Screams reverberated in Eva's head as she relived the final hours leading up to this moment. She pounded the walls of the makeshift grave in which she was confined, yet silence was all tha escaped her mouth. Eva was terrified. She had no way of knowing if the bomb strapped to her body was real or not....she could just hear its incessant tick-tocking, reminding her of another moment passing her in time.
And quaint old Mrs Peabody from next door? Her twin sister? Eva had vague recollections of a sister when she was younger, but she always thought it was just wishful thinking on her part, having grown up an only child. Now she knew different. Mrs Peabody - Emma - had harboured so much hatred towards her and her mother that she had stalked her and moved in next door, waiting for the right time to strike! But why? It wasn't her fault. She was just a baby, a child.
But somehow none of that seem to matter anymore, because the end result was still the same. Emma wanted her to pay. Tick-tock on the clock; tick-tock, time marches on.
As Eva regained her memory from just before everything went black, she recalled how she had tried to appeal to Emma's common sense, wherever that was right now. “Mrs Peab.... sorry, Emma... please don’t go yet. We... we must be able to talk reasonably as grown-ups about this. Wh...why are you doing this to me when you know very well it wasn’t my fault? We were just babies at the time. How.... how could you possibly believe I could have done something about it?”
“I couldn’t find our mother, as no one would tell me her name or where she lives now, but you were quite easy to find. Searched on the Internet, found your webpage.. yup, that was it!".
Goodness! My webpage! Eva recalled how Emma's statement had made her pant. She hadn’t been on the Internet for long, and hadn’t learned much about Internet security.
“But why do you think killing me would change anything? Why so vengeful? There’s no way to change history you know.” .
“Oh, stop it! Do you think all this talk will have any effect on me, after all these years?! Are you a psychiatrist or what??”
“I just wanted to see if I could make you see things more clearly. Killing has never solved any problems.”
Eva tried her best to keep calm. But all she could hear was the monotonous tick-tock. The clock kept tick-tocking towards what seemed to be unavoidable now. Eva couldn't see what it said. How much time did she have left?
Eva strained in the darkness to scrunch herself enough to remove the wires binding her feet. If she could only get her hands down a couple more inches. Eva knew she needed a clear head to figure this out, but she felt herself starting to panic. How Eva wished she could read the clock on the bomb. She tried to roll onto her side, she was more flexible that way, but it was no use. The makeshift coffin Emma had placed her in was too small.
Tick-tock, tick-tock. Eva wanted to smash that clock, it was getting on her nerves. The more tick-tocking she hear, the more panic set in until she could barely hear herself think. Her head was full of tick-tocking. Why had Emma not just asked her for their mother's address? That would have given Eva time to call the police and warn her mother as well.
Then something Emma had said popped into her head, "tick-tock, tick-tock, turn back the clock." Was there a way to turn back time, Eva thought? She racked her brain trying to think of anything that might help her. Suddenly, she remembered, Eva’s mother had taught her an ancient magic that was as real as the sun in the sky.
Would she be able to remember enough to fix this? It had been so long since Eva had even thought about that childhood magic. She had lost interest in High School, though her mother had tried to keep teaching her.
Tick tock, tick tock...
Then it came to her. Eva remembered the words of the spell her mother taught her many years ago. She said that it was very powerful and required both will power and stamina. It was to be used only when all else failed. The spell called for a reversal of the present time sequence to a moment in the past, usually not more than twenty-four hours. Eva had to concentrate on reversing the direction of time, of turning the clock back.
In her cramped condition, Eva tried to relax her body, visualizing herself floating in the air. She willed herself to forget the ticking sound and concentrated on the words of the spell, visualizing each sentence as they came to her mind.
"I call upon the West Wind
Rushing waters, flow back time.
I call upon the South Wind
Firey sun, burn back time.
I call upon the East Wind
Raging whirlwinds, blow back time.
I call upon the North Wind
Grounded Earth, turn back time.
Repeal the night, keep shadows at bay,
Restore the early light of yesterday.
This I will,
This I believe,
SO MOTE IT BE!"
Tock...tick, tock...tick...
Eva wasn't aware that the ticking suddenly stopped. The tremendous effort of the spell used the last of Eva's strength and she fell into an exhausted sleep. Somewhere in her dreams she could hear an alarm clock going off. Tick...tock, tick...tock.
Eva opened her eyes and looked around her. It worked! After all these years this magic trick still works! She bolted upright in bed as her thoughts began processing the previous events at top speed.
Mother! We need mother here. She needs to be dealing with mother, not me! Eva thought of how she could get their mother here on such short notice, and that’s when she remembered the other magic trick she had taught here long ago.
“Any time you are in peril, my darling, all you need to do is call on me and I will be at your side. Anytime, do you understand, my darling?” mother would say.
“Yes, mother,” Eva would always reply obediently, for her mother was always so very serious when she taught this trick, as if she knew some day it would be needed. Now everything is making sense.
“All you do is repeat these words, three times. Understand Darling? Three times;
Rain or shine,
Mother of mine
I need you here
For danger is near”
Eva repeated the words aloud as she recalled them in memory, three times as her mother instructed.
The clock ticked again, in time with a rapping at the door. Eva ran down the hall way and swung the door open to find her mother standing there. This magic stuff is wild she thought to herself, I guess I should have paid closer attention to mother instead of thinking she was crazy.
Evelyn, Eva’s mother, didn’t even give her time to speak. As she pushed passed her in the doorway these words flowed from her lips, “I guess your sister has found us?”
Eva just stood there looking at her. How could she? How could this woman who raised me, who was so good to me, do such a thing.
“I guess you would like an explanation. I was hoping this day would never come, but I guess I always knew it would.”
“Just tell me mother, tell me why you separated me from my twin? Why is she so filled with hate and why is it directed at me?”
“You were also so good Eva and Emma…well she was just the opposite. I had to do something before it was too late; I couldn’t let her hurt you. You may not understand now, but you will in time.”
There’s that word again…time….you always think it will never run out and suddenly the clock tocks it’s last chime.
“Magic has been in our family for years Eva, I tried to teach you but you ignored my teachings, thinking I was crazy. Emma was aware of her powers early on in life. However, her magic was used for evil instead of good, which goes against everything which had been handed down in our family for generations.”
“Evil…evil you say? She was just a baby. She couldn’t have been more than two when you sent her away!”
Eva knew that these powers were strong in her hearts of hearts. She couldn’t understand how at only two her sister could already know her powers so well, or how her mother knew this too. This really bothered Eva.
Eva felt that good or bad her mother could have tried harder to keep them together. Eva couldn’t help but to feel that maybe her sister was bitter from having been sent away from her mother and twin. She had to continue trying to get answers from her mother.
“Mother, I simply don’t understand this. How could my twin know her powers at such an early age?” Eva said concerned
“My dear you because you decided not to listen to my teachings, I am not sure that I can make you understand this at all,” Her mother said in a rather stern tone.
Eva was determined to understand, she had felt powers of her own kind through the years.
“Try me mother, I need to know why you felt that you needed to separate us at the age of two.”
While saying this, her mother could feel a very powerful force from Eva, but she couldn’t make out rather this was a bad force or a good force.
“My dear Eva, I since that you have a very powerful force within you. I don’t want to disappoint you. So, in order for you to know everything I am going to tell you exactly what you need to do to get all the information you would ever want or need. It is a meditation chant, that you do while holding your sister’s hands,” Her mother said in a strong yet soft voice.
Eva wasn’t sure about this but was willing to try anything. She listened as her mother told her the chant.
When she was sure she had the chant correct, she asked the question that was burning in her mind.
“How do I get Emma to agree to do this?”
“She believes she’s still in hiding so invite her for tea on your patio. I’ll place a potion in her tea to make her cooperative. Take her hands and start the chant, her mind will be open for you.”
Eva did as her mother asked and as she watched “Mrs. Peabody’s” eyes become glassy from the potion, she took her hands and began the chant. She felt Emma trying to pull back, but Eva hung on tight until the words pulled them both under, together they drifted in a thick swirling mist. She knew Emma for her sister, but she also saw the darkness the overwhelmed and controlled her. She knew that darkness had always been with Emma, teaching her, guiding her down the evil path and now it was reaching for her.
She heard the screams and the hideous laughter, but the mist concealed the way out. When she thought she was lost, she hear her mother’s voice – coming over a great distance – softly weaving a path for her exhausted mind to follow.
Come oh daughter
Of my spirit, mine
Follow my voice
Tick Tock in time
Don’t permit evil
To grasp your hand
Just follow the path
Like sea shells in sand
Eva released Emma’s hands and heard a roar of rage and a scream of pain. She turned her mind and followed her mother’s voice to her shaded patio where she and her mother sat alone.
She felt dazed and disoriented as if she had been asleep for a long time. “Where is she?” She whispered.
“Who would that be, dear?” Her mother asked gently.