The last couple of days were cloudy and rainy, so no one got surprised that the next morning they woke up the weather was the same. ‘Just another miserable day’, were the thoughts of hundreds of people. But not for her. Only she noticed how this day was special, not like the other ones at all. The clouds were darker, but you could also see another pattern of color deep in there. It was yellow. Like a sign of apocalypse or something. The rest of the world seemed to be on mute and you could only hear the howling wind, like it was possessed but still was trying to warn about something really powerful and horrible. It wasn’t playing with the brunches of half naked trees as the usual wind would do, no this was a cruel invasion and the trees were trying to fight back, but in vain. The wind was much tougher. She was standing in front of the window, trying to understand what was going on. The mysterious mist suddenly appeared as from nowhere and covered the ground. ‘Now they shared the territory’, she thought, upper parts were dominated by the wind and lower parts by the mist. Then she heard a familiar voice. Most people connected it with death and darkness, but for her, these were just friends, always spreading the latest news. And these were crows. She always seemed to understand the cawing of crows. Sometimes it was something good, sometimes bad. But she never ever heard something like this. It was a huge exodus, crows flying all together as any other flock of birds, which they never did before. She tried to listen carefully to their croaking, but all she could hear was a real fear, a terror in their voices, telling everyone to run away or hide really well. She got really tensed from all these signs pointing at a sudden disaster. She quickly got her computer and started to google. Storm forecasts, earthquakes, tornado, the enemy attack, every possible thing she could have thought of. But nothing. Nothing connected with the place she lived in, or somewhere nearby. Why she did this was pretty simple and casual for her. She always predicted natural catastrophes. A nightmare of how she was drowning, and the next morning the news of massive flood somewhere on the other part of the Earth. Same with storms, earthquakes, fires and everything like that. But this time it was different. After making sure that everything is okay with the physical world, she started to look for the supernatural things. Flow of negative energy, full moon on the same line with Mars, solar flares, meteor shower a few days later, etc. These were either little clues that could lead to something, or had nothing to do with this at all. She then turned to her trustworthy old notebook that she got from her great/grandmother, hoping to find something in there, but in vain. She decided to go to the local library. Of course she wouldn’t find anything magical there, but the natural physical definitions of these phenomena could help her find the following traces.

As she walked through the familiar streets of the small town she lived in, her mind couldn’t stop working. ‘Maybe I’m just paranoid, and nothing will happen and it’s just a gloomy day’, she thought. But something within her was telling otherwise. You can call it intuition, natural instincts, psychic, guts, however you want. In reality it was a gift she had since childhood. She always predicted little things, like the teacher wouldn’t come to class, or the canceled exam, her future presents. She had small visions or dreams that came true. When she wanted or didn’t want something really hard, she was getting it. Her friends would call her witch for fun, others would think she’s just weird based on the things she used to talk about. She would just laugh and not pay attention to it, wouldn’t take it seriously. Of course she knew she was different, but she never thought that her gift was something special. Since childhood she was always interested and fascinated by magic, wizards, witches, mermaids, everything that you couldn’t find in real world. Later it became an interest for mystery, astrology, numerology, sorcery. She would try to improve her intuition, by different techniques she found on internet. That’s how she developed her gift. Goofing around and having fun brought her to this place now. She now called herself a witch or a wicca. Not to other people anyway, because everyone already thought she was weird. But don’t think that she was making voodoo dolls, jinxing or hexing people, making potions from frog legs or lizard skin, no. She was just in touch and in harmony with nature. She could feel it, listen, understand. She had visions and her intuition almost never failed her. She could heal herself and her close ones with different herbs or ointment that she was making or the energies she had in her hands. And that’s it.

Suddenly a ray of sunshine broke through the covers of clouds which brought her back to reality. Once again her mind told her that she’s just overreacting and there’s nothing to worry about. But the sunshine hid away as quickly as it appeared and she got that disturbing feeling again and her determination to find anything came back.

The library was one of the oldest buildings in town. A few centuries ago it was a huge mansion of a rich man, who loved collecting books. He didn’t have heirs but he loved children, and opened a part of his mansion as a public library for children, who could come and read there. He then left all his money to the town hall to rebuild the mansion as a big library after his death. The library had many floors and was full of lots of books collected from every corner of the world. It also had a reading room and a beautiful yard with benches, trees, a little fountain and a memorial dedicated to the late owner of the building. She loved this place the most in this small town. People would usually read inside, and the little yard was nearly always empty. She would sit there for hours reading, writing out some old recipes, information about herbs and plants, or some ancient legends, or just enjoy the peaceful day, gaining energy from this old and powerful place. She felt safe there, as though the spirit of the late owner was still keeping and protecting his favorite mansion. And she would always find the right books that she needed, even if she had no idea what she was looking for, like today. She took a few books and though it was a chilly morning, she went outside to her favorite place.

It was late October, her favorite month, the month of harvest, foliage, cool weather and more mysterious mood than ever. Many trees had already lost their leaves, but the maple trees behind the benches and near the fountain were still in the prime of life. They were bright and colorful as ever. She went to “her bench”, the leaves crunching beneath her boots. ‘Sometimes deaths and goodbyes are so beautiful’, she thought feeling the spirit of the prospering autumn.

With a good premonition and encouragement from her favorite place she started to read. And though she was strongly committed to solve this case, she couldn’t succeed. She looked through dozens of books about the meteor showers, the positions of moon and everything else she found online, but nothing. The only teeny tiny information she found was about the flow of energy in an antique keltic book. The book says that during the year there were two flows of energy-negative or destructive and positive or constructive. The first one usually fell during autumn or December and the second one occurred in spring or June. In ancient times people felt those energies and lived according to them. In spring time they were planting seeds, growing fruits and vegetables, opening the doors and windows of their houses so that the old evil spirit which might hide somewhere in the house would leave it. They would start bonfires, have feasts every now and then. And this would happen till the next flow of energy-the destructive one. At that time people would harvest, keep everything inside the house, gain the sunshine into the house. They would have their final feast a day before the flow, with the biggest bonfire, so that the evil would burn, and take some woods with holy fire home so that it would protect it during the first night. They would put the fire in front of the door or windows and go to sleep. And they would live as usual, working until it’s dark, and when it was dark they stayed home. If a misfortune happened they blamed it on the evil spirits and poured crosses of salt near the doors for additional protection.

That’s what she found. It was definitely something new and interesting but it didn’t connect with everything that happened earlier. If those flows occurred every year for centuries, why should it differ this time? Maybe this wasn’t what she needed. The library never betrayed her, she always found her answers in here. She was trying to remember and connect everything from today, as a woman came out of the building talking to phone and slowly walked towards the exit. “No, no, I’m telling you, it should be there. You must be mistaken, look carefully. My folder is a dark burgundy one, not bright red, you must be looking for something else. Okay fine, I’ll jump in the office for a minute and will come straight to you. Call me if you find something anyway.”

And she walked away. This ordinary daily conversation hit her. She was looking for the wrong thing. The woman said dark burgundy and not red, which meant that she was close but everything was quite darker than she thought. She started to analyze everything she read. The story of taking fire home and putting it near the windows or the door reminded her the story of Halloween. Maybe these two were connected somehow. It was another clue to look for it. She took a couple of other books of old kelts, about their traditions and Halloween. In one of the books she found that the negative flows close to Halloween were the most dangerous ones and people treated them more carefully. They would bring more fire, wear handmade amulets and put them in every dark corner of the house. A dim recollection passed through her head. It was something about the Halloween and the flows together that brought her this faint memory. Suddenly the big clock on the town hall struck 3 o’clock and reawakened her from her thoughts. She didn’t want to leave that safe place, nevertheless she got up and walked towards her house. On the way home she saw some gypsies, making focuses and entertaining people. One of the gypsies came to her and asked, “do you want me to read your fortune dear?” These words awakened the same feeling of the strange memory she had before. “No, thanks.” she said and rushed home. The words of the gypsy haunted her the whole way. She remembered something really important, something that happened a few years ago.

As she got home, she went straight to one of her drawers and started to look through it. And she found it, an old diary of herself. The gypsy made her remember what she had forgotten. One day, a few years ago, when she was a teenager and didn’t know much about herself, she went to a psychic with her friends, just for fun. The psychic told her that she had a special gift and powers which will grow with herself. She warned her though about a fatal day of choice she had to make and a danger that could happen. She had written down what the psychic had said in her diary not to forget anything. And it said “After you turn 21 be aware of the negative flow exactly one week before All Hallow’s Eve. The dark powers will rise along with the full moon and will try to entice you to the dark side. You must make the most fateful decision of your life, on which side are you. An old heirloom, a trustworthy spell and a special brew from everything new will also protect you.”

‘Isn’t this just great, she thought, the most important part is written in puns’. But she was satisfied with what she found. At least she knew it was connected with her and nothing would happen to the world.

The full moon would rise at 20:47, which meant she had approximately 5 hours. She tried to find the psychic that she went to, but in vain. Old heirloom, spell and brew. Something really witchy, something she had never used before. This thought brought her an epiphany. Her great-grandmother was a witch. Well at least that’s what the relatives would call her. She always talked about her treasures, and everyone thought it’d be money or gold. But when she passed away her relatives only found a few boxes full of witchy weird stuff. No one wanted it so she took it, as she loved everything connected with magic. There were a few amulets, necklaces, that her grandma made herself and her notebooks, which she used to read all the time. The first thing that got her attention was an amethyst ring, which she loved as a child but it was too big for her at that time. Amethyst was her lucky charm stone so she gave it a try and put on. She felt warmness in her hand, as if she put it under warm water after a freezing winter day. That’s i, an old heirloom. One thing done. She looked through the notebooks hoping to find the spell or maybe a recipe for a brew. But nothing, nothing about the flows, fatal decision or its protection.

The time was going extremely slow. She heard and felt every single ticking of the clock. She could have a nervous wreck any minute, as she didn’t find anything except the heirloom.

It was already 6:30. Only one hour left. She went to kitchen to at least eat something when she saw the herbs and plants that she bought but hadn’t used yet. Then she got it. A special brew from everything new. Everything that she hadn’t used, it’s brand new. She collected everything, all the herbs, plants, seeds and oils that she bought from antique shops and local markets. She gathered them in a pot and warmed it up for a while. That was too much even for her. She thought of herself as a witch but never did something like this before. She didn’t even knew whether it turned out right or not, neither did she knew what to do with that goop. But at least she did something. And now all that’s left was the trustworthy spell. She searched every possible website but all she found were either some childish rhymes or devil worship verses, which were probably fake. She didn’t know what else to do, so she only counted on fate and good luck.

Finally the fatal hour had come. The waiting process was harder and more exhausting than the actual time of darkness. The sky was partly cloudy now and she could see the big moon rising. It was dark yellow, just like the pattern of the clouds in the morning. There were no stars, just the moon and the almost black clouds. That’s it, the negative flow was coming. She decided to lit some black candles on the windowsills, just like in the legend of kelts. On one of the windowsills she saw a little pot which she didn’t remember putting there. She immediately thought of the brew. It should be placed on the windowsills for protection. Hopefully it would help.

Nothing happened for a while. Then she heard the voice of the thunderstorm though the sky was only partly cloudy. The lights started to flicker and even the cat started hissing and seemed to feel that something bad is going on. She was sitting in the couch wearing the ring and other amulets for protection. All the books, notebooks and diaries laid out on the floor right in front of her. The cat approached to one of the half-empty diaries of her grandma and started meowing. She looked closer and saw writings that weren’t there before. She read aloud:

“accept your new powers,

come, take your new gift,

it’s only one hour

for this graveyard shift.

don’t you worry, there’s no need

“I accept it” just repeat

now it’s time for a little bleed

and your powers are guaranteed.

N.

As she finished the last line she had a strange emptiness inside. She didn’t have any feelings, only her mind and logic were working. The rhymes were written in her grandmas handwriting and the letter N was here name, Nicole. She got really confused. She thought about the decision of which side to choose. Grandma was a good person, maybe she was trying to help her get to the good side? She had already connected and helped her before through a photo, ouija or wind. It’s her, it should be. It was strange though that she didn’t have any vision or intuition about it. It was like her heart and soul were frozen and she only got her mind, which was telling her to say it.

I accept it. The lights started to flicker harder, half of the candles blow off, a few glasses fell down and broke.

I accept it. The lightning stroke right above the building and the lights went off. Everything started shattering as from an earthquake.

I...she couldn’t finish. The cat jumped on her and started to scratch her. She fought back and threw the cat away. She wanted to continue but felt warmness above her mouth. It was blood, dark almost black. She looked down at the notebook and saw the same lines but in other handwriting, also written in blood. Instead of the letter N she saw an old symbol, symbol of evil, demons, darkness. She finally realized that she was trapped but didn’t know what to do. She was paralyzed and numb, her heart kept quiet. Her mind was telling her the same words over and over again “I accept it, accept it, accept it” and these words were sliding from her brain into her tongue tempting her to say it. She was half possessed but something within her was trying to got through it. If only she got the spell. She was trying to made her mind work on her side. If the evil and demons were the darkness, what would be the weapon against it? Light. She started to think of light, tried to see it with her third eye, which was extremely hard considering the facts that she was half possessed and it was a total darkness in the room. But she was trying to do her best. Light, light, light. God please help…

That’s when it hit her. The opposite of evil it’s not just light. It’s God. The trustworthy spell was…the Lord’s prayer. Something that never failed or betrayed. She started to say it in Latin. It was hard really hard, every word was causing her indescribable pain, she was feeling a bitter taste of blood in her mouth and couldn’t breathe. Two times said, only one left.

…Quia tuum est
regnum,
et potestas,
et gloria in saecula.

Amen.

She fell down on her knees. She finally felt her body, she felt her heartbeat, her pulse. She saw a bright white light, though she wasn’t sure whether that was in reality or just in her head. The candles got lit again, the earthquake stopped, the thunderstorm started to move far far away. The lines on the notebook disappeared only leaving a blood spot in the place of the symbol.

It took her some time to regain consciousness. And then she finally understood everything. She was waiting for some demons or ghosts or human like someone, but it was all the matter of energies. They always existed side to side, just like yin and yang. She couldn’t destroy it, no one could, the world would get in chaos then. The energies were in an eternal fight for souls for ever. The dark side seduced people with wealth, love, powers, fulfillment of all desires. Sadly lots of people bought that and became the carriers of darkness. The light side didn’t offer anything in particular. Just a fair life, and a fair death at the end. And the higher energies or God, as people liked to call him, would always be there, always protecting and leading to the best place. She had read about it, but she didn’t know that the energies could obtain physical powers and posses or paralyze people. She always thought it was on psychological level and it was people’s choice. The brew and heirloom would protect her and nothing would happen if she hadn’t read the rhymes. But as she read them, the energies gained their complete power and control over her body, mind and soul. The heirloom and brew couldn’t further help her, that’s why she needed all the three ingredients including the spell, just to be safe in any case.

She felt stupid for not understanding anything about the energies and their power earlier, as now it seemed so simple and easy. After she turned 21 she could constantly feel some kind of battle inside and outside her. She would face some strange dark things. There were times that she gave up and accept a little part of seduction from the dark side. But she always felt herself bad afterwards and regretted it and did everything to atone for whatever she did. But now it was finally over. She choose the right side. And she felt so good and at ease. It was strange but she also felt like she gained more powers accepting the light side.

She cleaned up the house, fed and thanked the cat for the interference in the perfect time and went to sleep, leaving the brew and candles to burn out the last traces of evil from the house.