[ WP ] The girl that everyone knows but never talks to is a witch . If desperate , people got to her for solutions . She helps , but for a price . One day she comes to you in need of a favor , and in return she promises the memories she took from you nearly a year ago in a deal you no longer remember .

Rumors swirled around Amari like fish in a frenzy around krill. Each little passing phrase or story had it's own glimmer and sparkle that drew in everyone: teachers, students, administrators. Even the wood-shop teacher leaned forward when he heard Amari's name in his classes. Every story had something about it that was extraordinary. 
 
 The oldest rumor had to do with a detention room's sprinklers malfunctioning, only they did n't spray water. The way the story was told by some who claimed to be in the room, she stopped just outside the door and looked through the window. And then the sprinkler heads spun right then left then right then left until they were red hot. One by one, holes popped into the pipe and the water vaporized instantly filling the room with steam. By the time the students scurried out, the teacher along with them, Amari was gone. 
 
 Another rumor had her picking all the apples off the crab apple tree in the fall. The tree was over twenty feet tall and she was in the branches when someone teased her. His car was filled with thousands of apples by the end of the next school day, but she'd never left the building. Not a single apple was left on the branches. 
 
 Amari redefined creepy. She was a mystery, unapproachable and yet attention getting. She had bright purple stones set in sleek earings that dangled down to her shoulders. And the clothing she wore draped down her body like evening gown on stars. But no one dared talk to Amari unless they had to for class or because they needed her help. 
 She was always at the victim's end of the bullying problem, and yet, every other victim in the school knew that one phrase could possibly save them in any situation, `` I'll call Amari!'' 
 
 But once you said it, those that said it claimed, it was binding. Everything would stop, freeze, and she'd be there by their side, ready to defend them. And her help, even just invoking her name, carried a price tag. If they were lucky, she'd ask for some herbs, or once, she demanded a rabbit. And once they trekked through the frozen world of a moment in time and procured her demands, the world would restart and she would be there, protecting them. 
 
 That was the rumor, anyways. I never had much time for rumors. Amari's issues were n't my problems. No one bothered me. I never bothered them. And these stories only caught my attention for the momentary shininess they brought to an otherwise dull day in a dull city in a dull time to be alive. 
 
 And yet, catching her eyes across the cafeteria still sent shivers down my spine. There was something about how she looked at me: a mix of malice and disgust. Like she could hear my silent judgements. I tried to ignore her. I switched seats playing up my need to reach my boyfriend's chips. I looked up and she was again in my line of sight on the opposite side of the cafeteria in a matter of seconds. I whirled to check behind me and everything around me was on pause like a bad effect in a late nineties movie: an arm suspended in mid-exclamation, the stereotypical splatter of fluid leaving it's container on a trajectory towards Sammy Walpole's lap, and even an apple being tossed up and down, up and down... 
 
 An apple being tossed up and down in Amari's hand as she wove between stalled teens and pushed aside chairs. She tossed it up and over Jaelyn's head, fumbling it and letting in fall on the other side. Without the rhythm of the apple, my pulse became the predominant sound followed by shallow breaths and her light step on the linoleum. 
 
 `` Holy shit... Please, please do n't --'' 
 
 `` Please do n't hurt you. Yeah, I get that a lot.'' Amari sighed, a bored expression blended with mild curiosity. `` Did your parents name you Anakin because of Star Wars?'' 
 
 `` Uh... uh...'' 
 
 `` Nevermind, it does n't matter. I guess I got ta start from the top. You know how this goes. You call for me; you pay a price; I give you what you want.'' 
 
 `` I... I....'' I had n't stuttered since I was six, but nothing could force my sentence out faster, `` I-I-I d-d-did n't ca-ca-call you.'' 
 
 `` No, not this time. Which is why I guess I got ta explain. When you called for me, I came, because I have to, that's my curse. That's the family curse. We ca n't turn away from anyone that wants our help. I do n't know why you called my name of all names or even thought of me, but a year ago, you did. And when I finally got there, I finally found you in that moment of time just after you finished the'i' in my name, the one thing you wanted most in this world was to forget.'' She was becoming emotional as she explained, her hand gripped at the collar of her tunic. She pulled on something on a chain, something that she wore under the layers. And she started to sob, `` What I carry for you is... awful. It tears me apart a little each day. It eats at me. But then you made me take some things that are n't awful, they're wonderful and special and not mine. I want them to be yours again. I want you to have them back.'' 
 
 `` S-s-something hor-horrible?'' 
 
 `` And somethings wonderful. I know how to split them now, but I need your help completing the process. And then I can let the awful out and give you back just the wonderful pieces. Otherwise, I ca n't do this any more. I ca n't live like this.'' 
 
 I thought for a second about this impossible situation, the hurt on her face, the frozen people all around me. I thought about all the rumors I'd heard and the stories that circulated. And then there was her admission that I had asked her take from me something I found unbearable. If something that awful did happen, I did n't want it back. But how could I ask anyone to carry it instead of me? And even worse, I could n't let it, what ever it was, drive someone over the edge.
