Marla Medizza and the Miopsa mirror. Chapters twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-five.

Chapter twenty-three

Fraught futures

The lady turns around to face her. She is old, her face lined. But her eyes are the ones Marla knows. They are the eyes of her younger sister.

‘Can I help you?’

‘Bell, is that you?’

‘I am Bella, but I do not know who you are.’

‘Bell, it’s me!’

‘Look, I am in no mood for games, bugger off will you!’

Marla realises whatever falls from her mouth next will cause the oceans to boil. Tsunamis rise and the earth stops spinning. There was no simple way to utter the words but utter them as she must.

‘Bell, it’s me, Marla.’

The expression on the woman’s face changes from confusion to anger at the flip of a card.

‘Listen to me, you stupid little girl. I do not know who set you up to do this. I am telling you right now, leave me alone. My sisters died many years ago.’

Five words are what it took to stop Marla’s heart from beating. Halt the ticking hands of the clock. Her world imploded beneath her foot.

‘Do you mean sister, you said sisters?’

‘Listen to me, you stupid little girl. I have had enough of this crazy talk. If you don’t bugger off, I am calling the police.’

‘Is everything okay, Bell?’ enquires a tall, handsome man, walking toward them both. He glares at Marla.

‘Yes, Michael, just an idiotic girl playing childish games.’

‘You’re him!’

‘Excuse me?’

‘The reflection in the miopsa mirror, you are him.’

The woman steps over to Marla and grasps her arm ‘Look you, I don’t know what you are doing but I…’

‘Will you just shut up, Bell please,’ snaps Marla, pulling away from her grip.

‘Your favourite band is, or at least was Rogers and Smith Bell.’

The woman steps back. ‘Who are you?’

‘Ask me, Bell, things that only I could know.’

‘I am not doing this with you,’ she walks away.

‘Your favourite flower is the Lilly, your favourite place, St Ives. We played a game we called bunnies’, where we stick socks over our ears and pretend, we were rabbits. You hated seeing me and Stella argue. That day Bell, at nans, the cloaked figure holding my head in the miopsa mirror. You were there, you must remember. Bell, I beg of you, don’t walk away from me. Remember, I gave you my record player and records. I told you I shall return Bell. I am broken,’ Marla weeps, dropping to the floor and shaking.

The woman stops and turns around ‘Marl?’

Marla holds her arms out toward her sister, her face drowning in tears, her heart pumping pain.

‘Marl!’ cries Bella, rushing to her, falling to her knees, and holding onto Marla.

Marla presses her face into a pool of love, she floats in a sea of salty solace.

‘Marl, we thought…., Marla, it’s you, I can recognise your smell, your lovely eyes, soft skin,’ her sister cries, caressing Marla’s face.

‘Bell, I travelled to our house. A stranger answered the door. What happened to our Mam and Stella?’

‘Michael, this my elder sister Marla, the one I have told you of.’

‘But your sister looks so young. I thought you said she was your elder sister?’

‘I don’t know Michael, but I know my sister when I see her.’

‘Bell, I need your help.’

‘You are wearing a vile yellow dress, Marl and you look exhausted, let’s get you home.’

Bella takes her by the hand, and they walk across the shopping centre. Marla explains what has happened to her over the past few days. They enter the car park and clamber into a car heading toward their childhood home. Michael passes it by.

‘Why didn’t Mam stay in our house Bell, where is she? I need to see her?’

The car draws up outside a large house. ‘Come in, sis, let us have a cuppa. We have issues we need to discuss.’

Marla steps out of the car and up toward the front door. She pauses for a moment.

‘Marl, please come in, you have nothing to fear.’

They stroll toward the kitchen, Bella places her shopping bags on the counter.

‘Michael, stick the kettle on please.’

‘So here we are again after these years, Marl. I was in complete shock, we thought…’

‘It is madness. Bell, I left a few days ago. I am so confused. I need to know where our Mam is living?’

The light turns to grey, cobalt skies ashen, happiness succumbs to a sea of despair. Bella looks at Marla, her expression grief-stricken.

‘Mam used to tell of a phone call you had back with her in nineteen eighty-three Marl. Mam convinced herself and me and Stella you were coming home. She placed a candle in the window, calling it her little lighthouse. Saying it shall guide you through the storm and back into her arms.

‘Every day and night she sat at that window, for years, Marl. As the years rolled by, your disappearance took its toll on her.’

‘Bell, what are you saying to me?’

‘There was a full scale search for you, Marla. Your face on the front page and in the news. The problem every time somebody rang the authorities claiming they saw you, the newspapers and media coverage started up again. Mam prayed each occasion that the sightings were real, and you were returning to her. In the end we held a funeral for you, for Mam that was the final straw.’

‘Tell me Bell, I beg of you.’

‘Marl, our Mam passed away. The doctors said she just deteriorated and died of a broken heart.’

‘No, Bell, that’s not true, it’s not true. Tell me, Bell, tell me,’ Marla screams.

‘Marl, I am so sorry,’ she responds, holding her sister in an embrace. Marla falls to the floor; her heart pierced a thousand times by a dagger of dire despair.

‘Bell, I want Mam, I need her to hold me, bring her back Bell please I beg you bring her back,’ she sobs.

The two sisters sit on the kitchen floor for hours, locked in an embrace that Marla cannot release. Marla realises through the anguish. There is something she needs to carry out. The answer to her next question cements her plan in stone.

‘Stella, what happened to her?’

‘Oh Marl, Stella was involved in a car crash back in nineteen ninety-one. She had been out with friends drinking again and drove home. She lost control of the car and collided into a tree. They say her passing was instant, so she did not go through any pain.’

‘Bell, stop it, none of this is real!’

‘I am so sorry Marl.’

‘This future is a load of bollocks, Bell. None of it feels real, which means I can change it. I need to go back, back in time and make everything right again.’

‘But how Marl, you said the orb of light had disappeared.’

Marla recalls the man she met the first time around at the petrol station. The crackpot who sought to murder her.

‘Babulous told me.’

‘Sorry Marl, who?’

She recalls what he said to her.

‘The man from the petrol station, the one who was sitting in the back seat of the car. Is he a time stealer?’

‘Yes Marla, he is, he is one of those that can change time!’

‘But what does he want with me?’

‘He is seeking to alter time. Has anything unusual, out of the ordinary happened to you, Marla dearest?’

‘That’s it Bell. The man at the petrol station I met. He is a time stealer. If we can locate him, he may help me. I must try. I cannot live in this future. The future in my heart and mind is a blank page. I hold the pen; I need to rewrite it, sis.’

‘I will come with you Marl; we will find this man you speak of together.’

‘No Bell, you stay here, you will be safe.’

‘Listen to me, big sister. I have spent decades of heartbreak following the loss of Mam and Stella. Nights spent crying, yearning for your return. I am not losing you again, I am coming with you, end of story!’

‘Bell, if you travel with me, you could lose everything,’ quakes Marla, pointing toward a picture of her and Michael.

‘So be it Marl.’

‘Michael, I am going away with Marla, not sure when I will be back.’

‘Okay, love,’ he acknowledges as they head out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

‘He is in a world of his own, that one. Come on, I need to pack a suitcase.’

Marla and Bella climb the stairs and walk into the bedroom. As much as Marla yearns for her sister to be by her side. She knows her sister is on the precipice of walking through a bleak and deadly door of uncertainty.

‘Bell, are you in love with him?’

‘Who, Michael?’

‘Yes!’

‘Yes, he’s a good egg. Why do you ask Marl?’

‘If you leave here today with me, you may never see him again.’

‘I have longed for this moment to take place for over thirty years, Marl. I am not letting you take this path alone, not again. You may be my elder sister, but for the first time in my life, I am bigger than you. We will fight this battle together, sister in arms, Marl.’

‘Sisters in arms Bell, thank you.’

‘I Just remembered; I kept some things for you. Much more your thing, than that ghastly banana dress,’ she utters, opening the wardrobe door and yanking out a cardboard box.

‘What is this, Bell?’

‘Open it, you will see.’

Marla opens the box ‘Bell, my clothes, but how?’ she asks, pulling out a pair of jeans, hoodie, black t-shirt, dog collar, and boots. She peers into the box.

‘My record player, Bell, but how, why?’

‘I kept them Marl. Not sure why? I guess I just felt if I had them you may come back one day. You did Bell, you came back.’

‘Thank you, Bell,’ says Marla, wiping the teardrops from her sister’s face.

‘Anyhow, I am glad I did, judging by what you are wearing,’ giggles Bella.

Marla walks into the bathroom. She realises that the dark journey before them offers little light. The macabre is out there, lurking in the darkest corners, waiting to pounce. But she will not accept this future. This is not the one she wants and will not settle until she has changed it.

In front of her, a sinister mountain, and she must grasp each rock and climb, even if they come tumbling upon her. Another journey begins, but this time evil has two Medizza sisters to battle. This time, good shall prevail.

Chapter Twenty-four

Sisters and solidarity

‘Perfect. You resemble you again, Marl,’ announces Bella as Marla walks back into the bedroom in her former clothes.

‘I will be home in a few days, Michael, don’t forget to feed the cat and the fish.’

‘I have an A to Z Bell; I have drawn a route.’

‘No need, sis, I will set the route finder up on my mobile phone.’

‘How does it work, Bell?’

‘Oh, my word, you have missed out on so much, Marl. Life has transformed a great deal since the times we sat in your bedroom listening to records on that plastic record player of yours. I can picture it now, me and you lip-syncing, hairbrush in hand.’

‘Ha, the best times ever and judging by the music on your car radio, Bell, the best music, too. Where are the cassettes, Bell?’

‘There are a few things I need to explain, Marl. Prepare to be shocked.’

Bella describes the metamorphosis of the world over the past thirty years. Marla sits and listens in astonishment. From music to media, to food and beyond. Bella crams in as much information as she can.

‘Have you any children, Bell?’

‘Sadly, not Marl. I discovered years ago I wasn’t able to become pregnant.’

‘I am terribly sorry Bell.’

‘I have my hands full with Michael, he is my child.’

The miopsa mirror was correct Marl. It reflected the future perfectly for me. Me and Michael are great together. Oh, I am sorry Marl; I didn’t mean…’

‘It’s alright Bell. I am still puzzled why Cornelius Darkus has targeted me. No doubt I will find out soon.’

‘That name still gives me chills. I have not heard it for decades. I had almost forgotten he existed.’

‘It gives me the shits Bell, every time I think of the name Cornelius Darkus, I want to run for the hills.’

‘Hey Marl, what you were saying earlier about children. Both Michael and I have faced tribulation, but we faced it together. He is a great man, Marl, you two will get along.’

‘I know he is Bell; I can see it in your eyes.’

‘My family is together again. I am overwhelmed, sisters together again!’

The next few hours, they reminisce. Laugh hysterically, catching up on Marla’s days away and Bella's decades alone.

Many hours later, they arrive at the petrol station Marla visited yesterday. They enter, the same man is standing behind the counter.

‘I remember you, from yesterday. I apologise If I startled you.’

‘Hi, again, it wasn’t you that startled me. I need your help. There was a man, he worked here thirty years ago. It's a long shot I know, but I need to find him soon.’

The man behind the counter giggles. ‘hmm let me go through my contact list,’ he responds before proceeding to scan the newspaper on the counter.

‘Let me deal with him, Marla.’

‘Oi, listen up. We need the employment records of everybody who has worked for this company. We need them now!’

‘Sure, okay, I will write the names for you!’ he cusses, shoving his face into the newspaper.

‘Fantastic, you do that, please.’

He looks at them, confusion abounds. ‘Pardon me?’

‘Your offer to write all the names, however, I just need you to write the name of the person who worked here on September, seventeenth,1983.’

‘You are nuts lady, go away before I call the police.’

‘Deci Abranti, tantrimus Fallo,’ commands Bella. The man scribbles frantically on a piece of paper on the counter. Bella snatches at the paper and reads the name.

‘This Victor Valem, where do I find him?’ she asks the man who is in a trancelike state.’

‘One hundred and twenty-seven Montrose Street, Fort William. He worked here for one day, the day you speak of September seventeenth.’

Bella clicks her fingers; the man awakes from his trance.

‘Are you two still here!?’

‘Just leaving, thanks for your help!’ states Bella.

‘Wow Bell, that was amazing!’

‘When you left, I honed my craft. I wanted to protect myself and Michael. I hope it may come in handy in a situation like this one. I am quite an experienced witch now, not that I use spells much anymore unless I want Michael to wash the dishes’ she jokes.

‘Will he be okay, the man behind the kiosk, Bell?’

‘He will be fine, Marl. A little dizzy perhaps but it will wear off in fifteen minutes.’

‘Who would have thought it. Two Mancunian girls on a mission to save the world?’ announces Bella.

‘Do you remember all those years ago when we visited Nan, she said each witch has a supreme power?’

‘I do Marl, yes.’

‘Did you find yours; I mean your supreme power, that is?’

‘I did, would you like to see?’

‘Yes.’

‘Stand back Marl, Deci Abranti Massus liquanti,’ utters Bella, raising her arms in the air. Rain falls from the ceiling. She draws on the droplets, building a water orb the size of a football before casting it into the distance.

‘Wow, Bella, that was unbelievable.

‘I can command water, Marl, rain, rivers, even oceans. It took a long time to identify my potential. Have you uncovered your own unique power, Marl?’

‘Not yet, Bell. You have been practicing for decades. I have only had a couple of days. I am not even skilled at casting spells. You should ask the pig with a loaf of bread on its head.’

‘Pardon me?’

‘Long story, Bell. We should leave. We have a time stealer to visit. I just hope he is still alive, and this plan of mine works.’

‘Plan Marl?’

‘I will explain on the way, Bell. I do not know whether it will change anything, but I have to try.’

Returning to the car, Bella sets up the GPS position on her mobile phone.

‘Fort William, here we come, sis!’

The journey is lengthy, each minute consumed by Marla locked in a gaze of astonishment as Bella recites the past thirty years. For Marla, each word uttered by her sister is comparable to unwrapping a special gift. Some gifts offer excitement, some sadness, and despair.

Marla longs for the past, even her quarrels with Stella. She feels determined and yet broken inside.

‘It’s peculiar, isn’t it?’

‘What is Marla?’

‘You must have lost hope.’

‘I never lost hope, Marl, yes I have lived with great despair and misery. Part of me was confident that one day you would return to me. Every ounce of pain I have ever known disappeared today at the shopping centre. I knew you were telling the truth. Whatever happens Marl, I have my sister back.’

‘I have a theory, Bell. If done right can change things, make them better again. There are risks attached to my plan.’

‘I don’t care about the risks; I am with you no matter what Marl.’

‘Thanks, sis, that means the world to me.’

‘He came to live with me.’

‘Who did Bell?’

‘Teddy, once Mam passed away, he came to live with me and Michael. He missed you Marl, he would wait at the door for you, like he did back when we all lived together.’

‘Oh Bell, the thought of Teddy waiting for me breaks my heart.’

‘Try not to be upset, Marl. He had a brilliant life, he lived till he was seventeen years old. In doggy years that was like antique,’ utters Bella.

After three hours of driving and one hundred and eighty cherished minutes of sisterhood, they arrive at the address.

‘We are here, Marl. What do we do now?’

Marla knows knocking on the door may prove fatal to her and her sister. She also knows she would rather end her days than live another day in the timeline. What started as a race to stop Cornelius Darkus escaping has turned into a race to reverse time.

Chapter twenty-five

Time to steal.

‘Please open the door.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Victor Valem, is that you?’

‘Who is asking?’

‘My name is Marla Medizza, I presume you recognise the name?’

Marla's declaration is set adrift on a seashore of stern silence.

The door creaks. Their noses met by the stench of damp air, her eyes by the sight of a frail elderly man. She looks at him, his grey bread covering half his unwashed string vest. He is older, but she recognises him.

‘Marla Medizza, you claim?’

‘That is correct, two days ago…’

Marla pauses and rephrases her words.

‘Thirty years ago, you attempted to change my time path. Why?’

‘I cannot recall.’

‘Yes, you can, and we are not leaving until you explain why you assaulted me. I am just a girl from Manchester. I do not know who you are. Why did you attack me, those years ago, I am confused? I am a one legged girl who is not a threat to anybody? What does Cornelius Darkus want from me, why does he want me dead?’

‘Marl, maybe we should take off. I have a dreadful feeling.’

‘No, Bell, I demand answers to my questions. This is not where my story is ending, he owes me answers.’

‘If you close this bloody door, I will kick it until it tumbles like the walls of Jericho. You owe me. You are part of the reason my life is ruined. I want my bloody life back.’

Victor steps back a few paces, worry expressed in his eyes.

‘Look at me Victor and look at my younger sister.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Look at my face, Victor. Do I look like I have aged?’

‘You are confusing me, Marla.’

‘This is me that exists in nineteen eighty three, my life is bloody ruined.’

‘I do not think I can help you.’

‘You better help me.’

‘But….’

‘But nothing Victor, you need to talk!’

‘Come inside, we will talk.’

They walk into the hallway; the walls are dreary, wallpaper peeling from the surface. The room is heavy with dust clogging Marla’s throat.

‘Follow me into the sitting room.’

Victor perches on the arm of the chair. Bella dusts the sofa with her hand. Marla flops onto a cushion.

‘Speak Victor, I am running out of time and patience.’

‘I apologise for what happened to you, Marla Medizza. You are right, I do owe you. I was hired by Cornelius Darkus to capture you.’

‘To carry out what, precisely, murder me?’

‘No, Marla, many moments, and encounters in life are difficult to comprehend. My task was to adjust your time path, to change your future. I needed to stop you from witnessing the image in the miopsa mirror.’

‘The one of that freak holding my severed head?’

‘Yes Marla.’

‘I do not understand.’

‘Cornelius Darkus knew that if you looked at the reflection, the path you followed would have dramatic consequences for his plans. I was following orders.’

‘I don’t understand what you are saying that freak doesn’t know me. We have never met, and I pray we never do.’

‘Cornelius was right. This chain of events is the reason you have visited me today. In your realm, it has been a couple of days since you looked at the image. In this realm, it has been decades. The issue is, Cornelius Darkus still exists in your time realm, Marla. For him, only a couple of days have passed.’

‘I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?’

‘Marla, you and Cornelius Darkus share the same timeline. Somehow, your time paths must have overlapped.’

‘I am so confused.’

‘Marla, if you hadn’t seen the reflection, the visit to your great aunt would never have happened. By stepping into the future, you have changed your timeline.’

‘The visit to my aunt was useless. Apart from a few bumps and bruises and a hangover.’

‘Your great aunt helped you, Marla. You didn’t end up in the future by sheer coincidence. You passed through the orb of light.’

‘My aunt said it would take me home?’

‘She knew it would take you home but in a future dimension.’

‘Hold up a moment. You are stating my aunt knew the orb would bring me here to this time realm.’

‘Yes Marla, as did your Nan.’

‘But why, she did not explain it to me?’

‘Your aunt was trying to protect you, Marla. She knew that by travelling forward in time Cornelius Darkus was forced into a timeline loop, which meant he could not free himself.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Marla, if you do not exist in nineteen eighty three, his reason for escape doesn’t exist. Your aunt and Nan saved your life by propelling you to two thousand and eighteen.’

‘But she said to me and Babulous that she….’

Marla pauses, gasps. Her heart breaks as she recalls the adventures with her furry friend.

‘Victor, are you saying I am free of Cornelius Darkus?’

‘Yes, you are. Darkus cannot get to you, not anymore. He is trapped. You can live a happy and free existence, Marla.’

‘Marla, that’s wonderful, you can live again; you are free of his evil plan.’

Marla looks at Bella, and back towards Victor, his comments still resounding in her mind.

This moment is like waking up on Christmas morning and unwrapping the biggest gift under the tree. Only to discover the package is empty.

‘Marla?’

‘You say that if I stay in this time realm, my family is safe?’

‘Yes’, he acknowledges, projecting a beam of sincerity.

Marla's mind spirals to the moment she is living, the time she has lived before, and the time she may live again.

She has been given a chance to continue life without fear of execution.

She is caught between what is right and the unknown. There can be only one choice.

‘I need you to send me back, back to the past. At that very moment, I prepared to travel to Scotland.’

‘Also, I understand I am risking my life and putting the lives of others in jeopardy. It is a risky thing to do, but I must do it.’

‘I cannot send you back, Marla. my power is as good as gone.’

‘But you still have power remaining?’

‘The heart of a time stealer and a mortal is different. Every time we use our power, we surrender a unique beat of our heart; each time stealer is born with one hundred unique beats.’

‘I need your help, Victor.’

‘Marla, I have altered time on ninety-nine occasions, which means I have one unique beat remaining. I will die if I use the last beat.’

Marla looks at him, his expression one of remorse. Inside, she feels sick, and she is begging him to help. She knows if he had not tried to attack her, she may not be in this position.

‘You have lived right?’

‘What do you mean, Marla?’

‘You have lived a full and happy existence?’

‘This is true.’

‘I haven’t lived mine. I am starting my journey. When I left this realm, the old woman sitting beside me was….’

‘Hey, cheeky I am not that ancient.’

‘I apologise, Bell, what I mean is, this woman is my younger sister. My Mam has passed away, as has my sister Stella and my dog, Teddy. I have lost my friends, everything has disappeared.’

‘Marla, I…’

‘Please allow me time to finish, Victor. You may be correct; I might be secure here. Free to experience my life, do the things I always planned. But what life is this? I wished to grow alongside my sisters, to experience pleasant moments with my family. This isn't my life. It is a mistake; one I don’t want to live. I cannot walk a path of regret, pain, and suffering. If I can change everything that has happened, I must take it. You are the only person who can change my timeline. I need you to send me back.’

‘I understand what you are saying, Marla. If I send you back in time, there may be catastrophic repercussions.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If I send you back, I cannot guarantee what awaits you in the past realm. Going back may prove fatal.’

‘Maybe so, but it’s a chance I will take.’

‘It is unheard of for a witch to move through time, Marla. You may have been lucky enough to achieve it one time. But a second try at time travel may seal your fate. While your aunt and Nan saved your life, I am astonished they sent you into the orb.’

‘Astonished how?’

‘Elspeth, the enchantress, was aware of the dangers associated with entering the orb of Light. Unless….’

‘Unless what Victor?’

‘Marla, the orb is a time travel dimension used by time stealers. In theory, by guiding you to the orb of Light, your great aunt was sending you to likely death. Yet your aunt knew you could walk into it.’

‘See, aunty knew, which means I can do it again. Help me, Victor.’

‘Cornelius Darkus Marla, you need to consider what you are asking of me?’

‘What are you saying?’

‘He will be free to escape the miopsa mirror, Marla. By going back, you are reversing time. The time loop he exists in will disappear. You will jeopardise your life but the life of your family.’

‘If Marla wants to go back, then she is making the right decision, Victor. I believe in her; I always have believed in her. I love her,’ Bella sobs.

Marla holds her sister. Their tears fuse, their love entwines, their hearts break.

Marla holds Bella, realising the position presented before her. In life, a single minute can change everything. The next sixty seconds belong to her. Two doors stand before her. One of them has unknown consequences. The other has been opened. She can stay in this realm with her fifty-three-year-old sister and live a life of relative happiness. Turn the handle on the second door and step into the bleak.

‘What if I can stop him?’

‘What do you mean, Marla?’

‘You said he wants me dead, Victor, and the image in the mirror shows that. There must be a reason he wants to kill me. What if I wait for him to escape and offer myself to him, in return for the safety of my family.’

‘Marl, no, you cannot do that. He will kill you. You saw the image in the mirror!’

‘It’s okay, Bell, hear me out. Well Victor If I offer myself will he leave my family alone?’

‘I fear the answer is no. You are connected to him by this, I know. Cornelius Darkus has a greater plan. To him, you are just a piece of the puzzle he needs to remove.’

‘I have to return, Victor, no matter what.’

Victor rubs his beard and wanders to a small wooden box in the sitting room’s corner.

‘You will need this, Marla.’

‘What is it?’

‘It is excessum temporis, or the transcendence of time.’

‘What is in it?’

‘Within the bottle is a mix of derma and keratin.’

‘What?’

‘Within the bottle are three doses of temporisis. A single dose will allow you to travel back and forth in time. Marla, once you have used them, no matter where you are, in time. There you shall stay.’

‘What is derma and keratin?’

‘Skin and toenails Marl, his skin, and toenails,’ points out Bella with a tone of disgust.

‘I cannot drink that, it’s disgusting.’

‘Marla, the only decision I regret in my life is following the orders of Cornelius Darkus. If I could turn back time, I would not agree to pursue you, but I cannot. Your story is not yet written. You can change the narrative. The potion may help you do that.’

Marla stops, uncorks the bottle, and sniffs the repugnant stench which permeates her nostrils.

‘Ugh that’s gross, I will never need to use it.’

‘I am regretful for all of this, Marla. You are right, I have lived my life, and I am tired. Once I touch your hand, I will be gone. There is one further detail you must understand. The potion I have provided you with must be consecrated by a time stealer. My lack of power means I cannot do this.’

‘Do it, Marl. Travel back and find us again. We shall wait for you.’

‘I cannot do this. It will ruin everything. Your life with Michael may change if you start again.’

‘Listen to me Marla Medizza, when we were growing up you were my hero, you still are. If anybody can do this, you can. Spending the last few hours has made me realise something especially important.’

‘What do you mean, Bell?’

‘It has made me realise I crave a full life with you, with Stella, Mam, and Teddy. You can do this Marl, I know you can, and you must.’

‘I hope so, Bell, I do.’

‘I have a brief time remaining within me, Marla. Once I have touched you, I will be gone.

‘You mean you will die?’

‘I have lived my existence, Marla. It has been wonderful. My death will mean I will be with the one woman who made life worth living, my wife Heather.’ He utters, producing a silvery-frame and passing it to Marla.

‘She looks beautiful Victor.’

‘Heather Rose, the yin to my yang, the sun to my moon. The woman who made life worth living. She passed away many seasons ago, I am ready to join her again.’

‘May I ask how she passed, Victor?’

‘You may Marla, the date was May nineteenth, two thousand and nine, she was driving to work. The weather was dreadful that day, rainfall, hail, lightning, you name it. I called her to say I would be home a little later than usual. She answered the call. In the one minute it took for me to dial and for her to reach into her bag, she swerved into oncoming traffic. Had I not rang her, then the accident would not have happened. I have lived with the pain ever since.’

‘Victor, you cannot blame yourself. We decide without knowing the consequences.’

‘You are a wise young woman, Marla Medizza, wiser than your years. I want you to have this,’ utters Victor, handing Marla a gold band.

‘What is it?’

‘It was my Heather's engagement ring, Marla. I want you to keep it with you. Heather always said it brought her luck. I hope it will do the same for you.’

‘Thank you, Victor, I will treasure it always.’

‘Marla, are you ready to return in time?’

‘Bell?’

‘Do it Marl, I love you so much,’ Bella sobs, embracing her.

‘But what if it doesn’t work?’