The Gift: Day 03

"Take heart, young man," the old woman said softly, her head tilted slightly as though trying to peer into his soul, "It is the nature of man since the garden was new to make mistakes and stray from his path."

Jesse said nothing.

The old woman sensed Elena's mixed feelings and looked at her, "Tis also the nature of woman to fall prey to temptation as man does. Will you judge him?"

Elena sat back, unprepared for the sudden jab at her integrity from the witch. Her eyes looked to her with indignation for a moment, her mouth open but speaking no words as her mind raced for a reply. Then she thought of how she had cheated on Eric with Daniel just to improve her grades, using her own power as a woman to make Daniel do what she wanted. Was it any different than what Daniel was doing now?

Unable to look the witch in the face, she said, "No, ma'am. I'm not one to judge."

"Wise, this woman is," the witch said to Jesse, "Honest at heart, tempered by conviction."

Jesse rubbed his eyes with his palms, "What do I do?"

"You must stand your ground."

Jesse laughed and pointed to his bruised face. He said, "You see that? That was me standing my ground earlier today. Daniel mopped the floor with me."

"He seeks to reign you in..."

"He's too strong."

"Not stronger, only angrier," the witch countered.

"Angrier?" Jesse retorted, "Lady, he played badminton with my skull today! Make a stand and fight him? Are you high?"

Elena put her hand on Jesse's shoulder and cut in, "Ma'am, how can we stop him? He seems to know how to use this power better than Jesse."

"The gift will be used as the one possesses it chooses," the witch explained quietly, "It respects love and honesty, but thrives on hate, lust and anger like a shark to blood. It is a biased judge; fair in it's final ruling but deceptively sympathetic to the quick and easy. It offers no help to the honest and good, as is the way of the world."

"In other words, it doesn't do anything to keep you on the straight and narrow," Elena said.

"I'm fucked," Jesse breathed, "I am so fucked."

"Seek strength within. Your friend can draw out the wrath of the gift, but he cannot control it. The control is an illusion, a deception created by the gift to fool you. Where he has anger, you have wisdom," the witch said.

Jesse only looked at her in a deep desperation.

The witch sighed and said, "The gift is the fire in which we all burn, Jesse. All of us, at one point in our lives are faced with ultimate temptation and must choose. We are scorched by our lust and ambitions and our flesh burned away to reveal the essence of our souls. The gift seeks to tempt the weak and to smelt out the impurities. You and your friend are in the fire, and you will be exposed for who you truly are."

"I'm done here," Jesse shook his head and cut her off. He got up and glared down at Helena, "You think this is funny? You find this amusing? It's bullshit. You're telling me that this power or gift or whatever the fuck you wanna call it is testing to see who's the better man at the expense of peoples lives? Lady, fuck you."

"The gift cannot control someone who does not already harbor the temptation," Helena said, "They have fallen prey under their own wills."

"Bullshit! No one chose to do what he's made them do."

"They could not resist," the witch stared at him, "They were governed by their desires and wants."

"Not good enough!" Jesse roared and slammed his hand against the wall, "We all harbor secret desires... me, Elena, Daniel and I'll bet even you do. All of us! But no one in that classroom yesterday truly wanted what happened. It's hard enough to say no to temptation as it is, but goddamit don't make it any fucking harder than it has to be! You're fixing the game so that no one has a fair chance to resist and you call it fair?"

"Jesse," Elena cautioned, "Calm down."

"No," he shouted and jabbed his finger at Madame Helena, "People are getting hurt just so you and your cosmic fuck-buddy can play God. You won't help me change this then fine. I'll figure it out myself. You sit here on your wrinkled bony ass and wait for the results of your fucked up little game to come in."

Jesse kicked the pillows out of the way and stormed out of the room and back through the shop. Elena stood to follow when Madame Helena spoke suddenly, "Child, listen closely."

She paused and looked at the witch, "What?"

"Aren't you curious as to why you remember everything so clearly?"

Elena frowned. "I don't understand."

"No one remembers Daniel at your school, and yet you do. Strange that someone so intent on erasing so many deeds would overlook not only Jesse, but yourself..."

Elena thought for a moment. If Daniel had mind-wiped everyone in the school that day, then why could she remember seeing Daniel there? Why had she been spared when everyone else hadn't? She asked, "What are you saying?"

"The strong resist," the witch told her, "The gift has no power over the strong and the wise."

Elena stood there for a moment, and then hurried to catch up with Jesse, leaving Madame Helena sitting in the shadows alone. The witch smiled to herself and tapped the tabletop with her long fingernails. She took a deep breath into her ancient lungs and looked out into the space of the room, focusing on nothing and letting her body relax. She felt tired, worn out and relieved that her conversation with those two was over.

"Choose, Jesse," she whispered in the dark, "Choose."

***

...to be continued...