Saturday, November 12th, 2022
Raindrops were, like almost every night in Tristan da Cunha, crashing against Emma’s room window, filling it with a soothing and comforting white noise. A few thunders here and there were helping to create a cozy ambience. Her room was the coldest one of all, but her old heater was on, making a quiet brown noise and warming up the place. She was sitting on her bed with two pillows -one horizontally placed at her waist, and the other one supporting her back-, reading her favorite book for the fifth time: “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Emma liked to read some phrases out, but softly enough to not bother anyone in the mansion.
“I willed myself to stay awake, but the rain was so soft and the room was so warm and his voice was so deep and his knee was so snug that I sle-”
Suddenly, the room’s door opened abruptly and hit the wall behind it, scaring her and interrupting her relaxing lecture session. The door bounced back from the wall and before it closed again, Emma looked up and saw Ji-Eun standing at the door with a circumstance face and a tray in her hands.
“Oops…” -Ji said from behind the door.
Emma sighed with a smile while biting her lower lip. She got up to open the door for Ji-Eun.
“Uhhhh… Would you mind op-”
Emma opened the door and looked at Ji-Eun while smiling.
“Ji?” -she said, still with a subtle smile on her face. “Were you planning on waking up everyone or just me?”
“I’m sorry!” -Ji said with a nervous laugh. “Happy Birthday! I had my hands full and I didn’t know if you were awake, so I tried to open it with my feet.”
“Well, that would have definitely woke me up!” -said Emma, while both laughed.
The tray held a freshly made cup of smoking hot coffee, which released a fragrant smell of black pepper and cinnamon, accompanied by some deliciously looking red velvet cupcakes.
“You know that it was more than enough with one simple black coffee, right?” -said Emma, while smiling from ear to ear, almost salivating.
“Oh, come on! It's your birthday! I love doing this, plus I know it’s your favorite.” -Ji winked with her mouth open.
“Hahaha… Oh, man. You do know me! Thank you so much, sister. I really appreciate it, you really didn’t hav-”
“HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAAY!” -Rhea jumped in from behind Ji-Eun, with a big smile and opening her arms to hug Emma.
Rhea and Emma hugged each other, while Ji-Eun entered the room to leave the breakfast tray on her desk.
“Thank you, Ri, thank you.” -said Emma.
Ji-Eun closed the door and Rhea hugged Emma. While doing so, she couldn’t help but notice the breakfast tray on the desk, and exclaimed:
“Whaaaaaaat?! This is so unfair! I just drank a sad tea with a fucking cracker!” -Rhea claimed, while doing a close inspection to the cupcakes.
“Girl, it ain’t your birthday, so don’t even think about it or I’ll break your fingers.” -Emma replied with a jocking accent.
The three of them laughed for a bit, then, an awkward silence came along.
“Alright, alright, you can both have one. But just ONE, okay?” -Emma said.
Rhea opened her mouth wide, showing a happy and excited expression at the same time. She instantly went in for the cupcake and took a big bite, not even caring about the cream that she had over her nose and upper lip.
Her facial expression after the bite went from happy to amazed, and then up to total pleasure.
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“Mmmmmmmm!” -She said, while trying to whip the cream out of her nose. She was completely out of words, and didn’t hesitate to take another bite.
“Alright, that means I have to take one… Can you believe her? It’s MY birthday and she’s enjoying it first!” -Emma said while picking up a cupcake out of the tray.
She gestured with the cupcake to Ji-Eun, while saying a short “Mh?”
“Oh, no thanks! I am lactose intolerant, and besides, I baked them… you know that the baker gets the first taste.” -Ji replied while smiling.
“Mmm… Mhm…”
Words couldn’t come out of Emma’s mouth, only joy and satisfaction, but heavily nodding in approval.
“Have you talked to Valentina?” -Rhea asked, slowly erasing the smile off her face.
“No... Did something happen?” -Emma replied with a serious face.
“No, no! Not at all, I just asked, I mean… You… Uhm...” -Rhea said nervously, almost starting to stutter.
“You mean if she messaged me for my birthday? No, not yet.”
“Yeah…”
“Well, it’s barely 12:15, I’m sure she’s about to come up soon.” -Ji said.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind. It’s just another day for me, but gladly I have these cupcakes… or at least five of them!” -Emma said sarcastically, while looking at Rhea munching the last piece of the cupcake she had in her hands.
“Mmm! Fuck you, this is delicious, I don’t care.” -Rhea replied with her mouth full, while spitting some cream bits.
The three of them laughed again, and then an awkward silence filled the room. Ji felt obligated to speak about anything to break it up.
“Well… what do you want to do tomorrow? Do you wanna go somewhere? Day trip? Ocean?”
“Ergh… I don’t know, I’ll probably just stay here, I’m not really in the mood for anything. Besides, it’s raining and this fucking island has bored me to death.”
“Oh, come on… We can surely find something to do that you’ll enjoy… right?” -Ji replied with a smile, then she looked at Rhea who was signaling her with a hand gesture at her neck to “cut it off”, which made Ji’s smile slowly fade away.
“I don’t know girls, right now, I just wanna drink this co-”
Ji-Eun’s ring immediately flashed with a bright purple light, her eyes glowed with the same hue for a second, and a small light barrier just materialized out of nowhere, thin as paper, with purple highlights and just in-between the hot cup of coffee and Emma’s mouth, preventing her from burning herself.
Emma smiled and replied with a simple “Thank you.”
“I guess it was too hot still.” -Ji replied.
“You can do that too? Damn…” -Rhea said to Ji-Eun while laughing.
“Well, technically it wasn’t me, but you know…” -Ji replied while waving her right hand.
All of the sudden, everything went silent for an instant. Their voices, the rain, the storm, the heater, everything. In the meantime, an invisible shockwave of sound passed through them, making a crescent colossal sound that faded away into nothing.
The rain had now stopped.
The three of them looked at each other, shocked with their eyes wide-open.
“What was that?” -Rhea said.
“I don’t know” -Ji replied.
Emma checked her phone and saw something strange that left her thinking for a moment.
“Uh? My phone is de-synced.”
“That’s weird.” -Ji bounded.
Then, Rhea also checked her phone and noticed that her phone was also de-synced. The date was incorrect. She looked at both of them and said:
“Would you mind telling me what’s the date on your phones?”
“Tuesday, November 12th, 2021” -Emma instantly replied.
“Ji?” -Rhea asked again.
She grabs her phone, checks the date and her face immediately shows a visible confusion.
“Tuesday… November 12th… 20-”
“Holy shit.” -Emma said. “I have the same date.”
“Did we just… went back in time?” -Rhea asked worried.
“I… I… don’t know…” -Emma replied.
“Girls… look at the coffee…” -Ji remarked.
The coffee mug was still hot and smoking with the same aroma of black pepper and cinnamon.
A short explosion was heard from behind the door. It made the whole floor shake, the door vibrated and the lamp on the desk almost fell to the ground if it wasn’t for Rhea that saved it. The explosion came from the hall outside, and scared the three of them for a second. Heavy footsteps were heading towards Emma’s room, while the temperature on the room started to rise.
“Oh boy…” -Emma said, while opening the door.
Behind it was Valentina, an italian woman with dark long hair and a lightly tanned skin. Her irises were coral red, the same color as her nails and ring. Her hands were covered with healing burns. She looked worried and it seemed that she had been abruptly woken up from her sleep.
“What was that? What are you doing?” -Valentina said while looking at the three of them.
“What are you doing? You know you can’t use spells in the house.” -Rhea said calmly. “Happy Birthday Emma? No? Nothing?” -she complemented, while interrupting Valentina.
“Yes, I know, and yes, happy birthday, I love you, sorry I slept throught, but please, can you tell me what the fuck just happened?” -Val replied.
“Thank you, love. It’s fine. And, we don’t know. I think we may have gone back in time. All of our phones are showing the exact same date from a year ago.” -Emma said.
Valentina looked at Emma for a second, then instantly backed up a few steps.
“Valentina, n-!” -Rhea exclaimed.
A fire ring materialized out of nowhere, surrounding Valentina and bursting into a ball of flame, making her disappear from sight.
Rhea sighed, then said: “This girl…”
Valentina re-appeared with her phone in her hands.
“Ok, as far as I know, I went to sleep on a Saturday and somehow slept a whole negative year back to a Friday. So… any clues?” -Val said.
“No… Should we call a meeting?” -Ji replied.
“Yeah, call everyone. Be sure to contact Mitsuo as well, check on how he’s doing… and stop using spells on the house, please?” -Rhea said.