EVDOKIYA


DISTRACTION was what Evdokiya needed most of the time, which was why she was down at the markets. It was a distraction she needed on a Saturday when she had no clients. The markets were held near the church with the new pastor, people from all different towns came from far and wide to sell whatever junk they wanted. Evdokiya usually only got things from one particular woman who was like her, but Evdokiya suspected there was something a little different about the woman. Evdokiya did not trust her, but she barely trusted anyone after her incident anyway, it was hard.

"Good morning Evdokiya," the same woman smiled at her. Today her hair was styled in a short, spiked style the ends a bright, fuchsia pink. Her nails were long and gold, her pink lips wide with a smile that had shivers running down Evdokiya's spine.

"Good morning Hazel," Evdokiya said quietly. "What do you have today?" She bent to get a closer look at the gemstones and other pieces.

"Everything I usually do," Hazel reached underneath her table. "And this," she pulled out a pendant with a lapis lazuli in the middle. "I've kept it for you, I thought you might like it."

"It is lovely," Evdokiya was enchanted by the old amulet. "May I hold it?"

"Of course," there was that smile again, the one that had Evdokiya on edge. "But would you like to buy it first?"

"Well," Evdokiya pursed her lips. "Okay."

"Good," Hazel then held out her hand. "Twenty, please. And I would advise you to cleanse this, don't you feel the negative vibes from it?"

No, she couldn't. Evdokiya thought as she pulled out two ten-dollar-notes. "That would be a good idea," she then smiled at Hazel. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Hazel shrugged. "Come on, I'll put it around your neck."

Evdokiya lifted her black waves as Hazel stepped around her, the taller woman placing the pendant on Evdokiya's chest. It was cold, she gasped when it touched her and she could feel Hazel fiddling with the fastening. But it was clasped and Hazel stepped away from her and Evdokiya felt dizzy. It was much like what had happened in class when she had touched the hieroglyphics, she was trying to ignore it – trying to force it away. But it came on, like a wave crashing over her she was pulled into something she did not quite understand.

It was another out of body experience as she stared at a girl, younger than herself, back away from a man. The girl turned, the white dress she wore whipping around her legs. The girl was dark, very, very dark in her skin tone and Evdokiya had no idea what it meant. The girl tumbled to the ground and tried to scramble away from the man but he screamed at her. He screamed at her as he came down upon her and stabbed her, multiple times and her screams were interrupted, so bloodcurdling that Evdokiya was shaken out of the horror with tears running down her face.

"Evdokiya," Hazel looked at her in concern.

"There is deep sadness," she said, wrapping her hands around the pendant. "Deep sadness attached to this."

"Oh," Hazel's brows furrowed. "You might want to cleanse it then. There's nothing worse than having someone else's dark energy?"

"Yeah," she agreed, staring down at the amulet. Placing her hand under the pendant, she stared at the opal stone that shimmered in the sun. "Thank you, Hazel."

"You're welcome," Hazel smiled at her and then turned as a young girl came up to them.

Turning away from her, Evdokiya continued to fiddle with the opal pendant and continued walking away from Hazel's shop. Evdokiya breathed in deeply and she felt heavy, the pendant had energy in it that was draining for Evdokiya. She had never felt anything like it, taking a deep breath she passed a store selling fairy floss and paused. Looking at the sugary sweet she decided to buy it, pulling out her purse she made her way to the stand. The person behind the counter was young, perhaps in their early adolescents and they had very dark skin, with dark, almond-shaped eyes.

"Hello," Evdokiya stepped close to the bench and peered at the fairy floss. "I want some fairy floss," she pointed at the pink coloured sugar and the girl nodded.

"Sure," the girl tilted her head to the side. "That's about three dollars."

Evdokiya paid and smiled at the girl, "Thank you."

"Great…" the young girl was staring over her shoulder. Evdokiya licked her lips and looked over her shoulder, trying to catch what the girl was looking at. But there was nothing, "Let me just get that for you." The girl turned around to the machine that was making the sweet.

Tapping her hand against her thigh, Evdokiya bobbed her head along to a song that was playing in her mind. She fiddled with her pendant that still hung from her neck, looking over at the sugar as it spun the pink around a stick. Evdokiya smiled as the girl suddenly passed the stick over to her, eyes still looking suspiciously over Evdokiya's back. Evdokiya frowned, using her other hand to pull apart some of the sugary sweet to eat. It dissolved on her tongue and she turned, feeling a little lighter than she had before.

Licking her lips, Evdokiya smiled down at the sweet and let the sun soak into her skin. It was getting colder, Evdokiya loathed the cold as she had seen so much of it in her childhood, never being warm. Evdokiya preferred summer when the days were longer and it was much warmer, she did not tan exactly as she was quite pale but that didn't mean she could not enjoy it. Rolling back her shoulders, Evdokiya shivered and reached up to rub her free hand on one of her top arms. She then moved to eat more of the fairy floss.

Her phone rang so suddenly she jumped and picked it up, lifting it to her ear. "Hello?" She answered the call slowly.

"Yes hi, this is Sam."

"Sam?"

"Winchester."

"Oh," Evdokiya blinked. "The one who helped stop the witch?"

"Yes."

"Why are you calling me?"

"Is this Evdokiya?" He dodged the question, "Because we have so many numbers so we're just trying to keep track of them all."

"I'm Evdokiya," she breathed out deeply. "Is that all you called for?"

"Well," he sounded awkward. "Dean and I wanted to check if you were okay. You know, after your whole ordeal."

"I'm better." She kicked at the ground, "I'm going to college, my business is doing better. There is no psychotic creature trying to come after me."

"Good, good," Sam then took a deep breath. "Well, if you have any troubles don't hesitate to call Dean or me."

"I won't."

"Bye."

"Bye," she said quickly but he had already hung up before he heard her goodbye. Rolling her eyes, Evdokiya shoved her phone into her bag and then looked around. Perhaps it was time she headed back, went home and made sure that Caspian was alright.

She began walking home, pulling her bag up to her shoulder as she went. Finishing the fairy floss, she threw the rubbish in the bin just outside the park and continued to walk away. Her back was straight and her head was high as she continued to move, moving her hand to run over the opal pendant again as if she had forgotten it was still hanging around her neck. She liked the pendant, there was still a strange heaviness within it and she knew that she needed to cleanse it. There was nothing worse than having dark energy hanging around, especially when she was so susceptible to it.

It was half-an-hour later when she finally made it to her shop and home. She took off the pendant and immediately placed it with a selenite stick and made her way up to her room. Caspian was meowing outside the window and she let him inside, immediately she rubbed himself against her legs before slinking down the stairs. Straightening her back, Evdokiya dropped her bag on the end of her bed and decided to have a showered, she needed it. Her muscles were aching and she just wanted to feel warm, and a shower could offer comfort and warmth.

Under the rays of the shower, she felt as if she was being watched. Frowning, Evdokiya peeked out of the shower curtain that was deep blue with white polka dots. Pushing the curtain back with her fingers, water dripped from her arm onto the tiled floor outside of the shower but she saw nothing. Nothing was standing in her bathroom although she had left the door that led to the small living room in her apartment open. But no one was going to climb up the stairs and Caspian would alert her if they did.

So her mind was just playing tricks on her.

Again.

In the middle of the night Evdokiya jerked up out of bed, heart pounding in her chest and her hair sticking to her neck and forehead. A cold sweat had come over her, a chill and she shivered. Frowning, Evdokiya pushed her hair off her forehead and yawned. Turning her head to the window, it was still dark and she looked over at the alarm clock on the side of her bed – it was early in the morning, only three. Evdokiya frowned, reaching over to turn on her lamp beside the bed.

"Caspian," she suddenly called, noticing her cat was not at the end of her bed as she usually was.

Evdokiya did not let him outside at night, because she didn't want him to get into fights. Frowning, Evdokiya pushed her blankets off her legs and slipped from the bed. The floor was cold, very cold and Evdokiya hissed, pulling her feet up quickly. But still, she shoved her feet into some slippers and pulled on her dressing gown that was thrown carelessly over the end of her bed. Pulling it around her arms, Evdokiya moved into the kitchen and turned on the light.

"What?" She rubbed her eyes when she noticed the curtains of the window in the room was open. Shaking her head, Evdokiya moved toward it and closed the curtains.

Her lounge room was fine, except for a few books and cushions that were a little out of place. Evdokiya rubbed the side of her face, then scratching the back of her neck as she looked around. Where the hell was her cat? Evdokiya yawned, she wanted to go to bed but she could feel her skin prickling. Something felt wrong, she could not describe it but it felt as if someone was watching her.

Hearing her cat howling, Evdokiya's eyes widened and she turned toward the door that led down to the shop. The door was wide open, that meant Caspian could make his way down the stairs. But Evdokiya remembered shutting the door before going to bed, she always shut the door when she went to bed. Shaking her head, Evdokiya pulled her dressing gown around her further and began to head down the stairs. Turning on the lights at the top of the staircase, Evdokiya began to make her way down the stairs.

"Caspian!" She called down to her cat and made her way to the bottom of the staircase.

Her bare feet pressed against the hardwood and she turned to flick on another light. It was bright as she looked around, bending down as Caspian came barrelling towards her. Evdokiya frowned and pulled him into her arms, stroking the top of his head to offer some measure of comfort. He seemed rather freaked out and Evdokiya began to head up the stairs, she doubted she'd be able to get any more sleep but she was not going to ignore her cat who seemed scared.

As she reached the top of the stairs, Evdokiya suddenly heard a crash and Caspian shrieked. His claws dug into her arms and Evdokiya let out a curse, letting the cat fall onto the stairs and hurry up them. Evdokiya felt her skin prickle and she turned her head around slowly, looking down at the bottom of the steps but there was nothing there. Shivers ran down her spine as she slowly began to move down the stairs, running her hand along the wall as she went until she hit the bottom. She stared into the darkness, eyes narrowed as she fiddled for the light.

Once the light was on the room lit up and Evdokiya blinked, heading to the table in the middle and frowning when she noticed her amulet laid out. Beside it was a ceremonial dagger she had bought and never used. It was stabbed into the table and the cloth, Evdokiya was so confused as to how it had got there. She had never used it so she was a little worried someone had broken in. But why would they do such a thing? Evdokiya shook her head and wrapped her hand around the dagger.

"What are you doing?" Evdokiya whipped around blinking, staring at a man who was staring down but not at her, instead of at a child.

"Nothing," the child stood, guiltily hiding something behind their back. Evdokiya stood behind the child and her eyes widened as she noticed the dagger, her ceremonial dagger.

"It is dangerous to go around with these things," the man was young as he suddenly grasped the child's arm and yanked it from the child. "You could be caught. You know how dangerous it is, they cry witch at even the slightest change of attitude these days."

"I know," the child was solemn, a little heartbroken. "It's because they killed Mother, right?"

"Of course it is," the man suddenly bent, touching the child's cheek. He wiped away the tear, "Because they found out about Mother we have to be extra careful Pru." He then reached up to her neck, "I will take your dagger and the amulet Mother gave you before she died. I promised her that I would keep you safe."

"But what will we do when you marry?" The child demanded. But Evdokiya was too focused on the amulet in the man's hands, it belonged to Evdokiya.

Pulled from the sudden vision, Evdokiya was gasping and removed her hand from the dagger. Her entire body shook and she closed her eyes briefly. No, no. She had no power, she was a liar and she only did it to get money. But she could not deny what was in front of her, heart heavy she turned off the light to the room and began to hurry up the steps. She turned off the light and then hurried into her apartment, slamming the door shut and making sure to lock it. Caspian suddenly weaved between her legs, rubbing against her as if to assure her he was there.

"That was strange," she murmured and reached up to rub her head. "What's going on, Cas?"