It was like all the air and color had drained from the universe as I stood on the sidewalk and stared up the tall faded yellow building on the corner of the street, letting out shallow breaths as my chest heaved up and down and tears mixed with rainwater rolled down my cheeks. I had just stormed out of Nick's office and took a cab to Marianne's address.

Inhaling sharply and trying to get my rampant breathing under control I wiped my nose and eyes, stood up straight, and squared my shoulders as a feeble attempt of a mask.

I walked into the building and looked at the squashed note in my hand once more to ensure the correct room number before stuffing the paper into my back pocket.

The inside of the building was well kept compared to the shithole I called home, dark brown carpets made an interesting contrast with beige walls, green leafy plants crowded corners.

The people were elderly and looked far friendlier and sane than the people who resided in my building. I took the lift up to the fourth floor. I leaned back on the railing and watched the numbers slowly go up.

I didn't know why I was so hooked by what an old lady had told me. Had I become that desperate and crazy for logical answers for my illogical problems.

Sitting in the cab on the journey to the apartment building I had two minds about it. But something in me didn't want to abort my mission and have regrets.

I'd hear her out. The lift dinged and I walked down the hallway staring at the door tops looking for apartment eight. I found it at the end of the hallway.

I rapped on the door with my knuckles and heard shuffling and what sounded like locks being turned before the door was yanked open. Marianne stood in front of me with a crutch in hand. "I knew you'd come," she said and opened the door wider and gestured with her head for me to come in.

I walked into the apartment and it was homely it reminded me of visiting my grandparents. My mother's parents. Brown couches with doyleys on the back and armrests, nick nacks and doodads crowding the small tv stand.

"Please make yourself at home," Marianne said walking up from behind me. I shuffled awkwardly to an armchair in the corner of the room and took a seat across from her. She sat in front of me, a coffee table between us with a glass of water on it. "Can I get you anything to drink? You look like you had quite the day," she said sitting forward in her seat.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. "No thank you. I was just curious about something you said yesterday. You said death is stalking me. What did you mean?" I asked, impatient for answers.

Marianne reached for the glass on the table. "I can sense it," she said taking a sip of water.

"What do you mean?" I wished she'd stop being cryptic and just spit it out.

She leaned towards me and I wondered why she was being so quiet when we were alone in the apartment or so I thought we were unless someone else was home.

"It means someone's cursed you to die and you will die." A shiver stung my spine, leaving all my nerves on end.

I took in a sharp intake of air. "What?" I yelled and she recoiled in her seat. I knew I had made a mistake.

I stood up unable to believe my own stupidity to actually make the trip to hear such a load. "Valerie please hear me out," she said and I shook my head.

I was freaked out.

"How do you know this?" I asked. "What proof do you have?"

She put her hands together, aligning her fingertips. "I was born with a certain ability," she answered stiffly.

"Marianne if you want me to hear you out you going to have to give me a lot more than that," I said and moved to walk back to the door.

"Look it's called a veil," she said and I stopped. "It protects people from the spiritual world. Now and then some people are born without one. I can do things and see things that other people can't," I turned around to face her to see that she was also standing. "Whether you believe me or not child, the curse on you will run its course and you will die. I'm just trying to help."

"Okay so let's just say for the hell of it I believe you who would curse me?" I asked and she shook her head. I didn't have any enemies as far as I knew.

"That I do not know. That's why I asked you to come. I can figure out who did this to you if you partake in a ritual with me."

"A ritual?" I questioned.

She moved to a drawer. "If we do this I ask only one favor of you," she said. "Don't tell my sons. They hate me for it."

I was beyond confused. I was also scared that I was stuck in an apartment with a crazy woman. "Why would your sons hate you?"

She hung her head."My abilities to tamper with nature. My eldest son is so afraid of what I am and what he might be that he became a priest, hoping God would forgive him for something he can't help being."

"And what's that?" I asked.

She looked up at me. "A son of a witch."

"You're a witch?" I smiled feeling guilty for finding it funny. "Like gingerbread house, flying broomsticks, cauldron, and cats?"

"I don't know about the gingerbread house," she said.

I was about ready to leave again but I wasn't sure if leaving her thinking she was a witch was a good idea. What if she had dementia. She could be a danger to herself and possibly others in the building. "If you could do magic why are you in crutches. Why not heal yourself." I tried to show her the logic of the situation.

"Because there is a price. Doing magic is against natural law. I was born with a gift to see things and feel energy. When I was twelve years old I saw something. It was calling my name and I went to it. It began moving away from me I thought it needed help or something but little did I know it was leading me to a dumpster where I found books with incantations and strange symbols. The dumpster looked burned as if someone tried to burn the books but failed." She recalled the memory. Her eyebrows scrunching as she paused for a minute. "I have a twin sister Marilyn. She can also see things and feel energy. Since we did everything together we tried to do a few incantations from the books. We were children and didn't know better we didn't think it would work but then it did and we were thrilled but scared at the same time. Things got worse when we lost our grandmother," she shut her eyes tightly as a single tear rolled down, "the pain was unbearable and then I found it. A spell to bring something back from the dead." Marianne's voice turned grave and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. I moved to go help her sit back down in the armchair. I wondered where her son and granddaughter were. "We broke the biggest rule of all," she wailed and grabbed my arm bringing me down to look into her eyes, "that day I felt my body drain and both legs gave out from under me. I lost my ability to walk, but I got off easy," she sniffled, " Marilyn lost her sight as well as her ability to walk."

"I'm so sorry," I told her. I didn't know what to say. Firstly I was freaked out that this woman was claiming to be magical. Secondly, she was telling me that death was coming after me. I didn't know what to do and I hoped her sons would come home and end this. I saw a phone hanging on the wall with numbers on the wall.

I moved to go away from her so that I could call her son's and she grabbed both my hands. "You don't believe me?"

"Look I think maybe you need some-" suddenly the room began to shake and a few ornaments fell from her stand and crashed to the floor. When I looked at Marianne her eyes were glazed over as she mumbled under her breath in a language I never heard before. "You doing this." I immediately pulled away from her and without knowing how I was now standing far away from her.

I was beyond scared.

She stopped mumbling and then she looked at me. "How is this possible?" I gasped.

"Magic is real. It's been written in almost every religion call it what you want miracle... magic. It's there. Now we can choose to use it but our bodies are not sustainable vessels to harness it. Think of it like overcharging a phone battery until it explodes."

If magic was real and she could see things did that mean I was going to die. Like really die. "Fuck I'm going to die aren't  I?" I asked and fell back to the couch running a hand down my face and here I thought my biggest problem was going to work the next day and facing Camilla or Brosnan if Nick complained.

Marianne hobbled over to me. "We are going to try and save you. Now go into my kitchen and get a bowl. There is milk in the fridge, fill the bowl with it and then come back in here." Without thinking I did as she said and went into her kitchen. I found a bowl in a cupboard and went over to the fridge to get the milk. I filled the bowl with milk, my hands shaking the entire time.

When I walked back into the sitting area there were candles lit all around and the light was off.

"Place the milk in the center of the candles on the table," she said and I hurried over to the table and put the bowl down. "This drawer," she pointed with her walking stick to a chest of drawers in the corner of the room. There is a salt shaker with a green powder in it. Bring it." I did as she said. I pulled open the first drawer and found the salt shaker. I placed it on the coffee table in front of her.

She pulled the top of the salt shaker off and dumped the green powder into the bowl of milk. "What is all of this?" I asked.

"Goats milk and the green stuff is herbal," she answered quickly and I gulped.

Her eyes suddenly glazed over and she began mumbling under her breath. I felt a cold draft sweep through the room and the bowl of milk shook as the milk began swirling and mixing with the powder.

"Drink but not all of it," she ordered in her trance and I did as she said bringing the bowl to my lips and drinking. I put it back down on the table and she drank the rest before placing the empty bowl down.

"Now what?" I asked and she put both her hands on the side of my head, pressing her fingertips to my temples as her eyes glazed over. Before I could make sense of what's happening I blacked out.

I saw images flash rapidly before me. I was a child dressed in very weird clothes running in a field. I saw a boy and girl with me. The image changed and I was a teenager in a marketplace. I saw Nick. The image flickered and changed images of me and Nick together. It continued and then I heard a church bell I was running. I relived every one of my nightmares. But this time it started from birth and always ended with me dying besides Nick.

My head must have hit something because then I blacked out fully.

Death was peaceful. All the answers to the universe were answered the moment I closed my eyes. It's like there was a lock on my brain and death was the key.

Knowing the answers to everything was scary. There was comfort in ignorance. Peace in not knowing and expectation in wondering. Knowing everything was boring. I didn't want to know everything after all. The truth was cruel.

"Ella," An angelic voice called my name. That was my name once a lifetime. The first name to my soul.

"I'm coming," I said and began to move towards the voice.

"Come with me," she called.

The place was surrounded by thick white fog and I narrowed my eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the angel. "I can't see you. Where are you?"

"You're not meant to see me as yet..."

"Wait who are you?"

"Child... you need to wake up dear," A voice ripped through my mind and I recognized it. It was Marianne.

The fog disappeared around me and my eyes snapped open. When I looked around Marianne was leaning over me. I sat up and noticed I was laying on the couch.

"What how long has it been?"

"It's been four hours. I let you sleep because I needed to make sense of what I saw."

"Four hours. I need to call Be..." I clutched my head. Remembering everything I saw in that state. What did it mean. "What did I see"

"I saw it too," Marianne said lost in thought.

"What does it all mean. You saw all my nightmares but it was weird they all started with my birth and worked up to my teenage years. I don't remember seeing that in my dreams before," I rambled on clutching my throbbing head.

"Valerie," she whispered in a sweet motherly voice. "There is no easy way to say this dear."

"Please just tell me what's wrong with me and why I'm dying."

She swallowed. "You've been cursed by a witch from the seventeen hundreds."

"I've been what how. How is this possible? How would I even know a witch from the seventeen hundreds?"

"This isn't your first life," Marianne said and my eyes widened. As far as I knew this was my life and I couldn't understand what she meant.

"What, what do you mean?" I asked.

"Your soul jumps into a new body each time you murdered and from what I saw of your memories of your other last lives you are not alone. That man your lover comes back with you each time."

"My lover what the fuck!" I stood up abruptly. "Are you talking about Matthew? He's not-" I paused realizing the name I just said.

What the fuck was going on. Nick, he was Nick. Why did I call him Matthew.

"I'm sorry Valerie but it is the truth and the sooner you realize this the sooner you will be able to put a stop to the curse."

I laughed shaking my head. "Fuck this bullshit. I'm going home."

"Valerie please child. This is for your own good. Your soul is tired. A soul was not meant to be around for this long. You need to break the curse and end this."

My thoughts were running wild. "Is this it. I always die with Nick is he the problem?"

"There are some memories I can't make sense of. The more recent ones were you old when you died and Nick wasn't with you. You seemed miserable in those memories," she explained but I had no answers I didn't know anything I felt ignorant to my own thoughts.

I felt like I didn't know who I was anymore and Nick what was his part in all of this. My lover as Marianne put it.

"Great so what are we Ill-fated lovers or something?"

"Valerie I can't tell you much. I unlocked all your memories everything will come back slowly but you need to sleep and talk to Nick. When you do and get all the information on what happened we can work together to break this curse. But you need to accept the truth first."

I sighed running a hand through my hair. I had to talk to Nick and that terrified me. What if Marianne and I were just two mentally insane people. If that was the case then Nick could prove it and I'd book myself in an asylum.

"What time is it?" I asked and she checked her wristwatch.

"It's two am. The witching hour," she said as a smile tugged at her lips.

"I got to go. Thank you. You've helped me and now I just need to figure this all out on my own for now." I was grateful that she helped me when no one else could.

Even though I was skeptical on the ideas of witches and reincarnation I couldn't help but believe after I saw with my own eyes.

Marianne walked me over to the door and then stopped me. "Dear please come back with that young man.

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "I'll see you soon," I said and hugged her. She patted my back and tears ran down my cheeks. We pulled away and I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand as I left her apartment.

A very big part of me believed Marianne but another tiny part didn't want to because that would mean I was going to die and so was Nick.