by Safa Shaqsy
Definitely standing out in appearance, in difference to the rest, Daren galloped towards Lama on his hands and legs, before momentarily looking in Naomi’s way.
“That’s Daren!” she cried, lunging forward and caring less for what could become of her.
Muzin reached to hold her back but found himself to be too late as she raced faster than he anticipated. The Onamegas suddenly stopped tearing Lama to shreds as Daren neared, slowly paving way for him to come through as he settled himself nicely before the barely breathing corpse.
“This is interesting”, Laura purred, before catching Muzin’s blood red eyes and frown.
Naomi stopped dead in her tracks, some feet away from the area crowded by the creatures, as Daren jammed his hand into Lama’s chest and yanked out her heart. With Lama dead, they scattered off into the distance and out of sight again, with some hurrying past Naomi as if they could not see her and as though her presence meant nothing to them.
“Why aren’t they attacking her?” Muzin asked.
Laura remained silent, carefully watching the incident before them continue to unfold.
“Why aren’t they attacking her!?” Muzin turned around, stood before Laura and yelled.
Laura ground her teeth and replied, “They have no reason to harm her because her cards and fate have not been read yet”.
Muzin gasped and turned back around. He realized he could have tried to save his wife without having to cower like a coward in the manner he had done.
“What have I done?’ he asked himself in serious guilt.
Daren turned around with blackened eyes and his face absolutely pale as he stared right back at Naomi. Naomi wondered if anything about the boy she loved and admired remained in the frame staring back at her. She wondered if his soul still existed and if the memories they shared together remained in him, even if it would be in the slightest.
“Daren”, she called out with an outstretched hand.
Daren slowly approached, but stopped within three feet from her as he slowly rose to his feet. He gawked hard and long at her hand and leaned closer to sniff at it, before turning around and hurrying away.
“Daren!” she yelled after him but he was too fast and unwilling to listen to her call.
She lowered her head in pain and began to cry as a gentle hand came to rest on her shoulder. “We need to go back in and not further tempt the nature of the chaos already around us”.
Naomi nudged his hand off and began to sprint south of where they stood, which connected to the main road. Loud growls emanated from corners around her as the creatures seemed to be getting edgy.
“They will not let you leave!” Laura cried atop her voice. “Don’t be stupid to let them decide your fate before the cards even do so!”
Naomi didn’t care, and she would take any chance she has to escape the hellhole they have gotten themselves into. She lessened her pace while the creatures gnarled and growled from within the shadows, just as the clouds cleared and the rain ceased immediately.
“The sun is up and they cannot come out!” Naomi thought to herself, gladly.
She raced ahead and hurriedly came to a halt as the familiar sight of one of the beasts stood right there, under the sun and in the middle of the road before her. Daren gnarled and growled aloud, intending to scare Naomi back but she continued to walk towards him.
“If there is a part of you still in there, please, listen to me”, she begged, reaching out her right hand towards Daren.
Daren gnarled at her again and lunged at her hand with his, managing to scratch her wildly as Naomi cried in pain and hurried back. He stepped closer, driving her to move backwards while he gnarled some more.
“They will not let you leave… nobody can leave until everything is done”, Laura sighed from behind Muzin.
Muzin lowered his head as Naomi returned with her hand bleeding and her face wearing the look of a person absolutely drowning in disbelief by what was happening to her.
“I want my daughter back, Laura”, he muttered. ‘I have lost too much and I will be damned to lose anything else!”
Naomi returned and hurried through the door, while Muzin did the same, leaving Laura alone to continue to gawk at Daren who scampered off into the woods again. Her face lit with a rather worrying smile as she closed the door behind her and returned into Muzin’s house.
“He wounded me”, Naomi sounded in shock and disbelief. “He looked right at me and didn’t seem like he ever knew me”.
Muzin remained silent as he walked to the fridge to take out a bottle of wine. He poured himself some and did the same for Naomi, before settling into his favorite chair to drink his sorrows away.
“Isn’t that alcoholic?” Naomi asked whilst she tried to stop the bleeding on her hand.
Muzin looked up at the girl and then down at the alcoholic wine in his hand before replying. “All my life, I have done things rightly, denounced magic or anything occult but here I am, about to do anything needed to bring my daughter home… so, I need every ounce of courage I need”.
Laura went ahead and poured herself some as she too settled into a seat. Naomi wrapped a piece of clothing around the scratch to stop the bleeding, before downing her glass of wine in one straight gulp.
“We have to bring Nora back”, Muzin muttered while he rocked himself in his chair. ‘We have to bring my baby back”.
***
The darkness around suddenly began to clear into lightening just ahead, as Nora watched the blinding light threaten to damage her eyes. She gasped aloud and awakened to the sight of a face she knew was dead for years now, but which was now smiling down at her.
“Mother?” Nora called out in shock.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The world around felt different, from the color the room was painted in, to the familiar looking frame hunched over her with the brightest smile she had never thought she would come across ever again. Nora struggled to sit up, but her mother calmly refrained her from doing so.
“You shouldn’t be here, child”, she muttered, slowly retreating and walking towards the window.
Nora slowly dragged herself to an upright position and took a good look at her surroundings. It was her mother’s room, the way it used to be without doubt, before Lama came in with her changes, all in bid to eradicate the woman’s hold on Muzin. The pleasing sight warmed Nora’s heart, and the soothing air crashing against the house from every corner made her sigh in relief.
“You being here can only mean one thing”, Nora heard her mother mutter.
Nora nodded her head and settled her back against the bed frame. “I found the tarot cards… they found me to be precise”.
Her mother spurned around immediately, looking terrified to her core and unsure of what to say. She paced around some bit and seemed to stop to gather her innate thoughts, but nothing came to the surface for her to air in words.
“I read my own cards and it… “, Nora tried explaining but her mother lifted her hand up to halt the words.
“It brought you right here and in more danger than you could have ever imagined”, the woman said in paranoia. “You need to go back… you need to get back now!”
Nora upped herself from the bed, but felt her nerves strain with pain in the process. She walked over to the window and took a spot by her frightened looking mother.
“I know you want answers dear, but I can give you none, for I am trapped in my own hell”, her mother sighed.
Nora felt somewhat let down; she had hoped for some juicy information to help her get on with her activities on the other side.
“Am I dead?’ Nora asked the most important one she could think of.
Her mother shook her head and whispered, “No”.
Nora sighed in relief, but too soon.
“Not yet at least… but once he knows you’ve come for answers, it will be coming for you”, her mother added, sending chills down the girl’s spine.
“One who knows?” Nora inquired.
Her
mother turned around and began hurrying out of the room and towards the living room. She hurried to the door and slammed it shut, before placing a shunt behind it to keep it firm and locked.
“We need to get you back and we need to get it done now!” the woman sounded in absolute paranoia.
Nora paused, seemingly unsure of what was getting into her mother. It wasn’t as she had expected things to be; the thought of seeing her mother for the first time in years was one she assumed would come with hugs and kisses and possibly some tears, but the woman before her seemed absolutely uninterested in anything of such.
“Is that all?” Nora asked. “Is that all a daughter gests from her mother after they manage to reunite after a horrible ordeal?”
Her mother ignored her and began placing what appeared to be cards on the table. Nora recognized them immediately to be the same one she had on the other side and it left her stomach churning with discomfort.
“I made a choice”, her mother muttered angrily. ‘I made a choice for you, for your father and for everyone, even if it meant I would be taken!”
Nora stepped closer but not close enough for her mother’s reach. “Choice? You made a choice?”
The woman ignored the prattling girl and continued to set the tone around the room for whatever it was that she intended to do.
“Your choice almost drove father crazy and then it made my life a living hell ever since that day!” Nora yelled. “Whatever choice you made is one shitty one if I must be sincere with you!”
Swinging fast and hard, but without Nora ever expecting it, her mother turned around and smacked her right in the face. It left them gasping at the occurrence. Nora took some steps backwards as she tried to reconcile the fact that her mother had just struck her instead of hugging her after they had not seen for years.
“Nora!” she called out to her daughter. “I am sorry! I am truly sorry!”
Nora spun around, headed for the door and yanked off the shunt to gain exit from the house. She hurried out the porch, which was in similitude to the one she had at home, but stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the Onamegas in full swarm around the house and under the sun like it had no effects on them.
“This is impossible”, Nora said to herself.
Her mother walked over to the porch, yanked at Nora’s arm and brought her back inside immediately. She slammed the door shut and heaved a loud breath of relief while they began to stare at each other.
“They are here too… it is how I knew you had found the card and begun to use it”, her mother stormed off and then stopped by the table. “I made a choice to live and curse my entire generation and even you, or get sucked into this world and try and sustain the balance so you can have a better life or at least a chance to a normal life out there”.
Nora noted the shaky tone with which the woman speak, as well as the abnormally lengthy grey hair on her head.
“Your hair”, Nora pointed out.
She watched her mother hold unto the strand and sigh. “This place takes its toll on me and keeping him trapped and unable to manifest his true form is even harder than I imagined”.
Nora’s interest got piqued again.
“Who is he?” she asked. “You’ve mentioned that twice already”.
“He doesn’t have a true face and he can be anyone, which is why I need you to go back and allow me to continue to hold him back so nobody gets hurt over at your end”, her mother explained.
It sounded too late and Nora could tell the woman had no idea about just how much chaos ensued in the real world. Her face bore distraught and told enough to the ignorant woman who gasped, placed her hands over her mouth and slowly began to draw close to her daughter.
“What are you not telling me?” she asked. “What is happening over there?”
Nora cringed at the thought and recollection of everything. She helped herself to a seat and lowered her head in pain, before slowly looking back up at her mother.
“I wish I can say whatever you’re doing here is working, but I cannot”, she replied. “I drew the Grimm Reaper on my first reading, and the second dint fare any better because my friend is now one of those things”.
Her mother’s eyes widened, and the woman gulped down in difficulty.
“It has taken lives”, she muttered. “If it has taken a life, then he is strong enough to be back”.
“Or maybe he is back”, Nora noted.
The fear emanating from the woman’s eyes was enough to tell Nora about how dangerous whoever she was referring to was. Her mother was terrified no doubt, and by the looks of the markings on the walls which looked like warding spells, she could guess she was frantically trying to keep something out.
“Who is he?” Nora asked again. “What does he want?”
Her mother got up and began pacing around the room frantically. She bit her nails and shot Nora odd glances before continuing on her path once again.
“Firstly, I find out dad has been hiding secrets from me and now you’re doing the same too’, Nora sounded disappointedly. “I wonder if I ever really meant anything to the both of you”.
She got up and motioned to leave, but her mother followed her hurriedly and stopped.
“You wouldn’t understand! We are trying to protect you!’ the woman sounded close to tears.
Nora scoffed, turned around with reddened eyes and shot back at her mother. “What are you protecting me from? Is it the truth that I had a brother, or the fact our bloodline is cursed?”
Her mother turned pale immediately. “How did you know of him? Who told you about him?”
“Aunt Laura and Father might have slipped and hinted at it”, Nora replied with a grin intended to get at her mother.
The act was working, and it caused the woman to grow a look of despair on her face. Her breath heightened and her hands began to tremble as she struggled to keep herself on her feet. She turned around, looked for somewhere she could lean against, and found herself a spot by the window.
“What is it?” Nora asked. “You look terrified”.
Her mother bobbed her head and swallowed hard. “Laura is dead, or at least, has been for a while now, and your brother is the devil running this entire ordeal”.
Nora felt her lungs collapse as wind hurried out of it. She staggered backwards and tried hard not to believe anything her mother had just said. She had seen her Aunt Laura in the flesh and the woman looked perfect and undead. She had spent the past few hours in the house with her, just as the others had and nothing stood out asides her intricate knowledge of the tarot cards.
“That’s impossible”, Nora replied. “I saw her… we were together and she has taught me quite some bit about the tarot card so far”.
Her mother waved her hands and shook her head. “Laura is dead and whoever you saw or whoever showed up at your door cannot be my sister because only one in every generation is allowed the gift to read cards”.
Nora’s heart sunk and her insides felt hot with worry.
“It is time you got to know the truth about your brother and our history as a whole”, her mother sighed, clapped her hands and suddenly caused the room to fall into darkness.
Nora felt scared but some relief came with the fact that her mother was standing right there before her. She watched the candles around the living room table light up immediately, prompting the duo to head in the direction. Her mother settled into a seat opposite that of Nora’s and held out the tarot cards towards her daughter.
“You can only see everything if you decide to read it yourself”, she whispered.
Worried sick and frightened beyond her depths, Nora retrieved the cards from her mother as she made a rather bothersome discovery.
“No blood”, Nora whispered.
Her mother nodded her head. “Go ahead and take a reading darling and you’d see how it all came to be”.
Nora nodded her head, readied herself to begin shuffling the cards, while her mother smiled and held her hands out over the flames.
> “You can do it darling… I can see the power in you burning brighter than any of us ever could have had”, she spurred on the girl.
Closing her eyes while shuffling the cards in the deck, Nora stopped, and slowly began to lay the cards one at a time on the table. The air stood still momentarily, and the earth underneath the table began to shudder mildly, before more aggressive shuddering took over. Nora remained unperturbed, as her mother barely flinched, as the fire lit around the table burst into wilder glow, and the darkness around slowly began to dissipate.
“It has begun”, her mother whispered.
***
“My wife is dead, again!” Muzin raged, placing his hands on his head while he panted around the room. “You killed her! You killed her!”
Laura seemed unperturbed by the fact she was being blamed, but suddenly shifted to look at the cards Nora had left behind.
Naomi had walked up on her without making a sound, thus startling the lady. “We need to bring Nora back… she is the only one who can put an end to all of this”.
Laura smiled and responded, “As much as I agree with you, there is absolutely nothing I can do”.
Muzin shook his head and waved his right hand at Laura. “No… no… no! You will find a way to get her out of there or heaven help me, … “.
The all paused in the room as the wall opposite where they stood suddenly seemed to move. Muzin had spotted it first, but Laura saw it clearly as her eyes widened and her mouth let out a gasp at the strange sight.
“What is that?” Naomi asked.
Long and sharp looking claws ran underneath the wall and it seemed as though it intended to tear its way through.
“Please tell me I’m dreaming… tell me this is a fucking dream!” Naomi screamed.
Muzin shot the lady a scolding look for her bad language, but had bigger fish to fry with the strange being trying to force its way into their living room. He stepped closer, but stopped within safe distance as the claws gnawed and scratched endlessly into the wall from the other side. A loud and irritating screech rang through the ar as the creature gave it another go against the wall.
“It’s a wraith! It is a bloody wraith and it wants to get into our world!” Laura cried.
