Do No Harm

And Then There Was Two

Andi tossed and turned all that night, waking up often. For some reason she couldn’t even get into a deep enough sleep to dream. She forced herself out of bed just to stumble to the coffee pot to start her morning routine. She flipped the radio on to try to pep up her mood just in time for the siren alert to sound across the channels vibrating through her sleep-deprived mind. She should have shut it off right there, but she thought maybe it was something of importance, so she waited.

“The disturbance in the Gulf has intensified into a hurricane overnight...” the announcement started before Andi reached over and switched it off, refusing to start another morning off questionably. She didn’t want to hear it. She couldn’t believe that the local radio station was even alerting these people like it was going to be a total disaster.

This was going to drive people's fears to a whole new level than usual. The news outlets have been taking things way too far lately, in her opinion. “Fear is the easiest way to control society...” Andi had read somewhere and apparently the news outlets read the same thing. Well, she wasn’t going to be among the people who were going to be controlled by fear. She was going to stay away from people and ignore the chaos that was being stirred up around her. She had bigger issues to deal with. Her near-death experience just to name one.

Andi grabbed her coffee and headed outside, thinking maybe some fresh air would lift her mood. When she opened the door, she was hit by a gust of wind almost knocking her over before everything became instantly calm. She maintained her balance without even spilling her coffee and that’s when she spotted him. Daivik was sitting outside her house in his truck like he had been waiting for her to emerge for a while. Her eyes met his. He smiled a big smile that reached even his eyes, waved, and then pulled away.

How bizarre was this man going to get, Andi thought. The spell got buried. That should have been it. She even almost killed herself doing it after all. What else was needed? What else could she possibly do to stop what she should have never started? Andi sunk down in the swing and reflected on last night's events.

She was too aggravated last night to even try to wrap her mind around what had happened, but in the light of day her mind wouldn’t let it go. She had never experienced anything like that before. It was like she was caught in the middle of a lightning strike. Could she be dead? She shook that thought from her mind. That was the most insane thing to be thinking. Daivik would have to be dead also since he interacted with her, no matter how bizarre the interaction was.

Andi ran her finger over the little crescent moon, wondering what she was going to do about hiding the mark and just like that it disappeared. She stared at the skin where the mark previously was deep in thought. She knew she couldn’t imagine it. It was just there. Was it gone for good or just for now? The slamming of a vehicle door brought her back to reality.

“Morning,” shouted Beatrice as she rounded her car, going to the passenger's side, bent in and emerged with a box.

“Morning,” Andi said quizzically. “I got donuts and I know you have coffee made,” Beatrice announced, holding up the box.

This has been their ritual for the past 10 years. Whenever there needed to be a serious conversation between the two, they always got some kind of treat to share. It was kind of like cutting the bitter with a sweet to make it easier to swallow what needed to be said. Andi led the way to the kitchen. This time Beatrice followed her without hesitation and settled down at the kitchen table.

Andi placed her mug down by the coffee pot before reaching up in the cabinet to grab the matching mug. She had just cleared the cabinet with it when the crescent lit up, causing the mug to slip from her hand. Once again, the mug crashed to the floor, shattering. Andi turned to see Beatrice staring at her and knew the jig was up. Andi closed her eyes, knowing what was going to happen next. She pointed from the floor to the cabinet as the broken pieces of the mug disappeared from the floor and reappeared as a complete mug in the cabinet.

Beatrice jumped from the table and picked up the mug. She was turning it in all directions, inspecting it and inadvertently exposing the same crescent mark on her own hand. Andi grabbed Beatrice’s hand in awe, causing the mug to crash to the floor again. She looked up to see Beatrice staring wide-eyed. They gave a mutual nod before Beatrice returned to the table and Andi went back to fix the two mugs of coffee. Andi delivered both mugs to the table. They ate the first donut in silence while both seemed to be coming to terms with what had just happened. They had been friends for a lifetime and neither had trusted the other enough to share their deepest secrets.

“How long?” Andi broke the silence.

“What do you mean, how long? How long what?” Beatrice inquired.

“How long have you had the crescent?” Andi decided to start.

“I just woke up with it this morning,” Beatrice said, rubbing her fingers across the mark. “Do you know what it means?” she asked while pointing toward Andi’s mark.

“I thought it was something I did to myself,” Andi paused before deciding how much to tell Beatrice. “Wait. Was this the reason you came with donuts this morning?”

“Sorta... When I woke up with the crescent, I thought we needed to clear the air,” Beatrice hurried before she lost her nerve. “Now don’t get mad. I did it for your own good. It wasn’t meant to harm anyone.” Beatrice waited until Andi nodded before she continued.

“When I saw how attached you were getting to Daivik and how he wasn’t a good match for you, I did something.” Beatrice said, looking down at her hands.

“What did you do?” Andi accused.

“Well see, I found a little spell in one of my grandmother's dairies,” Beatrice paused again, looking up to see Andi’s reaction. “It was a begone spell meant to keep him away from you.”

“You had no right,” Andi said through clenched teeth. “What in the world made you think you had a right to interfere in my life?”

“I thought it was in your best interest. He isn’t good for you. He will hurt you,” Beatrice pleaded her case.

Andi pushed away from the chair and paced around the small kitchen trying to remain calm. This explained Daivik’s sudden change of heart. It also explained why her spell was blocked, making Daivik actions seem so strange. What it didn’t explain was last night's events. Sitting back down at the table, there was just one thing to do, she thought. Andi had to lay all her cards on the table and tell Beatrice everything.