The Gears of Fate

Toni and I were in university when we dated. It was beautiful and exciting at the start, but over the course of three years, our bond was exhausted to the point where I had to end things between us. However, fate had a twisted sense of humour, holding us to a promise we once made in the early seasons of our relationship, where we said we would come to each other’s aid when it really mattered. We don’t know who or what bound us that way since the promise was made during a trip to ancient Celtic ruins, at a secluded spot we both found alluring for reasons we could not explain.

As the years passed, Toni and I went our separate ways but still stayed in touch. Seven years later, we were both married to new partners and had little families of our own. I had two daughters with my husband, while Toni had a son and a daughter with his wife. However, things became complicated when my mom passed away, as Toni appeared just seconds after she closed her eyes for the last time. My husband, Alan, was surprised to see him arrive at the house so soon and was perplexed as to how he knew since she had just then experienced the heart attack that claimed her life. Toni told me the next day that his wife, Lena, was beginning to become suspicious of us.

Not two weeks later, Toni himself was injured in a car accident and was admitted to the hospital. He was in a coma. I disappeared from the dining room midway through a family dinner, leaving my entire family perplexed. I found myself seconds later appearing in Toni’s hospital room. Lena almost fell off her chair as I materialised before her and asked me what witchcraft I was performing. I glanced over at Toni, who was still unconscious, and asked Lena if we could grab some coffee to have our discussion. She nodded and we returned to the room with a couple of cups. Before we knew it, an hour had passed as I filled her in on the details of our past. Her expressions were coated with doubt at first, but there was no other explanation for our predicament.

Months passed, and Toni’s vitals all seemed to indicate that he should be conscious again, but for some reason, he wasn’t waking up. Everyone was confused, and Lena especially was worried, wondering whether his condition would be permanent. One evening, she called and asked me a question that turned me to stone where I stood.

“What if Toni needs you to pull him back to this world?” she asked.

I found myself unable to speak, or even think straight. Was I really the reason why Toni was still in a coma? How could I bring him back? Was that even possible? A storm of thoughts flooded my mind. It cast an indescribable sense of dread upon me that I had never experienced before. There was no other possible explanation; I somehow knew it in my heart. Soon after my telephone conversation with Lena, I sprinted to Alan who was in the next room and asked his opinion on her theory. He said he was beginning to wonder the same thing and said that if I truly felt that it was what must be done, I must indeed follow my heart.

“You might be the only hope Toni has at returning to the world of the living,” he said.

My mind was made. I trusted my feelings and decided to look at every possible option to help Toni. Lena and I looked into people who practiced witchcraft in our town and sought several people who seemed promising. Within a week, we found a woman who was willing to help us bring Toni back. One evening, the three of us gathered in Toni’s hospital room and held hands to begin the ritual. I shifted in my seat with each passing second as the air around me seemed to grow colder and denser as we repeated the chant. Soon, I found myself in a space void of form or light. However, in that bleak emptiness that spanned eternity, I saw wisps of light spark into existence and take a form I recognised. It was Toni, but strange enough, he looked frightened.

“Go, Ana! Leave while you still can!” he yelled, his echoes decaying fast in the darkness.

“What? What do you mean?”

“There’s no time! Stop chant—”

Unseen bands began to spin around his body, wrapping his mouth shut and holding his limbs in place. I looked around and found two more glowing figures emerging from the shadows and stepping towards us. I couldn’t believe my eyes: they were none other than Alan and Lena.

“What’s happening? Who… What are you?”

“I’d be more worried about myself if I were in your shoes,” Lena replied.

I turned to Alan. “Explain this!”

Alan shook his head and stared into my eyes. His words were as cold as his gaze. “The gears of fate were always against you. This is where your journey ends…”

Before I could utter another word, more binds sprung from the nothingness and wrapped their icy grips around me. The cold burned through my skin and sank into my bones, yet my screams were swallowed by those dense fabrics. I couldn’t even hear myself. Next came the darkness that wrapped around my eyes; I caught a glimpse of the same happening to Toni before I felt my entire body begin to sink into the softening ground, plunging me into an unseen abyss where who knew what lay in wait.