MUMA

by M. K. ROZE

  accent. “Johnny Bishop was never a witch. He was too much

  of a coward to be called such a thing. And Sula had nothing

  to do with the death of his family. He killed them because he

  was laying with the preacher’s daughter, and he wanted only

  her. Johnny blamed Sula, hoping he would get away with

  murder. Your history is false. I advise you to correct it.”

  Ms. Rogers stood and folded her arms. “How would

  you know what happened over two hundred years ago?”

  Adelyn glared her way. “Because I was there.”

  The students sat in silence until Adelyn was finished,

  then they broke out laughing.

  “Good acting,” Carson said.

  Adelyn snapped out of the trance and cupped her

  mouth with her shaky hands, having no clue why she said

  that. She was baffled how she spoke with the same voice she

  heard whisper in her head from the night before. Adelyn

  didn’t know what just happened, but she knew she needed

  to play it off the best she could.

  “Calm down,” Ms. Rogers said. “Adelyn, I want you to

  step outside with me, please.”

  Adelyn followed Ms. Rogers outside the door and

  gulped, afraid she was going to write her up.

  “Why would you put on a show like that and lie to the

  other students about history?”

  “I was just trying to be funny. I’m sorry.” Adelyn hoped

  she believed her.

  “This isn’t like you, Miss Mae. I’ve never seen you act

  this way before. Is there something going on at home?”

  “No, I was only kidding around. It will never happen

  again.”

  Ms. Rogers looked down the hall and back at her,

  thinking.

  “Please don’t send me to the principal’s office. My

  parents will get upset.”

  “I won’t write you up if you write a two-thousand-word

  essay about Mr. Bishop. Is this clear?”

  Adelyn nodded, wondering how she could make

  something like that up. “Yes, thank you.”

  Ms. Rogers walked back inside. “Alright. Ignore what

  Miss Mae said. She was having fun like most of you do once

  in a while. Close your books. It’s time for the test.”

  Adelyn sat in the seat, wanting to ask if she could be

  excused, but she didn’t want to upset the teacher more.

  As Adelyn waited for the test to be passed around, she

  wondered if she had a mental problem, she wasn’t aware of.

  Adelyn had no clue what had happened, and she tried to

  place it in the back of her mind, hoping it wouldn’t happen

  again.

  After school, Adelyn sat in the truck, debating on calling

  off work. She didn’t want what happened in class to happen

  at her job. But her boss had already given her a week off to

  go on vacation, so she was sure he’d say no.

  Adelyn started the truck and looked at her phone,

  wanting to call Mom and tell her what had happened at

  school. She was ready to call her, then set the phone in the

  cup holder, certain Mom would want to take her to the

  hospital to get another x-ray of her brain, to rule out head

  trauma from her accident. Adelyn remembered Mom not

  being satisfied the last time she got an x-ray because her

  speech was slow for a few days. Mom swore she had a head

  injury because of her sudden change in thinking, but the

  doctors said she was fine. She knew Mom was smart, but x-

  rays weren’t her expertise, so she went with what the doctors

  said.

  Adelyn stopped going down memory lane and drove to

  work, where she parked and headed inside.

  She grabbed a handful of mints from a bowl and ate

  them as she clocked in, doing her best to keep a positive

  attitude, despite what had happened earlier. Adelyn

  approached a table with an older couple. “Good evening.”

  “Hi,” an older man said.

  Adelyn smiled and looked at the woman across from

  him, who was viewing the menu. She looked back at the man.

  “Are you ready to order, or do you still need a few minutes?”

  “Yes, I’ll take Sula’s famous cheeseburger, rare, with

  fries, please.”

  “Sula’s meat wouldn’t be from a cow,” the woman said.

  “I know that, Ellen,” the man replied. He looked up at

  Adelyn. “Do you have any humans for the old hag to eat?”

  Adelyn couldn’t help but giggle at his sarcasm. “No.”

  “Ralph, why would you ask her such a thing?”

  He smirked her way. “I’m sure she knew I was joking

  around.”

  Ellen shook her head. “Sorry, dear. I think the high

  altitude from looking for those hunters must have killed his

  brain cells.”

  He took Ellen’s hand and kissed the top of it. “No,

  sweetheart. Thirty years of your mouth is what killed them.”

  Adelyn fell into a trance and looked past Ellen at the

  cars passing by. “The … bodies … are … at … the …

  foothill … of … Broom … Mountain.”

  “How would you know that?” Ralph asked. “And why

  are you speaking with a Southern accent now?”

  Adelyn snapped out of the trance and looked away,

  wanting to run out the door. She knew something was very

  wrong with her, and she was about to freak out. Adelyn did

  her best to calm down, trying not to show any other signs of

  being mental if she could help it.

  Ralph looked at his wife and flickered his worried eyes

  back to Adelyn. “Are you going to answer my questions?”

  Adelyn knew she needed to play it off. “I was kidding

  around. I’m sorry.”

  Ellen didn’t look convinced. “You shouldn’t joke

  around about people who are missing. What if we were one

  of their relatives?”

  Adelyn gulped. “Please forgive me. I’ll be right back

  with your drinks.”

  She walked away, wondering what the hell was wrong

  with her. Adelyn didn’t feel sick. She felt fine other than the

  sudden accent she spoke with and saying strange things. She

  glanced at the door, ready to run out, but she didn’t want to

  get fired, so she tried her best to act normal.

  As Adelyn was getting their drinks, she saw the couple

  walk over to the host.

  After the manager was called over to speak to the

  couple, Adelyn was sure she was about to be fired.

  Adelyn walked back over to the table with their drinks,

  but she didn’t see the couple. She looked toward the front

  door, and her boss stormed back inside.

  He approached her. “Come with me.”

  Adelyn set the drinks on the table and followed him into

  the kitchen.

  He spun around—his thick black eyebrows furrowed.

  “Why would you tell my guests the people who are lost, are

  lying dead at the bottom of Broom Mountain?”

  Adelyn wasn’t about to get fired. “I would never say

  something like that.”

  “There were other guests at another table who heard

  you. Now, since you’re going to lie, I want you to leave.”

  Adelyn was pretty sure she was fired. She needed that

  job to save up
for the truck she always wanted. “But—”

  “But nothing. The couple left because of what you said.

  Now, please go home.”

  Adelyn sighed, clocked out, and sat in her truck. She

  slammed her hands on the steering wheel. “What’s wrong

  with me?”

  Are you ill, child? a woman asked in a raspy voice with a

  foreign accent she didn’t recognize.

  Adelyn gasped, wondering who that was, and why she

  was hearing someone speak to her. “Get out of my head!”

  I grant you no such thing, the woman said and cackled like

  a witch in a deep ominous tone.

  Adelyn grabbed her head. “Why am I hearing voices?

  Who the hell are you?”

  I’m your new best friend.

  Adelyn took off out of the parking lot and drove home,

  not sure what was going on with her.

  At home, Adelyn sat at her desk and searched YouTube,

  trying to figure out what accent it was she had heard in her

  head. After listening to many different languages, she

  thought it sounded more like Romanian, but she wasn’t

  positive.

  Adelyn sat there for a while, staring out the window at

  the trees, thinking about what she did at school and work.

  She didn’t know why she spoke with a Southern accent, so

  she looked up mental illness.

  After reading about the disease, she read on split

  personalities next, and she lowered the phone when one of

  the symptoms was acting like someone else and using a

  different dialect.

  Adelyn thought about going on her diary app, but she

  didn’t feel like it. She tossed her phone on the desk and got

  into bed, not wanting to believe she was mentally ill. She

  faced the wal , hoping it would never happen again, and cried

  herself to sleep.

  hen Adelyn’s alarm went off, she snatched her

  phone, turned it off, and sat up. As she squinted

  at the dresser, it spun out of control. She ran

  into the hallway bathroom, where she violently puked.

  “Adelyn, are you alright?” Mom asked.

  Adelyn flushed the toilet. “Yeah, I just got sick.”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Yes.”

  Mom opened the door, grabbed a washcloth off the

  sink, and handed it to her. “Do you have the stomach flu,

  honey?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I felt dizzy and got sick.” Adelyn

  brushed her teeth, thinking about the night before, and

  remembered eating the Hershey Kisses Carson had given

  her. She spit the toothpaste out. “Is it possible to be drugged

  and act like someone else, but not have any other

  symptoms?”

  “No, why? Do you think you were drugged?”

  Adelyn rinsed her mouth out, ready to tell Mom about

  her crazy night, but she decided not to, knowing Mom would

  make her see a doctor right away. “I wasn’t asking for me. I

  was asking because a girl went into a trance at school

  yesterday, then spoke with an accent like she was somebody

  else. Then, she said she heard someone speaking to her in

  her head with a foreign accent. It was freaky.” Adelyn

  wouldn’t look at her because she feared she’d know she was

  lying.

  “Only bloodwork could rule out drugs. It sounds more

  like she has split personalities. Are you sure she doesn’t have

  a mental illness?”

  Adelyn shrugged and walked back into her room,

  convinced it was a mental illness she somehow acquired

  overnight.

  Mom stood at the door. “Are you up for school today?”

  Adelyn sighed as she looked at what outfit to wear. “Not

  really, but I need to go in. I’ve already missed a week from

  the accident.”

  Mom walked over to her and felt her head. “Are you

  sure, honey? You don’t feel hot, but you don’t look so well

  either.”

  Adelyn pulled her hair back into a ponytail and forced a

  smile, trying not to worry her. “I’m fine to go in. I’m not

  dizzy anymore.”

  Mom kept looking at the top of her head.

  “What?”

  “Why did you bleach some of your hair?”

  “I didn’t,” she said and walked over to her dresser. She

  looked into the mirror at thin white streaks near her hairline.

  “What the fuck?”

  Mom gasped. “Adelyn, watch your mouth.”

  Adelyn looked at it again and glared at her. “I’m sorry,

  Mom, but I’m getting white hair, and I’m not even in college

  yet. Excuse me for freaking the hell out.”

  “That’s not an excuse. Are you sure you didn’t die it?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” Adelyn plucked a hair out and looked

  at it. “Why is it so damn white?”

  “Honey, it can be caused by an underlying medical

  condition.”

  “Like what?”

  “Thyroid disorder. Vitiligo, or anemia, and there are

  more, but I would need to look it up. And I doubt you have

  any of that. We’ll get you in to see the doctor.”

  “I can’t go to school like this.”

  “Just put your hair back down and you’ll be fine.”

  Adelyn did as she said, and wondered why she hadn’t

  noticed the white in her hair when she straightened it the day

  before.

  “See, now all your grays are hidden.” Mom walked out.

  “I can’t imagine when you turn forty.”

  Adelyn rolled her eyes. “Mom, where’s Dad?”

  “He got called in early,” Mom shouted back from her

  room.

  “Oh.” Adelyn glanced at the time on her phone,

  wondering why he got called in so early. “It’s not even eight

  o’clock yet.”

  “It must have been an emergency. Why, do you need to

  talk to him?”

  “No, I was just wondering why the house was so silent.”

  Mom chuckled and a blow dryer turned on.

  ***

  At school, Marissa ran up to Adelyn in the hallway.

  “Hey, did you hear about the missing people?”

  “No, why?”

  “Your dad didn’t tell you?”

  “No, he left before I got up. Why? Are the people safe?”

  “If you call them being mauled to death by a pack of

  wolves safe, then yeah.”

  Adelyn stopped walking and pure adrenaline rushed

  through her body. She grabbed the locker for support,

  wondering how she predicted their deaths.

  Marissa grabbed her hands. “Are you alright?”

  Adelyn nodded. “Where did … did they find their

  bodies at?” She tried to control her shaky speech, but she

  wasn’t able to.

  “At the bottom of Broom Mountain, why? And why do

  you look like you’re about to faint?”

  Adelyn ignored her and grabbed her chest. It felt like

  her heart was about to explode. She knew there was no way

  she’d know about where the bodies were unless she was

  psychic or a ghost took over her body.

  Marissa waved her hand in front of her face. “What’s

  your deal?”

  Adelyn looked into her worried eyes, remembering the

  cross falling in her room and something cold touching her

  back. �
�Can a ghost take over someone’s body and make you

  speak with a Southern accent?”

  “I’ve seen it happen in horror movies. Why?”

  “Nothing, I gotta go.” Adelyn walked toward the

  bathroom and went inside. She paced back and forth,

  sobbing, not sure of what to do. As she tried to figure it out,

  she got a text and took her phone out of her bag. She saw it

  was Dad.

  Call me right away.

  Adelyn was sure Dad found out it was her who told the

  couple where to find the bodies, but she wasn’t going to

  admit it. She knew if she did, she would be arrested. She took

  two deep breaths, trying to calm down, and called Dad.

  He picked up on the first ring. “I’m coming to your

  school to pick you up. Meet me out front.”

  “Why? And why do you have the sirens on?”

  “I will tell you when I see you. Now, do as I asked.”

  Adelyn frantically ran her fingers through her hair,

  wanting to tell him that a ghost took over her body, but she

  knew he didn’t believe in the supernatural, so she played it

  off the best she could. “Is it bad?”

  Dad didn’t say anything and ended the call.

  Adelyn rushed out of the restroom and ran outside,

  where she waited on Dad to arrive. She paced back and forth

  on the sidewalk, debating on taking off, but before she could

  make up her mind, Dad drove into the school lot faster than

  usual with his police lights on and the sirens off. Dad pulled

  up in front of her and rolled the window down.

  “Hurry up and get in.”

  When Adelyn got in, he took off.

  “Dad, what’s going on?”

  He pulled off to the side of the road and put the truck

  in park. “Who told you where the bodies were?”

  Adelyn wouldn’t look at him because he would know if

  she was lying. “What are you talking about?”

  “Adelyn Mae, this isn’t time for games. The couple you

  waited on last night found the bodies this morning after you

  told them where to find them. Now, who told you?”

  “I never said that. They’re lying.”

  “Why would two respectable attorneys lie about