Emilia was told as a child that she was magical, but she never believed in magic. Until she turned eleven. Her grandfather was sick in the hospital with two days left to live. Emilia’s face had been soaked with “tears” because her mother had instructed her that she needed to at least look sad.

It’s not like Emilia was a jerk, she _was _sad. Just not that sad. Her grandfather had always been around, but he was either in the garage playing on his drum set, or in front of the TV. They barely had any interaction whatsoever.

She had felt awful for her mother though, who could barely keep a straight face for a couple of minutes. She had been a mess. That’s why Emilia had agreed to say a “proper goodbye” to her grandfather.

The hospital monitor beeped as he recited the “magic oath” and passed his magic to her. Of course, Emilia didn’t believe a word he said. “Granddad, I’m too old to believe in baby stuff anymore! I’m eleven!” she had cried.

Despite herself, once the clock hit noon on December fourteenth, her birthday, magical chaos erupted. The slice of cake she had cut into a perfect triangle turned to gold. Since then, magic has done nothing but make her life more worrisome.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

At the age of 25, Emilia had now learned to keep her magic under control. She had stopped using it ever since that incident occurred. Her magic had become a memory of the past. Now, she had her career and her schoolwork to stress over.

And, this untimely and unexpected text from her old friend, Stephanie.

Stevie: Emi, I have something important 2 ask u. Meet at our usual cafe at 5? Plz🫶🏼🫶🏼

Stephanie(Stevie) and Emilia had been friends since they were four. But they were the kind of friends who never texted. They always called. They also hadn’t seen each other since college ended.

_What was this about?_

Emilia started bouncing her leg, and ways things could go wrong were flooding her mind.

She knew she should say no.

But yet, there was a part of her that was curious to know.

She texted back: Stevie! Sure, sounds great!

Dread seeped into her heart as she gritted her teeth nervously.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The cafe was smaller than she remembered, but it brought back a nostalgic feeling that made her heart beat faster with every passing moment.

“Emi!” A voice nearby yelled. She looked up. Stevie.

Emilia couldn’t believe it. She looked so different. She had pink hair, and huge bags under her eyes. Hee smile looked strained.

“Stevie…” she started but Stevie put her hand up.

“I know I look awful.” she said sitting down across from her “Something really bad happened, and I… I’m going to need your help to fix it. Your magic, specifically.”

Emilia stiffened.

“Steph, I… I quit that service. I’m not going back.”

“Emilia, I lost everything. Just because of something I said. I lost Barnie. It was over a stupid thing. All you’d have to do is go back in time and stop that stupid thing from coming out of my mouth.”

“What was it?” She couldn’t help asking.

“Uh… look I’ll tell you everything if you agree.”

She took a deep breath “The last time I used my magic I ended up upside down for a week.” The memories of her having to sleep in a handstand position came rippling back.

Stevie chuckled, surprising Emilia. “I remember” she said “but the least we can do is try right? Just try. If it doesn’t work, I won’t bother you again.”

Emilia looked down. Her life had been perfectly crafted out before this. Was this going to change it?

It would change Stephanie’s. And truth be told, with her family being miles away, Stevie was the one person she had. If there was one person she’d risk her life for, it would be Stevie.

So she grudgingly said “All right.”

Stevie’s eyes immediately softened, water appearing on the edges. “Thank you, Emi.” she said, squeezing her in a hug.

Emilia smiled. As crazy as this request was, she missed Stevie’s hugs. So much.

It felt so good to be hugged again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

A few days later, Emilia and Stevie were in her room. Stevie had told her that Barnie and her had gotten in a fight, and Stevie had accused him of cheating, which had broken his trust. Stevie seemed way too desperate to get him back, in Emilia’s opinion, but she had went along anyway. She had asked to come over so they could work on preparing the spell. Emilia, once again, had grudgingly agreed.

Fortunately, Stevie was too busy focusing on Emilia’s magic spell book to notice Emilia’s bouncing leg or her chewed up fingernails. The fact that Stevie was in her _room_ was unbelievable to her. The fact that they had gone from texting every few months to this was the weirdest experience.

“Okay” Stevie said “You used to do time travel all the time remember? Like in high school when you forgot your calculator on the day of Mrs. G’s final, you rewinded time and returned with it. That was awesome. You did it like it was a piece of cake.”

Emilia gulped. “Yeah…. but then my arm suddenly got really long and it pulled the fire alarm and we had to all leave the classroom. I was an inch away from suspension.”

“Forget that. You’ll be fine.”

Emilia felt like puking. This all… it all seemed too real now.

Before Emilia could say anything, Stevie got to work on the powder needed to make the spell work. She spread the ingredients out on the counter top which was gleaming. The way Stevie just threw everything in scared Emilia. She would’ve needed everything to be perfectly precise. It was just another side affect of her anxiety.

“Whoo! That was easy! Ready Emi?! This is going to be hype! I’m going to get my man back!”

Emilia blinked at her friend’s abruptness. “Stevie, I’m scared. I-“

“_Confidence,_ Emi. Believe in yourself. I’ve got your back. I know what to do if a magic emergency happens.”

Stevie and her mom were the only two people she knew who were educated enough to deal with her magical disasters. Stevie had wanted to learn, and her mom had already known because of her grandfather.

Emilia opened her mouth to speak, but was too late. Stevie shoved a mouthful of powder in her mouth.

Everything started spinning. Emilia was used to this feeling of dizziness, so she let herself fall. Soon she was flying.

“Emilia?” a voice said. It was the God Of Magic.

She’d forgotten about him. “Hi.” she said.

“Been a while, darling. You’ve grown.”

She smiled. He had too. His long beard was longer now and the wrinkles on his ghastly skin were deeper.

“Darling, I’m here because I wanted you to know, before I can get you to the memory that needs fixing, you will have to go through a few of Stevie’s other memories.”

_Oh dear… _

“Any way I can bypass that?” she asked.

“Magic has a mind of its own, and today, it’s summoning you to do this, so deal with it.”

Emilia flinched at his direct harshness.

“And Emi? I’d like to see you again. More often.”

_In his dreams._

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emilia woke up in a room. Wait no, not a room.

A dorm.

The younger version of Stevie was sitting on her bed watching TV. She didn’t look up, so Emilia assumed she was invisible.

She heard the door creak open. College Stevie yelled “Emi! In here!”

Emilia’s heart dropped as she laid eyes on her old self. Her hair was long. She was wearing a tank top and her face was red and sweaty.

Instead of going to shower, college Emi face planted into the bed and yelled “Argh, I freaking hate Mr. Brawler! He gave me a C on an essay just for not including “specific data”. Why on earth does he need data for something he knows is true?! My grade is slipping so bad, I’m a freaking goner.”

“Mr. Brawler sucks!” College Stevie replied “I hate his essays. You deserve a break. We all do.”

“I asked him for help but he just told me that I should watch online videos. But I tried, and they don’t help at all!” College Emi started sniffing and crying.

Emilia winced, she hated hearing herself cry. She sounded so small and helpless.

That was until College Stevie came over and put her arm around College Emi.

“Hey, I’ll help you.” she said “It’s going to be okay. School sucks, but I got you.”

College Emi wraps College Stevie in a hug and says to her shoulder “Thank you.”

Emilia watched as Stevie turns on a romance movie, suddenly remembering how Stevie always made her feel at home. And safe. She made their gray wall dorm fill up with a comfortable lavender color.

Emilia felt a dull ache in her heart, she missed her Stevie. She longed to be soothed like that right now.

The memory fades away, forcing Emilia’s eyes to close.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emilia wakes up to loud chatter. The lights are dimmed so it takes her a second to realize she’s at a restaurant. She’s sitting on a chair at an empty table which is adjacent to Stevie and Barnie’s table. College Stevie looks a little older and she’s wearing high heels and a hot pink dress. Barnie, her boyfriend, took the seat across from her.

“You look beautiful today Stephanie.” he tells her.

“And you look handsome.”

“I can’t believe I met you three weeks ago. It feels like I’ve known you forever.” Barnie says with this faraway look in his eyes.

Stephanie’s smile lights up her already glowing skin. Her hazelnut eyes sparkle as she replies “Well three weeks is technically 21 days, 504 hours, 30,240 minutes, 1,814,400 seconds, and probably a gazillion more milliseconds. In my opinion, that’s a pretty long time.”

Barnie tosses his head back laughing.

His lighthearted and innocent laugh, it brings Emilia back to a place she had buried deep in her memory.

It brings _him_ back.

Emilia’s heart speeds up.

Her hands start shaking. Her breaths quicken. Her heart throbs in a way that she hasn’t let it throb in a long time.

_I need to get out._ she thought. _Now. _

__

She tried to get up but she’s tied to the chair. She hears his voice. His voice which would soothe her to sleep at night before but now haunts her in a way she could never imagine. She sees his dark doll like eyes. Those eyes that were staring right at her that day they were sitting at an identical table, roses in between them, and they were laughing because his face was red from the “way too spicy” chicken.

Tears slide rapidly down her cheeks as details from that week with him slowly start tearing her to pieces. One by one.

_Freaking Stevie. _Emilia thought. _This is all your fault. _

__

Emilia suddenly hated Stevie’s smiling face. Thinking her hand would go right through the wood, she grabbed Barnie’s chair and pulled.

Her hand didn’t go through the wood. Barnie and Stevie screamed as he fell and hit his head hard against the floor.

Before Emilia could process the horrible mess she just made, Stevie was on the floor. Her smile replaced with horror as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Because Barnie was lying there on the floor, completely paralyzed.__

_……_

Sincerely,

Caralia🫶🏼

If you guys liked this story and want to know more, I’ll continue it! Let me know what you think!

Also, this is almost 2k words, so if you got this far, THANK YOU FOR READING 🫶🏼🫶🏼 sorry it was so long lol. Hope you enjoyed!! You guys are the best!__

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