Asp

If your best friend was killed before your eyes, what would you do to bring her back, to make the pain stop? Would you sacrifice everything you had to see her again, and if you did, would it be worth it? After losing my lifelong best friend, I had asked myself that question on a daily basis, and I was prepared to give anything to change my past and bring my dead friend Deidre back, for I was sure the cost was worth the price, but how wrong I was.
12 years after Deidre Larson’s death, I still couldn’t let the pain go. As I celebrated my 31st birthday, I was disappointed with how my life had transpired. Married and the mother of two, I saw myself as failure at best. We were very poor, and I didn’t even have a college education. I couldn’t stop wondering how different things would have turned out if Deidre hadn’t died. I was sure if she was still around, then I would have finished school, would have gotten a career, and would have been successful.
To add to my heartache and bitterness, my mom died shortly after my 31st birthday. It became too much for me. I tried to fight through it, but I couldn’t. I spiraled into a depression so deep that I could feel it swallow the life out of me.
One day as I was trying to sort through the pain, I took my family to the fair. While we were there, I became aware of a mysterious woman playing the guitar, her name was Asp. As I made my way to her, I became entranced by her music. There was something so captivating by this woman, for I could not pull myself away. Dragging my neighbor Aleta over, we sat down and listened to Asp’s tunes.
While I became enchanted, Aleta could sense the evil in Asp. She tried to drag me away, but I resisted Aleta, for Asp had a bewitchment on me I couldn’t break. Aleta fought for my welfare, pulling me up. Just when Aleta was about to succeed, Asp talked about my pain over the loss of Deidre. She promised me she could bring Deidre back.
I didn't realize that the moment Asp and I shook hands, that everything changed. I tried to find my kids but discovered that they no longer existed. My past had been altered and so had my present. In this new time line, Deidre was alive, but she venomously hated me.
As I tried to wade through my new world, I experienced excruciating grief and pain. With time, things began to get better, but just when they did, something new and horrible happened. The already heavy price became too much.