Spell and Struggles

chapter five welcome to hell

grace and barbara got out the car and went in. it was how grace had left it inside. they both went for showers. grace collapsed into her bed. grace woke up to the smell of bacon. was arthur there. she ran down and found barbara in the kitchen. are you okay asked grace. not really responded barbara. any word about chuck asked grace. hes been found and taken to the morgue murmured barb. the doorbell rang. grace answered. it was a police officer. im looking for grace bycura. youve found me said grace. your husband is suspected of shooting another man and has been charged with manslaughter. grace fainted. the next four months were H E L L for grace. the trial was a sham. the minsitry had interfiered with memories and so it looked like arthur and chuck had gone hiking and arthur killed chuck. barb testified what happened and was laughed off the stand. arthur was senteced to 10 years for manslaughter. grace returned to her house and it felt different. from the carpets to the curtains. from attic to loft the home was just off. she was alone. she sat down in the front room and cried. the house was too big for just her. she went upstairs and into her closet. she flicked through her scrapbooks. eatch page was like a portal in time. she thought for a minute. she needed her friends. she needed magic. she needed to face her trauma. she couldnt live life every day with this massive burden over her. in ancient societys when someone was killed they would be strapped to the back of there killer. grace had so many bodies on her back. she had to push these bodies off her back. she looked through her phone book. she found a local therapist and called him. he hadnt had customers in years so he was free that afternoon. she drove over to his house. her first few sessions were hard. she could only see faces of the people she had killed. she had to skirt around the magic parts of it all but at least she could talk. after a few sessions she felt a tiny bit better. life was just sort of normal. the only thing that changed was her health. she kept feeling sick. she felt light headed all the time and she felt cramps all over. she hadnt had her period in months but she blamed it on stress. she was always worried about arthur and money was tough to get. she had found a job at the local store. she worked the evening shift. one night when she was working her boss noticed she looked off. are you okay asked her boss. yeah lied grace. are you sure your okay asked her boss. im just so tired responded grace. her face was pale as paper. head home il manage the store tonight said her boss. grace thanked him and she walked home. she got home and felt something in her stomach. she felt sick to her stomach. she finally had to face it. she bought a pregnancy test. she was pregnant. now she had a baby a husband who wouldnt see his kid for 10 years. a few days after she went for a visit at the prison. arthur im pregnant she blurted out. is it mine asked arthur. of course its your grace replied quickly. she was offended at the idea of her sleeping around. look if i get an appeal and win il be their the entire time said arthur. this was no comfort to grace. an appeal would cost more money and that was something they didnt have. after the visit grace felt yet more alone. the next week was pure torment. her pregnancy was rougher then ever before. she was practically bed bound. barbara and her daughter jalyn moved in with grace to help her. they hadnt been doing well either. that week jalyn went off to college witch was a releif to barb. even with barb there grace was still struggling. her life was in tatters and almost tottally gone. she she had to begin again. that evening she decided. she was going to return to magic. she made her mind to call hilda or devon in the morning. she could hardly remember their phone numbers but she just felt like she knew. she woke up and dialed the number. she called devon first. he didnt answer. next she tried hilda. she picked up immeditaley. GRACE screamed hilda. get in here devon shouted hilda. hilda my lifes falling apart cried grace. your gonna come here to england and your gonna stay with me and devon cried hilda in response. you two live togethor asked grace. we're engaged grace did you not get are letters asked hilda. grace had missed so much. she burst into tears again. im gonna come over asap said hilda. grace hung up and went upstairs to tell barb. barb understood why grace was leaving. grace expected hilda to take days to get their but hilda had another plan.