Originally published in Tapestry Webzine
After putting the final touches on her face, she gave herself a quick once-over, ran her fingers through her hair to smooth out the frizzies, and headed downstairs to wait for Zed.
The woman in the old bookshop told her that the spell would only work on a starless night under a full moon. Janice had waited months for the right kind of night, and she finally got her chance. The ingredients weren’t too hard to come by; she was able to find most of the herbs at the health food store on the corner. Although, she did have a little bit of trouble getting a feather from a raven. She had to wait until closing time at the zoo in order to stick her hand through the cage to rummage around for a lose feather. She didn’t want to have to explain herself to passersby.
Janice sat herself on the couch and scanned the windows and front door for any sign of him. What was taking so long? She had completed the spell at the stroke of midnight, just like the spell book said. Of course it made no mention of how long it would be before the spell took effect. Her eyes fell on the old black book, it’s cover tattered and hanging on by a few flimsy stitches. If this worked, it would be the best twelve dollars she ever spent.
Zed’s picture stood next to the book, with a lock of his hair Janice had kept after he decided to lose the long hair look. Black candles were lit and placed in a circle around all the objects. A mixture of herbs was sprinkled on the floor in front of them.
Janice’s thoughts drifted to her last day with Zed. He said he was only going for a short ride on the Harley. Summer was coming to an end and he figured he didn’t have many days left to bring the old girl out. Janice almost went with him, but had too much work to do. Oh how she wished she could have gone with him. Death was far better than life without Zed.
The police said it was a trucker who had been on the road too long without any rest that hit him. They said it all happened so fast and the truck was so heavy that Zed probably never knew what hit him. But Janice knew what hit him. She was faced with that bloody reality when she identified what was left of his body.
A noise at the front door jolted her out of the memory. It took her a moment to realize that Zed had come home. A smile spread across her face as she ran to the door. It had worked!
The spell was a last resort before Janice would take her own life to be with Zed again. Now she wouldn’t have to. Zed was back and they could be happy again.
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