Francesca and Eliza

Francesca and Eliza

by Palvi Sharma

When Tara moves into a new town and high school with the hopes of becoming a journalist some day, she doesn’t realize that the story that would help her career would be right under her nose. She befriends Rhea, Maya and Nita who tell her about the mysterious disappearance of Eliza and the suicide of her best friend Francesca. Tara is immediately intrigued.

Tara manages to convince them to take her to the old abandoned school building where the incident had occurred. While there, she is met by Eliza’s ghost who seems intent on contacting her. Terrified, Tara tells her friends who dismiss her seeing Eliza's ghost as hallucinations. Abruptly she is hit on the head and later wakes up in the dark school basement, shocked to discover that her friends think she is Eliza and try to kill her with a dagger. When the dagger passes right through her, they're shocked to discover that Tara is a ghost.

Aghast, she rushes off to see her family only to discover that her mother had faced a nervous breakdown after her death and the family was moving back to bury Tara’s body in their family cemetery. She is broken hearted but Rhea comes to her and promises to help her, if she helps them find Eliza.

Rhea tells her about how the group used to meet up every day to discuss magic. Eliza seemed to be interested in black magic and which she used to cast a spell on them that changed them into zombies.. After they had woken up the cemetery, they'd realized that everyone thought they were dead. Returning to the school building they found it burnt down but one of them managed to find the book of spells that Eliza had used.

Inside the book they found Francesca’s letter of apology and how they would have to wait seventeen years for Eliza’s return. She had  also left them a bracelet that would glow if Eliza was nearby and tells them that they would have to kill her to get their souls back.

After listening to Rhea’s story, Tara is still hesitant but agrees to help Rhea after Rhea promises to help her. Tara studies the old book called the ‘Bleeding Coven’ and realizes that not only is she able to understand the language but that her friends had lied to her again. The only way for her to come back to life would be if she were to ask for Eliza’s help when she was reincarnated.

As years pass, Tara waits patiently for Eliza’s return, living on magical potions that help her stay grounded and give her appearance of being alive. When her bracelet finally glows, she goes to the town university in the hope of finding Eliza. However, Tara is instead introduced to her now grown up sister who is a professor. When Tara admits to being her older sister, Tivona is overjoyed but later on tells her to go away. Tara is mystified by her reactions and is still pondering on this when the girl called Alisha, Tara had first met when she came to the university, introduces herself as Eliza. Tara is elated and immediately asks her to help her but Alisha denies being Eliza and begins to tell her own story.

She explains how for the past few years she had been gifted with mysterious potions on at least four occasions which invariably imbued her with certain 'gifts'.  One of these gifts was that of invisibility which she misused and her brother paid the price for her selfishness. Her best friend, Kiera was also a victim of Alisha misusing another of her 'gifts', which has left her guilt ridden and reluctant to utilize her special powers.

Tara refuses to see Alisha’s point and once again asks for her help. Just then Rhea arrives with her friends and takes them both to the old school building. Before they can perform the ritual on her, Alisha willingly offers to help them and apologizes for she committed against the group in her previous incarnation as Eliza, and agrees to make things right....

About The Author :-

I was born and educated in the United Arab Emirates where I still reside.