Yein leaned against the rail that separated her and the river, one of her favourite places to hang out and just relax. She stood there and got lost in her thoughts. She was alone now, there were minimal people that walked by now since it was getting later in the night. 

She pulled out her book from her bag and held it tight against her body. She made her choice and told herself that she wouldn’t change her mind. Throughout the entire day, she tried to keep her composure together but it was difficult. There were moments where she’d start to doubt and want to turn back.

Now that the day was almost over and she was alone, she only focused on herself. Yein observed her surroundings one last time, the tall buildings, the people that occasionally went by, the way they dressed and all the little details.

When she was ready, she whispered to herself that there was no turning back. She continued to hug the book and slowly closed her eyes that began to water. She felt a single teardrop roll down her cheek. Yein took a deep breath and recited the spell that she memorized by now. This time she didn’t think about any time or place, hoping the place in her deepest thoughts didn’t change. She didn’t feel anything happen but waited. Just like the first time, it took a few moments before she felt the weird sensation in her body that she still had to get used to.

As soon as the sensation was over, she opened her eyes and saw her reflection in a mirror. The book was still in her hands and she was wearing the same clothes but her bag didn’t manage to travel with her. Looking around, she let out a sign as she was back in her old bedroom. The bed, desk and closet was still there. She checked the calendar on her desk, 1952. Her hand was free from any tattoo. Everything looked the same and was in place. 

When Yein heard the familiar noise of something falling in another room, she took that as her signal. She quietly opened the door and turned to the left of the hallway. She approached the door that was slightly opened and saw the same scene as last time, her mother sitting on her knees, her eyes closed with a book in front of her.

Her mother began saying that spell Yein hated so much. It was now or never. Yein pulled herself together before bursting through the door and calling out to her mother. The woman jumped and opened her eyes, “God, you almost scared me to death.”

Yein looked down at her and her eyes shifted back and forth from the book and her mother, “What are you doing?”

“I’m a little busy right now if you don’t mind, I’ll explain when I’m done.” She looked up at Yein unimpressed.

Yein kept her eyes on the book, “You’re casting the forever young spell aren’t you?”

The woman was silent and Yein took the chance to keep talking, “The spell isn’t what you think it is, it’s considered forbidden for a reason.”

Her mother signed, “Honey, listen to me, I know you haven’t been a big fan of me using spells lately but you have to trust me on this one.”

“Look, I know the country is in the middle of a war right now but that spell won’t do any good. It just curses you your entire life.” Yein tried her best to keep herself together again.

“Nonsense, this spell is said to grant immortality which would be very useful in times like this. I don’t want anything to happen to us, so let me use it on me first and I can do it for you...”

As soon as Yein heard those words, her eyes widened, “NO!”

Her sudden change in tone shocked her mother a bit but at this point Yein’s had it, “That spell does not grant immortality, as soon as you use that spell on yourself, it’ll keep you looking the way you are for the rest of your life. That’s it, no immortality. Even if you’re 20, 50 or 100 you’ll still look the same. When you reach the age you were suppose to die at, you’ll just disintegrate to dust. Your book may not tell you that but mine does.”

Her mother pointed to the book in front of her, “This book has been trusted for centuries, I’m not sure where you got yours from but how reliable is it really? I don’t understand what has gotten into you.”

That was the last straw, Yein couldn’t take it anymore and exploded, “Mom, listen to me! No matter what happens, you can’t use that spell. You know why? Because that’ll be the start of a lot of regret and your demise. I’m gonna be the one to pay for your mistake with my entire life. You’re gonna regret using the spell because you’ll realize that it’s a misconception and you’ll try to reverse it but you can’t. One day, your experiments are gonna go very wrong and you’ll be gone just like that, which leaves me. The curse is gonna end up getting passed to me. I thought it would be fine at first but then people started calling me out and suspecting me for witch craft. So I’m forced to move and restart my life.”

Her mother stayed silent and looked at her extremely confused but Yein couldn’t stop anymore, “How do I know this? Because I’m coming from the future, the far future. I’m suppose to be an elderly woman in her 80s by that time but no, I’m stuck looking and acting like an 18 year old girl. You know how I said I was forced to move and restart my life? Well I did that constantly for several decades because I didn’t know how the to reverse this curse. I lived in every corner of this country, I had to find new guardians, fake my death a few times, got new identities and had to find people I could trust with such information.”

Her emotions continued to explode, she was angry and upset at the same time. The anger in her voice toned down and she felt like she was about to cry, “Eventually I got used to it. I re-did school a bunch of times, I made new friends and everything so it wasn’t that bad except when I had to pack up and leave again. Then one day, I was working in the library and I came across this weird book and just took it home. When I read through it, the answers I had been searching for my whole life had been in there. That’s when I found out that the spell was irreversible. I was angry that this book shows up now since it’s been out for a while. Thought all was lost, until I found a spell that lets you jump in time and I got excited thinking I could finally live normally if I just undid everything. Then I realized I would have to sacrifice everything and basically my entire life if I wanted to do that. But you know, I really didn’t want to. See I was living a really good life, I lived in this cute apartment with a guardian that treated me like I was her own daughter, I went to school like normal, I had the most amazing friends and I even met this guy that I eventually fell for. So of course I didn’t want to leave but then I would have to let myself disintegrate to dust.”

Her sadness began to overpower her anger as she lost energy from all the rambling. Her legs gave out and she was sitting on her knees, still holding her book. She didn’t even know what she was saying anymore as she half sobbed and half talked, “I thought and thought for weeks about what the hell I should do and didn’t bother telling many people since I didn’t want to hurt them. Then I realized I just wanted to grow up like a normal person. So I spent time with the people I loved one last time. The last person I saw was that guy I fell in love with. You know, he meant everything to me and I didn’t want to leave him yet I still did. I left everything behind because I wanted to save myself, I wanted to save you, I wanted to save us from such a preventable fate. So I went back in time and here I am, telling you my life story.”

Yein was full on sobbing at this point and her words were barely understandable, “And if you still don’t believe me, this is the book that told me everything.” She took the book, flipped it open and turned it towards her mother who was still trying to process everything including her sobbing daughter. “This was published in 1962, this isn’t suppose to exist yet because it’s ing 1952. I found this in 2017. I lived that long, I watched our country evolve and change as I stayed the same. Hell, I’m still wearing the same clothes from when I travelled back here. These clothes don’t exist for another few decades.” She slowed her words down and gained a bit of her composure again, “So mom, please don’t use that spell. I’m begging you at this point.”

Her mother looked through the book and saw the publication date. She looked up at Yein and did take note of her fashion which did not match the time period at all. She managed to hear everything she said, finally processing it she looked up at Yein again and simply pulled her into a tight hug as she continued to cry.

“Sweetheart, I didn’t understand where you were going with this story at first but now I realized how much pain I must have put you in and how much you suffered because of me. I’m so so sorry.” Her mother pulled away and wiped away Yein’s tears. She looked her in the eye and said, “I promise you, I’ll never