Another body has been found in Ashport.
The third body...that week.
Down the road that leads to the woods- Just before the barrier.
"But, what is the problem.." Melody asked Lisa, their footsteps echoed softly as they made their way down the stairs into the dimly lit hallway.
"Why are bodies being found there these days?"
Her twentieth question since she overheard Lisa talking to Colonel Jeff.
Lisa made a mental note to never allow her in her room again.
She rolled her eyes at her " Melly, I am a witch not an investigator," she snapped
"Aren't witches suppose to foresee these things?" She pressed.
Lisa exhaled sharply, irritation flickering across her face.
Melly is annoying... persistent.. almost impossible to ignore and somehow still her only friend in the house.
It was complicated.
"Melly...." She paused as they got to the door "Did Colonel Jeff phone you too?"
Melly glanced down at her feet for a moment before looking back up at Lisa.
"No" she answered, pouting.
" Good, now, back off" she said.
The words came out sharper than she intended.
Melly went quiet, Her face changing instantly.
Not a good sign.
The air shifted.
A faint rumble rolled in the distance, low and uneasy, and the clouds above Ashport dimmed as though something had briefly pressed a hand over the sky.
“Melly…” Lisa’s tone changed instantly.
Melly didn’t respond.
Her hands lifted slightly in front of her, trembling. Her gaze drifted out of focus, no longer fixed on anything in the room. Shadows flickered faintly at the edges of her eyes...unstable, slipping.
It wasn’t control...It was spillover.
"Melly, Stop..Not today," Lisa said, stepping closer, her voice firm now.
No response.
Lisa exhaled slowly as she watched the energy shift around Melly.
She could stop this.
She could force the magic back down before it fully slipped out of control.
But it would take effort.
And time.
Two things she could not afford right now.
The clouds had begun to darken still answering to Melly’s unsettled emotions. A cold breeze threaded through the hallway, and far off, thunder rolled again....uneven, almost hesitant.
Lisa closed her eyes briefly.
Of all days for this to happen.
When she finally looked at Melly again, she knew she had to suppress her anger.
“I’m sorry,” she said, quieter this time.
Melly fingers curled slightly,the tension easing as the darkness in her eyes faded. The cloud lightened.
Lisa watched her for a moment, her expression unreadable.
Another day...she would have shut it down completely. But today, there were bigger problem waiting.
As Lisa sped down the road, something immediately felt off.
The streets were quieter than usual.
Too quiet.
Stores were already shutting their doors, and the few people still outside walked quickly, eager to get home before night settled completely over Ashport.
Lisa frowned slightly.
Fear was spreading faster than people admitted.
She glanced at her wristwatch.
7:00 PM.
Too early for the city to feel this empty.
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the message.
Colonel Jeff: They want to conduct post mortem. Be quick.
Lisa’s grip tightened on the wheel as she pressed harder on the accelerator, the engine responding with a low growl as the car surged forward.
By the time she arrived, a crowd had already gathered near the barrier.
Too many people. Too close.
Nervous whispers spread through the cold evening air.
Lisa focused slightly letting her sense stretch, fragments of thoughts brushed against her mind
Is it an animal? I should tell father to fix the gate..
Who is next?..
Lisa’s eyes shifted briefly across the crowd until they landed on Jane Parker nervously clutching her coat near the back.
Poor thing
As soon as the crowd noticed her, they stepped aside for her. The whispers faded, replaced by an uneasy silence.
“Who found the body?” Lisa asked, her voice steady as she crouched near the edge of the scene.
Before Colonel Jeff could answer, Colonel Pam stepped forward.
“Isn’t that our responsibility?” she said sharply, crossing her arms. “Just do what you came here to do so we can all leave.”
A low ripple of murmurs moved through the gathered crowd at her words.
Jeff shot her an immediate warning look, but Pam didn’t back down.
Lisa slowly straightened.
Her eyes lingered on Pam for a long moment....unblinking, unreadable.
The air around her seemed to tighten slightly.
“Why is everyone testing my patience today?” she said quietly.
Then she moved toward the body.
It lay still beneath the white sheet...too still, too pale, as though every trace of warmth had been pulled out of it.
Lisa crouched slowly as her gaze caught on something near the exposed wrist as the sheet shifted slightly.
A tattoo.
Small....familiar.
Recognition hit her before she could stop it.
Is this… Eric?
For a second, her mind resisted the thought.
No, It couldn’t be.
She had seen him at the shopping mall...just last week.
Eric was helping his mother with grocery bags, laughing as she complained loudly beside him. His easy smile when he noticed her watching. The way he had flirted casually, like the world was something simple and harmless.
Lisa exhaled slowly, something tight settling in her chest.
His mother…
Her throat tightened slightly.
She didn’t finish the thought.
Instead, she removed her glove slowly, the motion controlled, deliberate...like she was afraid any sudden movement would make this anymore real than it already is.
Her fingers hovered just above his skin.
Then she placed them gently against him and closed her eyes.
“Shabbat… Dabar… hukkik…” she began under her breath, the words rising carefully at first, almost like a whisper of air.
The atmosphere around her shifted.
A light drizzle started to fall. Her eyes flickered white. Her body tensed as the energy moved through her.
Then she stopped.
Her breath caught sharply in her throat.
“No…”
Her hand hovered in the air for a fraction of a second longer before she pulled it back completely, like the contact itself had become dangerous.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the body, refusing to move away, as though staring harder might somehow rewrite what she was seeing.
She had felt it clearly...too clearly.
The reading, the pull, the certainty....
But... it's impossible.
Lisa took a quick step back, her expression tightening as she forced herself to regain control, swallowing down the shock rising in her chest before it could spill over.
“Take the body,” she signaled to the medical team, her voice firm and carefully controlled, as if nothing had shifted in her at all.
Then she turned to the crowd "You should all go home," she said firmly " there is nothing to worry about, it is just another accidental death".
The hesitation lingered but slowly the crowd began to disperse.
"Colonel Jeff " she called.
He stepped closer. "What is going on?"
Lisa held his gaze ." Nothing you should worry about"
He hesitated "Lisa...this is the third body this week".
"And I said it is handled,” she replied, her tone firm and final in a way that left no room for further argument.
For a moment, Colonel Jeff only looked at her, his gaze steady and unreadable, as though he were weighing words she wasn’t saying out loud.
Then, he nodded.
“Alright.”
Lisa turned away before the conversation could stretch any further, choosing silence over whatever questions were forming in his eyes.
The drive home was quiet.
Too quiet.
Streetlights slid across her windshield in steady intervals, painting brief flashes across her face as Ashport slowly faded in the rearview mirror. But her mind didn’t follow the road.. it stayed behind, trapped at the scene.
Every few seconds, her grip tightened unconsciously on the steering wheel.
One thought lingered stubbornly at the edge of everything else.
Unmoving.
Unshakable.
And she couldn’t ignore that feeling, no matter how hard she tried.
Her great-grandmother’s words echoed softly in her mind, uninvited and persistent.
Whatever a witch feels… is either happening or about to happen.
Lisa exhaled slowly, the breath shaky at the edges as she tightened her grip on the wheel.
" That is not possible," she said under her breath.
But deep down, she wonder if it was....