Waiting for a magic

It had been 3 years since I had learned that I could die on my 30th birthday. My normal and quite boring life changed dramatically. I moved back to live with my Grandma. Every day I went to work at the TVM station, where I kept doing my low-paid job as an assistant scriptwriter. After work, I went back to help in Grandma's magical shop, and practiced magic, so I could find the only person in the world who could save my life…

The fact was, I didn't make any progress in that matter. I kept thinking that maybe I had missed something. I used to go around the pond, from where I had saved the boy when I was twelve. I kept hoping to get some magical revelation, or remember some detail that I ignored before, but I guess that my magic abilities were… insufficient.

Grandma taught me how to reach into the deepest parts of my memory to project vivid images inside my mind. That day in my memory was sunny. I was wearing a pretty white dress with pink flowers on it. I got it as a present from Grandma, and I was sincerely overjoyed about it. Back then, I used to take a shortcut from school and go by the pond. It was the fastest way to get home to my Grandma.

When I was walking across the bridge over the pond, I saw three boys fighting. They were all older than me, so I sped up hoping not to get involved in their quarrel, yet some instinct didn't let me go away too far. I stopped right after I crossed the bridge, and observed them anxiously. I felt that something bad was about to happen…

In one moment, the two boys threw the third one from the bridge into the pond. They watched him struggle in the water. They were laughing. I observed the situation in fear. The drowning boy shouted that he couldn't swim, but that only made the bullies laugh more. Then he stopped screaming. He only kept glaring at the other two who had pushed him. I couldn't ignore the situation, so I decided to scream to call somebody for help myself… but there was only me and those boys there. One of the bullies even yelled at me so I would shut up…

The drowning boy went under water. I kept screaming, trying to get help. The bullies probably got scared of the whole situation and ran away. That was the moment when I ran back to the bridge and jumped into the water. Fortunately, the pond wasn't too deep, but I still didn't know how I managed to bring the boy, who was much bigger than me, out of the water.

After all my struggling, I found that he wasn't breathing. I was crying and calling him desperately, hoping that he would wake up. I used every life-saving method that I knew. Finally, after I massaged his heart, and forced the air into his lungs for I couldn't tell how many times, he spat out the water, and started to breathe…

"Thank God!" I cried kneeling beside him.

I remember stroking his black hair, revealing his face. He was regaining consciousness. He opened his eyes for a second… They were beautifully blue and his long lashes made them look like precious gemstones protected by a black frame. I didn't think he saw me… or at least not clearly, since he was weak and turned his head away lying on the ground.

Suddenly, I heard some voices. They were getting closer. In my memory, I knew they were there to find that boy…  why? That was the part I couldn't remember! Did someone call his name? It would be a big clue if I knew that… All I could remind myself was that I was worried that I had ruined the dress my Grandma gave me. It was all wet and dirty. I became stupidly afraid that someone from school might see me like that, so… as soon as I knew the boy was alive, I ran away…

"I was a total idiot!" I scolded myself, looking back at those events.

If only I hadn't run away, I would have known more about that boy… It was rather difficult to walk around the streets and ask every random blue-eyed guy, "Were you that one that I saved from drowning sixteen years ago?"

I felt more and more desperate. Yet, my Grandma was the person who had faith in me for both of us. She strongly believed in destiny, and that one day this boy, who would be now a grown man, would stand in front of me. The more terrifying thought was that finding him would only be the beginning!

"Kassi, don't worry! Grandma Amara knows best! I know that you can make that guy fall in love with you," Grandma giggled.

"I'm glad that you find it amusing… Maybe it's because you are much stronger than I am, but I am quite terrified…" I admitted.

"For my allay is the force… and fear leads to anger, anger leads to…"

"For God's sake! Granny, stop quoting Star Wars! It's not funny!" I shouted, interrupting her.

"See? You are already angry! How did it go further? Anger leads to…?" She carried on talking to herself and ignoring my bitterness.

"Grandma… tell me, what can I do more?" I begged with tearful eyes.

She smiled brightly, like she always did, and patted me on the head.

"You need to heal your lack of faith," she grinned, "You have to believe in magic, and you still don't. When you embrace it, the miracles will happen…"

It seemed easy for her to say. To me, it all sounded like one of those phrases you could find inside a fortune cookie. The worst part was that I was mad at myself for not making any progress. The worst part was that I knew that the more I thought about it, the more blocked I was…

"Kassi… cheer up! Granny came up with a temporary solution. I will give you special wax candles filled with my magic. You will light them every day, just before sleep, and then your dreams will lead you to the truth," she stated, beamingly.

"What kind of truth? If I ask a question before falling asleep, will I dream of "yes" or "no"? How is it going to work?" I asked, feverishly.

"How the hell should I know?!" Grandma replied, irritated, "The magical force itself will decide what to show you… But I wouldn't count on "yes" or "no", you know? It doesn't work like asking an 8-ball game," she smirked.

I was so desperate that I would probably agree on dancing naked around the fire every full moon, if she told me to. Lighting a candle wasn't a problem. The first night of my ritual, I dreamt of… absolutely nothing! I got up feeling annoyed and hopeless. As much as I didn't want to give up, my rational mind kept rejecting the possibility that magic existed, to the point where even my Grandma's magic didn't work on me…

I went to work, leaving supernatural pondering at home. It was time to face the earthy part of my reality – meeting about correcting the script for "The CEO's only Weakness".

It was the fourth season of the show, but its popularity was fading dramatically. It wasn't fresh anymore, the threads were used and boring, but since the main actors gained popularity at the beginning, they became demanding… putting us, the scriptwriters, in a tough position. The production team allowed it, because TVM station ratios were dropping, and the drama was the only show left that was still making money…

There were four of us in the team of assistants, Grace – wild and sarcastic literature major, Sonia – cute… and dumb general manager's cousin, Charlotte – arrogant and coquettish opportunist, a graduate of an unknown school, and me – the witch, probably. We made a girly team led by Marcus Allen, a handsome, well-built 40-year-old blond-haired man, my role model, and the original creator of the drama.

I came a little late. I met Grace when she was just about to walk into our meeting room.

"Wait for me!" I called.

"Hurry up! Marcus didn't look happy entering the room…" she stated, twitching her mouth.

"It means changes… again!" I moaned.

We came inside. The rest of the team was already there. We took our seats, abruptly gazing at Marcus's worried face.

"We have to rewrite the fifth episode again…" he announced, opening our meeting.

"But why…? The scene with Stella dropping off the horse and Christopher saving her was so good…" Grace sighed.

"Amanda… who plays Stella, doesn't agree on horses…" Marcus squeezed through his teeth.

"But… she doesn't have to ride a horse, a stunt can do it, right?" I hoped to find a solution that would save at least that scene.

"Amanda claimed that she would not touch any filthy animal… that was the exact quote," he passed on, annoyed.

"Can we strangle her, hire someone new and write in a script that she has done a plastic surgery?" Grace smiled wickedly.

"I wish that was an option…" Marcus sighed.

I took a deep breath… I truly hated situations like that. I knew that those celebrities were actually the ones that were dragging the show down, while we were receiving criticism for writing dull scripts…

"Don't worry, Marcus. We will come up with new suggestions in no time," I grinned, clenching my fists, and hoping to infect everyone with some enthusiasm.

"Go ahead then, and write something," Charlotte snorted, "I have better things to do today…"

"Like what?!" Grace called out, irked.

"Haven't you heard? The new CEO is coming today," Charlotte chuckled, "I heard that he is still unmarried and handsome as hell. I won't miss a chance to meet him," she stated, pulling out a perfume from her purse and spraying it on her neck and wrists.

"Seriously, you hope to seduce the guy with that smell, or make him vomit? Because you have more chances for the second…" Grace smirked.

"You…!" Charlotte roared, angrily.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Marcus shouted, "Let's think of new threads. We will meet tomorrow, same time." He banged his fist on the table.

"I like horsies…" Sonia popped out, giggling.

Everyone looked at her in silent disbelief...

"Anyway…" Marcus started, trying to ignore what had just happened, "Like I said. Think of your proposals. We have to put the episode together until tomorrow noon," he ended the meeting.

We walked out of the room feeling the depressing pressure of creating something that arrogant celebrities would accept. Suddenly, we saw some commotion in the hallway. There were people gathering at a great speed. The turmoil was getting bigger and bigger.

"He's coming!" some girl screamed, excitedly.

Grace and I also walked closer to find out what was going on, but there were too many people crowding around the passage through the hallway. I could only notice a group of people in suits. They looked like bodyguards, and they were walking towards the main conference room. Suddenly, we saw the general manager running towards them at a tremendous speed.

"Welcome Mr. Borda!" he called, highly agitated, reaching out his hand towards the man standing in the middle of the group.

I heard some whispering, and loud gasps. All the employees were crowding in lines, like they were about to greet a celebrity. They were standing too close for me to see their faces. I only managed to see the hand of the general manager and an arm of our new CEO. Suddenly, I saw something glowing on the CEO's palm.

"Did you see that?!" I whispered excitedly to Grace.

"See what?" she asked, confused.

"His hand… it was… glowing…" I voiced it oud and realized how strange it sounded.

"Kass… I know you are probably in great need of a man right now, but… are you really that desperate that even the hand of a handsome guy makes you horny?" Grace chuckled.

"Grace, I'm serious… I know it sounds weird… I didn't say that his hand is attractive, I said it was glowing…" I guessed a little too late that my explaining didn't do me any good.

Our new CEO entered the conference room along with the general manager and the group of bodyguards. The door closed, leaving me confused and wondering.

"That glow… Was that… magic?"