I was pushing a buggy down the soup aisle. “What do you want for dinner Ammon?” I asked my boyfriend.
“What ever you want Anastacia.” He replied mockingly, he does that when I call him by his first name.
“Okay, we’ll have a salad.” He always hated salad he calls it “Rabbit Food.”
“Yuck. Do I look like a woodland creature?” Pulling the salad mix I just picked up out of my hand and putting it back.
I giggled at his response. “Honey, you said whatever I want.”
He agreed, “Yes but we are not going home to a burrow, we are going home to a house.”
“Okay fine.” I couldn’t help but to smile at his words. “How about spaghetti?” I continued.
“Mmm…” he said enthusiastically.

We walked out to our car; we were lucky and got a parking space up front so we didn’t have to walk very long. A giant raven suddenly flew onto our car gracefully. The bird was so beautiful and majestic with her soft and shimmering feathers. Her eyes sparkled like emeralds in the evening sun; the most beautiful green eyes I’ve ever seen. She didn’t even see me as she stared at Ammon, it’s like I wasn’t even there.
“Honey, I’m scared. Will you shoo it away?” The second Ammon put his hand in the air the raven flew straight up and disappeared in the sky.

From where I stood in the kitchen I could hear Ammon watching TV, over the sizzling of my meat, and tomato sauce cooking. I added a smidge of onion powder to the sauce and listened to the pan hiss like a snake.
“Smells good, is it almost done?” Ammon came up behind me saying while he wrapped his arms around my waist. Why do men always have to be so impatient when it comes to food?
“Almost.” I said giggling.
After dinner I stood up to carry our plates to the kitchen. I sat Ammon’s plate in the sink and before I could set my plate in the sink I heard a vague whisper and a figure appeared before my eyes. The whisper came again and this time it said my name “Anastacia.”
I was so shocked by that moment that my plate slipped right out of my hand and hit the floor with a shatter.
“Anastacia?!” Ammon came rushing into the room, panting. “I heard you scream and something breaking. I was so afraid you might have been hurt. What happened?”
Had I really screamed? I apparently haven’t noticed. “I don’t know…I guess I just had a hallucination.”
His face looked so concerned and his voice was practically shaking, but very serious. “What of?” I stood silent for a moment and thought back to the moment and thought back to the hallucination.
“I think I saw…” I stuttered for a second and then continued “Me….I looked at myself and said my name.” Ammon moved his eyes to the floor
“We should clean this up.” He bent down. I could see his brown hair started falling in his face at that moment. I bent down and started to help him.
“In the five years we’ve been together you have never had a hallucination.” His voice was softly concerning.
Our eyes met then, his beautiful blue-ish green eyes always have a hint of grey in them. I was so caught up a looking at him that my heart was racing. Just then he leaned in and kissed me ever so softly on the lips. His lips were always full with so much passion when they caressed mine. He picked me up so I swung my arms around his neck and closed my eyes as he carried me up the stairs to our bedroom.
 A sweet saint like voice filled my dream and I felt my warm comforter pull off my body. I woke up then and realized I had only been asleep about an hour. But what I thought was a dream, wasn’t. My blanket was on the floor, and my Ammon was gone. The only thing I felt at that moment was sudden panic and fear. Then the music faintly disappeared and a loud bang came from my front door.

I ran to my window and I faintly saw a man walking in the dark away from the house. I knew right at that moment it had to have been Ammon. I ran outside and frantically flew into the street and ran in the direction I saw him go. I swirled in circles looking for him and there he was going into what looked like a cave so I ran to follow. When I got up close to the cave I noticed its beauty. The whole inside from what I could see was covered in silver crystals. The glow from the moon glittered off each crystal and hit the whole inside of the cave. The only sound coming form the cave was a light trickling of water. Maybe a creek of some sort. I started forward into the cave and the water splashed on my bare feet and the rocks pressed sharply into my skin. The cave was suddenly huge and wide open to a huge room. The first and only thing I saw in the room was Ammon. He was on a huge bed with his arms wrapped around a fiery red haired beauty with a long green velvet dress on. The dress was unzipped in the back and Ammon was kissing her neck. The room started to spin and my heart sunk deep into my stomach. I tried to say his name but it only came out a faint whisper that even I couldn’t hear. At that moment the woman’s eyes flew open and glared straight at me, but Ammon sat straight up with his eyes closed; as if in a trance. I looked back at the woman and her deep emerald eyes seemed so familiar in that simple second. And my heart began to race and the whole room suddenly went black.

A loud beeping woke me up and the sun shone in my eyes, and stung them. I forced my exhausted body out of bed and looked around for Ammon but he wasn’t there. Instead there was a note on his pillow saying:

“Baby,
Going on a business trip, I’ll be home in a few days.
Love you,
-Ammon”
“What a strange dream.” I spoke very quietly to myself.
I dressed and went down stairs to make a pot of coffee. I slurped at my hot and sweet beverage and started to type on my magazine article Coffee, Bad for your Health?
After a day of almost nothing I went to bed, but this time alone. At first I couldn’t sleep, but finally I fell into a deep slumber.

I was standing in a white room but it had no walls, and I was standing across from a short, semi pale woman. She had long brown hair and blue eyes. It took me a second to realize that this girl was me.

“Am I dead?” I asked very scared.
“No.” the girl giggled at me. “I know you must think I’m you. Am I right?”
“You aren’t?” I asked confused.
“No. I am Anastacia.” She said very a-matter-of-factly.
“But that’s my name.”
“I am your grandmother. I died before you were born. The soul in your body was once in mine as well.”
“This is so strange.” I said plopping down onto the floor.
“We only have a short time. I’ll talk; you listen and ask questions later.”
She spoke very orderly, so I nodded.
“A woman has stolen your boyfriend. Her name is Dera and she is a siren.” Anastacia paused and then continued. “Dera has extraordinary powers of transformation and a necklace of youth; Annaurra. Without Annaurra, Dera is powerless.” I could feel the shock on my face.
“So what am I supposed to do?” I asked sheepishly.
“Fight her and win.”
“How am I supposed to do…” I started to say but Anastacia was running at me and instinctively I jumped to the ground and grabbed her ankle knocking her to the ground. In a split second she was back on her feet and smiling at me.

“It’s in your heart; you know what to do.” She helped me to my feet and continued to speak. “Tomorrow you will have a package on your door step.” And she disappeared.

The first thing I did when I woke up was run to my door and yank it open. Just as she said a package was resting on my doormat. I ran upstairs to my room and pulled the covering of the box and used my keys to rip the box open. Inside was leather fighting dress with lace trimming and a dagger. I pulled the dagger out and set it on my bed gently. Then pulled the gown out of the box; a whip fell from the back of the tight leather material. It coiled on my floor like a snake. I picked it up and gripped it tightly in my hand.

A sudden flash of memories flew to my mind. Two girls sat in the floor listening to a man speak. The girls were both dressed in Victorian clothing and the man as well. It was like I flew back in time. One of the girls flung up her hand willing to answer the teacher. The other was beautiful but angry and looked so unhappy.

Another flash of a young woman who must have been Anastacia on her wedding day and what looked like Ammon. The red haired Dera sat in the back row looking bitter and hateful.

The sun was setting as I crawled up to the cave. It was dark, there wasn’t a moon tonight to light the way. Just inside were torches and candles, flickering light across the walls. As I crept inside I saw Ammon sitting on the bed like a statue; he sat staring straight at me.

“Hello dear sister.” Came a chuckle from behind me. Dera was blocking my exit from the cave.

I held tight to the dagger as I spoke “So you killed your own sister and stole her husband because you were jealous of their happiness?”
“No one ever loved me like they loved her; mother, father, not even the men that drooled on me. They only saw me as a trinket.” Her smile slowly faded as she spoke. We stood just feet away staring at each other until she turned her attention to Ammon. I turned to look at what she saw. A sharp pain came to my mind and I was on the ground in a second looking up at Ammon and Dera. Dera had her foot on my throat cutting off my breathing and Ammon has a big book in his hand. I grabbed Dera’s foot and pulled her to the ground; turning I knocked Ammon to the ground as well. I took my whip and tied Ammon up.

“Sorry babe.” I was sure he couldn’t hear me but it was worth a try.
I had dropped my dagger on the ground when I was hit by Ammon and when I looked back to find it; it was gone. I frantically looked around the room but no dagger or Dera was in sight. A faint sound behind me made me turn just in time to catch my dagger by the handle; Dera had thrown it from across the cave. By the time the dagger was in my hand steadily Dera was only inches away from my face. Her hand gripped so tightly around my wrist I nearly dropped my dagger; but I knew I couldn’t do that so I held on as tight as I could. I flung my left hand to her neck and ripped Annaurra off her and plunged my dagger straight into her heart. But I wasn’t ready for her when she took her hand and slammed it into my chest. I heard her scream and I was flying in the air. Then everything went black.

Anastacia stood in front of me smiling. “She is finally gone. No more of us will have to go through this pain again.”
Before I could say a word she was gone, replaced by a bright white light and faint whispering.
“Thank you doctor.” I recognized Ammon’s voice.
“I’m okay.” I said trying to make him smile; it worked.
“Yes you are.” He smiled and walked across the room and kissed me very softly on the lips.