I ended up passing more than a month with them. The father took some weeks off from work and while I said he didn’t have to do that, he insisted because he wanted to spend a lot of time together and the same for Emily (Sophia’s sister)that didn’t go to school. We passed a day at luna park, two days at a Californian beach, a day at the zoo (because Emily insisted she wanted to go), half a day doing a picnic in a park and much more. In mid-September, the father had to return to work, meanwhile, Emily had to go back to school, and the mother was a freelance writer, so she worked at home. 

In theory, I had an apartment for myself but I decided to spend those last days in that house, furthermore, Sophia had some friends but I always used some excuse to not meet them. In reality, I didn’t want to give them false hopes that their friend was still alive, which is something I was doing already with this family, but it didn’t matter since I was going to kill them because they all had red auras…

I wanted to convince myself that I was doing the right thing. I wanted to delay that moment more because something in me was telling me to not kill them, but one evening Arismis appeared in my room and advised me to kill them as soon as possible. His appearance shattered what felt like a dream.

—23rd September 2026—

“Ehy Sophia, are you okay?”

The father was talking to me and gently shaking my arm to have my attention. We were having dinner at that moment, I wasn’t speaking at all, thinking about what Arismis said and what to do.

I shook my head at his question and said “Sorry, I’m not feeling so well…”

He leaned towards me and put a hand on my forehead

“I don’t think you are sick…go and get some rest. Tomorrow go to the doctor if you still feel like this.”

I nodded and got up, hugged Emily a bit since she looked a bit worried and headed to my room upstairs. Weirdly enough, the mother didn’t say anything, she just stared at me worried, even more than Emily it seemed.

I didn’t want to think that she knew something, it would have been absurd. From that point on, I remained in my room waiting for them to be asleep.

———

Midnight. They were all asleep, it was the right time. I took a huge breath before going outside the room, I never had so many mixed emotions and when I saw the mother in the corridor, standing in front of the room, I started feeling confused, that situation was…unexpected to say the least. She was looking at the door of Sophia’s room and then calmly shifted her gaze towards me. I didn’t have the time to say anything because she immediately asked “Can we talk outside?”

I simply nodded and followed her to the front garden.

I was a bit confused and when she stopped walking I asked 

“What do you want to talk about?”

She was staring at the street, while the night breeze was moving her hair.

“You are not my daughter, right?”

I remained in silence for some seconds. I knew I couldn’t fake anymore and although she was trying to be calm, I could still feel the sense of betrayal she was feeling. 

“You are right but…how did you know?”

She sighed with a slightly trembling voice

“I’m a Zonniki just like you, I can see other’s aura. Sophia’s one was blue, meanwhile, yours is red and the colour doesn’t change that easily. Also, your behaviour was a bit different from hers.”

“Your husband and Emily, know about this?” I was staring at the void at that moment, I wanted the answer to be “no”, especially for Emily. I became a bit attached to that little and silly girl.

“My husband knows, he’s a Zonniki too. Emily can’t see other’s aura since she’s still too young to start the mental training.”

‘That’s nice to hear. At least, she doesn’t know.’ I smiled at that thought for a second and then became serious again. 

“So you two knew from the start. Then why let me in your house as Sophia?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to ask you many things…and someone else wanted to talk.” she was looking at me from the corners of her eyes.

“Who?” I asked concerned since I attracted too much attention recently. I even ended up in a video for a news channel in Tunisia and it became viral all over the internet.

“Don’t be impatient. Let’s start with my questions.” she completely turned around and was looking at me in the eyes with both a sad and severe stare. “What happened to my daughter?”

I sighed as a way to scroll the tension away and answered “From what I understood she was kidnapped by a crazy Zonniki for reasons I don’t know, but when I got reincarnated in her body she was already dead or was going to die.”

A tear crossed the woman’s face “That’s what I feared.” She stayed silent for a moment, like she was mourning her death and then asked “What happened to the kidnapper?”

“I killed him. If I wasn’t going to do that he would’ve killed me and…I think it was the right way to revenge all the women who got killed by him, including your daughter or at least, I hope it was enough.”

“...I see. As a mother, seeing my daughter’s body used to kill someone breaks my heart…but for something like this, I guess that was for the better.” She said while looking at me, it didn’t seem she was believing her own words and her expression changed, became something I couldn’t decipher..

“Do you…hate me?” I asked with a bit of fear. I knew I deserved a “yes” since I deceived them, however,  I still didn’t want to hear the truth.

She shook her head. “Why should I hate you? It’s not like you could have chosen another body to reincarnate either way.”

“Yeah, you are right.” I simply said. I couldn’t say anything else since she was right, it wasn’t my decision to take over her daughter’s dead body, but I was still feeling guilty in some way.

She stayed silent, thinking and trying to find the right words.

“Those were my questions. Before I let you meet that person I was talking about, I have to ask you a favour.”

Now, that was a surprise. What could have wanted another Zonniki from someone with her daughter’s body?

“There are multiple videos where someone kills criminals in different parts of the world, that person told me it was you and I would have been your next target, but seeing you still didn’t make any move until today, I have to guess you got attached to us right?”

I silently nodded. 

“Then, you won’t like what I’m going to ask you.” 

“What is it?” Sarah asked.

“After your conversation with that person, please…” she stopped a moment, trying to find the right words “…kill me and my family.”

“...E…eh?” I was left speechless. What the fuck was happening?? She knew I was going to kill them, but she still asked me to do it “Why? Shouldn’t you stop me instead?”

She shook her head “It would be useless and I’ll show you the reason.” She came closer to me and took my hand “Close your eyes for 5 seconds.”

I did as she said and in those seconds I felt her energy flowing in my body, when those seconds passed I opened my eyes and saw her soul It was a red flame cut in half and what kept it divided was I small white flame in the middle. I tried to remove it with my powers but with a greater force than mine I got pushed back and in the blink of an eye, I was now looking back at the mother.

I was sweating ‘That white flame…was so strong’ I looked at the mother and asked 

“What happened to your soul?”

With sad eyes, she answered “A god put a curse on one of my ancestors as a punishment because they betrayed someone the gods loved as their child. I don’t know who he was, but I know what this curse does. Usually, Zonniki can live a lot longer than humans but because of that little white flame, my lifespan is cut to 50 and…whoever has my blood or becomes someone I care about, would die too with great pain. Even if I find a way to escape from death or die sooner than expected, this curse is hereditary, so my child’s soul would be affected too.” she stopped for a moment looking away, her eyes were full of sorrow. Still, there was something else…she was ready to die without many regrets and the few she had were probably about her daughters.

“If only it appeared sooner…I wouldn’t have married him and would have closed myself in a house for the rest of my days…but it appeared when I was 35 and Emily was already born…now I’m 49, in some days I’ll be 50.” she then looked at me and continued “Your arrival was written in fate, I’m sure of it.” she was still holding my hand. 

“Please, promise me you’ll kill us…you’ll save us from this curse.”

“...ok…I’ll do it…” I wasn't looking at her but kept my head low. I didn’t want my eyes to meet hers, I knew I would have cried. With her hand, she raised my head and our eyes met, while caressing my cheek she said

“I’ll tell you one last thing. The fact you didn’t kill us sooner means you have still a big human heart, bigger than you expect. What you are doing now, going murdering every single criminal you find, won’t bring you happiness.”

“I know that. But even if I stop, someone else will start doing the same.” And even if my memories were fake and what I was doing was unrelated to me, I couldn’t just stop what I started. Plus, as righteous as I wanted my actions to be, I was still a wanted woman in multiple countries.

She silently hugged me.

“I’m sorry.” I simply said while hugging her back.

“You don’t have to be sorry. There are things that even we, Zonnikies, or even Gods can’t choose.” she said while caressing my hair.

We stayed like that for some seconds, then she detached and took a few steps back.

“Once you two finish talking, I’ll regain control over my body, but I’ll be unconscious. Take me to my room, put me in bed and…you know what to do.”

I nodded whiled drying my tears with my hand “Thank you for letting me stay in your house…” I wanted to add something else but closed my mouth immediately ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate.’

“If you want to use that word, I’ll allow it.” she said like she knew what I was thinking.

“...thank you mom.” I smiled at those simple and warm words and it even made me tear up a bit.

She smiled too, it made her wrinkles look more pronounced, but they were making her somewhat more beautiful, while her eyes started watering she said 

“Now you resemble Sophia a bit more…you two would have been great friends in normal circumstances. Thank you for treating her body respectfully and thanks in advance. I know you’ll keep your promise.”