Rebirth

The pounding on my door was rushed and desperate. I let out a deep sigh, finished off my wine glass and opened the door to my sisters. They were carrying a limp man, on holding his feet and one his arms. I stepped to the side and let them in. They shuffled in and dropped him on the living room floor. I flinched seeing his head bounce on the carpet. “There had to be a better way to do that,” I said.

They both shot me a dirty look before plopping on the couch. I poured 3 fresh glasses of wine and served them. Aysha took the glass hesitantly. “You look like you need it. We’ll worry about the morality of me serving a minor later.” With that she chugged the glass.

“Damn,” Jynn said. I snorted and topped off Aysha’s glass before taking a seat and looking down at the man on my floor.

Admittedly, he was cute. Tall, dark brown skin with a bush of curly hair covering part of his face. Obviously too old for Aysha. I looked at her and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Jynn’s leg was shaking so aggressively I thought it might fall off. “Alright Jynn, what happened?”

“I say we leave him dead,” she said while sipping her wine. “I left him alone for all of 5 minutes while I went to the bathroom, he shouldn’t have been out of my room!”

“Ok, so you did invite him over?”

“Yeah, but not so he could hit on my baby sister!” I put my hands up in surrender.

“I am not questioning your choices, just getting the facts. Aysha, fill in the gaps please.” Aysha finally met my eyes. Her glass was already empty again. She took a shaky breath.

“I was watching TV in the living room. He asked me for a glass of water. So, I got up to get him one, but as I reached into the cabinet for a glass, I felt his hand on my butt. I jumped and then there was a loud thud, and he was on the floor, shaking and making this like choking sound.”

Jynn started mimicking the sound and we couldn’t help but start laughing. “It’s not funny!” Aysha yelled. “I killed a guy.”

“He killed himself,” Jynn said. “And it won’t be the first death you cause, hate to tell you.”

“I rather him dead than you hurt,” I added, and Jynn nodded in agreement. “Does anyone else know?”

“No, our mother does not know, if that’s what you mean” Jynn said with an eye roll. “We saw him on the floor, called you and came over.”

“Right, and you carried him. God, I need you guys to learn teleportation.”

“Can we save the lecture on studying when there is not a dead man in the room?” Aysha yelled. I noticed her hands shaking and her eyes watering. I gave her a small smile.

“Sorry. Ok, so we want to bring him back?” I said.

“And send him home,” Aysha added.

“Some would say he is already home,” Jynn joked with a sip of her wine. I playfully pinched her leg as Aysha shot daggers at her. Jynn cried out and clutched her chest.

“Hey, stop that!” Aysha’s eyes softened.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” I laughed.

“Ok, let’s get this over with.” I sat next to the pervert on my floor. His right hand was black, marking how he committed his crime. “Aysha get the white tea light candles out my room.” Jynn joined me on the floor.

“She’s been a real crybaby about this,” she whispered.

“You cried for 3 days when Jimmy Klein kissed you,” I laughed.

“That doesn’t count I was 8!” Aysha came back and placed the candles around our subject, turned out the lights and sat with us. Jynn snapped and small flames lit each candle.

“Just know that you really ruined recess for me that day.” I said. I held out my hands and a small spray appeared in my hands.

“If you can do that, why did I have to go get the candles,” Aysha protested.

“Because I told you to,” I answered.

“Why the bottle?” Jynn asked.

“The way I usually do it is exhausting and I’m trying something new,” I said. “Just close your eyes and focus.”

Jynn and Aysha closed their eyes and began meditating. I watched the candles. The flames weren’t growing. I tuned into Aysha’s head. She was begging that this man opens his eyes. I redirected to Jynn. Silence. She was blocking me out. “This doesn’t work if we all don’t have the proper intent. We do want him to come back to life Jynn.” She sighed and the flames began to grow tall. I took a deep breath.

“A soul has slipped to the other side before his time. Caused by his own disrespectful crime. Nevertheless, bring this man back from his rest.” I sprayed some of my elixir on his hand. His hand slowly returned to its original flesh color. Suddenly, he took a deep gasp, and the candles went out.

“Did it work,” I could hear Aysha ask as she scrambled to the lights.

“He’s breathing,” Jynn said. “We’re in the clear.” The tension in Aysha’s shoulders loosened.

“Oh, thank god,” she said. “Now let’s get him out of here.”

“Don’t thank god, I did the work,” I said. “But I agree, you need to get him out of here.” Jynn and Aysha stared at me. “My specialty is healing work, but we are all capable of teleportation. And if you can’t do it, I suggest you get him out the same way you brought him in.” Jynn rolled her eyes.

“You’re being a bitch, just help us wrap this up.” I grabbed my wine glass and sat on the couch.

“My work is done, you got it from here.” Jynn stared at me until a light bulb burst. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She began pacing but I ignored her and watched Aysha. She was on her knees staring at the man. I thought she was just taking in that he was alive until I saw her eyes.

They were black, even the white in her eyes were gone. I grabbed Jynn and faced her to our baby sister. Veins of black were creeping from under her shirt to her face. She held out a hand over the man’s chest and we watched as black dust seemed to be pulled out of him and absorbed by her hand. She began trembling. I began to move towards her, but Jynn held me back. I began to listen to her thoughts.

Cleanse. Cleanse. Cleanse was repeating over and over. Aysha lowered one hand to raise the other. The man lifted off the floor and was surrounded by white light. The cocoon of light was gently placed back down and Jynn caught Aysha before she hit the ground unconscious. She immediately started gagging. Jynn held her head in her lap. The black veins began receding from her face as black vomit began pouring out of her. It seemed endless, Jynn held her hair and I stood there in shock.

I took another peek into Aysha’s head. Kill it. Her pupils returned to normal, and she was looking directly at me. Kill it. Kill it.

The pile of black waste on my floor began to move. “Jynn,” I whispered. Jynn was rubbing Aysha’s head, ignoring me. The black pile was compiling together. “Jynn!” She shot her head up and her eyes widened. “You have to kill it. Aysha said kill it.” Jynn snapped and the pile was on fire. But it quickly extinguished and what was left was a man-like figure. Similar build to the man wrapped in the light cocoon. Jynn set Aysha on the floor and stood next to me to stare at the obsidian mannequin born from our sister.

“What the hell is that?” Jynn said.

“You’re going to have to touch it,” I whispered. Jynn looked at me like I had just vomited a person. “Fire didn’t work. I know that’s your method of choice. But you have to touch it.”

“How is touching going to help? Maybe we can just stab it or something. Or maybe it’ll just stay like this. This isn’t that bad.”

“Be serious. Trust me, if it doesn’t work, I’ll grab a knife.”

“I am serious! I don’t want to touch the throw up man.”

“Get over it and do it!” The obsidian man opened what I assumed were his eyes. They were all white. No pupils.

“Shit ok!” Jynn immediately crouched down and gingerly tapped the obsidian man on what would be a chest. An ear-piercing shriek filled the room. We covered our ears and the obsidian man burst into shards on the floor. The light cocoon began to fade and reveal the man from before.

Aysha groggily sat up. The man sat up. They sat crisscrossed from each other and looked into each other’s eyes. “Hello, Peter,” she said.

“Hello,” Peter responded.

“Ok what the fuck is happening?” Jynn said. I took in the way Peter looked at Aysha.

“She is rebirth,” I said.

“She’s not rebirth,” Jynn said. “That would mean-”

“That you’re death,” I interrupted. “That’s why that weak poke of yours worked.”

“And you’re life,” she mumbled. “Lucky.”

“None of this is lucky,” Aysha said, still staring at Peter. “We’re the cycle. This is bad.”

“I think it’s cool,” Jynn said. “So, what? We’re like the strongest witches there are.”

“There are already agents of the cycle, don’t you read anything? They kidnap and kill every new reincarnation,” I said.

“I do read, but I think we have a shot,” Jynn said. “We could run it all!”

“I don’t want that,” Aysha said. “I want to at least finish high school first.”

“Who cares about high school?”

“You realize you’re asking for a war?” I yelled. “No. We do nothing. We tell no one. We survive. Understood?” Jynn sucked her teeth but nodded. “Great, for now. Let’s figure out what to do with him.” We refocused on Aysha and Peter who were still sat staring at each other.