Chapter. 4 Take the letter.

“Because your memories being returned to you are a sign of the wards failing, and they started to weaken about 2 years ago. Slowly at first, but now they buckle and crumble daily.”

“Hurry.” Yeni started to jerk unnaturally in her seat and thrash in spouts of faster than could be tracked movements. “I’m losing the connection El.”

“Diana?” Elaina looked her right in the eyes with fire in her green orbs. The sense of urgency there rooted the shell shocked woman to the spot. “I know you Diana. We used to learn our craft together as children. Witchcraft. The legacy of our mothers and their bloodline. I’m a Dupree. You’re a Couper. Our families have been allies long the founding of Salem. You have to trust me. Take the letter.” Elaina thrust it at her desperately.

“N-no.” Diana put her hands up and ignored how they trembled. “I-I’m not, no." She took a moment to regain her resolve. "I got out of the cult in Salem. I’m seeing a therapist. I’m doing really well now, and I have my own apartment. I-I’m not crazy and there’s no such thing as-”

Yani howled and her head rolled back to press to her shoulder blades, then snapped back with heavy breathing. …that’s not natural. This isn’t real. I-I can’t breathe. Diana fisted at her chest and her brown eyes welled up with tears.

“Diana. You must want answers. Where did you come from? Why were you sent away? Why have I come for you now? You need to come home, Diana. This letter explains why.” Still she hesitated, and Yeni started to scream at an unearthly high pitch with pain. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want to know. Right now. And I’ll never contact you again. Or? Take the letter.”

“TIME IS UP!” Yani blurred out of focus and the air around the booth crackled with static. Diana’s heart was thundering in her chest and she felt faint with adrenaline.

Crack.

Diana’s brown eyes were wide and she was staring at an empty booth. Everything was light again, as you’d expect it to be at 12 in the afternoon. She heard the chatter of customers and her co-workers behind her, and it was like nothing weird had happened. Not to them. No redhead. No strange blue spirit lady. Diana would have thought she imagined the whole thing…

…if it wasn’t for the thick envelope she had clutched so tightly in her right hand, her fingers ached. Slowly her eyes fell from the seat where Elaina Powell once sat to the letter in her hand. When did…I take it? She must have, as it was in her hand now and weighed enough to make it’s tangibility unquestionable.

“Diana? You okay hun?” Diana flinched and stumbled a step back as she stared at Jenny. She owned the Diner, had more than a few greys peppering her brown hair and had kind blue eyes. She wore the manager badge with pride beside her ‘support our veterans’ badge on her chest.

“…” I…they were here, and now they’re not, and I saw…Diana kept recalling the way Yani glowed and contorted on herself as she maintained the ‘connection’ for her and Elaina. That was…it had to be a…spirit guardian. Like my mother spoke of in my dreams...

“Dear Lord, you look as white as a sheet.” Jenny got her attention and started to walk her away from the booths were the customers could see her. “You’re as white as a ghost Diana.”

“Ha.” A nervous laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it. Ghost is the right word. I think I just saw a damn ghost. “Erm, I’m not feeling too great. Erm, I think I might…yeah I think I need to go throw up. Excuse me.” Diana walked at pace into the back of the diner, to the staff toilets, and threw up. Twice.

After reassuring her boss that she was not A, pregnant, or B, contagious, she was sent home to rest. She’d already worked more shifts than she was meant to that week, so they didn’t mind her taking the afternoon off. She’d lost her tips for the day, but it was a fair trade really. A better deal than most got.

Once home and behind a locked door Diana stripped off and changed into a pair of comfortable pink sleeping shorts and a grey vest. She stood at the foot of her bed and stared down at the thick envelope laid there. She paced and glared at it with accusation in her brown eyes.

Is it a con? But then how would this woman know I was born in Salem and that my last name was Couper? How would she know about witches and spirit guardians? She mentioned the Robinsons. That was another name drop that can’t be a coincidence. Then there was that thing that sat opposite her. Yani.

Diana reached for the letter, hesitated an inch out from touching it, grunted and returned to pacing. It could be from my mother. It could have answers about my childhood. Why was I given up to foster care? Elaina had mentioned it was for her safety. Elaina had said quite a lot in a short period of time. She made it sound like I was in danger, and so was all of Salem. That I had to come back to be safe, and for everyone to be safe. Something about wards? Man my head hurts.

She rubbed her temples and went over to her mini fridge to get a soda. She twisted off the cap and zoned out from her worries for a moment to focus on the cleansing sensation of cold bubbly liquid down gown.

I should call Dr Jones. Diana walked over to her coat hung up on the front of her wardrobe to get her cell, only to hesitate again. But what would he say if I told him a woman and her spirit guardian appeared and disappeared in front of me at work, and left me a letter and a warning? He’d have me committed for sure. Diana groaned and stormed away from the coat. Life was finally getting normal. I was finally in control of everything and getting my crap together, and now this happens.

She threw herself to lay back on the bed and turned ontoher side. She dragged the envelope up the bed and glared at it. “Okay, let’s cut the crap, we both know I’m going to read you. I’m not crazy. That mouthy redhead and her blue ghost woman were really there. I’m not hallucinating. I sure as hell didn’t have a mental breakdown and write this letter to myself.” The letter in her hand was real. It also felt thick enough to be multiple pages.

Elaina promised her answers, and that was what made her reach out and take the letter in the end. “…I…need to know. I have to know.”

Diana sat up, exhaled deeply to brace herself, and then opened the envelope.

The bed beneath her opened up like the middle of her mattress had been melted away instantly, and Diana screamed as she fell straight down through it.