THE DEATH OF THE HAWTHORNE SISTERS

It was almost six in the morning when they decided to gather in the coffee shop. Yvette just finished a new batch of brewed coffee and handed it out to both Jamie and Darius.

Her eyes were restless as she didn't manage to get any sleep last night. She couldn't get her mind off of what she witnessed last night.

Brutal was an understatement of what she just went through. It was like she was living through Elizabeth's life and had to experience her death as well.

As soon as Darius and Jamie came in, she told them all about what she had just gone through last night.

She's only used to seeing them, the unsettled spirits. But this time around, her gift seemed to have leveled up. They can touch her and the worst she's had was last night, it was like reality warping. Her reality was altered for her to go through Elizabeth's reality before she died.

"How do you feel now?" Jamie reached out to her hand and caressed it.

"I'm feeling better now. But I think that there's really something that we should do. I can't get it off of my mind."

"Did you see who did it?" the Detective in him couldn't stop asking me about it.

"I could only see his form, he was like a shadow but I could not make up his face. But when I had that experience, she seemed familiar of whoever did it to her."

"Well, that's already something big. Perhaps a relative or someone close to her. I have to call it in and maybe do more research about anyone close to her."

She nodded as Darius excused himself and dialed out a number for someone in the station.

As soon as he stepped away from the bar, she looked at Jamie.

"We have to take a peek."

Jamie sighed.

"I haven't gone through more than just my retrocognition. I am not even sure if I could manipulate it to allow me to selectively visit someone's death."

"But we can try right?" she could feel her eyebrows furrowing as she was asking her.

Jamie stared at her for a long time. Just as soon as Darius sat back beside her, she spoke.

"We can, but we all have to be there. I need strong forces that could pull me out of it." she looked at Yvette and turned her head towards Darius.

He nodded as her eyes landed on his.

"We'll both be there. I believe that this is what we can do to help."

"Alright. And we need to do it in your place. I can't do it in mine. It's a little complicated."

"Sure. I'll wait for both of you. I'll be here."

They both nodded as they started to stand up, readying themselves to leave.

Yvette sighed as she watched them leave. For a time there, after last night, she felt less lonely. She has people that she knows could help her.

She walked towards the door and flipped the coffee shop sign from CLOSED to OPEN.

She started preparing for the day's shift and prepared herself for the campers in the shop later on.

She turned on the soft music of the shop and heard Josh Turner's Your Man fill the entire place.

She smiled as she decided to keep her mind off the entire experience last night.

She will deal with it later and would soon deal with the new gift she just discovered.

She's been cleaning out some spaces in the bar when she heard the door chime.

She saw a woman with her head bowed down seemingly looking for something in her purse as she walked inside the shop.

Yvette smiled as she noticed who it was. She let out a huge smile as Kaheia lift her head and halted as soon as she saw her face.

"Hi!" Yvette let out her sweetest smile.

Kaheia smiled as she slowly walked towards the bar.

"Is this always going to be how I'll meet you?" Kaheia took a seat on the stool in front of her.

"What do you mean?" she leaned in as she waited for her to settle into the seat.

"Well, you're in a bar at night, and look, in the morning you're also still, behind a bar."

"What can I say. I love bars."

Kaheia laughed.

"What can I get you?"

"I'd love a Latte and, maybe your number."

Yvette chuckled as she started preparing her Latte.

She busied herself while Kaheia looked around the place.

"I've always been here but how come I never see you around?"

"I'm usually here in the mornings. I study by afternoon and work at the bar by night."

She started grinding the beans and measuring them for tamping.

"Quite a busy bee then?" Kaheia placed her hands on her face as she looked at what she was doing. Observing every single movement she makes as she always does when she's in the club.

"Have to. I'm studying so I have to be able to afford for my studies."

"That's cool."

She started pouring the milk into the cup of espresso and garnished it with the shape of a heart in the middle.

As soon as Yvette was done, she placed it in front of Kaheia.

"Freshly made by yours truly."

Kaheia leaned in and closed her eyes as she motioned on smelling the aroma coming from the cup.

She opened her eyes again and started sipping her latte.

Yvette was simply looking at how she was enjoying her latte.

She took a really good look at her. She has a different kind of simplicity in her. Her skin was chocolate brown and seemed to be of Asian descent. Her eyes were round and her lips were painted with a flesh lipstick that somehow fitted her complexion. It wasn't too much. Just enough.

Her nails were clean and short while her nose was pointed with a cute piercing in it. She found it oddly perfect with how she looked.

Her hair was braided and its length runs past her shoulders.

"Love what you're seeing?"

She was astounded as she stopped looking at her features and stared at her straight in the eye.

She didn't realize she's finished her latte and handed her some cash. She heard the door chime again as two youngsters came in and sat on the table that was set up near the glass-made window of the shop.

"Here's my number. Just in case you really would not give yours."

She smiled. Kaheia was staring at her like she wanted to dive into her soul.

"I'd love to see you again, talk to you and get to know you. Without the bar of course."

Kaheia waved her goodbye as she bit her lower lip trying to take one last look at Yvette.

She stared at the napkin with her number written in it and slid it into her pocket.

As the newly arrived customer came to the bar for their order, she looked at Kaheia's back as she had just gotten out of the coffee shop.

She will definitely call her. Her interest is piqued.

As her day went on, her customers filled up the entire coffee shop.

By lunchtime, she grabbed a muffin from the shop and a coffee to go. She walked towards the school where she's enrolled. She's in her last year in college and about to graduate in two months.

As she walked to the corridor towards where her next subject is, she noticed a man who was steadily standing in front of the laboratory.

He was looking at every single person who's passing by.

Her brows arched as she came closer to him. He was tall, about six feet wearing military boots.

She hesitated to come to him given that her reality lately has been very unreliable.

"Hey! Are you looking for anyone in particular?"

He looked surprised as he turned towards her.

"I...." he stuttered as he kept staring at her.

She noticed the dog tag on his neck.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Who? Do you have a name? I can help you find her. I might know her."

He shook his head.

"Never mind. I'll just come back."

"Are you sure?"

He didn't bother looking back at her. She kept walking instead. Strangely, she noticed the name written on his dog tag.

"Uriah," she whispered.

She continued to walk towards where her room is supposed to be.

Her day passed by like whirlwind. By the time her class has ended, she walked back towards the coffee shop and saw Darius already waiting for her.

Just a few steps away, Jamie was already walking towards the coffee shop as well.

As soon as they all met, they headed towards where her home is.

Darius also talked to them about the things he found out since their conversation this morning.

He gave out a few details about the entire family.

As soon as they got inside her house, she prepared a few things and set them up. She grabbed the cascarilla's she's kept and drew on the floorboards a huge symbol of Solomon's Seal.

It's meant to keep all the negative spirits away. The symbol was composed of inner and outer circles surrounding a pentagram. In the sides of the pentagram were small triangles that were filled with dotted cascarilla.

As she completed the circle, she stood inside the pentagram and asked Jamie and Darius to join her. She lit a set of sage as she sat Indian style.

"You have to think about it. Her name, keep saying it in your head while I say a few chants." she held Jamie's hands and placed a Jet stone in her palms as she clasped it together.

"What is that?"

"It's to protect you." she also handed one to Darius and asked him to place it in the middle of his hands. "It will protect all of us."

Darius nodded as he too held on to the stone.

"Darius, give me your hands." they were holding each other's hands as they all started closing their eyes. "No matter what happens, do not let go. Okay?"

"I won't."

She started chanting the Latin words she knew from her grandma.

"Dirigas et ambulemus in tabulis

ferebant animo orbis terrarum tui

Vestra enim audeo aliquid accidat

nobis pestis orbem terrarum

Carus quam angeli set ope

defendat liberum animo"

She repeated these chants over and over. While her eyes were closed, she noticed how the air around her started to change.

It suddenly went chilly. The coldness crept to her insides and made her cringe.

She hesitated for a moment but something forced her to open her eyes.

The moment she did, she saw how her entire loft changed. It was the same feeling she had the other night.

Her surrounding changed into that place she only saw from the photos.

She was wearing that pink sweater now.

She whimpered involuntarily as her hands touched her forehead.

She felt the cold blood dripping down her face.

"No. No. Please.." she looked around. She was inside that small barn of Elizabeth's property. Her legs felt numb and her body felt awfully tired.

She couldn't move her whole body. She noticed how her other leg were twitched and the bones started showing up on the surface.

"No. Please no. Not this again."

She was deafened by the huge steps that were starting to come near her.

She dragged the lower part of her body as she crawled towards a supposedly hidden part of the barn.

But before she could even get there, someone dragged her from her feet and made her face upwards.

She shouted as she felt her skin in friction with the ground as he dragged her.

A huge form straddled her as he stared at her with his grim smile.

"You can't escape us. Your lives have been written in history." his voice sounded real deep.

She still can't make up his face.

"No... please... No!!!"

As she shouted, she felt the sudden impact of the bat hitting her head.

He kept banging her head endlessly as she felt number by the minute. This was not how it was supposed to be.

She was not supposed to be in this time. Her eyes soon turned blood red and she could feel her entire being giving up.

He was still hitting her, not stopping until he gets the satisfaction he needed.

Her eyes, her body, and her mind went steady. Everything went silent.

Soon, her sight went dark.

In her mind, she kept repeating a prayer for safety.

Then slowly, the entire place lit up again.

Her body now felt really light. She was in an unfamiliar room. It was painted in white and had Victorian details in its structure.

She looked down on herself and found out she was wearing an all-white cloak.

It had a golden chain-like belt tied in her waists.

She stood up and started to walk down the hallways.

As she was walking, a girl wearing the same thing she was wearing hurriedly came near her and grabbed her from the arms, and cornered her.

"We have to get out tonight. They're planning on doing the sacrifice by midnight," she whispered.

In her mind, the other girl looked to be around twelve years old. She assumed that in this episode, she too is about the same age.

"But we are not prepared." she heard herself utter those words.

"We have to be. This cult is going to kill all of us. We can't be here anymore. We have to disappear."

She nodded as she took a closer look at the girl who was talking to her.

This is Bridgette, Elizabeth's sister.

What does she mean cult?

"When do we escape?"

"Tonight, at ten. We can't be late. Someone will be waiting for us. Tell the rest."

Soon enough, she left.

What is happening?