Don’t stop dancing, it’s better if they don’t suspect.

“Hannes, this is Merlina”, the white-bearded old man in front of me showed the woman’s hand.

“Lina, Johannes is the name, I hope you two get along well”, her Colgate-white smile and wasabi-green eyes familiarly struck me.

Our hands met.

I already know her!

Yeah, we know that part, just shut up and pretend we don’t.

“What was that?!”, I instinctively stepped back and bumped on the silver tray full of glasses the waiter was carrying. The shattering made every single alive and dead soul in the party room look at my champagne-watered dumb face. What a great first impression.

And… what was that?! It was like I heard someone else’s voice in my head, was it?…

I looked at the woman in front of me, who still decided between rolling her eyes, laughing, or helping me. She extended her arm. As soon as I touched…

Please, you’re embarrassing me, did you hear it the first time?

What… the...

Just… argh! Lemme handle this.

“Johannes, right?”, she said with a strange smile while pulling me to stand, “I know I’m quite the beauty, but there’s no need to be afraid!”

She didn’t let me get my hand out of hers.

“Is everything ok, Hannes?”, the old man asked in a worried manner. It wasn’t like there was nothing to worry about, but I still hated it, I couldn’t handle people caring too much about me.

“I don’t…”

Don’t be a nuisance, just agree.

“I… guess…”, my tone was ridiculous, I didn’t have a bit of my usual confidence and charm.

“If there’s a problem tell me, son”, obviously, he wasn’t convinced.

Say gorgeous women make you nervous.

What?!

Just say it!

I sighed. That was the strangest situation I’ve ever been put into. There was a woman who could speak in my mind, the smell of champagne impregnated my senses and my old man was worrying too much about me.

Why did I do to deserve this?

“You see…”, I landed my other hand on the head. I felt invaded, but first of all, I had to discover where I knew her from and why she could speak into me.

“Ugly women always make me sweat, I don’t know whether to fake-compliment them or just ignore”, I finished speaking while smiling at her eyes. That should be enough for him.

He laughed, thank God!

It worked!

Excuse me? Ugly? You’re lucky I’m touching you.

Your skin is soft, by the way.

Her hand flew far from mine. The old man didn’t understand her disgusted expression, and, as soon as she realized what she did, her face transmuted in the sweetest smile in the room. Man, I could blind myself just looking at her teeth, it was like a sheet of paper where I could write about anything.

“That’s how young people flirt nowadays, I see. I’ll leave you alone”, old man laid his heavy hand on my shoulder, before leaving us with a wink.

“Is that the smoothest he can do?”

I felt that same velvet-like warmness on my hand again. Ugh, she touched me way too much, what a needy girl.

Hold me back.

“I think it’s raining a bit, already thought of buying a new antenna?”, I said with a smile while she rolled her eyes.

“Did someone tell how funny you are?”, she asked.

“Not yet!”, I said.

Unsurprising.

“I can’t hear you but I know what you said! And what are y-”, she closed our distance until I had my lips on her eyebrows and could smell her vanilla ice cream hair. It was kind of nostalgic…

Her mouth touched my ear as she whispered “Don’t waste the opportunity and hold me back, slow music’s playing in a few seconds”.

My arm wrapped her waist and pulled her until our bodies met.

How indecent, do I get you excited?

Captain, the interference’s over! Signal can’t reach too far?

She sighed and seemed to take a discreet look around us. I now realized how many people were looking at us, the men were almost leaving their dates to come here fight me. The feeling of being the center of attention felt the nicest in my heart.

We have to touch each other, cannot be one-sided.

Why do I feel I know you?

Stop with the questions and let’s dance. Let us make people ENVY US!

Whaaaa-

The song that started playing had a bpm higher than all of our heartbeats summed. In such a pompous environment, I kind of expected people to, you know, dance to Beethoven or something. For my comfort, every couple seemed to have the same reaction, and Merlina in front of me was the first to break the ice with her “LET’S GO” and the dancing moves of her feet and body.

It felt strange, I didn’t know her nor danced in years, but feeling her softness and warmness, feeling how our minds were connected. Even if it didn’t make a bit of sense, energy flowed through my body and I mimicked her enjoyment. If she was happy right here and right now, why couldn’t I?

“Slowest I’ve heard in a while”, I looked at her leaf-green eyes. She looked into my soul like she didn’t need to take a peek in my mind to know what I was thinking. I wished I was in the same position.

“Where I’m from it is”, she responded as she held my hands tighter. Our steps were synchronized and our bodies moved as they were the same. After releasing myself from looking at her gorgeous eyes, I could see that every couple followed our cue and, some more than others, harmony-danced to the fast and deadly song.

Slow music’s playing in a few seconds, huh?

“So you can telepathize, predict the future, what else can you do, supergirl?”, I asked mockingly. She brought the eyebrows closer, trying to understand what I said; I didn’t realize she was that dumb.

“The music”, I explained as her eyebrows rose for me to better see her eyes. Looking at the floor, she released a little chuckle.

“I just asked the DJ”, she whispered. Oh, it made a lot of sense, more than being able to predict stuff. Maybe I was the dumb one.

And… you know me from at least ten lives besides this one.

I stopped.

Excuse me?

She now seemed timid about it, like a teenager who just confessed to her highschool crush. What’s up with that reaction?!

Don’t stop dancing, it’s better if they don’t suspect.

I must admit my feet instinctively reacted to the request, but I felt a twinge of fear. My Adam’s apple descended closer to my collarbones as my eyes searched in the known and unknown faces of the place. They? What did she mean? Some kind of secret organization that hunted super-powered people?

And was it true? I did feel familiar with her but didn’t remember a specific encounter. Did I really?... 

Slow music finally started playing, I’d die if I had to dance and think about all that. I put my hand on her waist, as she landed hers on my shoulder. Our free hands touched each other and we slowly and rhythmically swung.

Even I don’t know which ones, at least half of them are trying to…

She clenched her teeth while looking behind me. Were trying to what? It couldn’t be my old man, right? I saw my cousin, she danced with her husband. It wasn’t her, I grew up playing tag with her, we even went to the same school!

Was it him?

Trying to what?

Our eyes locked and remained like that. She didn’t answer.

I tripped on her foot. Shit, was I that afraid?

After a few seconds, her lips transmuted into a smile. And her smile transmuted into a laugh. She then burst out laughing and everyone turned to see her. What?

Did you believe it?

“What’re you talking about?”, I asked worriedly.

You fell for it! Oh my, oh my! Hahaha, you really have no filter on what to believe!

Excuse me, miss I-speak-into-your-mind-like-it’s-the-most-normal-thing-in-the-world.

I suddenly felt cold.

It’s something we can do. And… I cannot say it was a total lie, I mean, aren’t you feeling this?

The room got darker. The violet illumination was engulfed by shadow.

What’s going on?

I advise us to jump through the window.

We’re on the tenth floor!

My heart felt wrong. It was like I wasn’t meant to be there. Sweat ran down me, my legs barely sustained my weight, a single thought kept reverberating in the back of my mind.

“Am I going to die?”, I asked Merlina.

“Well, it doesn’t make sense using our minds as It already found us”, she sounded rather nonchalant about it. “Answering, it’s we and it’s yes”.

Everyone I could still see had passed out.

“So we are dying”, I swallowed.

“Kind of”, she whispered. “Ready?”

“Screw it!”, I let her hand go and ran.

I ran to the window. I heard the steps behind me. Was I really going to die?

The shattering would’ve made everyone look at us.

The wind was colder than inside.

I saw the ground come closer.

Closer.

And closer.

I closed my eyes and…

**

“D’you prefer drinking your water on a glass or in a bottle?”, that was…

Merlina’s voice.

“Oh, darling, I’m not called Merlina in here, nor are you Johannes”, I felt my hand grab something soft. It felt like her.

I opened my eyes. The light blinded me. It was after a few seconds that some shades of blue and white penetrated my retina, forcing me to squint. My hand fled in reflex to the burning of the coarse ground it touched.

“Ouch!”, I screamed. As my eyes got used to the brightness, I could differentiate the sea from the sky, and the sand from the rest. Memories clashed with me as I remembered what happened.

But that could wait, because Merlina, or whatever she was called here, was licking my hand in response to my incident! I felt the regeneration abilities of her saliva running down my skin. My heart raced. I didn’t even care about having died anymore.

“Is this heaven?”, I wished she’d say yes.

“Hell”, she smiled while burying her teeth in my flesh.

“OUCH!”, I pulled my hand. Why was she so mean? I preferred the burning sand.

“So we didn’t die after all? I’m so lucky, I kinda feel like I could be the protagonist or something, don’t you?”, I asked her. It was pretty comfortable being at the beach, just the two of us. I think I could get used to it.

“What d’you mean? We died, there’s no way one can jump that height and don’t”. What?

I touched my neck, it was warm. My skin was smooth and flexible, and there was saliva in my mouth. Hand on chest… yeah, I could feel my heartbeat.

Not dead. Me 1 x 0 Merlina.

She sighed, “Look at your skin. We’re a bit darker in this life, and-”

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait, what’s up with this life? Why am I darker? Why was there a shadow trying to murder us? May you explain, Merlina, or whatever your name really is?”, why was all of this happening?!

It wasn’t normal, was it? I was forced to go to a party, a girl who seemed familiar started talking into my mind, then everyone passed out, a murderous shadow ran after us, we died, we lived and she still was indifferent about all that!

And worse! She didn’t explain what the hell happened like I was supposed to know everything. Those series and movies I watched on Netflix helped me shit with understanding this!

I stood up. Moved my feet to the sea. I needed to cool down, there was nothing good to come out of me then. Her eyes stalked me, she kept a worried expression.

“So?”, my voice came out sharp.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. After a long sigh, Merlina stood, touched her forehead on mine, and said.

“We broke the laws of nature when we made a spell 320 years ago.”

“So we die if we fail?”, my voice came out of my mouth, but… I didn’t feel like I said that.

“We also die if we don’t, but we will live once again. Together”, her grin turned into a smile. It still was the prettiest.

There were candles everywhere and the smell of blood stuck in my nostrils. My hand moved to hers as she walked to get something. She turned with a wondering expression.

“Are you sure you canceled the downside? Will you really not remember everything? You’d madden if that happened… To remember about all of this while I knew nothing, even if it was for us to be together, I couldn’t permit it!”, my heart raced. I didn’t feel in control of my actions, but all I did was so natural it didn’t matter. I’d have done the same.

“Nos vivemus simul”, a tear shed from her eye. My heart drowned in despair. I didn’t know why, but it felt like a hundred blades pierced my chest. “Remember all of this while I knew nothing”? What was I talking about?

My arm tried to reach for her.

“Mundus morietur nobiscum”, her index finger pointed the moon. Then her. Then me.

“NO!”, I shrieked.

“My love for you cannot be contained in one single life, darling”, a violet blinding glow emerged from her chest. I felt… the same from when I jumped from the window. I figured it.

That was the feeling of death.

I gasped. I instinctively stepped back and tripped on my foot, the water froze my ass. My eyes burned as my face felt wet. I didn’t let the seawater drop there, was I…

“My heart, my head, everything aches, what was that?!”, my limbs were freezing, my chest was heavy, that sensation was so horrible, I could die if I felt it longer.

She offered her hand. I wasn’t going to telepathize with her anymore. No way.

“I’ll hear you speak. With your mouth”, my eyes were unintently menacing. Merlina stood still.

I could see the pain in her eyes when she spoke, “A memory… that’s what you saw. I have the same mind from back then, the same habits, the knowledge, the memories from this 320 years. I accepted it for you not to suffer. The more decades passed, the more I was sure that you wouldn’t be able to handle it. It’s… too much…”. She fell on her knees, dropping the forehead on her hands.

I dashed to her. She was cold. No, everything was cold. The sunlight was no more. The sea froze. The sand felt like broken glass. It was It again.

Although the memory feeling had vanished, I could feel it surging again. It was like that time, I was losing her. Why did I care so much? I only met her hours ago. Even if I was drawn to her, it didn’t make sense.

Was it because of the memories? Could they have influenced how I felt? Or… love?

“Why’s the black thing here again?!”, I asked desperately.

“It’s the nature coming back at us. We did something forbidden, we destroy everything around us, don’t you see?!”, she screamed. Tears rolled her eyes. The sand around us turned grey.

It was like that? Did we destroy our surroundings just being together?

I kneeled in front of her and grabbed her shoulders.

“Can’t we die again?! We could drown!”, I looked at the frozen water. Shit! My heart felt wrong, I wasn’t meant to be there! None of us were…

Why was it like this? Why couldn’t we just be left alone? Couldn’t the world coexist with our love?

It darkened fast. My vision barely could reach her face. Her eyes locked with mine.

“I’m so tired of this! I can’t handle dying anymore, I can’t lose you anymore! If we just had died that life, before all of this happened, it should be enough…”, her voice emanated despair.

When would it be enough? Wasn’t it enough to love each other for a single life?

My heart burned for her, I remember it.

I fell asleep to the sound of her voice, I remember it.

My pain disappeared at the sight of her, I remember it!

And so, was one life enough for us to love each other? The only option the world gave us was to give up and accept. Accept death, accept destiny, accept the laws of nature. The world despised us and gave us nothing!

So why should we give anything to it?

“What happens if we don’t die?”, my voice was renewed with determination and a deep resolution.

“It’ll engulf us”, she didn’t have a hint of hope in her eyes. I couldn’t let it like this.

“We can destroy it if we want, can’t we? Isn’t this the whole idea of the spell? ‘The world shall die with us’?”, why did I understand Latin all of a sudden?

She looked confused. Her eyebrows jumped. She looked at me for permission. I nodded.

“Nos vivemus simul”, she smiled.

It got darker, I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Mundus morietur nobiscum”, she said.

My love for you cannot be contained in one single life… darling.

**

I woke up in a garden. There were no clothes on my body.

I saw her naked body carrying an apple.

“D’you wanna try it? A snake offered it to me, it said it would change our lives!”, her blinding smile still was the prettiest.

“Merlina…”, I whispered.

“What d’you mean, Adam? I’m called Eve in here.”

She touched my hand. I touched back.

Don’t stop dancing, it’s better if they don’t suspect.