"I made a Deal.."

A nose for dark energy?

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head with a perplexed expression.

Aunt Nina looked down, thinking for a second, before she explained, "About sixteen years ago there was this whole commotion that went down with the church. It actually had something to do with our family, which is why I think you feel the energy." She looked at me and I felt our dark, colorless eyes connect before she continued, "Did you know that you're mother lived here eighteen years ago?" She asked ostensibly off topic.

My eyes widened, "S..she did?" I was now leaning closer to her waiting for her to continue.

"Yes, she did. She never told you?"

I shook my head and realized that there was probably a lot that my mom never told me. I never heard much about Nina and I never heard anything about this town.

Aunt Nina furrowed her eyebrows and then thought for a second before she spoke again, "hm...Actually, your room was once hers and Roger's room was my brother's." She dazed out as she got a flash back from the old days.

"I was thirty three at the time. Your mom had you at nineteen and that was two years after she left so she was seventeen. You look just like she did when she was your age." There was sadness in her eyes as she spoke. "Your mother was young and loved adventure. She got along with everyone here. No one disliked her. I just had my wedding and your mother was my bridesmaid, so we were very very close. If it wasn't for your mother I wouldn't have known about the things that were happening here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now that I think about it I understand why you're mother never told you about everything that went down here. I can't give you all the details, because I'm not the victim. Before this incident there were so many amazing things that happened here. So many great memories, but that was one year where things in this town took a turn for the worse."

I hadn't notice that I had scooted my chair closer to her and I was now only a few inches from her as she spoke.

"Your mother wasn't really religious which was out of the ordinary for everyone here. Everyone at the time were Christians and only believed in the big man upstairs. Things were fine until your mother found out she was sick." Aunt Nina looked in my eyes looking for my reaction and once she saw that I had none she then continued, "It was devastating. They told her that she only had two more years at the most. My aunt Sharie and uncle Tom, your grandmother and grandfather, did everything they could."

"Sharie worked as many shifts as she could at the Rodrick's Diner down the street, and Tom worked until he became the best lawyer this town has ever seen. Everyone was giving up hope, that was until the Priest had said that he could do something about it."

Johnny ran up to me and sat on my lap, I cradled him while I listened.

"Your mother, who you know wasn't religious, thought it was bogus, but she still followed the Priest's instructions. Apparently he made her do all this crazy stuff and her parents questioned it, but they didn't question it much. Even though the things he asked for sounded crazy they were running out of hope and would do anything to make sure she lived. That was until one day she went missing. The moment that we saw she wasn't in her room, we all looked for her. My brother and I called some friends and we all went on a search for her. It wasn't like Ella to just get up and disappear like that. Plus she was in a very weak state, so she couldn't have gone far."

"After a while we all made our way to the church and before we-'' Aunt Nina abruptly stopped. She sat there for a little bit and kept her eyes down before she looked up at me. There was extreme sadness in her eyes as she recalled the situation. She sucked her lips in, making a thin line.

"You know, I think we should continue this conversation another time."

"NO! no, please continue! I want to know." I had realized I was yelling on my first 'no' and brought my voice down as I finished the sentence.

Aunt Nina thought about it for a good second and took in a deep breath, "Okay.... Only if you really want me to."

I nodded my head viciously. I had to know what happened in that church!

She spoke slowly, cautiously, "Okay...well, before we could even enter the church we heard your mother scream. Uncle Tom busted through the church doors like hearing his daughter's cries gave him super powers. When we entered we saw your mother strapped down to a table surrounded by candles with some type of...symbols written all over them at the alter. Her white T-shirt was ripped and she was covered in blood. The chains were wrapped so tight around her ankles that," Nina paused again and blinked tears away, "she had these terrible bruises on her ankles and wrists. Her face looked like it was drained of all life and she was so pale. It was horrific and terrible!" She creased her eyebrows in a dismayed expression.

"The priest was standing over Ella chanting weird words that we couldn't understand and had a knife in his hand that was barely touching Ella's chest. Uncle Tom interrupted whatever he was saying with his fist and he beat the priest to a pulp."

" When I saw her laying there..." She sniffled, " I couldn't move. I was frozen in place looking at her motionless body. I wanted to help, but I just couldn't bring myself to pick up my feet. Your mother looked so...lifeless. She was covered in blood and I couldn't tell if it was even hers or not. We thought she was dead. that was until my mom ran over and checked her pulse."

Aunt Nina looked stopped and looked at me. My mouth was hanging and I didn't even know what to say. That really happened to Mom and she never told me? Did dad even know about this!? I just sat there.

Aunt Nina tried to collect herself and sit straight, but her voice was still shaking as she spoke, "Afterwards we drove her to a hospital that's thirty minutes from here. She was unconscious for three days before she woke up. The doctors said that there wasn't nothing wrong with her. Even her sickness," Nina scrunched her nose slightly, "seemed to have disappeared."

I wrapped my arms around Johnny and squeezed him tight as my eyes grew wide. Disappeared? What did she mean disappear? Mom did say she was sick when she was younger and that she just got better, but no sickness just 'disappears'!

"I...how?" Were the only words I could manage to get out.

She shrugged as a hollow laugh escaped her lips, "I don't know, Victoria. I really don't know, but the scariest part was that when she woke up I drowned her with questions and all she said was "I made a deal with the devil". After that she never spoke on it again. Everyone would ask if she was okay and she'd just say yes without speaking anymore on it."

We sat there for a good thirty seconds and I continued to stare at her, waiting to see if there was anything else. Aunt Nina tried to make her voice lighter and sped up the pace of her talking, "She never wanted kids, but one day she came to me and told me she wanted a daughter. Then out of nowhere she moved and met your father and then," Aunt Nina smiled at me, "She had you."

I put Johnny down and told him in sign to go play. I needed some time to think about this. I stood up quickly and was about to walk away before Aunt Nina stopped me,

"I know it's a lot to hear. I just thought you should know. If you want to we can talk about it some more another time, okay?"

I nodded and started up the stairs as fast as I could.

The moment I got to my room I ran and jumped on the queen sized bed. I missed her so so much. It hurt my heart. I felt so empty without her and It was hard to think about the fact that she was gone. She was gone and she wasn't coming back. I put my face in my pillow and cried. I cried until it was dark out. I had cried so much that I lost the energy to cry anymore.

I needed her. I wish she'd come back. I wish that it was me that had died in the crash instead of my mom. She didn't deserve to go. All of these people loved her so much and she fought so hard to live only to be killed by some stupid drunk guy on the road! I cursed that man so many times in these past eight months, only to find out a few weeks ago that he had died in a shoot out in his neighborhood. I felt so bad that I had just cursed on him again when he was already dead.

After I got my mind straight and calmed myself down, I thought about what Aunt Nina had told me. I thought about her description of the setting when my mother was found in the church. I thought about the blood and her screams and it made me realize something.