A Day In The Life Of The McCoys

Meet the McCoys: a family of four comprised of a loving couple and their two rambunctious daughters, one of whom is omnipotent.

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It was a serene Saturday afternoon, marked by the melodic whistles of birds outside and the sun's warm glow illuminating the sky. At their cozy kitchen table, Mr. and Mrs. McCoy savored a delightful lunch of freshly boiled eggs, flaky croissants, and tangy orange juice squeezed with love. "More coffee, my dear?" Mrs. McCoy asked sweetly, making her way to the kitchen counter where the coffee machine sputtered and steamed. 

Mr. McCoy wiped his mouth after indulging in a bite of his buttery croissant spread with rich cherry jam. "I sure do, my love," he replied with a contented smile on his face. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, adding to the peaceful ambiance of their afternoon together.

The idyllic atmosphere was abruptly shattered by the jarring slam of the front door announcing their daughter's return. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy exchanged a concerned glance as they heard her stomping through the hallway, her voice laced with angry expletives. The once serene home now felt tense and unsettled, as if a storm was brewing just beneath the surface.

Mrs. McCoy's knuckles turn white as she grips her husband's arm, pulling him along with a sense of urgency towards the living room. They had just witnessed their daughter's fiery outburst, her auburn hair whipping around her face as she slammed her sports bag onto the floor, narrowly missing a costly grand Chinese vase.

Unable to keep the trembling out of her voice, Mrs. McCoy timidly asks, "Is everything okay, Crystal?"

With blazing emerald eyes, Crystal turns on her mother. "Do I look okay? No, I don't! So why would you even ask such a stupid question?" Her voice rises as she spits out each word with seething annoyance. The tension in the room is palpable, and Mrs. McCoy can feel her heart beating out of her chest, unsure of what will happen next.

Mrs. McCoy's voice trembles as she gingerly asks, "Did you have another argument at practice?"

Crystal's jaw tightens as she whips around to face her parents, flames of anger flickering in her eyes. "I don't have arguments with anyone, Mom!" Her words reverberate off the walls as she slams her foot on the ground, sending a shockwave through the room. "They're the ones who argue with me! And I'm sick and tired of it!"

Mrs. McCoy grasps onto her husband's arm. Sensing that her daughter is on the brink of a rage-induced meltdown, Mrs. McCoy's voice softened as she advised, "Easy, dear. You know what the doctor said...count to ten first."

                Crystal's voice cuts through the air like a razor, screeching with furious intensity. "I just did, and it makes me even angrier! Aaargh! It makes me want to… set a car on fire!"

As if on cue, a deafening explosion rocks the house, startling Mr. and Mrs. McCoy. Mr. McCoy rushes to the window, pulling back the curtain to reveal Billy's, their neighbor, pick-up truck engulfed in flames. The sight sends chills down his spine.

Wide-eyed and quivering, Mrs. McCoy turns to her daughter. "Did you do that?" she asks with a mix of fear and disbelief in her voice.

Crystal defiantly marched towards the window, ignoring her mother's prying stare.

The scene in front of her was straight out of a disaster movie - with flames engulfing their neighbor's pick-up truck, turning it into a raging inferno that reflected in Crystal's eyes that flickered with a disturbing sense of fascination as she watched it all.

Their neighbor's house door flew open, and they witnessed Billy and his wife sprinting towards their engulfed car. In a desperate attempt to save it, Billy held a fire extinguisher in hand, but he quickly dropped it in defeat as he realized it was too late.

A twisted smile spreads across her delicate features as Crystal basks in the glowing inferno. But her moment of pleasure is abruptly interrupted by the sharp grip of her mother's hand on her chin. "You could have killed someone! Put it out now!"

Crystal shrugs off her mother's grasp with a cold indifference. "Relax, Mom. I knew there was no one in the car."

"What if a passerby had been caught in the blast? They could have been torn apart."

For a brief moment, Mrs. McCoy saw a flash of doubt in her daughter's eyes, implying that she had not thought about that before they hardened back into a cold, stoic gaze. "There's never anyone here anyways," Crystal said. "This neighborhood is boring as hell."

"Put the fire out immediately!" Mrs. McCoy said as the wailing sirens of multiple fire trucks could be heard in the distance, racing the shortest route towards the black smoke billowing upward. In the street, doors flew open as people poured out of their homes to check it all out.

Crystal nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, Mom, I'm not feeling up to it right now. And hey, at least my mood has improved. The sight of flames always brings me joy. You should know that by now." she said before joining her dad again to watch the car engulfed in flames.

"But what about Billy's car? You can't leave the man without one. The poor lad's assurance company will most likely not cover supernatural occurrences, " Mrs. McCoy said.

"Just relax." Crystal waved her hand dismissively. "I'll give him a new one. A better one. But for now, let's sit back and watch the show." With that, she plopped down on a recliner that appeared out of nowhere and started snacking on a tub of popcorn that she conjured up with a thought.

After watching Billy's car go up in flames and the firefighters put out the fire, leaving behind a pathetic charred heap of metal that belonged in a junkyard, Crystal strolled into her room, whistling a cheerful tune.

Crystal flopped onto her bed, curling up with her knees near her chest and leaning against the wall.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone, eager to see if there were any laughable developments on one of her many social media accounts now that this nuisance was behind her.

Crystal sat for a few moments, scrolling through her social media feeds mindlessly. Suddenly, she heard a faint noise, like a soft ping. She looked around with confusion before shrugging it off and returning to her phone. But then the sound came again, this time more noticeable. It sounded like tiny pebbles hitting a glass surface. Irritated, Crystal searched her room, determined to find the source of the disturbance. She narrowed her eyes when she saw a glass jar on one of the shelves on the wall.

Crystal marched over to the jar like a stampeding buffalo and snatched it up, holding it close to her breezing face. "You better have a damn good reason for this, you pieces of shit. I was just reading an enticing story about that bitch of a Norah. I was even considering letting her join you all."

The five small figures slowly got back on their feet after being thrown around when Crystal lifted their glass prison. A boy, no bigger than a Lego figure, stepped forward. "It's been 24 hours now, Crystal. We've learned our lesson. We're dirty and hungry; can you please let us go? We promise we won't tell anyone about this."

Crystal's smile widened as her emerald orbs peered closely at her tiny victims locked inside the glass jar. She felt powerful while holding a glass jar filled with shrunken people. They were completely delivered to her whims. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Crystal said, a sardonic smirk playing on her lips. "I think you need three days more to overthink your impudent conduct. Hey, silence! I don't want to hear your complaints. In fact, I don't want to hear anything from you at all."

The five boys' desperate pleas for Crystal to release them faded as the glass jar surrounding them began to shrink together with them.

Gradually, she was able to hold the jar between her thumb and finger.

Crystal held the glass jar up to her left eye and laughed in disbelief at how small the boys had become, like dots.

With a mean swivel of the tiny jar, she observed as they tumbled around inside, probably hurting themselves in the process.

She couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the absurdity of it all before placing the jar back on the shelf.

Just in case, Crystal quickly shuffled a pile of books in front of the tiny jar, hiding it from view.

She did not need any disturbance. She was fully engrossed in her phone once again, snacking on a bag of chips that appeared out of nothing. She knew she had stashed away a bag of Doritos in one of the kitchen drawers. Using her powers, she teleported the bag into her hands just as her younger sister reached for it.

Crystal took a bite, her mouth full of food. "This could use some salsa," she mumbled. Suddenly, a pot of salsa appeared next to her, while another pot vanished from a nearby supermarket shelf. Crystal leaned back against her pillow, placing one foot over the other, determined not to be bothered again while enjoying her meal.

Crystal let out an exasperated groan when she heard a commotion outside. She pulled herself up to her knees and peered through the window, spotting her neighbor Billy ranting about his car and realizing his insurance wouldn't cover it. It brought to mind the promise she made to herself.

With a single thought, a brand new pickup truck materialized in front of Billy, where, just a second ago, a charred piece of his old car stood. And as Crystal had promised, this car was better—a newer model with enhanced horsepower, improved fuel economy, updated exterior styling, and enhanced suspension systems.

Crystal paid no attention to the reactions of her neighbors' disbelief as she flung herself onto her bed and plugged in her earphones.