that I put purple hair dye in her shampoo, but it washed out in three days! And for those three days, I did indeed enjoy calling her an ugly Smurf. (She had it coming.)

When I woke up on the ceiling Thursday morning I realized that this was going to be a tough one. I still haven't figured out how she got me up there. But it took Khufu and I two hours and a lot of rope later to get the job done. And I landed unceremoniously on my head.

So, naturally, I set a spider on her breakfast.

She put itching powder in my pants.

I put laxatives in her ice cream. (And you don't think that is brilliant beyond brilliant, you're hopeless; that's freaking hilarious.) She spent the entire day in the bathroom.

That must have really irked her the wrong way, but seriously; there are things you mess with and things you don't.

I have been super claustrophobic my entire life; big crowds, small spaces, elevators, you name it I've been trapped in it and it has terrified me to death. I guess I shouldn't use that wording, not with this career choice anyway. But it's just one of those things I would prefer not to talk about and not to deal with.

And Sadie crossed the line.

I was taking my dirty clothes to the laundry room (yes, I do my own laundry, is that a problem?) and suddenly I was pushed into the closet and the door slammed shut, encasing me in darkness. "I'll see ya in an hour, Carter!" Sadie yelled, and I heard her footsteps fly down the hallway, away from me, and my only source of escape was my problem.

The reality of my situation dawned on me. There was no light, and I could feel the wall against my back; and the door a mere two inches from my chest. My heart started pounding in my chest, pulse rapidly climbing. The irrational, but very real fear swirled around my brain, sending panic stir into my veins.

Breathing heavily, I could feel a droplet of sweat fall down my neck, swallowing the lump in my throat; I gathered myself and started yelling. Loudly. Screaming bloody murder. "Sadie! Get back here! Help! Holy Horus, I swear I'm going to rip you apart when you get back here! Sadie! I'm not kidding, Sadie I'm serious! Get back here!"

Slowing down, I groaned and shoved the door with my shoulder. I tried again, no movement. This time I turned to my side and hit it really hard; the only that happened was a painful rebound into the opposite wall and an almost dislocated shoulder.

I spent the next hour shouting and shoving the door. My voice had long since faded away, my shoulder had developed a large bruise, and pitiful wheezes were coming from my chest. I felt an errant tear slide down my cheek as I weakly slammed the door with my fist again, my lungs heaving, and small gasps slipping past my lips.

"Let me out, please!" I begged; the volume of my whisper reduced to a whisper. Giving up, I leaned against the door and ran my fingers through my hair, struggling to gain control of myself and not start sobbing helplessly.

Suddenly I heard giggling and the door opened, letting me crumple to the floor on my hands and knees. I heard Sadie gasp and fingers grabbed my bruised shoulder. "Carter, are you okay? God, I didn't mean for thi-. Are you crying? God, I didn't mean to-. Carter? Carter, answer me, are you okay?" She was shouting loudly. And in Sadie land that meant she was worried, but at the time I really didn't care.

Snarling, I roughly threw off her arm and stumbled to my feet, racing down the hallway and flying out on to the street, almost passing out from the sheer joy of having fresh air and natural lighting.

She locked in me in the closet for over an hour; excuse me if I'm a little hostile.

"Carter! Are you okay? I didn't mean for you to-! I'm sorry!" Sadie was yelling at me as she tried to follow me down the sidewalk.

But I was faster, and thankfully so; I was pretty sure if I tried to talk to my sister I'd end up impaling her with a streetlight or start sobbing at how terrified I had been and why of all pranks to do to me she had to pick that one.

I ended slowing down a few minutes later, the adrenaline fleeing my system and leaving me exhausted and cold, but relaxed. I had somehow managed to get myself to an empty park. I flopped down on a bench and swiped at the sweat that had gathered on my forehead.

"Hey."

Startled, I looked for the owner of the voice. An athletic looking teenager flopped onto the bench next to me. He was tall with broad shoulders and blonde hair; he looked like he belonged in California, not a random park in Brooklyn.

"Uh, hi," I breathed, kind of freaked out by his sudden friendliness.

He tugged a hand through his hair and smiled widely at me, looking like a feral cat. "What you running from? 'Cause I've seen runners, and that wasn't running for the sake of running; that was pissed off, 'I'm freaking out' running."

I uncertainly nodded, now really freaked out by his abilities of perception. Maybe I was being a little paranoid, but you try having magicians with magical powers try and kill you around every corner; it does things to you. Being paranoid saves your life.

"My sister was just being a brat."

He laughed creepily and then asked, "You live up the East side?"

I nodded.

"That's the rich side of town isn't it?" He questioned, almost challenging me.

Confused, I shrugged, "I guess, bu-." Something heavy, something hard hit the side of my head and I went down, crumpling off the bench and landing on my side on the ground. The pain was instantaneous, blossoming across my temple and rendering me useless to even attempt to protect myself. The world seemed to spin rapidly, trees and dirt mixing together in a confusing collage.

Something hit my head again, and this time, I didn't stick around long enough to even feel the pain. My eyes fluttered shut with a pain filled groan, and the last thing I heard before everything faded into blackness, was a maniacal laugh right next to my ear.

"You're done, kid."

Then I was gone.