Written In The Stars

Cradling the lax body of Missie in her arms, she fought the tears that were threatening to make her weak.  Ash placed her dead dog into the back seat of her car and turned to the man who was supposed to care for her, “How could you kill her?”

“Hey, you left you left her here.” He shrugged, “She bit me.”

“So, you give rat poison?”

He couldn’t look at her.

Closing the door, she walked to him.  He tried to turn away, but she got in his face, “You will pay.  Missie cost me thousands to buy… so you’re gonna pay.”

“Sure.”

“Just watch your back… right?” she turned and walked to the driver’s side, opened it and got in.

The car drove away.  He watched on from across the road in his SUV and wrote it down in his ledger.  This was happening exactly the same way it did last time.  Ashleigh Simmons was about to go to the vets and have her dog taken care of by them, then go home to cry herself to sleep.  Zachary just had to make sure of that.  He watched her drive past him, and then followed her at a distance.

Three days had passed and he could tell where she was going to be from one hour to the next.  It was just as it was written in the ledger from the last time she was around here.  But this time, instead of ignoring him, she noticed him.  He didn’t panic.  This time, he wanted her to see him.

It was time she knew what was going on in her life; and why.

She stood by his table at her work, “What?”

“Hello Ashleigh.” He smiled, “Why don’t you take a break?” he glanced at his ledger, “You’re up for one soon.”

From the counter, her boss shouted, “Ashleigh!  You’re on break for half an hour.”

She spun, stared at him for a moment, nodded, then sat slowly at the table, glaring at this guy in an Armani suit, “How did you know that?”

“Have something to eat with me.” He said, “I’ll explain everything; even why the death of your dog was supposed to happen.”

“How did you know about that?”

He leaned closer as she did, “Just have something to eat with me, please.”

She nodded, “Okay.”

The look of disbelief, astonishment and shock were on her face.  Zachary thought she was going to get up and leave, but seeing he wasn’t going by the book, he wasn’t sure.  What he was sure of was that if he didn’t break her vicious cycle of what was in this book, she’d end up being an unrested soul.  This was his job:  to fix this kind of thing.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She frowned, “So, you’re saying that if I don’t seek revenge on my ex-boyfriend for killing Missie, I’m likely to work through my loss like everyone else?”

“Yes and no.” he said, “You have to let Karma take care of him.”

She laughed, “That exists?”

“Yes.  You haven’t let it into your story until I’ve stepped in.”

Ashleigh pointed to the ledger, “And that is my story from the word dot?”

He patted the worn, hardcovered book, “Yes it is.  And in each life, over the last three centuries, you’ve lived the exact same life.  You’ve done the exact same things, said and been exactly the same in each life… nothing has changed about you.  You’ve been a vengeful soul.  And this has to stop.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You will die.” He said opening the book at the golden-threaded bookmark, “By this time next Saturday, you’ll be dead.”

“Who the fuck are you?” she gritted, “Did that arsehole send you to scare me?”

“No.  I’m what you might call Fate.  I’m one of the Fates; I just took on the image of a man, so you’d talk to me.” He said, “And you, Ashleigh Simmons, have to stop what you’re doing and start letting things go.”

“Ashleigh, your…” her boss’ voice began to shout, but stopped, as did everything else around them as Zackary put his hand up.

“What you do next is up to you.” He said.

“How did you…?” she looked around and back to him, as the place slowly began to move again, but when she did, she found he was gone – along with the ledger, “Shit.”

“Hey, you deaf?” her boss stood next to her, “You’re break’s over.”

“No… I quit.” She pulled off her apron and went to grab her stuff.  Ashleigh had some thinking to do.

He watched her walk to the park where she asked her ex-boyfriend to meet her.  Unlike the last time she did this, and got herself killed, she chose an open, public place. 

“Tell me why you poisoned my dog – and it’s not because it bit you.” She said.

He looked down, “I didn’t poison Missie.”

“Why did you tell me you did?”

Douglas looked up with tears in his eyes, “Hey, yeah, she didn’t like me, but it was the neighbours… they put out rat poison wrapped in mince.  She scoffed it down and was gone before I knew what she had done.”

Ashleigh didn’t know what to say, “What did you do?”

“I reported them to the real estate, and they were evicted and charged by the police for animal cruelty.” He blew his nose on a handkerchief.

“Why did you get smarmy about it?”

He scratched his head, “Because you began picking… no… dunno.  I should’ve told you the truth straight up.  Ash, I’m so sorry.”

“Doug it’s okay… you did all the right things.” She reached out awkwardly and embraced him as they both cried over Missie,  “I’m gonna miss her.”

“Yep… same here.” He whispered into her neck.

“Thank you.” She stood back with a wane smile on her face.

Zachary looked down at his ledger.  It was empty.  None of the old stories existed from her other lives; which took her in circles of revenge and death, and back around again.  This made him happy.  It was time to talk to her again – to make her aware of how important she really was to the Fates; that she was the first and he was the last.  They were meant to be together and this was her final week on Earth for a reason.

* My scenario:  The story starts when your protagonist decides she/he wants revenge.  Another character is an executive who has been following your protagonist for years.