[ WP ] You can give away a year of your life to someone else as a day of life . You can take the life of someone else and make it a year of your 's . You found true love and she only has a day left . You will do everything to save her but you hate killing .

My mother had taught me many of the simple spells while she was still alive. Spells to ease suffering, to add joy in an otherwise dull life. She never so much as spoke of the darker, more powerful magic. `` Shush, child'', she would say, `` It is magic best left forgotten'' I hated her for not trying to save father when he got sick. I hated her more for never trying to save herself. 
 
 When she passed I inherited her things. Books that I never knew she had were hidden in places I was never allowed to look. Dark, black tomes filled with dark, black writing that shimmered on the page when spoken. Deep magic. Dark, frightful spells. 
 
 I'd taken a position as a nurse at the local hospital years ago, helping those in pain with the little bits of magic my mother had taught me. I could tell a man's sickness by just looking into his eyes, and could alleviate the suffering with a wish. Now I had the means to do so much more, but at what cost? 
 
 I kept the cursed books in their chest for months. Nothing could justify their use. If my own mother never used them for the love of her life, how could I justify even making the attempt? She was so much stronger than I could ever hope to be. 
 
 When I said nothing could justify their use, that was before I met *him*. He came to the hospital earlier in the day to sell supplies. A travelling salesman. When I looked into his eyes my heart melted. But Oh! What cruelty? Looking deeper, my `` gift'' allowed me to also see his demise. His heart was frail. He'd be lucky to make it to morning! I had to act. 
 
 I rushed home to the books of power, rummaging through them frantically for something that might help. Finally, I found it. A spell that would work, but what a cost! A life for a year, a year for a day! I memorized the spell and ran quickly back to the hospital, to the hospice care ward. 
 
 I had spent much time in the ward, helping those in need to end their days with a little less pain. This was against everything I'd ever done before. To take a life, even one that I knew would n't last much longer, one that would have been agonizing if not for the little consoling spells I'd performed as a matter of habit. 
 
 For him, though, those beautiful eyes, that flowing hair... 
 
 I started the spell, barely uttering the first words when a cockroach crawled out from under the patient's bed. I brought my shoe up to squish it when a thought came over me. The ancient text did n't mention that the life needed to be human, did it? I grinned wickedly as I completed the spell quickly and brought down my foot with a satisfying crunch. 
 
 What joy! I'd found a way! Tears of relief flooded my face as I imagined how I'd introduce myself. Tomorrow I'd stop by the Samsa's house and invite Gregor out for a coffee. 
 

