"Am I cursed?" Ally asked her best friend Eliza one day at lunch. Eliza choked on her Coke and gazed at Ally with a look of puzzlement. "What? Don't tell me you didn't hear!"
"Hear what?" Eliza asked, obviously she didn't.
"Robert has been cheating on me. I should of known all he wanted was what's down my pants. When I refused he went to some other girl and did it with her. So I broke up with him this morning. He didn't even care! I am cursed." Ally grumbled.
"You're not cursed. You just have a hard time finding the right guy." Eliza said reassuringly.
"No, face it, I am cursed. I will never find anyone right for me! I hate guys! I wish they would get what they deserve! They are all dogs and I wish they would be treated like dogs!" With a cry of rage Ally sauntered off toward class and left Eliza sitting there consumed by what her best friend had said.
That evening when Eliza got home she went to look for her grandmother Causcus to ask a favor from her. She found her elderly grandmother in her shrine out in the backyard. Eliza never did like the shrine much. It scared her even though she knew the magic was within her too. See, Eliza's grandmother was a Voodoo priestess and she knew all sorts of secrets. Eliza had been told that one day she will learn those secrets but she didn't want to. So she tried to avoid her grandmother.
"So, the granddaughter that ignores the fact I am her elder has come for a favor." The older woman said, startling Eliza.
"Y-yes, how did you know? Wait, don't tell me I think I know. Yes, I need a serious favor to ask concerning a friend of mine. I am so worried about her." Eliza said.
"Tell me what is wrong and I will help the best way I can."
So, Eliza told her grandmother all what Ally had said at lunch and the whole story about her friend and her hatred of men. Eliza's grandmother didn't interrupt but once when she asked how old Ally was. Other than that she listened intently and even closed her eyes every once in awhile as if hearing the advice of spirits in the air. Boy was she right.
"The spirits tell me what I should do and I trust them. Tomorrow I want you to get a lock of this friend, Ally's, hair. You can most definitely get it form her brush. Then come to me and I will do what I can." Her grandmother told her.
"But what are you going to do? You wont hurt her will you?"
"No, no, no! I would never hurt anyone unless they hurt one of my blood. I will just make a potion that you will give to her, tell her it is tea that will make her feel a little better, and then after she drinks it she will fall into a deep sleep and dream dreams that will help her through her crisis. I am sure it will work."
"Ok, so I get a lock of her hair, you make a potion, and I give it to her saying it is a special tea that will make her feel better?"
"You got it. Now go on and run along. I have more praying to do." Eliza's grandmother said.
Eliza hesitated and then gave her grandmother a hug. This startled the older woman because her granddaughter had never given her a hug. "Thanks grandmother." Eliza said and ran off into the house. The grandmother sat there for a moment longer, smiled, and returned to her work.

"You want me to drink that?!" Ally asked bewildered as Eliza gave her a glass of what looked like sludge.
"Yeah, my grandmother said it will make you feel better. C'mon try it! Before you go to bed tonight you should drink it."
"Well, okay." Ally said and they went to class.

"I guess I should trust Eliza and take it." Ally said that night. She hesitantly lifter the glass to her mouth and gulped it all down. It actually tasted good. "Whoa, I feel dizzy now." She said and fell onto her bed in a deep slumber.