**Warning: Blood**

The vans sped away, leaving only a few men in uniform as they sealed our house. It was at this point that a nasty feeling gripped me. Why were they sealing the house?

"It's the same as the beginning," a voice boomed in my head. I turned to my left and saw the ghost looming beside me, a frown in her brow. Her face sent a surge of anger coursing up my blood. "You!”

"Yes, me," she coolly replied, then gestured ahead with her chin. "There's something else you should be concerned about though. Someone from your neighbourhood heard a commotion and reported the police. The men were caught red-handed and taken to the station." She looked down at me. "It's the same as the first time you were killed.”

Her words pierced through my heart like poison arrows. Realization dawned in. 

I froze. 

The voices in the periphery faded away to an uncanny silence. Soon, the sirens blared and the vans sped away too. People left the scene and withdrew inside the safety of their curtains but I simply stood there, staring at her in utter disbelief. It was only when the full force of her words finally hit me that I dashed towards my house. How was it possible? It wasn't even seven-fifteen! 

"Sandra, wait!" she screamed but I'd already turned a deaf ear to everything else. I ducked under the seal, burst through the front door, and ran into the darkness, only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight before me.

Thin streaks of blood trailed across the floor from the hallway to the living room as if someone had been dragged. A few voices and footsteps echoed from the living room which, upon my arrival, ceased momentarily. "Who is there?" a female yelled from inside, making me frown and stride towards the source. A few policemen stood there, bent over and frowning as if they were studying a crime scene.

They all stopped when they saw me. "Ms Sandra Williams," said a man standing at the centre of the room. He was much older than the rest, with peppery hair, a receding hairline and a disposition commanding reverence. "I am Captain Smith. It's most unfortunate that you had to experience such a loss. My condolences.”

My heart was pounding in my ears. I looked around in a helpless frenzy, not quite believing what was happening. Two bodies lay under white sheets, a male and a female from their contours. I wasn't letting my feelings get to me just yet. "Lisa," I whispered and looked back at him. "Where is Lisa?"

Before he could speak, my gaze landed over his shoulder. Two men were crouched down and covering Lisa's body with a thin white cloth. I shook my head. "She's alive! Let me see her.”

"She was a victim, Ms Williams.”

"No, she can't be dead. They needed her!”

"We checked her vitals. She is no more.”

Fury washed over me. I dashed towards them, only to be pulled back as an arm wrapped around my stomach. "She's alive! Don't lie to me! LIS—" A hand covered my mouth, muffling my voice. I looked up abruptly to find a woman glaring down at me, tensed.

The captain watched me sombrely and sighed. "It can't be helped. Erase her memories.”

My face contorted in horror. I squirmed violently under her grip as she slipped a hand under her pocket and brought out a vial filled with a dark green liquid. My head began to throb again, possibly because I had revealed how Lisa was needed, but I was too pre-occupied with the struggle to notice. The woman brought the vial right under my nose, but I held my breath and kept watching Lisa as she was lifted on a stretcher and taken out of the living room. Her chest was still heaving up and down, though very faintly. I fought off the urge to breathe. My limits were being tested to the extremes but even an adept swimmer had their limitations, and I was hardly adept. Before I knew it, I was gasping for breath. A sickly sweet smell permeated through my nostrils and darkness closed in swiftly.