[ 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 .

Her hand latches onto me like a vise. I whirl around, nearly leaping into the street -- I had n't even seen her there. `` Get off me!'' I mutter as forcefully as I can. `` What are you trying to do!'' 
 
 `` Please,'' Gina says, looking pleadingly at me. `` Please, I need your help. I can repay you.'' 
 
 That gives me pause, I admit. Gina's never asked anybody for anything, far as I know; from all I've heard, it's usually the other way around. I'm tempted to shake the witch off me... but I do n't. 
 
 `` Get inside,'' I mumble, fumbling at the latch. I look over my shoulder, hoping no one's watching. The door opens, and I shove her through. 
 
 She seems oddly out of place in my living room. Off-balance. I do n't think I've ever seen her anywhere but on the street, come to think of it. Normally I'd feel bad about something like that... but not for Gina. She really is a witch, you know -- can solve any problem with her unholy ways. Well, not her own problems. Would n't be living on the street if she could. 
 
 `` What do you want?'' 
 
 `` I need your help,'' she says quietly. `` To find someone -- an old friend I thought I'd lost. In return, I'll give you something very special.'' 
 
 Her implication turns my stomach. `` I ai n't interested! You want to -- you want to bed somebody, you're gon na have to --'' 
 
 `` Not that!'' she snaps. She seems faintly disgusted. `` Memories. You traded me many years of memory, some time ago.'' 
 
 `` Memories? No. No, you've got the wrong guy. I never made any deals with you! What are you talking about?'' 
 
 `` I assure you, you're the one.'' She smiles, and steps a little closer. `` You had a family once, you know. Lovely wife by the name of Anna. Let me give you just a taste.'' 
 
 Before I can act, Gina's hand is on my forehead. There's a flash of light -- 
 
 I'm at home. Not this dumpy little apartment, someplace I've never seen before -- but it's home. Anna is standing next to me, laughing at a joke I've just made. What joke? How do I know -- 
 
 And just like that, I'm back in the gloomy apartment I remember. 
 
 `` What was that?'' I gasp, trying to catch my breath. 
 
 `` That was your life,'' Gina replies, the ghost of a smile touching her lips. `` You can have that life again. I've kept it very safe for you.'' 
 
 `` But -- my real life. What about -- what about all that?'' 
 
 `` All what?'' she asks, gesturing dismissively at the drab furniture behind her. `` Think back. What do you remember about your childhood? Your school days? How did you get to be here?'' 
 
 `` Do n't be stupid! I -- I'm employed by Home Depot, have been for years! Before that, I...'' I think back. What *did* I do before that? I was... I... 
 
 `` Do n't bother. You wo n't remember anything beyond the past five years. You do n't have those memories; I do.'' 
 
 `` Why would I give you those memories? Does n't make sense!'' 
 
 `` It will. I promise, it will,'' Gina says, brushing a few disheveled strands of hair back from my forehead in an oddly intimate gesture. `` Now, will you help me find my friend?'' 
 
 I have no choice. If my whole life is a lie -- I have to know the truth. `` Yes.'' 
 
 She breaks out in a grin. It's the first time I've seen genuine emotion on her normally dour face; actually, it makes her rather attractive. `` Then here you are.'' She reaches out to me -- 
 
 Growing up in New England. Learning carpentry from my father -- he learned it from my grandfather. Moving to the city. Meeting Anna, getting married, having kids. But something is wrong -- *that was two hundred years ago*. 
 
 Gina is still grinning, but she does n't look friendly anymore. There's something hard in that smile, something that frightens me. 
 
 Anna is sick. Not like to recover. But there's a man, an old healer, he'll help me. He'll give me the power to make her well, if I take it from him. Of course I will. Now Anna is well again, but the neighbors -- why are they acting so different? 
 
 Gina strokes my hair as it comes rushing back. Her sardonic grin is etching itself into my mind, imprinted across all these memories. 
 
 Anna is dead. The children -- William, and Margaret, and little Charles -- they're dead too. Why does everyone hate me? I can help them. Want to help them. But they treat me like filth. I want to be free. 
 
 `` And how did you rid yourself of that pain?'' whispers Gina. I realize with a start that she can see these memories too. `` Who did you give it to?'' 
 
 A girl. I gave it to a girl -- I was n't proud, but I was tired. It was her brother -- why is someone always dying? I tricked her, like the old man tricked me -- gave her the power to save her brother as long as she took it from me. And my memories. I'm not proud, like I said, but I was tired. 
 
 `` No,'' I gasp. `` No -- how did you -- why...'' 
 
 `` I've spent the last three years looking for you,'' Gina purrs. `` After my family tossed me on the street because they hated what you made me. It gave me plenty of time to think.'' 
 
 I fall to my knees. `` Please. Please take it away. I ca n't bear it.'' 
 
 She bends down, whispering into my ear. `` I can do that for you. All you have to do is ask.'' 
 
 I know what she means. `` Do it,'' I mutter. 
 
 She touches my shoulder. I feel my limbs go cold, and my heart slow in my chest until I can no longer sense its beat. Gina whispers something else into my ear, but I ca n't hear it. As my vision goes to black, the last thing I see is her hateful smile, fading far away.
