Echoes in the Bayou

by Dukes, Ursula

  "Are you kidding? Things are just getting good Ava come on, don’t be afraid. Besides it's Will, he won't hurt you."

  "Kelly look." Ava drew her friend's attention back to the spirit board and the two sat in awe as they watched the planchette move more violently across the board. "A," they repeated each letter that the planchette was pointing to. By the end of the sentence, the planchette had spelled out the words, Ava needs to die.

  Before Ava could react, a stifling, and foul odor filled the room and with it came the unearthly spirit of Amelia Montieu.

  Ava wanted to scream out to Kelly but found that she had been robbed of her own voice. Kelly sat petrified and in fear as she watched the foul soul enter Ava's body. Her chest rose with a sudden and sharp jerk and in an instant had relaxed itself back to normal. She could see everything that was going on around her and she watched helplessly as the tears began to stream down Kelly's face as she screamed for her to come back before fainting. Ava was trapped, Amelia Montieu had taken possession of her. She knew that it was only a matter of time before Amelia would find a way to kill her.

  Each scream weakened her and she soon found herself shut out and left alone in the darkest corner of her mind. One final, ear splitting scream escaped her mouth before the darkness overtook her. Five minutes later, Kelly awoke to the sound of Ava's voice. "Wake up sugar', time to wake up." She was gently tugging on her and brushing the hair away from her face. When Kelly looked at her, it finally registered what had happened only moments before and she listened as Ava spoke.

  "You know what we are Kelly? I'll tell you," she said using a southern accent. "We are a couple of stupid, foolish girls, playing around with a spirit board as if this were some type of game. Now I think it's best that we don’t tell our men that we've been messing around with this, wouldn’t you agree?"

  Kelly could only nod her head in agreement. "Ava, are you alright?"

  "Why yes Kelly, I'm fine why do you ask?"

  "Because you're talking with an accent and I know that you don’t have an accent." Kelly leaned in closer. "Amelia?"

  Ava leaned her head back and let out a boisterous laugh. "Kelly it's me Ava, I was just playing a trick on you; of course it's me silly." The southern accent was now gone.

  Kelly released a nervous laugh. "Thank god, I thought that woman's ugly soul got into."

  Ava reached over and patted her friend's hand. "No worries there, but we better clean up. I don’t want Magnus finding out what we've done," she said.

  "I'd say that séance was a bust," Ava looked at her.

  "Yeah, but it was weird just the same Ava. Hey, do you get the feeling that you've missed something? Like missing time, minutes? I feel like that, I feel drained too, do you feel it?"

  "Me? No I feel fine. You just need some sleep, come on let's just leave this for the night, tomorrow we'll get up fresh and take care of it." She let herself be led to her room by Ava and once she was alone, she collapsed on the bed where she fell into a deep sleep.

  "I didn’t think I'd ever get rid of that annoying girl." Amelia said as she made her way into Magnus's room. Although the room took on a different appearance she knew that it was once her's. "Going to have to make some changes in here in deed," she said. She was staring at the mirror that hung above one of his dressers. "Too bad I can't change a thing about you, you nigga whore, but there's no need to give myself away. It is nice to be in a young body though and boy have I got a surprise for you."

  Ava was looking at herself in the mirror too, only she knew that she was still trapped and she began to scream and yell even louder when she saw what Amelia was getting ready to do. Amelia continued to gaze at herself in the mirror, and she was slowly removing her clothes when she caught glimpse of John DuPonte. He was standing in a dark corner of the room.

  "Well what are you waiting for sugar? Come and get it," she said and laid upon the bed. John DuPonte said nothing; he simply got in between her open legs and had his way with her. Ava was glad that she couldn’t feel what was happening to her, but she could hear it, she covered her ears and tried to drown out the sound of them having sex by screaming. She screamed until her voice went hoarse and when it was over she cried herself to unconsciousness.

  The day after the séance, sleep held the two women for most of the day and it wasn’t until late afternoon that they awoke. Kelly was standing at the foot of Ava's bed when she awoke. "I think Magnus and Steve are back." She was panicking now and the two raced down the stairs and into the sitting room. Magnus was sitting on the sofa staring at the table full of candles, and in the middle of it sat the Ouija board.

  "Hi honey, we weren’t expecting you so soon."

  "Well that's obvious, Ava can I speak to you alone for a minute?" He asked. She could see the anger in his eyes and the hurt. "Magnus, help me!" She screamed out, but her screams were like a boomerang, they flew around, made a circle and came right back to her. He looked at her in such a way that she thought he heard her. Maybe I got through, she told herself. "Magnus!" She howled his name repeatedly until a shield of fog clouded her vision. Amelia is passing out, which means that I am too. She tried to stay awake long enough to surpass Amelia's fainting but it was useless, she watched as Magnus caught her in his arms.

  "Magnus, there's something I have to tell you." Kelly stood helpless as she watched her friend pass out. When he caught her, Magnus could feel her skin and it was on fire. "What the hell happened?" Steve looked curiously at his wife. And when she told them about the Ouija board and seeing the soul of Amelia Montieu getting too close to Ava, both men looked at her in astonishment.

  "Kelly, how could you do that?" Her husband asked her and took a threatening step towards her. "I thought it would be fun and so did Ava," she recoiled and responded back.

  "Yeah, does this look like she's having fun?" Magnus shouted at her.

  "Hey take it easy Magnus, she's my wife and I'll deal with her. I'm sure she meant no harm."

  "I know that Steve, but harm has come and I got news for you buddy, I don't know how to fix this."

  "She's coming to," Kelly interrupted. Ava could see them all standing around her, staring at her. Did they know? Did Kelly tell them? When was Amelia going to speak? Things were a lot clearer now and she almost felt like she was back and that Amelia was gone but it had been the fever, the sudden onset of sickness had only weakened Amelia, Ava could feel her still festering inside of her. Amelia stared blankly at him, but the fever was making her weak, neither she nor Ava was able to communicate.

  "Ava if you can hear me, I'm taking you upstairs. Kelly, Steve can one of you go and make a pot of tea? I need to get her fever down, can you manage that?" They could hear the mockery in his voice but understood where he was coming from.

  "Magnus, I'm so sorry." Kelly put her hand on his shoulder before following her husband into the kitchen. Once upstairs Magnus gave her some aspirin and wiped her brow with a cold cloth. Within minutes she'd fallen asleep.

  Magnus headed down the hallway to the front door, he needed to find Sinta; she was the only one who would be able to help Ava now. When he stepped outside he couldn’t help but notice that there was no wind, no breeze, and the bayou lie still. It was as if time itself had stopped and he wondered if it had become that way because Ava was trapped. She had been such an intricate part of the bayou, Sinta had told them. He remembered how the house, and everything around it had come alive when Ava arrived and now it looked as if the house and land were holding its breath, refusing once again to grow.

  "Miss Ava in dat dark place ain't she Mister Magnus?" Sinta had appeared and Magnus thought nothing of it, he had something more important to think about and that was Ava.

  "Yes Sinta and you've got to help her, please tell me that you know how to help her," he put his hands on her shoulders and pleaded with her.

  "I's done summoned sum help Mister Magnus but help arrive when she good and ready and not a moment too soon so we's got to be patient Mister Magnus. Ava done fallin ill because
I done preform a ritual to makes her dat way.

  Sinta could tell by the way that he looked at her that he misunderstood her intentions.

  "Mister Magnus, I knew that Miss Ava was goin to try and contact Will Jr. again, so whilst I summon up help, I ask the loa to put da illness on both Miss Ava and Miss Amelia, you sees dat way, neither one can hurt da other cuz if Miss Ava fight Miss Amelia, then a piece of Miss Amelia will stay inside Miss Ava forever and we don’t want dat do we Mister Magnus? So you do me favor and trust an old woman, I's knows what I's doin."

  At the moment he had no reason not to trust her, she had gotten them this far and had not let them down.

  "Okay Sinta, I trust you."

  When the two headed back inside the house, Steve and Kelly had already gone upstairs to check on Ava. She'd woken up but the fever had not broken. Nothing but moans escaped her mouth as Kelly held the mug of tea near her trembling lips. They slipped into the room and made sure that she was resting comfortably.

  "Maybe we should get her to the hospital," Kelly said.

  "No!" Sinta shouted. She told them that if they were to take Ava to a hospital, the doctors there would surely keep her overnight if not longer and that once they examined her would find that there was nothing wrong physically but she might be evaluated mentally and that wouldn’t be good given the circumstances. "We's don’t want to sees Miss Ava locked up in sum crazy place," she told the group. And she was right; at least that's what Magnus told them. For the time being he said, Ava wasn’t going anywhere.

  They hadn’t noticed that Ava had been shaking her head so violently that a pillow had fallen onto the floor. Magnus replaced the pillow and while he was close to her he straightened the comforter and smoothed the handmade quilt that Ava had bought, over the end of the bed.

  "Thank you." It was the first words that had come out of her mouth since she fainted and they were music to everyone's ears.

  "Ava? Can you hear me?" The words were short lived, he watched as her eyelids fluttered and then closed, she had once again fallen asleep. Magnus stood near the foot of the bed. "Kelly and I were talking and well, if it's alright with you Magnus we'd like to stay until she's better," Steve said, his head turning towards the bed.

  "That will be fine," Magnus replied. "And Kelly? I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier, I was upset."

  "I know you were Magnus, no need to apologize. I shouldn’t have forced her."

  Magnus chuckled lightly. "No one and nothing can force Ava Montgomery to do anything she doesn't want to do, isn’t that right?" he leaned down and kissed her.

  Kelly pressed a comforting hand on his arm before leaving him alone with Ava.

  That night Magnus dreamed of Ava, he dreamt about how good it felt to have her in his arms. He rested his head on her shoulder while he drifted off to sleep again. "We'll find joy again Magnus, when help arrives we'll be together again. You and I will live a long and happy life." He woke up with a frown, he knew that he had been dreaming, but the dream was so vivid that he wanted to believe that it was real, that Ava had found a way to communicate with him.

  He watched her as she slept; when he kissed her forehead he breathed a sigh of relief. The fever had gone down some and he hoped that when she awoke, she would be able to talk to him; he missed her and her touch. "Ava," he quietly called out. "Come back to me."

  A low moan escaped her lips but that was it, he knew that she was fighting to keep from losing herself to Amelia.

  For a long time after he'd woken up, he sat in the dark wanting to hold on to the feeling of her presence. Eventually it faded and he fell back asleep. The next morning he climbed out of bed, but not before checking on Ava. She was lying next to him and she was still asleep. Sinta had told him that sleep was good for her because the time was coming that she would need her strength. He traipsed barefoot across the hardwood floor of the room and looked out the window.

  He could see Sinta heading towards the shanty in the bayou and wondered if she was going there to summon more help, he hoped so. He could see, even from the window that the bayou too was waiting for help to arrive. The wild flowers were drooping and the sounds of all the creatures of the bayou had ceased. The plantation and the area around it had stopped living and breathing the same day that Ava had become possessed.

  Tears flowed down Sinta's face as she made her way to the bayou, she wanted nothing more than to free Ava and Celeste but she needed Sophie to come and help. "Chère, when are you coming?" she spoke to the air and it seemed to ferment around her. She wanted nothing more than to get rid of Amelia and John. The two spirits had managed to interfere in both Ava and Magnus's life and it was becoming more and more serious as the days passed by. If she wasn’t able to rid the house of the evilness and free Celeste by summer's end, she knew that Magnus and Ava would forever be held captive by the curse.

  It occurred to her then that neither Ava nor Kelly while preforming the séance and using the spirit board had closed it. It was very important to close the ceremony and say goodbye when finished asking questions. Sinta had always been opposed to using a spirit board. She remembered Sophie telling her that they opened portals to worlds that shouldn’t be opened and for that reason alone she was cautioned never to use one. Ava and Kelly thinking that they were doing good, had more than likely opened a portal, letting Amelia in and if they didn’t close it, Amelia might be able to bring other malevolent forces through. Thank god they both ill, I've gots to close dat portal, Sinta thought to herself and made haste back towards the house.

  Just as Magnus was heading down the stairs, Sinta burst into the house. "What is it?" He asked. "Has help arrived?" Steve and Kelly emerged from the kitchen, Kelly was holding a breakfast tray; she was on her way to see Ava.

  "No Mister Magnus, not yet. I come back cuz we's got to close dat spirit board. We's got to do it now Mister Magnus. Gots to close it so no more bad spirits come out da portal. You's leave it open Miss Kelly didn’t you?" Magnus and Steve looked at Kelly, she shamefully nodded her head while looking down at the floor. "Yes, we did. After what happened, I was so drained that Amelia… Ava suggested that we leave it until after we've had our rest and well, I was so tired…" She began to cry. "This is all my fault," she whimpered.

  Steve wrapped his arms around his wife. "Kel, no one is saying that it's your fault. Look, should you and Ava have been messing around with the thing? No, but was it intentional what happened? No, of course it wasn’t so stop blaming yourself," he consoled his wife.

  "He's right," Magnus said. "Blaming yourself is not going to help Ava, so let's help Sinta close this board and then we can take the next step whatever that may be," he said with worry in his voice. "Ava needs us all to be strong for her."

  Ava wasn’t ready to meet her maker, the sole reason she went to the plantation was to start a new life and meeting and falling for Magnus had been an extra plus. Is this how it all ends? She asked herself. She was lying in bed alone, she could see the sky outside and it was gray. Looks like another storm is coming, she told herself. Wait, am I alright? Is it me? Has Amelia left? It all seemed surreal for a moment until she attempted to move and speak. No solid words came out of her mouth only garbled whispers, her arms and legs felt like stones and she was unable to sit up. "You'll speak when I want you to speak," Amelia's voice echoed.

  Ava shut her eyes tight and let the tears escape her closed eyelids.

  "What's happening?" Amelia's voice shouted and jarred her awake. "Who is doing this to me?" Amelia felt herself go weak before passing out. But this time, she was too weak to take Ava with her. "Magnus?" Ava thought she'd imagined speaking his name, until she felt the vibration of sound in her voice and when she said it again, she heard it loud and clear. "Magnus," she shouted it this time and within seconds he was by her side.

  She threw her arms around him and held him tight, Magnus returned her affection with an overabundance of kisses all over her face. "You came back to me," he said and wiped a tear from his eye.

  "Si
nta closing the board worked, she's going to be alright," he beamed to the others who had rushed into the room.

  Sinta frowned as she explained to him that although they had managed to close the portal, it had only weakened Amelia for a short while . She told him that Amelia would be returning and when she did, she would take possession of Ava once again. "Mister Magnus, you get Miss Ava feed and keep her strong, dat da only way she gon be able to survive dis,"

  Sinta told him.

  "Magnus I should have listened to you, I'm so sorry," she said and wrapped her arms around him once more. She smiled at Kelly and Steve and thanked them for sticking around. Kelly hugged and kissed her. "Are you kidding? There was no way I was going to leave you my friend, and after what we've experienced we're like soul mates," she winked.

  "Ava, you've got to eat something, I feel as if I don’t know how much time I have left with you. Sinta says that Amelia's leave is only temporary," he sighed. "I don’t know what to do Ava." She could see the corners of his eyes become wet with tears.

  "There is nothing we can do except let this whole thing play out. We opened the portal and let her get inside me, but as long as I am strong enough I know that I can fight her Magnus, I know I can. Just promise me that you'll be here when all is said and done."

  "Of course I'll be here, I 'm not going anywhere."

  She smiled at him and took a bite of the sandwich that Kelly had made for her. " Mmm, That's good," she said to her friend. "Here Miss Ava, you drink dis." Sinta pulled out a small vial full of liquid, Ava didn’t ask any questions as to what it was, she downed the contents in one gulp.

  After the others had left the room, Ava needed Magnus to help her get into the shower. She also wanted to tell him that even though it was an illusion, Amelia had allowed John DuPonte to take advantage of her.

  "Ava, as horrible as it must have been it was just trickery, she was playing with your mind. They are dead Ava, and nothing is going to change that no matter how much they might want it to."