Spirits and Sorrows

Heather pounded on Hannah’s door as loud as she could. She was scared to death since she hadn’t heard anything from Hannah or Peter in nearly four days which wasn’t like them.

Hannah hadn’t shown up for work which wasn’t like her, she rarely missed work and would always let them know if she couldn’t come in. She’d gotten a call from Carrie saying she hadn’t heard from Hannah either, which spiked Heather’s concern. It was out of character for Hannah not to call or let her sister know she was okay for three days.

As pissed as Heather was at Hannah for their fight a few weeks ago, she was still worried about her. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to her and at the moment their fight was irrelevant. She just wanted to know if her friend was okay.

Across the hall, a middle-aged woman with crazy red hair sticking out in all different directions poked her out of her door and glowered at her. “Keep it down! My grandkid is trying to sleep!”

In the woman’s apartment, a baby could be heard starting to cry and the woman gave Heather an evil look and slammed the door shut. Heather winced and mouthed ‘Sorry’ to the door.

Odette got off the elevator to the door and walked down the hall to her. “I talked to the building manager and lied and said I was Hannah’s mom. She said Hannah hadn’t been seen in a few weeks. Has she answered her door?”

“No. I’ve been at it for almost ten minutes. Do you have a key or anything?”

“No, but I have a way to get inside.” They both looked up and down the hallway in case anyone was nearby. When the coast was clear, Odette whispered an unlocking spell, and the door opened.

They walked into the apartment and looked around. Neither of them could find Hannah or Peter. It looked normal, with nothing to indicate foul play or anything else happening. It looked like Hannah and Peter had just got up and left without a trace.

“Let’s go to the woods,” Odette said and they went to their spot in the woods.

They arrived at the spot and saw the forest ground was covered in burn marks. Heather could sense magic heavy in the air. Powerful magic had taken place and she knew it had to do with Hannah and Peter.

She watched as a slow smile crept over Odette’s face. “They did it.”

Heather didn’t have to ask what she meant. “How?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe they got help somewhere else? All I know is they’re back in the Eternal World now.”

“So what now?”

“We continue living our lives. You need to keep packing for Florida and I need to start packing for Indiana.”

Heather gazed at the spot they’d spent so many times at, trying to create a portal, and felt a myriad of emotions. She was hurt and angry Hannah had left - again - without saying a word though she acknowledged that since she kept freezing her out she probably didn’t have a chance to. She was extremely worried about Hannah and Peter and hoped they were okay with whatever they were doing. Weirdly, she was sad that this chapter of her life was over since this had been a prominent part of her life for the past four years and now it was gone. She was happy for Hannah and Peter because they finally got what they wanted - they were back in the Eternal World.

“How’re we gonna tell Carrie? She’s gonna be so heartbroken.”

“We can call her together. It’s going to be a tough conversation and we’ll be there for her whenever she needs it. We need to tell her parents too.”

“Why? They’ve massive assholes.” Heather couldn’t stand Hannah’s parents for the way they’d treated her. She didn’t think they deserved to know anything after the way they’d frozen her out of their lives for the past four years.

“I know but they’re still her parents. They have a right to know.”

“I guess so,” Heather begrudgingly agreed, knowing Odette had a point but still felt that the Carsons didn’t have a right to know anything about the daughter they hadn’t communicated with for the past four years.

Odette put an arm around her shoulders and led her away. “C’mon, we’d better get it over with.”