November, 2018

She arrived with a bag full of candles, herbs, flowers, and stones, bursting into the house the moment I opened the door.

"What's that going to—" I started as she immediately dumped the items onto my dining table.

"You said your mum will be back in half an hour," Marli cut me off as she began to arrange her items around a thin, black cloth. "We don't have time for explanations of what everything does. I just... I need you to trust me, okay?" She paused for a moment, glancing up at me for confirmation.

Perhaps my past experiences of blindly believing in people should have taught me some sense on this one. But unable to doubt the confident gleam in Marli's eyes and the fact I had known her for most of my life, I gave her a nod.

And so she got to work. Taking a seat at the head of the table, she instructed me to sit before placing a hand on either side of her setup—a candle in the middle circled by the other ornaments. Warily looking at her upturned palms and curved fingers, I took a deep breath before taking hold of her hands.

At once, I felt her power flow through me, and that familiar autumnal spiral blasted through my mind... until eventually it all stopped and the world went black.

I wasn't sure if I was sitting or standing, but I made an effort to get up as I spun around in the dark cavern of nothingness.

"Marli?" I called out, my heart constricting in my chest as the hairs on my neck stood up on end.

This doesn't feel right, my mind warned me, like I didn't already know.

"Marli!" I tried again.

But still, nothing.

A dampness started to form in my palms as my heart quickened again.

I continued to take noiseless steps further into the void, opening my mouth once more to call her name.

But before I even got out the first syllable, the world around me exploded. The matter, the air, the blackness became a plethora of circles, transforming, shifting, until it seemed like I was suddenly out in the bush... though my world was somehow an Aboriginal dot painting.

I spun around, this way and that, trying to figure out where I was. But nothing was familiar. Nothing was concrete. It was all just... specks of... paint?

Glancing towards the ground as though it would give me a clue, I heard something rustle behind me. Before I had time to react, a serpent slithered by my feet, causing me to leap away.

Rule 1 about snakes in Australia is to stay as still as possible if you see one so that they don't bite you... yet here I was going against all I knew.

The snake paused in its mission, head cocking around to look at me. While fear should have filled me at that moment, instead I became overwhelmed with a sense of ease and awe. In place of the familiar black irises of a snake staring back at me, the rainbow flashed through its eyes.

Head raising further and further into the air, the serpent continued to grow as its eyes stayed locked on me. Yet still, I felt myself trapped by its gaze, unable to move. Unable to feel. Unable to even think.

It opened its mouth, baring its fangs at me, a hiss sliding off its forked tongue.

But my hand moved on instinct, reaching for it, wanting to touch its scaly texture.

And just as I was about to make contact, just as the snake seemed ready to strike, the world went black again, the dots disappearing like they were an illusion.

Before I could adjust to the darkness again, the floor beneath my feet fell, and I went with it, the air rushing past me, the end never coming.

Then all at once, my eyes flew open and I was in my living room.

"What the fuck was..." I started, glancing around to ground myself, but my words got caught in my throat as I locked on the blue. Still there. Still staring at me with a well of worry. "It didn't work," I breathed at her.

"What didn't?" she pressed, brows creasing.

"I still see him."

"I told you yesterday," Marli replied, "I can't undo the spell. Once you see him, you can only unsee him once—"

"Wait," I cut her off, hand going the extra mile to physically halt her.

Before she could open her mouth to question me, I went on.

Gaze flickering between what I thought was an apparition of Ben and Marli next to me, I said, "Are you saying... I'm not delusional? That's he's actually there?"

Heaving a sigh, she placed a gentle hand on my back. "I can't confirm if you are or are not delusional. The truth is, Ol, you are quite the wreck. Also, I cannot confirm the who as to who is there because I cannot see them. Only you can. But there is a spirit attached to you. And there is a spirit in this room, which was what that magic I just did was about."

So many questions about the spiral, the void, and the serpent tingled the tip of my tongue. But I didn't want to ask them. I couldn't ask then. There were too many more important things at hand to address first.

Eyes locked on Ben, Marli fading into the background, I began to feel my eyes cloud with water. "You mean, Ben's really back? He's real? He's—"

Ben's gaze was also filling with warmth and longing. A small smile slipped onto his face as he raised out of his chair, crossing the space between us before crouching by me. His hands extended towards me, gripping mine in his—though no touch tainting my senses.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Marli cut us all off with the harsh truth we needed to hear. "He isn't back, Ollie. You can just see his spirit. And he's not real. He's dead, and he will forever be dead... your job is to make sure he moves on, remember?"

Yanking my gaze from him for a moment, I met her searching, worried eyes, already full of regret of what she had done. Not wanting her to stew over her decision, I gave her a nod as I wiped a rogue tear from my cheek. "I get it, Marli... He's not here. He is dead. But..." I looked back at the whirling cobalt. "I'm just glad I haven't reached a new level of insanity where I was imagining seeing him. Instead, he's actually—"

"A spirit. He's actually a spirit that only you can see. So... it is a little crazy."

But as the corner of Ben's mouth started to twist up at Marli's slight comical notes around the matter, I too mirrored his smile. "I'm happy to be crazy for a little while... If it means I can see him again."

His hand reached out, stroking my face, desperate for me. But I felt nothing. Empty sensations, his own face echoed the torment that all we could do now was see and hear... never to touch, taste, or smell the other again.

With my last comment going unacknowledged, Marli got to her feet, calling our attention to her. "I'm really late for work now, so I'm going to head off. But a couple of things. Firstly, hide that alcohol and avoid your mum tonight so she doesn't know what reckless shit you've been up to."

I grabbed the neck of the bottle in response so that I wouldn't forget, but she went on.

"Secondly, remember this," her finger went between me and Ben, though she veered a little too far to the right, "will have to come to an end. Your task is to help him move on towards reincarnation... not join him in the world of the dead, Ollie. Okay? That was our agreement."

Wanting to already disagree with her conditions, I gave her a solemn nod instead. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes." She paused... whether to recall her words, for dramatic effect, or to create a sense of warning, I wasn't sure. But eventually she looked me straight in the eyes, an eerie glisten glowing in her gaze, as she said, "Don't let anyone know you can see him. If word gets out that Anjea still exist, you'll be putting so many people in trouble. So don't talk to him when people are around. When you're in your room and your mum is home, keep your voice—"

"You don't think my mum would ever—" I started to cut her off as I flinched back in shock.

"We don't know. Even if your mum was an innocent human in all this... if she hears you talking to someone only you can see, she will take you to a psychologist. And one thing you need to learn quickly now that you're part of this world of magic, Ollie, is that not everyone is what they seem or tell you they are... mutants and monsters are often hidden in plain sight."

Any response I had got caught in my throat as an ominous cloud hovered around my living room... as though I had already learned her warning before. But I just couldn't remember.

But instead of waiting for a reply, she merely spun around on her heel and headed off to the door, calling over her shoulder on the way, "We should catch up on the weekend. See how you're holding up."

Then at once, I was alone. Or so... that's what my brain thought at first. Head whipping his way to check he was still there, relief flooded through me to know I wasn't alone anymore. That Ben was by my side again.

Though as the corners of my lips were tugging up waiting for him to share my glee, Ben didn't notice my stare. Instead, his ruminating gaze was locked on the door Marli had just left through... as though her words had tugged on something from his own past that was filling him with terror.