“They think she had a stroke. We have to wait and see. The next twenty-four hours are very important.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll take you girls home, then come back here.”
“I need to see her,” Brenda said.
“We can’t right now. She’s in intensive care,” Larry said.
“I’ve got to see with my own eyes that she’s not dead,” Brenda said loudly.
“But, Brenda–”
“I’m not leaving until I see her.” Brenda crossed her arms and sat back in the chair.
A doctor pulled Larry aside. After they talked, Larry waved the girls over. “The doctor said you can see her for one minute. That’s all. Even though she’s unconscious she can still hear us, so no tears. Okay?”
“Okay,” they both said at the same time.
All three followed a nurse to the intensive care ward. “Only two at a time,” she said.
“You girls go ahead. I’ll wait here,” Larry said.
After they put on a gown and mask, the nurse took them to her bed. “Just one minute,” she said, pulling the curtain around the bed.
“Grandmom?” Brenda whispered.
She was hooked up to all kinds of tubes and monitors. A wall of machines blinked and beeped on the other side of the bed. The air was a suffocating blanket of pine cleaner and ammonia.
Brenda reached through the wires and tubes to touch her face. “I love you, Grandmom.”
“Me too,” Angelique said, caressing the back of her hand. “We saw the snakes. We’re going to make a special gris-gris for you. To help you get better.”
Brenda looked at Angelique, then back at her grandmother. “We’ll make the best healing gris-gris ever when we get back to the house.”
Her eyelids fluttered, but her eyes didn’t open.
“Stay with us, Grandmom,” Brenda said.
The nurse pulled the curtain open. “We have to let her rest now, girls.”
Outside the room, Larry said, “Let’s get you two home.”
Once they were back at the house, Larry said, “Call me on my cell phone if you need anything. I’ll be back in a few hours. Will you be all right by yourself? I can have someone look in on you.”
“Daddy, we’ll be fine. Go ahead.” Brenda gave him a hug and kiss.
“We’ll take care of each other,” Angelique said, hugging him.
After he got in the car and drove away, the girls ran to their bedroom. Brenda emptied her box onto the bed.
“Do you think it’s Mrs. Johnston doing bad magic against Grandmom?” Angelique asked.
“Maybe, if somewhere in her crazy mind she decided Grandmom had done something against her. I can’t imagine anyone else wanting to hurt her,” Brenda spread out the ribbons, rocks and pieces of glass and metal from the box.
“This is all junk.” She took a handful and threw it onto her pillow. “Nothing good enough to help her.”
“Then we’ve got to find better things. Grandmom must have good stuff in her room, don’t you think?” Angelique asked.
“Yes, but–”
“We’re doing this for her.” Angelique grabbed Brenda’s arm. “Come on.”
They entered her bedroom. A sweet scent, like roses, filled the air. Brenda pulled the thick, white curtains closed and turned on the light. Angelique stood near the dark wood bed. There was a hot ripple in the air, like the wake of a boat in water. “Do you feel that?”
Brenda lifted her hand to the air. “Yes.” An edge of blue suede peeked out from under the bed. “What is this?” Brenda picked up the small bag. “Grandmom’s nation bag. She always carries it. Why would she leave it here?”
“I don’t know.” Angelique laid the bag on the middle of the bed. “But maybe we can use it.”
Angelique opened the closet and mix of earthy scents floated into the air. They found a wood cabinet in the closet with jars and boxes of herbs, roots, and powder.
“This is strong magic stuff,” Brenda said.
“Good. That’s what we need.”
“This is too much for us.” Brenda backed out of the closet.
Angelique grabbed Brenda’s arm. “We can’t have any doubt. You taught me that.” Angelique slowly moved her open hands over the containers, letting her light guide her. She kept the image of her grandmother healthy in her mind. When the center of her palm tingled intensely she picked up a jar. She handed three jars to Brenda.
One had the word ‘John root’ written on its label. The other two had designs drawn on their labels.
“We’ll do it here.” Angelique said.
“How do you know those are the right things?” Brenda said.
Angelique took her hand; they touched each item together. “You see. They feel right.”
Brenda nodded.
“We need to do a spell of protection, then make the gris-gris. I’ll be right back.” Brenda rushed out of the room.
Angelique waited in the middle of the room. There was a quick movement in the corner. When she turned her head, there was nothing there. Each time she blinked something fluttered in the air, just out of her vision. Her heart beat faster. It took all her strength not to run out of the room. She opened her mouth to call Brenda, but closed her eyes instead. Whatever it was, it couldn’t or wouldn’t touch her.
She stood still until Brenda returned with a paper bag. Brenda emptied the bag on the floor. There were five different color candles, matches, chalk, a pair of scissors and a can of beer. She pulled a piece of red flannel and ribbon from her pocket.
“For the spell of protection,” Brenda said. “Do you remember how it’s made?”
Angelique nodded, took a pillow off the bed, placed it on the floor and put her grandmother’s nation bag on the pillow. “This is Grandmom.”
They drew a chalk circle around the pillow and placed the candles on the edge of the circle. Angelique opened one of the jars with a pattern on it and sprinkled a few grains of the black powder in between the candles.
“To keep her safe,” Angelique said.
Brenda laid the six-inch square of red flannel on the floor. Angelique held a pen over the material without touching it, then after a few seconds drew a pattern on the material. Brenda wrote their grandmother’s name nine times on a piece of paper. Angelique laid a piece of John root in the paper, sprinkled the brown powder from the other jar on it and folded the paper up. They tied it close; each took turns tying a knot in the ribbon.
Brenda opened the beer. Angelique dipped her finger in the can and dripped beer on the gris-gris to feed it. They placed it on the pillow next to the nation bag. Brenda lit the candles while her cousin dribbled a little beer in her hands and threw it in each corner of the room. They sat on the floor, held hands and watched the candles burn. Shadows slid and jumped in the corners like trapped animals.
“Whatever you are, you have to leave this house,” Angelique said.
Shadows crawled up the walls. The candles’ flames jerked back and forth. A crunching sound, like mice chewing paper came from under the bed. Brenda peeked under the bed, but saw nothing.
“It’s time to go away and leave our Grandmother alone.” Brenda pushed light from deep inside. Warm yellow light, like melted butter, dripped from her hands and feet.
Angelique saw Brenda’s light and gathered stillness inside and pushed out. Gold light from her hands and feet mixed with Brenda’s light and pooled on the floor around them. They stared at the candles.
Their light streamed to the dark corners. Obscure shapes twisted up the wall, away from the girls’ light.
A giggle snapped in the air above them. They looked up for one second, into each other’s eyes. In a blink, they were sitting in a field of daisies. A warm summer breeze bounced over the flowers and caressed their faces. The setting sun filled the sky with streaks of blue, purple and white.
They were two other girls, holding one flower. They took turns pulling a petal off.
“He loves me,” one girl sang.
“He loves me,” the other girl
chanted back.
When the last petal was pulled the girls fell into each other’s arms laughing.
Angelique and Brenda plummeted through a dark tunnel and were back in their Grandmother’s bedroom.
“What — what was that?” Angelique asked, gulping for air.
“I think that was Grandmom and — “ Brenda shuddered. “ — and Mrs. Johnston.”
“How could that be?” Angelique asked.
“I don’t know. Grandmom never said anything about them knowing each other when they were younger. Maybe it’s a trick.”
Angelique shook her head. “That felt true. Something happened between them, something that made her hate Grandmom.”
“I don’t care what happened. I won’t lose Grandmom,” Brenda said. “Look–they’re coming back. This was just something to stop us.”
The shadow things had leaked back down the walls as the girls’ light dissipated.
“No more tricks, true or not.” Brenda concentrated on the candles again. She took deep, slow breaths to calm down.
Angelique held Brenda’s hands and did the same. The light flowed again from them, at first in a steady stream and then a rushing torrent as they kept one purpose in mind: to rescue their grandmother. Sounds echoed above them: giggles, singing, small feet jumping up and down. No matter what they heard they kept their eyes on the dancing flames. Gold light filled the floor and lapped up the walls. They didn’t even look up when the crying started, a little girl wailing deeply.
The shadows on the ceiling curled in on themselves, wept down the walls to the floor and faded away. The girls watched the candles burn until they were so tired they couldn’t keep their eyes open. The shadows and sounds didn’t return.
“It’s gone.” Angelique put out the candles. “We’ll take the gris-gris and nation bag to her tomorrow.”
Calm quiet surrounded them. Brenda nodded.
They put the pillow back, picked up the candles, swept the powder and chalk into the paper bag, and went back to their room. Too tired to eat, they fell asleep and didn’t hear Larry come in.
He woke them in the morning to take them to the hospital.
Once there, the doctor told them that she was out of intensive care but still being watched. She hadn’t regained consciousness, but her vital signs were stable. The girls looked at each other, smiling.
The nurse took the girls to her room while Larry talked to the doctor.
She wasn’t hooked up to as many machines as the day before. Brenda kissed her hand.
“We made a gris-gris for you, Grandmom. Angelique and I did it together.”
Angelique took the charm out of her pocket, placed it in her grandmother’s left hand, and held it.
“And we found your nation bag.” Brenda placed the bag in her grandmother’s right hand. “We did the biggest magic we knew, Grandmom.”
“We did it because we love you and want you back,” Angelique said.
Brenda jumped. “She squeezed my hand.”
Their grandmother’s eyes opened and she smiled.
Brenda leaned forward to hug her, but stopped as another face floated over their grandmother’s face.
“You my girls, my shiny light,” a familiar voice said.
The face smiled with broken teeth.
“Get out!” Brenda said, trying to pull away from her tight grip.
Mrs. Johnston laughed. “Why should I? You play, let me in. I’m staying now. You mine.”
“Oh no.” Angelique said. She finally saw how this happened. The magic they practiced in the house must have made an opening in Grandmom’s protection. “It was us. We let her in.”
Horror flashed on Brenda’s face.
“No!” Brenda said. Light shot out of her free hand and poured over Grandmom.
“That’s right, give me your light, my shiny key.”
Angelique pushed light out of her hands but none came out.
“Not yet, my sweet. Later, there’ll be time for you and me later,” the face over Grandmom’s said.
Angelique’s light and voice was locked inside. She could do nothing except watch Mrs. Johnston absorb Brenda’s light. The old woman’s body laid over their grandmother’s like a gelatinous blanket, getting thicker each second.
“Grandmom, help me,” Brenda whispered, stumbling against the bed.
“She can’t help you now. I got her nice and tight. Soon she be gone, then we have a good time,” Mrs. Johnston said, her body filling out, the spectral skin stretching.
Angelique prayed inside, wanting to close her eyes, but could not.
Brenda’s lips moved, but no sounds came out, tears streamed down her face.
“Mommy,” Brenda blurted out. The gold light traveling from her to Mrs. Johnston turned lighter in color; green light streaked its edges. Brenda suddenly remembered a picture of her mother in a silk gown that same color green. It was her mother’s favorite color.
“Help me, Mommy.”
“Stop that.” Mrs. Johnston twisted back and forth as the green light increased, pulling from Brenda’s arms and chest. “Stop, stop, stop…” Her body inflated larger like a balloon.
Angelique snapped loose from her control, and staggered away from the bed. When she took a step towards Brenda, a soft voice whispered in her ear, ‘wait’. Angelique took one step towards Brenda. The voice pleaded gently, ‘stay here, it will be alright’. The voice was like her mother’s but softer. In her heart she could feel it wasn’t Mrs. Johnston. Brenda stood taller, her eyes closed, her mouth moving silently as if she was calmly talking to someone.
The outline of Mrs. Johnston’s body thinned as the green light filled her form and spiked out in fine lines to the walls. She changed into a two-headed dog, but still the light stabbed through her, the dog’s mouth open in an unuttered howl. A huge snake coiled over their grandmother’s body, the light slicing through it in rings. The snake shape changed into a gigantic bird, snapping at the lines of light penetrating its body. No matter what she became the green light continued eating holes in her form. Mrs. Johnston returned to a human shape, slowly deflating.
“You shoulda been mine,” she said in a tiny voice, before the aspect of her body slid to the floor and disappeared.
Angelique ran to Brenda, catching her as she wobbled against the bed. A sheen of sweat covered Brenda’s face. “Mommy?” she asked.
“You did it, Brenda, you made her go away,” Angelique said.
“It wasn’t me.”
A moan from the bed made them turn towards their grandmother.
Her eyes flickered open. “Brenda, honey,” she said slowly.
“Grandmom,” they both said, hugging her.
“How?” she asked.
“I’ve been studying online,” Brenda said. “I taught Angelique what I know. And she taught me some things I didn’t know last night.”
“I should have guessed there was too much Power between the two of you to ignore,” Grandmom said.
“It was Mrs. Johnston, she used us to get to you,” Brenda said. “But Mommy helped us push her away.”
“Oh, my babies. You didn’t know what you were doing.” She shook her head. “They found Shelia’s body in her house, two weeks ago. She’d been dead a long time. I didn’t want upset you.”
“Shelia is Mrs. Johnston? You knew each other when you were young?” Brenda asked.
Their grandmother closed her eyes for a moment. She squeezed their hands and looked at them. “Yes. We were like sisters once, but a man drove us apart.” She shook her head. “Love can be a tricky thing. Or lust.” She held their hands over her heart. “Don’t let that happen to you.”
“No, Grandmom, never,” Angelique said, taking Brenda’s other hand.
“No one will come between us,” Brenda said.
The doctor and Larry walked into the room. Larry ran to the bed and hugged her and the girls. “I knew you were too strong to let anything keep you down,” he said.
“The hugs can continue in a few
minutes, but I need to check my patient,” the doctor said. “Could you wait outside?”
“Make it fast, because I’ve got a lot of work to do at home,” Grandmom said. She slipped the nation bag back to Brenda and the gris-gris to Angelique.
The doctor and Larry walked through the green and gold light that splashed and shimmered in the room without seeing it. Brenda and Angelique waved to their Grandmother from the doorway, knowing she was safe now, surrounded by the power.
Forever Dead
I was happy before I became a zombie
stumbling through Central Park at night
sleeping in a tumble of fallen trees all day.
Memories of my past life jumble together
best forgotten when I lie
face down in ripe yielding earth.
I was happy before I lost my soul
to the will of a Voodoo Goddess
binding me to the light in her eyes.
Dreams do not come but if they could
they would be of dying once
falling forever into pure stillness.
369 Gates of Hell
The Gate of Impending Irrevocability:
Redi Thomas had spent Friday afternoon alone in the reception area of the office building. She’d been bodyguard to Ana Sanchez, an accountant to some of the richest musicians in the business, for two months. There wasn’t much to look at between the wood paneling and plush black leather furniture, besides a huge bowl of dried flowers on the silver center table, and the ghosts.
Two men and a woman. The female ghost kept her back to Redi, exposing her open skull. Her curly brown hair framed the ragged hole. The two males’ heads flopped back every now and then to expose their cut throats. Blood flowed endlessly from the neck wounds, cascading around them to soak into the white carpet. Redi remembered killing them.
“Useless haunting, guys,” she whispered. “I can’t hear you and I’ve seen this before.” She leaned over the silver table and used the reflection to pat her short afro into shape and put lip gloss on. Carrying a mirror to freshen up wasn’t her style but her client always looked good so Redi tried to be as presentable as possible. Dressed as usual in black, Redi’s turtle neck covered the old scars; the jacket covered her gun and holster. No one would mistake her for pretty, but her high cheek bones and naturally plump lips had attracted more than one man or woman.
How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend (Necon Modern Horror Book 9) Page 3
