BEYOND THE BARRIER

Uneasy Morning

Lisa didn’t sleep that night.

Every time she tried to close her eyes, Eric's lifeless and pale body came to her mind…vividly, it wasn't her first time of examining corpses for the police department, In fact, it is one of her responsibility as the ‘chosen’ witch to inspect any strange occurrence in the city.

Hence the reason Colonel Jeff phoned her.

Aside from that, she was quite close to Jeff because after working closely for years, people tend to grow that way.

She wasn’t that close to Colonel Pam, though, even if they had attended the same high school and were never really friends…more like enemies, maybe.

Pam had always hated her.

Pam hatred towards her grew stronger in 12th grade when Andrew, her long time crush , had asked Lisa to be his girlfriend, she had been so furious that she snatched the flowers out of Andrew’s hands and threw them in the bin.

“What have I ever done to her, anyways”Lisa scoffed.

Her mind trailed off to Eric’s body again and the strange energy she had felt around his body.

She turned in her bed, exhaling sharply.

“No…” she muttered. “I must have misread it.”

But the feeling still didn’t leave, she continued doubting herself and trying to convince herself that she had gotten it all wrong then she sat up slowly her eyes flicked to the bedside clock.

3:00AM.

She had training with her grandmother in two hours and she hasn't slept at all.

Lisa groaned as her hands ran through her hair, her granny's voice in her mind.

"A witch must be well rested, a tired mind makes careless mistakes"

“Well..granny, I didn’t heed to your advice so this is going to be a looong morning," she muttered as she lay back in the bed hugging her pillow to her chest.

Eventually, exhaustion pulled her under and she drifted off, shortly after falling asleep her alarm rang.

"Ding...Dong...Ding.."

Lisa groaned dragging her pillow over her head in an attempt to stop the noise but it kind of made it worse because the alarm became louder.... somehow.

"Ohhh..."

She stretched her hand to her bedside table, as her hand found the clock she slammed it so hard out of frustration that the batteries flew out and it eventually turned off.

“Ops…sorry” she let out a little laugh.

Then she forced herself up, she stumbled to the bathroom, she turned on the shower.

"Ouch!" She let out a scream and jumped back instantly as she withdrew her hand from the water.

The water was ice cold.

"Halloweeeenn..." She muttered under her breath.

Of course.

Her neice again, she must have done it before she went to sleep last night, it wasn’t her first time treating the house temperature like a toy and she was only four.

The annoying and intriguing part of Hallow’s power is that she doesn’t even need to touch the water to freeze it, she just have to think about it and it is done and since she discovered how her power works in her little genius mind few days to her fourth birthday, they haven’t rested in that house.

“She is just a child, she will outgrow it”Merlotte, her mother, always says every time she tamper with the temperature and allow her get away with it, instead of helping her control her power.

After pacing the room and bathroom for some minutes, Lisa later decided she didn't have a choice than to use the cold water.

She shook her head as she quickly splash her face, washed her feet and arms quickly and exit the bathroom.

After getting dressed in her training clothes, she remembered she hadn’t brushed her teeth and sat on the bed to contemplate for a while if using the water was her only option before giving in and going back to the bathroom to brush her teeth after that she headed toward the training room.

The entrance to the training room has two doors, Lisa decided to slip into the dimly lit room quietly using the back door hoping that Granny Holly isn’t there yet while looking around cautiously.

"You are late"

She froze.

"Granny..." She said, turning slowly, "I am sorry, I slept late...the water was too cold…" she stuttered.

She bit her lips after realizing what she had done.

“Hallow…that child,” Granny Holly cut in with a sharp sigh. “Why can’t Merlotte keep her under control?”

She heaved a sigh of relief knowing Merlotte won’t be punished for her daughter’s behavior.

“Let’s start” Holly’s voice echoed through the room.

The training room was quiet except for the faint crackling of enchanted candles lining the walls, the morning light slipped through the narrow windows, stretching across the stone floor in pale strips.

“You’re too stiff,” Holly said calmly as she stepped behind Lisa. Her hands rested briefly on Lisa’s waist, adjusting her posture with practiced ease. “Stop forcing the energy. Let it move through you.” She said after helping her balance.

Lisa nodded, though frustration already burned beneath her skin.

“Again,” Holly instructed.

Lisa inhaled deeply.

“Shabidi… michi… tin…”

The scattered rocks before her trembled, as though the very air around them had turned uncertain.

For a brief moment, hope flickered across her face as one pebble slowly lifted into the air…Then another….and another.

As though being pulled by an invisible hand the remaining pebbles started dragging themselves across the floor slowly forming a loose circle.

“Okay, this is it, I am getting it” Lisa thought to herself as she narrowed her focus, steadying her breath.

The final pebble trembled in place, hovering just slightly above the ground.

Almost there.

Her jaw clenched.

Then-

A sharp crack split through the air forcing the energy to collapse violently causing all the pebbles to drop at once, scattering across the floor in a loud, chaotic crash.

Lisa flinched instinctively.

One last rock rolled across the polished floor, its motion slow and uneven, before coming to a stop right beside her feet.

Then it stopped.

Silence settled over the room again, heavier than before.

Lisa stared at the mess in disbelief, her chest tightening slightly.

“That’s… strange.”

Holly didn’t answer immediately.

She walked forward slowly, studying the scattered rocks with narrowed eyes before sighing softly.

“We passed this stage months ago.”

Lisa swallowed.

“I know.” Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “Let me try again.”

But the next attempt failed even faster.

This time, the rocks didn’t rise at all.

A faint crease appeared between Holly’s brows.

“Enough,” she said finally. “Let’s end the lesson here today, it seems you are not concentrating, We’ll continue later.”

Lisa lowered her hands slowly, trying to ignore the unease and disappointment creeping beneath her skin.

This wasn’t normal.

She could feel it...not weakness...not exhaustion.

Something else.

Something… off.