by M. K. ROZE
down and soaked her white shirt.
Pop.
Adelyn released Mom, got up, and limped toward Dad.
She looked at the blood running down her thigh and up at
him. “It’s time to die, you son of a bitch for a father!”
Dad aimed his shaky hands toward her other leg. “Stop,
please stop. I don’t want to kill you. You need her.”
“I need no one!” Adelyn leaped on him.
Pop.
A violent jerk to Adelyn’s body caused her to fly
backward. A guttural scream escaped her lips as she dropped
to the floor, grabbing her legs. “D-dad, it burns.”
Mom crawled to the corner of the room, holding her
bloody neck, and began rocking while shaking her head.
“Breanna, are you okay?” Dad asked.
Mom nodded in a daze.
Dad got up and ran to Adelyn. “I’m so sorry for having
to shoot you, honey.” He looked at Mom. “Breanna, will you
please help her! I don’t know if I hit an artery.”
Mom went to get up and fell to her side.
“Oh, my God, Breanna!” Dad jumped to his feet and
ran toward her.
Steve charged in the door, followed by three other cops.
Steve looked at the bodies and pointed his gun toward Dad.
“Jeff, don’t move a fucking inch, or I will shoot you where
you stand.”
Dad raised his hands and fell to his knees, sobbing.
“Help Adelyn and Breanna, please,” he begged.
The cops carefully approached Jeff and cuffed him.
“Don’t arrest him,” Adelyn said and fainted.
Adelyn woke up in the ambulance and looked at EMT’s
dressing her wounds. She tried to move her arms, but she
was strapped down. “Is my mom okay?”
The female EMT ignored her. “She’s awake,” she said
and started an intravenous line.
Steve hopped up into the ambulance. “Why did you
want us to release your dad after what he has done?”
“Because it wasn’t him.”
Steve gave her a confused look. “If it wasn’t Jeff, then
who was it?”
Adelyn looked into his watery eyes in a shock. “Me.”
Steve gulped and jumped down from the ambulance.
The EMT’s took Adelyn to the hospital, where the
nurses rushed her into emergency surgery. After Adelyn
woke up, the doctor told her she was lucky the bullets missed
her femur bone and only went into the tissue. Adelyn wished
it was her forehead Dad aimed at instead.
The following day, a detective she didn’t know
questioned her about what happened. She told them the
truth. The detective told her he believed it was her who killed
the people, but not an evil entity within her as she said in the
report. She knew the truth and that was all that mattered to
her.
They released Dad and placed Adelyn under arrest. Two
days later, she was wheeled into court, and Judge Garth
ordered her to be placed into Magus, a mental health
institution, until her competency hearing, which was a week
away.
delyn sat up every night for six days, staring at a
white wall. She wondered where the witches went
and why they hadn’t possessed her since the
murders. She thought that Muma somehow found a way to
enter Witchery Cove, caught Sula, and they killed each other.
As the long days turned into nights, Adelyn became
furious. She wanted to become possessed again, not to kill
anyone else, but to prove to the doctors what she told them
was the truth. She needed her life back, and she wished she
could turn back time and never steal the mirror. Adelyn
didn’t want to know that the paranormal world ever existed.
She wanted to live her life as she once did, or she would end
hers as soon as she got the chance.
On the seventh day, Adelyn rocked back and forth on
the bed, wearing a pink flowered top, and her favorite ripped
jeans while staring at her aged reflection in the barred
window.
Adelyn yanked on her white hair and pushed in the large
lump on her wrinkled face, revolted by Muma’s curse. She
told the doctors her sudden, elderly look wasn’t an unknown
disease like they thought, but they weren’t convinced and
gave her antipsychotic drugs every day to keep her calm.
Adelyn thought because the medicine was stronger than the
sleeping pill she took from her mom, that was another reason
why the witches didn’t possess her. She knew they hated it
when she became weak, but she didn’t know why they did.
The door opened and two policemen walked in. “It’s
time for your competency hearing, Miss Mae,” the officer
said and approached her with caution.
Adelyn stood and turned to the cops. “I would hurry it
up and secure me. You never know when the others are
going to show themselves. I wouldn’t want to hurt any of
you.”
The one cop cuffed her while the other officer shackled
her. They led her out of the institution and helped her get
into the police van.
As they drove the short distance to the court building,
Adelyn glanced out the window at her school, then looked
up at Broom Mountain. She quickly lowered her head and
sobbed. God, why are you allowing this? She slammed her head
a few times on the metal cage in front of her.
The officer in the passenger seat looked over his
shoulder. “Hey, stop trying to hurt yourself, or we’ll have no
choice but to hogtie you.”
Adelyn squeezed her fists together and took a couple of
deep breaths, remembering Steve and another cop having to
hogtie her after the murders because she flipped out. She
calmed down, knowing he was serious.
When the van came to a stop, the cops got out, and
Adelyn looked at the courthouse. She glanced at the police
station, wondering where her Dad was.
One of the officers opened the door while the other one
helped Adelyn step out of the van. They held her arms and
led her inside, where they placed her in a room with nothing
but a white built-in- bench. She sighed and sat on its hard
surface, remembering cleaning the room when she helped
Dad out. Adelyn never thought she’d be handcuffed looking
at the same white walls as so many inmates had. Adelyn
placed her head between her knees and grimaced from the
pain in her legs.
When someone knocked, then opened the door, Adelyn
looked at the lawyer Dad hired for her case. “Hello, Miss
Mae. Do you remember me visiting you last week in the
hospital?”
“Yes, Mr. Reed. I know who you are. I’m not crazy like
you all think I am.”
Mr. Reed adjusted his red tie. “I never said you were. I
just know that you were highly medicated at the time when I
last spoke with you.”
Adelyn looked away. “Do I have to go out there? They
know I’m guilty, so what’s the point of coming here just to
admit I am?”
“This is how it works, Miss Mae. Did you think about
what we spoke about?”
Adelyn looked up at him. “I’m not pleading insanity. I
knew what was going on at all times. I was just under
someone else’s control.”
“This is why I would like to say you had a mental break
down. The jurors may not give you any time at all. Especially
if I can get a doctor to say that all this erratic behavior was
caused by the head injury from your accident. Or the rapid
aging disease you acquired in the last week.”
Adelyn glared his way and touched the lump on her face.
“This is not a disease.” She paused and grabbed her hair. “It’s
a damn curse. I wish someone would believe me.”
The door opened and an older woman peeked her head
inside. “Mr. Reed, I’m sorry for interrupting, but Judge
Garth will be out soon.”
“Thank you.” He looked back at Adelyn. “Miss Mae, we
don’t need to make a decision now, but I will need to ask the
judge for a continuance. Don’t you want to become free
again?”
Adelyn stood. “Everyone fears me, including you, so
what’s the point?”
“Miss Mae, the prosecutors want to give you life in
prison without the possibility of parole.”
Adelyn shrugged. “Tell them to give me the electric
chair and be done with it.”
Mr. Reed exhaled with the same hopeless look on his
face from when he met with her the previous week. He
opened the door and escorted Adelyn into the courtroom
with cops following them.
When people gasped, Adelyn was sure it was from the
way she looked, not from what she was charged with. She
looked at the floor until she got to the partition and sat on a
bench. She glanced at the male and female inmates who sat
next to her wearing red jumpsuits, wondering what they did.
They gave her nasty looks and scooted away from her.
Adelyn sighed and found Dad, who was sitting next to
Mom. They smiled at her, and Dad tapped on his lap. Adelyn
looked at a red gem sticking out from under his jacket,
questioning why he would bring the mirror with him. She
didn’t know and glanced at the people in the packed
courtroom, who were eyeing her with hatred.
Adelyn scanned the room and found reporters standing
in the back with cameras aimed her way. She looked at
Marissa, who was sitting in the second row next to Nellie and
Jake. When Marissa smiled at her, Adelyn wondered why she
did, especially after what she had done. She took another
look at Jake, but he grimaced and looked away. Nellie made
eye-contact, shook her head with disgust, and looked
forward.
When a door creaked open, Adelyn’s body flinched as
she glanced at Judge Garth, who had a grumpy look on his
aged face just like the last time she saw him. He walked out
of his chambers and continued over to the raised wooden
bench, where he sat and looked at his computer.
“All rise,” a bailiff said from the other side of the room.
“The Honorable Judge Garth presiding, is now in session.”
Everyone stood, except for Adelyn, who was now
staring at Judge Garth in a daze.
“Miss Mae, please stand up for Judge Garth,” Mr. Reed
urged in a whisper.
Adelyn glared at him and shook her head slowly with a
nasty grin on her face. “I rise for no one,” she said in Sula’s
voice.
People gasped.
“Please be seated,” the bailiff said.
Judge Garth found Mr. Reed. “I don’t normally do this,
but being that your client seems to be agitated, I’m going to
call your case right now.”
Mr. Reed nodded, and he approached the podium.
Judge Garth looked on his computer. “Your client, Miss
Mae, is charged with three counts of murder. How does she
plead?”
Adelyn cackled and looked over at Dad. She licked her
lips and flickered her eyes to Mom. “You’re lucky to have
lived, cunt!”
Three bailiffs approached Adelyn and stood near her,
ready to take her out of the courtroom.
“Miss Mae, please have some respect,” Mr. Reed warned
in a harsh undertone.
“Order in the court,” Judge Garth scolded and banged
the gavel several times on its wooden striking base. He glared
at Adelyn. “Keep your mouth shut before I have one of my
bailiffs muzzle you.”
“Fuck you, slob.” Adelyn spit toward him.
“Remove her immediately from my courtroom,” the
judge ordered.
Adelyn grinned and looked at the inmates next to her.
She licked her lips and slid closer to them.
The inmates scooted to the other side of the bench, as
two bailiffs tried pulling Adelyn up, but she wouldn’t budge
as she kept her eyes on her surroundings. The bailiffs looked
at each other, and they yanked on her arm, trying to get her
up, but she still didn’t move.
“Today would be nice, gentlemen,” Judge Garth said.
Adelyn looked at the bailiff’s, flicked the air, and they
flew backward, slamming into the bench, knocking them out.
“What the hell!” Judge Garth stood and fell backward.
When three other bailiffs ran toward her, she looked at
them, and they went flying out the bay window. People ran
out of the courtroom, screaming, while others bolted to the
other side of the room.
“Sula!” Dad yelled while aiming the mirror at Adelyn.
Adelyn stood, looked at her hands and feet, then the
cuffs and shackles fell off.
“Holy shit,” a male inmate shouted and jumped over the
partition, where he ran out the door. Several other inmates
followed him, but the door wouldn’t open. They pounded,
yanked, and kicked on the door, desperate to get out.
Adelyn cackled. “No one leaves unless I allow you to.”
The inmates turned to her and ran over to the other
people.
Adelyn grinned and scanned the room while licking her
lips. “Who shall I eat first?” She looked at Judge Garth, who
was holding his chest with his unsteady hand.
“Zoom in on her yellow eyes,” a man yelled from
behind the camera guy.
Adelyn looked into the camera and grinned. “Yes, show
the world who I am.”
“Hey,” Dad yelled.
Adelyn found Dad, with Mom hiding behind him. She
pointed at the mirror and it flew from his hand to hers. She
looked into it and smiled. “Muma, what have you done to
me?”
A black mass flew out of the mirror, causing Adelyn’s
hair to blow back, and the shadow hovered into the center
of the room. Everyone gasped while watching its every
move.
“What the fuck am I seeing?” a man yelled.
“Muma!” Adelyn bellowed in Sula’s voice.
The mass transformed into Muma and she lowered to
the ground. She glanced at the people, who were huddled
together, squatting in disbelief in the corner of the room.
Muma found Adelyn. “When you banished me from entering
&
nbsp; Adelyn’s body again, I found the territorial spell was easier
to break than I expected. You’re not as clever as you once
were when you were human.”
“The broken spell won’t last long,” Sula said and snarled
at her.
“That’s fine. This won’t take long.” Muma pointed at
her, and the mirror flew into her hand. She kissed the mirror,
set in on the podium, and scowled at Adelyn.
Adelyn charged Muma, thrashing at her face.
“Her eyes are fucking black now,” a man yelled out.
She’s the devil.”
Muma grabbed Adelyn by the neck and lifted her. She
wishes she was the devil.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” Mom begged.
“Stop. She’s our friend,” Marissa sobbed while holding
Nellie.
Muma stared into Adelyn’s eyes. “Exit the girl and
challenge me.”
Adelyn didn’t blink as she stared into Muma’s eyes.
“Why would I want to do that, knowing you may overpower
my poor… weak … soul?”
Muma pulled Adelyn closer to her. “Exit the girl. You
don’t want me trapped here forever, trust me.”
“Sure, I do,” Sula said.
“No!” Mom cried and dropped to her knees.
“Keep recording,” a male said with a shaky tone.
Adelyn’s neck tilted backward—her face straining,
trying to fight Sula. “Get out of me!” she sobbed. Adelyn’s
body shook violently and abruptly stopped. “Never!” Adelyn
bellowed in Sula’s voice.
Muma dropped Adelyn, formed into a black mass, and
shot straight through her stomach. The mass formed back
into Muma while holding onto Sula’s apparition, yanking her
out of Adelyn’s body, where Sula transformed into her
human form.
Adelyn fell backward onto the floor. She found her
parents, got up, and ran toward them. They took turns
kissing her as they held her tight. Marissa, Nellie, and Jake
surrounded her, protecting her from the witches.
Adelyn held onto her parents and looked at Muma, who
was holding Sula by the neck.
Muma pulled Sula close. “When was the first time you
entered the girl’s body?”
Sula ignored Muma.
Muma grabbed Sula’s head, sending her to her knees,
