Dream Shop

Jeanne was standing in an empty space filled with white light, so bright that it hurt her eyes. Jeanne looked down at herself; she was wearing a pure white dress, not the green shirt and jeans that she last remembered. She grimaced, shielding her face with her arm. Jeanne opened her mouth to speak only to find her voice unable to come out.

Hello? Is anyone here? She wanted to say, but not a single noise was made. Panic rose in the pit of her stomach, and she looked around frantically for anything that might indicate this was a dream. Then she spotted a figure from a distance—a man dressed entirely in white, his back to her.

Slowly, his head turned to look at her. Her heart stopped.

“Reid!” she screamed, running desperately to him. It was him, still alive and well. Yet, there was something different about him. He didn’t smile when he had taken notice of her. Nothing. His eyes were dead and cold. But she knew it was him, the person who was more important than life.

“Reid,” she called again, her hands outstretched to grasp him. Her fingertips grazed the sleeve of his shirt, as she stumbled forward and fell—but not before clutching with all her might.

“Reid.” She looked up with swelling eyes, but only to find that she was unable to breathe once again.

Instead of holding onto his hands that were once warm with life, she was looking down at her own as his corpse fractured and broke into thin lines that eventually spread through the surface of his skin. His body exploded in a swirl of petals before her very eyes. She could only watch as the crimson, blood-stained petals scattered all around her, clouding the tears that streamed silently down her face.

“Reid!” she screamed.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Even as her eyes shot open, Jeanne found herself struggling to catch her breath. Through blurry eyes, she saw a woman’s figure near the window, her back faced her. A small noise stirred her alarmingly. A cat meowed.

Her eyes flickered toward the dark shape snuggling against her arm. A cat stared back at her with intelligent, golden eyes; his black coat was soft against her cold, clammy skin. The animal rose and hopped down her bed toward the stranger, circling around her feet.

“Thank you, Kira,” she said quietly.

The woman turned her attention from the window to her, smiling pleasantly. “Ah. You are finally awake,” she said in her velvety voice.

“I…I recognize you,” Jeanne said gingerly. “You’re the witch.”

Estrella nodded knowingly. “I suppose you should be. It seems your memory has recovered somewhat.”

“I also…I also know…” she stuttered, struggling to find the right words to explain the confusing images that stumbled through her mind like a broken train track. She didn’t know which was real and which was her dream.

“What do you know, Jeanne?” the witch inquired, tipping Jeanne’s chin with a slender finger. Jeanne stared into those enchanted eyes, and immediately, a single image dominated her mind like a clear picture reflecting in a mirror.

“That Reid isn’t my brother,” she finished. “He’s not.”

“That is correct, my dear,” the witch verified without hesitation. “And what will you do now that you know that fact? Might I ask?”

“I made a contract with you, didn’t I?” she asked uncertainly. “As long as he is alive, I am fine with anything.”

The witch smiled thinly, a hint of malevolency lingered at the corner. “But it seems like the contract has encountered a fault. Now that you remember him.”

“How can that be?” she exclaimed. “What happened to him? Didn’t you promise to keep him safe? I didn’t even remember everything, except…”

“Except what, Jeanne?” Estrella urged.

Jeanne faltered and fell back at the horrifying realization. Then her expression saddened as her tears fell again. “That I love him,” she said.

Estrella glanced sideways at the broken girl, who had collapsed in a pitiful heap on the floor. She gathered her skirt and crouched down before Jeanne; her hands, though hesitant, reached to comfort the girl, who after all was only human. Estrella couldn’t remember how it was to be a human.

“The man you love has made his decision,” she told Jeanne. “And what about you, Jeanne, which path will you choose?”

She stared at Estrella, finding nothing but solemnity in those lilac eyes. She curled her hands into a fist, determined to never again lose the things that were most important to her. “I choose him.”

A lone dark figure, silhouetted by the twilight, stood still at the edge of the bridge, staring down at the dark water bellow. A gentle breeze stirred the waves and swayed the bridge that had been left rusted and unused for years. Reid gripped the railing, which was shaking on its loose hinges at the slightest turn of the wind. He felt his body leaned dangerously against the railing, as if the wind itself was telling him to jump and end it all. He closed his eyes, his mind wandered back to the moment it all changed.

They had found themselves running from their pursuers, to this very bridge, empty and devoid of humans’ presences at the time. Her father had stepped out of the car, his expression stiff with anger and hidden fear. One of his guards pulled out a gun from under his shirt and aimed it at Reid. Her father raised a hasty hand to stop the man, but it was too late. A loud bang shook the bridge, but it was drowned out in Reid’s ears as the pain that ruptured through his body shocked the senses out of him.

His hand, linked to Jeanne’s, loosened from its firm grip. He fell backward against the railing, where it snapped and broke away from the flat, bringing him down with it. The last thing he saw was her horrorstruck face, stained with tears and his own blood. She reached desperately for him.

But he never took it.

Reid squeezed his eyes tight only to blink them open again. He heaved a sigh, trying a stop his hands from trembling. “Damn it,” he muttered quietly.

Remember what you promised me, boy. He heard a voice spoke to his mind and shivered despite himself. Since the very beginning, he knew what the witch was capable of. She possessed powers that could fulfill your wildest dream, and at the same, destroy everything you ever held dear. But they had made a deal, and Reid was a man of his words. Even if he despised her, it wouldn’t make a difference whether he was alive or not.

Comforted by the thought, he braced himself and leaned his body over the railing.

“Reid!” a voice, so very familiar, cried shrilly. He whipped his head to look at no one else but her. Jeanne.

Suddenly, he forgot what his purpose was for coming here and took a step toward her. “Jean—“The name broke to pieces in the base of his throat. He fell back against the railing as if feeling his life was being threatened by her appearance.

She stopped dead in her track, afraid that he would jump dared she to approach him. “Don’t,” she pleaded. “Please don’t.”

Reid only glared at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I know what happened here,” she said, her voice quivering. “But it doesn’t have to end that way. We can change it. We can change destiny.”

“Destiny?” he sneered. “My destiny had ended already. My destiny was to rot under that river long ago…” He hesitated, but she waited for him to finish. “I’m not supposed to be alive.”

“But you are, Reid,” she said carefully. “Who else am I talking to, then?” And she opened her arms wide, inviting him in without conditions, without any doubt or regret.

She smiled at him, and somehow, he found himself running to her, burying her in his embrace, clinging on to her as if she was his last life line. “I love you…I love you,” he whispered over and over again.

“Then stay with me,” she said, resting her head against his chest.

Tick tock…Tick tock.

“…3 2 1. And time’s up.” The two turned in surprise at the voice that crept up on them. Estrella, the witch, was perching on the bar uphold by the fragile beams, yet it stood still and steady under her weight. She sat crossed legs, her elbow propped on her lap, her hand curled under her chin haughtily. She was turning over a pocket watch in her hand, amusing herself while watching the scene unfurled before her.

Reid instinctively threw himself before Jeanne. “What do you want? Are you making sure that I’m dead? Is that why you’re here?

She glanced at him, smiling her enigmatic smile. “I do not take pleasure in concerning about such trivial matter. And by the look of it, you have no intention on jumping now, do you?”

Reid swallowed his pride. “That’s right. I don’t want to die. What can you do about that?”

Estrella observed them thoughtfully. Reid could hear his heart thumping in his ears. Those lilac eyes were incredibly bewitchingly beautiful, yet he feared looking into those eyes that seemed to be able to see through his soul. She averted her gaze and sighed, shrugging imperturbably.

“Oh well. I guess there’s nothing I can do about that,” she admitted bluntly.

Reid almost tripped on the flat ground. He had expected her to grow claws and rip him to shreds. But this? Was it only his imagination or did she seem uninterested in the whole situation.

“What?” he stammered.

“I said you don’t need to die anymore, since the time I had given you had ended with you still alive and well,” she explained, not without a hint of impatience.

“What?” he repeated.

“Isn’t that great, Reid.” Jeanne beamed at him. “We did it. We changed destiny.”

“But…how? I don’t understand.”

“Your appearance is quite misleading,” she remarked. “By exchanging her memories for your safety, she had delayed the moment of your death. There…” She pointed at the railing a distance away. “Have you jumped, the wheel of time would have continued on its course.

“However, at the very last moment, you chose a different path.”

He looked down at Jeanne in confusion. “Your memories? You remembered everything?”

She shook her head, smiling weakly. “No. Not all of them.”

“And she never will,” Estrella said. “It was the price she had to pay. I had not been able to foreseen that she would break through the spell.”

“Even so,” Jeanne said, holding his hand. “I want to start over again. I love you, Reid. I just know it. More than you think.”

“What about your father? He will never accept it.”

“We’ll try to persuade him,” she said. “What happened to you was because of our recklessness. We ran away without even talking to him.”

For her, of course he could do anything. Reid leaned in to rest his forehead on hers. “Let’s take our chance.”

Estrella turned on her heels and marched away from the two lovebirds. She had seen all that she wanted to see. “Let’s go, Kira,” she said to the cat ambling by her side. Very slowly, the black cat morphed and became Kira, Estrella’s very own assistant.

“You are very kind, Mistress,” he said affectionately. “Even though you claimed to have taken her memories, you had purposely placed a mild spell on her. Furthermore, you knew she would recover them.”

The witch chuckled. Being a cat was truly in his blood. He was perceptive despite his looks. “I do not lie, Kira. I cannot see into the future, I merely thought that she might. Besides, a human body could only handle so much amount of magic. I saw no need in using a strong spell on her.”

“You are concerned about her, though.”

“She was a customer, Kira,” she replied. “One of many.”

Kira smiled at her. “It is another happy ending. And you were the one who helped them.”

“There will be a long road ahead before the end,” she said. “They will have to continue struggling with life. You’ll never know how it will end.” She placed a finger on her lips, as if whispering a secret she could not reveal.

“I’m sure it will be worthwhile in the end.”

“Perhaps,” she said to herself. “Perhaps not.”

And they stepped down the bridge, toward the setting sun, eventually fading in the glowing light.

“Kira,” she called. “When we get back to the shop, please make me some tea.”

“Yes, of course. What would you like?”

“Green tea. And a lot of cookies. I have a feeling the tea will not be put to good use.”