text: The woods were spooky, owls hooting and for some reason in sync with the sound of crickets, Eddy had never been there, especially not at night. According to him, anyone with half a brain knew this was where the evil vampire or werewolf in a high school fantasy show gets you to either feast on you or turn you into a monster like him. The only thing compelling Eddy was the thought of a date, one he had been promised by his crush, Evelyn. Ever since the second year of high school, he had been madly in love with her, but she never gave him the time of day or rather never had his time, she was too busy spending time with her brother--her best friend. Evelyn told him to meet her in the basement of the abandoned house in the middle of the woods, she opened the door after hearing him knock, and he was welcomed to a room lit up with candles, chalk markings on the floor, and her in a long black dress, this one he didn’t mind because she looked beautiful in it. They say loss can change a person, and that has been no truer than in the case of Evelyn ever since Jordan died. The thirty-year-old man was not only her only sibling but her best friend, for siblings with an age difference of thirteen, you would think they were fraternal twins, they went to concerts together, restaurants, and most importantly, the cinema. “Did you bring the knife?” Evelyn asked Eddy pulled out a sharp jagged knife from a sheath behind his waist “Yeah I did” “Okay I’ll get the bunny” Eddy worked with his father, the town butcher, ever since he was fourteen, He knew the different ways to slice open different animals, but he had never killed one before. Many boys would buy flowers or read a poem or play a song from a boom box beneath a window so the girl they liked would go out with them, but for Eddy, he was to kill an innocent little rabbit who thought he was gonna have a loving home when he was brought from the pet shop. Evelyn, bunny in hand motioned for him to walk to the center of the circle where she was, of the circle drawn with chalk had three different sets of triangles and signs within it, He was not afraid to show that he was scared, what they were doing looked occult as hell, no, it was occult, he began to regret ever showing Evelyn the website, a website for juju where members claimed they could communicate and even resurrect the dead. At the time Eddy wanted to do anything( he still does) to help Evelyn feel better when her brother died, he was desperate and went searching, he came across the website on the dark web, and then taught Evelyn how to access it, thinking it would at least help her find solace but it did not, and now he has to either report her to a mental hospital or see her go through this to the end, love made him choose the latter. “Do you remember the spell?” He gulped, “I do” Evelyn held on to the rabbit’s limbs, while Eddy raised the innocent creature's head to have access to its neck, they started reciting the spell and before the second verse he slit the poor animal’s throat, the blood splattered around the entire room at first but Evelyn quickly directed its neck to the center of the circle so the blood would flow there. “It’s my turn now,” Evelyn said, putting her hair on his palms “Could you ?” “yeah,” Eddy said, reaching for her long flowing black hair and cutting it down, then spreading it on top of the rabbit’s blood. They both recited the spell once again this time holding hands, the room shook slightly like a mini earthquake and then there was a short moment of silence and then a blinding light, and after, nothing. Eddy and Evelyn opened their eyes “Is that it?” Evelyn asked, looking around hoping she would find her resurrected brother somewhere. Eddy Screamed, and pointed towards the ceiling, there he was his back against the upper walls of the small room and his belly and privates facing the floor, he fell to the floor shortly after. “That was creepy, we agree that was creepy, right?” Evelyn felt too much happiness to feel fear, her brother was back. Eddy woke up tired and still felt weird about the ordeal the night before. “You guys woke up early,” he said to Evelyn and the previously dead Jordan “We didn't sleep” Evelyn replied “Oh” “How is he?” Eddy asked “He’s fine” Jordan interrupted, not liking the fact that he was treated like he was not there “He’s fine,” she said, backing him up “he had some issues speaking last night, but he’s good now” “Riiight” Eddy was skeptical “Hey Evelyn can we talk outside for a bit?” “Sure” she stood up and followed him out “Don’t you think this was way too easy?” “Eddy, I don’t think killing a rabbit is easy, do you?” He couldn't tell if this was her attempt at a joke He scoffed, “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” “I don’t know what you mean then, we did what the ritual said and we got good results” “But think about it, if it was this easy” “wasn’t easy” she interrupted “Okay, if it was like this, wouldn't everyone be bringing their loved ones back to life? Come on Evelyn there has to be a catch” “I don’t know Eddy, it seems you regret winning yourself a date with me,” she said, trying to shut him up, she knew he was not wrong, it was kind of easy but her brother was here, and that was all that mattered. “I’m not” “Good then. We’ll go on Saturday be ready” He resigned “I will, and what will you do?” she looked towards the basement where her brother lay, “I’ll take care of him” “Alright. Call me if you need anything” “I will” she added “and Eddy, thank you” Jordan had completely regained his speech, he seemed a different person from the night before, he was no longer scared, cold, or stuttering, he was him, the him she used to know. Evelyn told Jordan all that had passed ever since he passed, the abuse she went through at the hands of their mother, and Eddy’s crush on her, which led to her having her brother back. “You are not going to stay with Mum anymore,” Jordan said. He knew how their mother was, he knew how nasty she could be with words, this was a woman who told him he had the face of a sex addict when he was thirteen, simply because he licked his lips, a woman who said he was in a rush to give oral sex because he wanted to go to his college inauguration. “it’ll be just like before!” She shrieked “I’ll live with you and not have to see Mum again” “Well not exactly like before” he corrected, “I do have to find a place again and a job and the issue of credit cards, I might actually need to move to a new city” Evelyn had not thought about the reactions people would have about a dead man coming back to life, she didn’t take into account how he would reintegrate into society, but that did not matter to her, she would think about it later because right now, Jordan was here, which meant everything would be okay. “We should go see a movie” Evelyn suggested “I haven’t been to the cinema since you know” “Really?” “Yeah” “Not even with the eddy guy?” He teased “oh stop that” she blushed Evelyn had to mention that she was not dating him, but he did want to date her, as a guy Jordan could relate to this quite easily. Her phone rang “Fuck” “Language” “It’s mom and really?” “What?” “you came back from the dead and you are worried about how I talk?” He shrugged, “Resurrection or not, I’m still a big brother” Evelyn rolled her eyes and answered the call reluctantly A strong unladylike voice spoke through the phone “I know you are at the age where you want to stay out and meet boys and let them touch you, but do make sure you get your ass to school” Her mum cut the call before Evelyn could reply “ugh sometimes I just wish she would die” “Done” “What did you say?” Evelyn asked “Nothing” “umm okay,” she said,” I have to go I’ll meet you later and we’ll go to the movies, deal?” “Deal” Evelyn arrived pretty late to school, but the teachers did not chastise her because they knew her predicament, at least what it used to be. Eddy came up from behind her “Hey about the date” She gasped, “Maybe don’t sneak up on me?” “I’m sorry, I just wanted to say I know where to take you for our date” “Where?” “the movies,” Eddy said, all excited “No not the movies,” she said, “anywhere but the movies” “Oh, um can we get a burger at the diner then?” “that works”. For as long as Evelyn could remember, her parents used to fight, they would argue, scream, and throw all types of objects and they did it all in her presence, at age seventeen, Jordan who had grown accustomed to his parent’s ways had pretty much become immune to their toxicity, but he did not wish the same for his sister, because the price he paid for immunity, was constant exposure. Jordan Loved telling stories, so whenever their parents fought, he would take Evelyn as far as he could, and tell her the most magical fairy tail, drama, comedy, or thriller he could come up with, this always made her forget when she turned seven, he took her to the cinema for the first time, for the first time she not only had to imagine a story but she got to see it too, the cinema became their thing, it was not only an avenue to experience stories but also a medium that saved her from her parents toxicity. Her father died soon after her ninth birthday, leaving only their abusive mother. Evelyn immediately headed for the basement the minute school was done for the day, she did not want to think about it, but she could have sworn she saw a slight glint in her brother’s eyes when they spoke in the morning, but it probably meant nothing, at least that’s what she wanted. The basement was Empty even though she had told Jordan to wait for her, there was no way to contact him since he no longer had a phone, and she could not guess where he could have gone, her first instinct was to call Eddy, the only one she’d been able to trust for a while. “Have you checked your house?” Eddy asked after she explained everything to him “No” She panted “Do you really think he’d go there?” “Well, it’s possible, people tend to go to what’s more familiar to them” “Okay I’ll check the house” She ran as fast as she could, it would take her ten minutes to get to her house from the woods if she ran. She burst through the door to the living room and it was empty, the same as the kitchen. she was lost on what to do. Eddy called this time “Did he mention anything to you or you to him when you guys spoke this morning” “I can’t really think of anything” Her head was spinning and her body gave out sweat, “wait, I was a bit mad and I said something about wanting my mum to die and he was like ‘done’” Eddy was right, it was too easy, there was no way that was the same Jordan, but this was not the time to gloat or make her feel bad. “I’m on my way,” he said. She could hear him running from his end. She heard a cry from the bedroom, she had not had time to check it before Eddy called. She saw Jordan's body on the floor, her mum with a gun in her hand, confused and crying profusely “How does he keep getting up", she asked, pointing the gun at the body "Why does he look like Jordan” Evelyn ran behind her mum, “I can explain but we have to go Mum” The pair ran outside, but not before Evelyn glanced at her brother's corpse she just had him, and now she is losing him again. She did her best to stay calm, even making sure her mum did the same “Mum can you tell me what happened?” Her mum could barely form a coherent sentence but she listened hard enough to deduce Jordan had attacked and thanks to her gun she was able to put him, numerous times. “So Jordan can’t die?” she was almost happy to hear that “He kept getting up” her mother gulped amid tears “his wounds healed themselves, and his eyes were glowing black” She fell into Evelyn’s arms for comfort and while it could have been because of the terror of the moment, or guilt, Evelyn let her. Eddy arrived on his motorcycle and immediately ran to the pair “Evelyn,” he said, showing her the PDF in his phone, it was a copy of the spell book she had used, “I asked around the forum and they said we got the spell wrong, there are two ingredients needed” “yes, I know” Evelyn replied “the life of an animal and parts of a person the dead loved” “exactly but we only got the second part right” “What?” “There has to be a balance, Evelyn, to bring a rabbit back, you kill a rabbit, do you get it?” Evelyn's eyes widened “We used the wrong animal!” “We did but there is a way to break the spell for good” “oh no” Evelyn cried “he’ll be gone for good this time” “he never came back, I’m so sorry” Eddy cried, seeing Evelyn in pain hurt him and in a way, he saw himself as the cause since he told her about the site. Jordan burst through the window and caught them outside, Evelyn saw what her brother had become, he was demonic, he was wild, he was... not Jordan. Her mother raised her gun again and with a headshot, Jordan fell once more. “Okay, we need to draw the circle again and you have to recite this spell” he gave her his phone. Everything was prepared and the irony was that the spell did not require Eddy to kill an innocent bunny, it was easier in a sense but the hardest thing any human can do: say goodbye twice. Jordan woke up but Evelyn had recited the spell, his black eyes were normal once more, he smiled, he was Jordan, she looked at her brother and remembered all the stories he told her “I love you, Evelyn” he looked at Eddy and mouthed a thank you, after which his body turned to dust. He was Jordan, but he was gone. Evelyn fell to her knees in the middle of the circle and cried the hardest any human could, Eddy hugged her, she could feel his kindness, his warmth, Jordan was gone but Eddy was there, he always had been. It was two days since the event, Evelyn and her mother cleaned up, and she had explained everything to her mum, who for some reason understood and was calm about it or she was just buzzed as usual. Eddy called to ask how she was, she was happy to hear from him, she wanted him to talk to her for as long as the sun was up “Do you still want to go on a date with me?” “I thought we already had one planned” she smiled “Eddy, I'd like to go to the movies with you” “I’d really love that, Evelyn.” THE END