One More

“I guess this is the place then.” Nathan looked at the dusty old building on the other side of the road. Rebecca turned off the car and pulled the keys from the ignition, then turned to see Nathan and smiled. “Yes, it is.”

Nathan took a deep breath and stepped out of the car in silence. The past few days had been a rollercoaster for him, and he was still trying to understand everything that was happening. He remembered that Monday morning as if it had been today, with him running late for work and putting on whatever seemingly clean shirt he could find. The two slices of stale pizza heating up in the microwave as he struggled to put on his shoes and the tie at the same time. The sour flavour of the coffee blend –that he always forgot to change every time he bought a new tin– running down his throat and sending shivers down his spine. The overcrowded subway with its loads of sweaty and angry people pushing against each other in the hopes to catch the last train before being officially late to their destination. The burning feeling in his legs after running up the stairs at full speed because the old elevator at his workplace was still out of service since that day when the cables broke and caused the box to fall. The usual “you’re late” from his boss at the other end of the office, and the not-so-discreet wink with a subsequent smirk that indicated he was going to need some ‘convincing’ to let the incident slide.

He even remembered taking off his jacket and pulling out his phone to order his usual turkey bacon sandwich and orange juice from Skip The Dishes, which he would be eating in secret at his desk. The only difference had been the little window in the middle of his phone’s screen telling him that the purchase had not gone through because of the lack of funds in his debit card. No issue, he thought, I’ll only grab some money from my Savings. It had been this moment –when he opened his Account Statement and saw the $20,000 waiting for him there– that had ruined his life.

He joined Rebecca at the edge of the sidewalk and they looked both ways before crossing. The city was always a tricky place, and one could never be too careful. Rebecca was slightly taller than him and he soon fell behind as they approached the building. He looked at her as she made sure the front door was unlocked and entered the deserted lobby.

Nathan remembered going to the bank as soon as he found the money in his account, wondering if there had been a mistake of some sort. He could still feel the shock when the teller informed him that there seemed to be no anomalies and that according to their information, the money had always been there. When he had left the bank, he recalled how a tall and slender lady had approached him, smelling of incense and strong perfume, and wearing a cyan chiffon skirt and a plain white t-shirt. She said, “that money you hold is cursed, and will cause your demise.” He had looked back at her, wondering if she had been eavesdropping on his conversation with the teller while inside the bank, and also thinking that she was probably crazy. He had decided not to give it much thought and had gone back to his job.

After work, while he put his clothes back on inside his boss’ office, a light yellow business card fell from one of the pockets of his trousers. He picked it up with curiosity and the instant smell of strong perfume and incense filled his nose again. The business card displayed the name of a certain “Madam Rebecca: Medium, Astrologist, Spiritualist.” He turned the business card and saw that it said ‘Contact your loved ones from Beyond. Better your life and attract luck. Break hexes and curses that haunt you. Let me set you free.’ along with a phone number on one corner. As he contemplated the card, his boss asked him if there was something wrong, and after Nathan responded that he was just tired, his boss said, “then go home and rest, we wouldn’t want you to be late again tomorrow right?” Nathan had looked back at him, still naked on his chair with a smile across his face, and smirked, “I’m just not a morning person.”

“What are we looking for exactly?” Nathan asked Rebecca as they went up the stairs.

“Something out of the ordinary, maybe an altar,” Rebecca responded calmly. “Or even a different smell. We’re here.” She stopped at the entrance of one of the floors. The building seemed to have been an office complex once, with large halls on each floor. But it was empty now.

“How do you know?” Nathan stood beside her, contemplating the large room. It was dark and creepy, but nothing was necessarily strange about it.

“I can feel it,” Rebecca said, “it’s like a change in the energy of the place, it should be either here or upstairs.”

“I’ll go check upstairs then, sounds good?” Nathan said, heading for the door. Rebecca nodded without paying much attention, and Nathan ventured to the next floor. It was similar to the one below, big and empty, except for a lonely desk sitting at the other end of the room.

Other than the mystery of the money in his account and the fragrant business card, Nathan’s day had ended up rather normally. He had gone home, prepared some Kraft dinner and sat in front of the TV to watch a few random episodes of Friends, as part of his routine. He had gone to bed at around 2 am, falling asleep and dreaming that he was being pursued. He remembered waking up, feeling stuffed and wondering what time it was and was surprised to find out it was 6 am. After blinking a couple of times, he had grabbed his phone and checked his bank account, wondering if the whole money thing had been just a dream, but when the website loaded, the $20,000 was still there. He had recalled the strange lady’s words from the day before and bit his lip. He couldn’t go back to sleep, so he decided to get ready for work, and made up his mind that as soon as the bank opened, he was going to call them and solve this issue. However, he did not make it to work that day. Or the next one.

As he was eating breakfast, he almost choked to death on a piece of sausage, and while he was taking a shower, his foot had slipped and he had barely missed hitting his head against the edge of the bathtub. Then, as he was making his way out of his apartment complex, he had fallen down the last set of stairs leading to the lobby. He remembered having a panic attack right before stepping out of the building and going back to his apartment slowly, as the lady’s words resounded in his head over and over again. After calling his boss and telling him he was not going to make it to work because he was feeling sick, he saw Madam Rebecca’s business card on the table and took a deep breath.

“I knew you’d call me,” the voice at the other end of the line said after picking up. It was that strange lady’s voice from that day at the bank.

“I don’t know what is happening, I–” Nathan began, but was interrupted.

“I do, and I can help you. “ Madam Rebecca said, “Tomorrow we will go to the place where the spell that ails you was cast.”

“Do you know where that was?” Nathan said, feeling stupid for talking about witchy stuff with a stranger, but he didn’t seem to have any other option.

“I could make out the nature of your curse yesterday at the bank,” she responded, “today I will find the place, and tomorrow we will solve this. And you’ll get to keep that money.”

“Do I have to pay you?” Nathan said reluctantly.

“We’ll discuss that after. I don’t think you’ll have a problem affording my services by then.”

“Thanks, I guess… Madam–”

“Call me Rebecca.”

“Okay, Rebecca.”

He approached the desk and saw that there was an open notebook with a few drawings on it. “Rebecca…” he said out loud to get her attention from the room downstairs. A diagram was drawn in thick maroon ink, surrounded by some strange symbols of the same colour. The drawing was meant to be a pentagram. However, it seemed to be missing a couple of lines to form the usual five-pointed star figure. Nathan closed the book and turned it around. From the outside, it seemed like a normal, barely used black notebook, with an elastic band to hold it shut. It even had the engraved Moleskine logo at the bottom of the back cover. Nathan opened it again and skimmed through the empty pages until he arrived at the pentagram drawing again. He heard Rebecca’s footsteps getting near the stairs, and her voice saying, “did you find something?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Nathan said as he continued to stare at the drawing with curiosity. He had the strange feeling that if he kept looking, the two missing lines were going to appear out of nowhere. Suddenly, he felt tired and dizzy, and his vision began to go in and out of focus. Rebecca’s footsteps sounded nearer as she approached the entrance, and Nathan tried to walk towards the door, but his legs failed him, making him fall on his hands and knees. The notebook hit the floor with a thud, still open and with the pages facing down. Nathan tried to reach it as his insides began to burn, and he began coughing. He covered his mouth and tried to take a few breaths, but the cough only intensified, and soon he saw his own blood dripping on the floor. He looked up and saw Rebecca’s silhouette in the doorway before he lost consciousness.

Rebecca ran towards the fallen man and shook him by the shoulder, murmuring his name over and over. As she looked at him, she saw that the blood under him began to slither across the floor towards the notebook. She stood up and contemplated the gruesome scene in silence. The blood reached the pages, but didn't stain them, instead, it looked as if the journal was absorbing the crimson liquid into it. After the grotesque performance ended, there was no blood left on the floor, and Nathan looked as if he was sleeping. Rebecca kneeled beside him and put her hand on his back. He was as cold and stiff as concrete. She slowly rose and walked towards the little black notebook, and contemplated the smooth leatherlike surface before picking it up. She flipped it over to look at the pages and saw the drawing of a pentagram in the middle of it. The pentagram seemed to be incomplete and was missing one line to form the five-pointed star figure. She closed the notebook and put it in her purse, then looked back at Nathan’s dead body and smiled.

After getting back inside her car, Rebecca pulled out her phone and opened the banking app. As soon as she signed in, the account of someone named Nathan Rodriguez was displayed on the screen. She opened the e-transfer option and pulled $20,000 from the Savings account, and then sent it to herself. Then she closed the app and pulled out the notebook, opening it where the incomplete pentagram was drawn. She caressed the space where a line was missing and whispered, “just one more."