JULIE

 

     “Scott, please give me another chance. I love you!”

 

      “Julie? Are you drunk? We broke up a year ago! You’ve got to stop calling me.”

 

      “No, I realized tonight how much I’ve missed you. Can we meet for coffee?”

 

      “Julie, I’m with Anna now. I thought you knew that when you saw us at Chili’s a while back.” He added, after a moment, “I’m proposing to her soon.”

 

      “Scott, please—”

 

      “No, Julie. Goodbye.”

 

     Julie sat in front of her laptop, wishing he would change his mind. She wiped her tears away and moved her chair closer to the table.

 

      “Your loss, jerk.”

 

     A little retail therapy was in order, so she logged onto Etsy. There was always something unique there. She typed “break up” into the search bar, expecting to find items you’d give to your bestie after a breakup.

 

• Breakup gift

• Breakup candle

• Breakup spell

• Breakup kit

 

     This looks interesting, she thought. Violently vibrant text lit up her screen.

 

     LOVEFIXER

 

     If you believe, she will leave! Guaranteed to work! No refunds! No exchanges!

 

      “Oh, what the hell. Why not?” Julie winced at the $75 price tag for what was probably just glitter and sand but bought it anyway.

 

ANNA

 

     Two weeks had passed since Scott’s psycho ex had last tried to get in contact. She seemed determined to make a stalker of herself, and Anna dreaded opening her mailbox each day, should she find an undesirable gift from the woman. Nevertheless, she made the trawl each day to check. Despite her anticipation, she was excited to see the RSVP’s to the wedding! She flipped through the pile of envelopes until she came to a package wrapped in pink tape.

 

      “What the hell is this?” She looked at the return address on the pink-wrapped package, decorated in red hearts by Julie. “I can’t believe her. Scott told her weeks ago to go away! We can’t spend the rest of our lives together with her practically stalking us all the time.”

 

     She put the rest of the mail under her arm, then opened the package. An envelope fell out and she tore it in half, expelling a fine blue powder into her face. She sneezed violently several times, her body jerking with the effort. Tears streamed from her reddened eyes.

 

      “Did that bitch poison me?! I’ve had enough!” Anna stomped up the porch steps and slammed open the door.

 

      “Scott!” she yelled. “Where are you?”

 

      “In the kitchen, babe. Fixing dinner.”

 

     She stalked into the kitchen. Scott turned away from the sink to look at her. “What’s the problem? Bad day?”

 

      “You’re seeing Julie behind my back, aren’t you?” Anna glared at him and held the torn card up. “Why is she sending you romantic cards?”

 

      “What? Wait, did you tear that up?”

 

      “You’re damn right I did.” She tossed the card on the floor and walked up to him. “I thought you loved me, Scott. I thought we had a future together.”

 

     He put his arms around her.

 

      “Anna, I do love you. I had no idea Julie was going to send me anything. Can’t you see that she’s pathetic? Believe me. She means nothing.” He kissed the top of her head, then turned back to the sink to finish washing fresh spinach. “Dinner’s in ten, babe.”

 

     Anna stared at the back of his head. “Great.” She spied the butcher knife on the counter and grabbed it.

 

     Scott saw her from the corner of his eye and spun around. “Anna, what are you—” Before he could finish, Anna plunged the knife into his throat up to the hilt.

 

JULIE

 

     Julie turned the local news on just in time to hear the headline:

 

      “Anna Gregory was arrested at the home she shared with her boyfriend, Scott Porter. She has been charged with first-degree murder. We go to our reporter Michael Jones, who is at the scene to talk to their neighbors.”

 

     She sat there, mouth gaping. She went to YouTube to look for more information. She clicked on the video that looked the most likely: “Local man murdered by girlfriend. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES!”

 

     On screen, Anna is screaming as police lead her down the porch steps; her arms behind her and hands cuffed. She’s covered in blood; even her face and hair.

 

      “He deserved it! That bastard was cheating on me! I found the card! The love      letter!”

 

     The police pushed her head down as they seated her in the back seat of the patrol car, their faces grim. Whoever shot the video captured the car leaving, Anna’s face against the window, her eyes impossibly wide and white against her blood-soaked face.

 

     Julie shuddered and exited YouTube. Her mind raced, wondering what had happened.

 

     I found the card! Anna’s voice echoed in her mind.

 

      “Oh, shit.” Julie realized the wrong person received the potion. But even so, why didn’t Anna just break up with him? Did this happen because of the potion? Was it actually real? Then that meant the store sent her the wrong one.

 

     She logged into Etsy and checked the store name. She looked through the page until she found the chat option. A woman’s face popped up in the corner of her screen. “Hello, this is Marie of LoveFixer. How may I help you?” The woman’s voice had a lilting quality that would have charmed Julie if the love of her life hadn’t just been killed.

 

      “Yeah, I bought a break-up spell from you a few weeks ago, but you sent the wrong one. You sent me a murder spell!” Julie sat back and crossed her arms, glaring at Marie with anger in her eyes. Her lower lip quivered, though, as if she were about to cry.

 

      “How dare you accuse me of such a horrible deed!” Marie started fiddling with one of her large hoop earrings. “There is no such thing as a murder spell, for one thing. And even if there were, it would be terrible bad luck for me to concoct it.” She shook her head, and the little bells lining her purple head scarf tinkled gently. “What makes you say this to me?”

 

      “Well, I just found out that my ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend killed him today. And I’m pretty sure she is the one who received the spell somehow instead of him. But she didn’t break up with him, she murdered him! It’s all over the news!”

 

     Marie didn’t say anything. She grabbed one of her many necklaces decorating her black dress and began twisting it with her finger. She shifted her eyes, looking anywhere but at Julie.

 

      “So I’m right, yes? It was a murder potion!”

 

     Marie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Hmmm. Okay, I do make special spells for certain… clientele. I guess I could have made an error in shipping.”

 

      “An error in shipping? Oh, my god. Okay, listen to me —”

 

     Marie quit messing with her jewelry. Her voice strong, she asked Julie a question. “Tell me, are they no longer together, as you ordered?”

 

      “Are you insane? Of course they aren’t together, you psycho, Scott is dead! D-E-A-D, DEAD!” Julie put her head in her hands.

 

      “Then the spell did work for you, yes?”

 

     Julie raised her head and looked at Marie in disbelief. “But—”

 

     Marie shook her head and wagged a finger at Julie. “No refund! Like it says on the website!”

 

      “Wait, what?”

 

      “Please leave a good review since the spell worked for you.”

 

      “Don’t—”

 

      “Good-bye!”