Breathe

“And then? Who are you talking to?” Mila asks, she’s looking at me confused and she’s done getting dressed.

I look around and there’s no-one. I squint my eyes trying to process what the hell just happened. She waves her hand in front of my face.

“Hello?” Mila says, trying to bring back my attention to her.

“There was someone here,” I say, and she looks at me like I’m crazy.

“No, the only person here is you and you talking to yourself,” Mila says, I frown confused. Was I dreaming this Sybil person?

“Where’s your housemate?” I ask, and she shrugs.

“I don’t have a housemate yet Joy. Are you ok? Are you having second thoughts about this visit?” Mila asks me, I shake my head no.

“Lets just go. I’m sorry” I say, she still looks at me worriedly but doesn’t say anything.

“if you no longer want to do this J-“ Mila starts off, I cut her off.

“I want to do this. I’m searching for answers and there’s only one way to get them.” I say, she doesn’t argue and leads the way.

We request a taxi to drive us to this location. The drive to the place is quiet and the place itself is in an isolated landmark. We walk over to the intercom, there’s a long driveway leading to a huge mansion. This person clearly has all the money in the world if this is their house. The name we got was ‘Dr Walmer’, don’t even know if we are seeing a man or woman and our driver was not as helpful as it was his first time coming here.

“Yes,” someone says, from the intercom.

“Hi, my name is Joy. I called earlier; I have a meeting with Dr Walmer.” I speak. There’s silence before the gate swings open. Mila and I look at each other before we walk into the yard and head up the driveway to the huge brick house. A woman in a cleaner’s uniform walks out and waits for us to reach the patio. We greet her and she welcomes us into the house and then we head into a huge modern open space, there’s grey tiles on the floor, white walls with weird art hanging on them.

“Please do wait in the lounge. Can I offer you anything to drink?” the lady asks, we look at each other and shake our heads no as she leads us to the lounge.

The lounge has a glass sliding door that leads out black to a beautiful green yard with different flowers and a huge crystal blue rectangular pool. There are grey couches in the lounger, small square glass table sitting in the middle of the lounge and then there’s small ottoman’s sitting beside the couches. It’s beautiful, very beautiful and whoever this person is must make a lot of money to be in this business.

“Ladies,” a man’s voice says, we turn behind us to see what I can call the most beautiful man I have ever laid my eyes on. He’s wearing slim fitted navy black tailor-made pants, black formal shoes, a powder blue shirt with the first two top buttons unbuttoned and his hair is jet black, neatly combed to the back and tied into a small low ponytail, his t-shirt sleeves are rolled up neatly revealing his tattoo’s but I can’t really tell what they are, but they look good on him. he doesn’t look a day over 30, I wonder what he does?

“Dr Walmer,” I say as we both stand up, I guess Mila is as mesmerized as I am.

“Nice to meet you both. I don’t want to waste any of our time with unpleasantries. Miss Joy please do follow me, your friend is safe.” Dr Walmer assures me, I look at Mila who nods without argument.

He leads us out of the lounge and into a passage beside the stairs. He opens a black door with some prints on it and then he leads us down a stairway and into what I am assuming to be the basement. He opens the door and leads us inside. I should probably fear him but for some reason I don’t. We walk candles light up the entire room, I have never seen this many candles before. The room has a lot of books, old and rusty books that look like they could fall apart any second.

“Welcome to my layer, please get comfortable.” Walmer says, I look around and there aren’t any chairs.

“You’ve come to me seeking answers,” Walmer says, turning to me carrying a glass with white substance in it. “Please step into the circle,” he says, I do as told and then he walks around pouring whatever is in the glass tracing the circle on the floor. He returns the glass to where it was and then he turns to me and walks inside the circle.

“What is this?” I ask referring to the white stuff on the floor.

“This is salt, it’s meant to keep evil away and to also keep us inside this circle. I’ve cast a boundary spell, once we start reading you and finding answers that you are looking for, we cannot afford any disturbances. We will be communicating with your ancestors to help us find the answers you seek” Walmer explains and I nod.

“Give me your hands,” he instructs, I place my hands into his. I don’t miss the shock on his face. “You’re a witch” he says, and I chuckle.

“No, I’m not. Witches don’t exist.” I say proudly.

“But you are Joy. You are from along line of the greatest most powerful witches off all time, you are from the Leiria bloodline. Your father’s side of the family is a family of powerful witches, your father turned his back on his coven before you were born and as a means to punish him his gift was taken away from him” Walmer says, his eyes still closed.

“And what about my sister?” I ask him, I mean if I’m a witch then surely Faith is also one, right?

“Your sister is not your father’s child. You and her have different father’s, her father is a hybrid,” he says and drops my hands.

“What is it?” I ask, the look on his face could be mistaken for fear.

“You have to leave!” he commands.

“Why? What else did you see?”