by Safa Shaqsy
Through the deafening silence, came the familiar and rather chilling voice, “Hello Muzin”.
Muzin let off another cough and halted his breath as he looked up, squinting to get a clearer gaze through the dust. “Oh my God! Sarah!”
CHAPTER TEN
Nothing could compare to the moment as everyone seemed disinterested in speaking or even making a move from where they were. The moment seemed to be far more consuming and emotionally drowning for Muzin than it was for the other two by his side, yet, Laura looked the most terrified. She looked to the door, wondering about her choices, while the sight of the Mega-Onamega outside made her heart decide against doing anything stupid.
Muzin coughed and slowly got to his feet with the help of his better knee. He paved the way with his hands and tried to get as much dust out of his line of sight as possible. Six feet from him was none other than his dear wife, presumably dead, and now back from beyond. Her face hadn’t aged a single day, and her wry smile was as welcoming as ever.
By her side was their daughter, looking pale and terrified, but with a hint of gladness that she was back home. Nora sighed aloud for everyone to hear, as the final thud emanated from behind them and the portal through which they had come finally slammed shut and back into place.
“Muzin”, Sarah called out to her husband.
Muzin tore his face with the wildest smile he had ever had since she died, gasping in shock and unsure of what to say as he drew closer to her.
“Sarah!” he finally found his voice and called out to her.
The duo raced towards each other, with the man limping as he wrapped his arms around his wife and leaned his head into her shoulder. Nora looked around the room for her friend, and found Naomi slumped against the east wall, with her head somewhat banged up and her breath heavy to bear.
“Naomi!” she called out, frightened to her bones as she hurried over to assist the girl to her feet.
Naomi coughed and whispered, “Nora… is that you, Nora?”
Nora nodded aggressively, sniffed and gently pulled the girl closer as she tried to ascertain if her friend had sustained terrible injuries. Thankfully, she found no such evidence, bar a scratch on the back of her head which would heal properly with some bandage.
“Daren… Daren and Lama”, Naomi muttered in weakened tone.
Nora understood too well, as their eyes filled with tears and their lips trembled, they shared a hug, but Nora soon spotted the one person her heat didn’t desire to see, right there in the room, silent as she could be, and on the couch.
“You!” Nora cried in anger.
She motioned to get on her feet, but decided against it as she cradled Naomi until the girl was strong enough to get to her feet. Sarah pulled away from Muzin and held his face in her hands while the duo locked gaze and didn’t look like they ever wanted to look anywhere else.
“I am sorry about everything”, Laura apologized. “I am sorry about everything and I wish… “.
She halted halfway with her eyes and vision now catching sight of Laura where she sat.
Laura smirked and spat to the ground. “Looks like you managed to weasel your way back”.
Sarah let go of her husband, and began to march towards her sister with purpose. She yanked Laura by the scruff of her collar ad jammed the lady into the wall with an absurd strength unlike anything Muzin had seen in his wife before.
Staring directly into Laura’s eyes, Sarah growled, “You! You bitch! Did you really think you could keep me away!?”
Unrepentant and seemingly unperturbed by Sarah’s strength, Laura replied, “You don’t scare me! You have never scared me and I hope she knows exactly what you are and what you did!”
Nora got to her feet with her friend leaning against her for support, while the entire house turned their gaze towards Laura.
“I know everything now, Aunt Laura”, Nora informed the lady. “I know what you did and how you have manipulated us all”.
Laura’s eyes widened and her lips curled into ones of disbelief. She looked from Sarah who bore a thin smirk on her face, to Nora with nothing but disbelief lining her forehead.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Laura muttered. “What exactly did you see in there? Your brother died because… “.
Sarah jammed her fist into Laura’s throat, causing the lady to gurgle her words without being able to let them through. Her eyes bulged in their sockets, and streams of veins began to appear all over her neck and face as Sarah threatened to choke the life out of the woman.
“She is my daughter! Not yours!” Sarah yelled.
Naomi looked perplexed as she whispered to her friend. “Your mother is going to kill her… do something”.
Nora felt torn in between saving her aunt and letting the woman die for her heinous crimes. Her heart wouldn’t let desire for vengeance wouldn’t permit her muscles to move, even while her heart cried for her to do the right thing.
A loud bang blared into the air and caused everyone to startle, as Sarah eased her grip around Laura’s throat, allowing her fall to the ground.
Muzin cleared his throat and spoke, “I don’t know what happened in there and honestly I don’t think I want to know, but, we have bigger fishes to fry”.
He pointed his gun towards the window and to the sight of the Mega-Onamega approaching a step at a time.
“Oh my!” Sarah gasped in despair. “It knows I’m here! It knows you’ve broken the rules!”
She turned and looked at Nora, who looked lost and confused as everyone suddenly began casting their gaze on her.
Laura coughed aloud from where she remained slumped into the floor, and cackled out in a hideous manner. “You know what your choices are now, Sarah”.
“What? What is she talking about?” Nora looked to her mother and asked.
Sarah seemed rather lost in thoughts as she slowly planted her backside into the seat behind her.
“Get your cards!” Sarah yelled. “Get them, now!”
Nora felt herself almost jump out of her skin as she looked to her father. He nodded his head towards her and commanded that she went to get the cards, while Naomi looked like she had been smashed in the face with eggs. She had not the slightest clue on what was going on and wished someone would tell her.
“What will your choice be, Sarah?” Laura laughed. “The mega-Onamega or the wraith wishing to tear through the veil and come for you right about any moment from now?”
Muzin leaned towards his recently returned wife and asked, “What is she talking about?”
Sarah looked blank in the face and seemed unwilling to speak. Muzin had seen the look on his wife’s face before and he knew exactly what it was; sheer fear, tainted with guilt.
He found himself in need to ask. “What have you done?”
***
Sarah drowned herself in thoughts for a while longer, before getting back up as Nora walked back into the room. She cleared the dining room table by bringing it back up and dusting debris off of it, before picking up some of the used candles now lying around from the ground.
“Sarah!” Muzin called to his wife again and in sterner tone.
Sarah ignored him while she rubbed her hands together and caused the candles to light up immediately.
She turned to Muzin and placed her hands on his shoulder, “Listen carefully to me honey… I have no time to explain, and I sincerely don’t want to, but if you like this our reunion, then help me kill two monsters coming for me”.
Nora interjected with a slight cough. “Everything is set… can we begin already?”
Laura shot up from where she sat and yelled, “No! Nora, don’t do it! Don’t trust that beast beside you!”
Nora looked from her sweet looking mother to the dirty, haggard looking aunt whom she had clearly seen provoking the most unthinkable occurrence, and sighed. “The one we will not be trusting here, is you”.
Luara motioned to head towards them, but Nora waved her hand rather instinctively, as Laura got toss
ed into the air and hammered against the wall before passing out on the ground in a loud heap. Muzin’s lips parted slowly and his eyes widened in the process too. Nora gasped in shock as did Naomi, while the former stared at her hands in surprise.
“Let’s begin”, Sarah called to her daughter.
Nora agreed with a nod and settled into her char. Muzin drew closer and stood behind his daughter, looking lost and still unsure of what exactly was going on.
“What do you want to do?” Naomi asked Nora.
Sarah looked up to the girl and replied, “She needs to draw cards strong enough to doom the Mega-Onamega outside and also the wraith coming for us all through the veil”.
Muzin cleared his throat and uttered his own inquiry. “Why is a wrath coming for us and what purpose exactly does that beast outside serve?”
Sarah sighed, lookd to Nora and nodded her head.
“We broke the rules by reading my own card and also by bringing someone dead back into the world of the living”, Nora answered. “The wraith and that beast out there want blood ad mother and I are going to stop them”.
Muzin could not believe his ears and the manner in which his daughter spoke.
“What does any of this even mean?” Naomi asked.
Coughing aloud and spitting out some blood so they could know she was awake, Laura answered. “They want to cheat the cards using dark magic”.
Nora looked to her aunt with some bit of dismay on her face, and then back at her mother.
Sarah shook her head at Nora and looked to Laura. “Shut up, you wench! She is my daughter ad not yours!”
With a wave of her hand, Laura got tossed around the room once again, before landing to the ground in another loud and heavy heap that caused her to pass out.
“Believe nothing she say”, Laura whispered weakly before losing consciousness.
Sarah extended her hands over the table and towards her daughter. “Take my hands and let us begin!”
Muzin attempted to break the hold but Nora had linked arms with her mother already, with the flames from the candles burning brightly. He scampered backwards to where Naomi sat, while they watched the two women they assumed they knew, doing things far beyond their comprehension and belief.
“All you need to do is follow my lead”, Sarah ordered her daughter.
The candles continued to burn brightly, just before one went off and another took the same path. The Mega-Onamega began bearing down the house as its intent to get in seemed to intensify by the passing second.
“Sarth Kerthus Brethisu Vanishia Rturlesth!”
“Kardith Kareth Burth Prolethu discoria!”
The duo chanted along and in sync, fueling the flames around them in accordance, as the wall opposite of them began to bulge with something crawling underneath it. Like a layer of skin about to be torn through, the creature struggled to find its way out, gnawing at the wall and extending as far as Nora’s head but without the ability to touch her as it remained bounded to the other side.
Laura groaned and parted her eyelids open and weakly so. “Nora, it’s a trap… don’t do it”.
Nora ignored her aunt and spread the cards on the table while her mother chanted on. Sucking in deep breath and readying herself for whatever was to come, she began dealing the cards and opening them to read the outcome immediately.
“Reborn!” Nora chanted upon reading the first card. “Trickster! Tear! Blood! Sacrifice!”
She halted upon reading the last card, before looking up at her mother.
Sarah smiled, nodded her head and replied, “Don’t stop now child, you are almost through”.
The creature behind the veil stretched itself further, almost reaching Nora’s head as Muzin jumped to his feet with his magnum in hand, and shot at it without giving it second thought. The loud bang coupled with an eerie squeal from the creature he had shot caused everyone to clamp their hands over their ears.
Sarah shot up from her seat and yelled at her husband. “Don’t wound it!”
Nora looked somewhat shocked by her mother’s words as they shared a lost look with one another.
“I thought we were doing this to kill it?” she asked.
Muzin eyed his wife and seemed somewhat confused, while Nora waited for a response from her mother. Sarah parted her lips to speak but found her words stuttering in the process. She turned around and looked out the window, with the beast at the door, seemingly unable to grace the front door and into the house.
“Read the last card and set it free”, Sarah finally whispered.
Nora wore a frown, indicating how lost she was, while Muzin moved closer to his daughter, with his gun readied in hand.
“What?” Nora spoke.
Sarah sighed and stood akimbo. “I need the wraith here… if I am going to be with you forever, I need the wraith here”.
It still did not bring any sense or understanding to why she didn’t mention it in the first place.
“That monster out there isn’t going to remain there for long and I bet you nothing will stop it from bringing this family down once it gets through the door”, Sarah warned.
Muzin scoffed while he stared at the woman he assumed to be his wife. Nothing about her seemed like the sweet and loving woman he knew. She sounded hardened and somewhat desperate, which weren’t qualities anyone wanted.
“Read the last card and let it in!” Sarah yelled.
Nora shook her head and slowly began to retreat towards her father. “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t trust your intentions right now, mother”.
The wraith jammed its claw into the wall once again, struggling to set itself free, as it hoped to gain entrance into the world from the other side.
“I beg you darling listen to me and do what I ask or things will get a little bit scary around here than they already are”, Sarah warned.
Nora called her mother’s bluff by shrugging her shoulders, while Muzin watched his wife keenly as she sighed and began to stroll along the room.
“What really happened to you over there?” Muzin asked. “Are you the Sarah I married, or an imposter?”
Sarah smiled and helped herself back into her seat as she lowered her head into the table. “You never knew a thing about me, Muzin… you never knew the important things you ought to because you were so blinded by your religion to even know what I was”.
Muzin looked uncomfortable as he steadied his gun in his hand and continued to cast his gaze on his wife.
“Our daughter is something much more powerful than I am, but I need to guide her”, Sarah continued. ‘It is why I made certain that the cards will find her, and it is why I came back”.
Nora could not believe her ears, and neither could she understand why her mother sounded like a lunatic rather than the sweet and caring one she used to be.
“One last chance”, she upped herself from her seat and shoved the table towards Nora. “Read the last card and let the wraith in”.
Nora refused, just as her aunt Laura groaned from where she remained on the floor. “Nora, don’t do it!”
Sarah looked to her sister and smiled, before slowly stepping closer to Nora, almost breathing down on her own daughter. “I will not let you die when there is so much we can accomplish together”.
She stretched out her arm towards Laura, lifting the lady into the air and slowly dragging her along the walls as Laura screamed and pleaded for mercy.
“You foiled my plans once and I will not let you do that again!” Sarah yelled at her sister.
Laura spat in Sarah’s direction. “You never deserved the family’s gift and you certainly deserve to rot in hell!”
Sarah cackled and continued to do so while Nora felt powerless to do anything about the situation. She looked past her mother’s shoulder and out the window to see the Mega-Onamega dragging something along with it.
“You were jealous… you were always jealous and it continues to show in you even after my death!’ Sarah yelled, tossing her sister towards the g
nawing wraith from beyond the wall.
Muzin turned around to watch the large claws sink into Laura as it dragged her into the wall and beyond the veil.
“It might be weak, but it wouldn’t be for long”, Sarah smiled.
Nora’s eyes widened in disbelief at her mother’s actions and her father’s demeanor was no different too. Naomi stepped forward, obviously disgusted by the outturn of things, but Nora held out her had to stop her friend from going any closer to the woman she wasn’t even sure was her mother anymore.
“What of the memories I saw and witnessed?” Nora asked. “Was everything a lie?”
Sarah bit her lower lip, shot her daughter a rather bothersome look and replied, “The mind is easy to manipulate my dear, and I will show you a millions ways to become better at it than I am”.
Like a sharp blade had been plunged into her heart, Nora stepped backwards and groped her chest.
“What is she talking about?” Muzin asked, looking from his wife to his daughter.
Sarah motioned to speak, but stopped as Laura’s loud cry echoed around the room and sent shivers down their spines.
“I am truly sorry, Muzin”, Sarah whispered. “I should have told you the truth about Sam, but you seemed too weak and unable to handle the truth back then”.
Muzin felt his jaw drop.
“I’m guessing she sacrificed my brother for her cause or whatever she is trying to accomplish”, Nora explained to her father. “I also guess she couldn’t get it done by herself before and now she needs me”.
Sarah waved her finger at her daughter and shook her head. “I was going to get what I wanted… I was going to usher in spirits from world beyond to serve at my command, had that pesky bitch not gotten in my way”.
Muzin tightened his fists and began to breathe wildly.
“Is this a game to you and your sister? Is that what this is all about and nothing else?” he asked. “You’ve been playing gods with our lives, all for you own accomplishment”.
Sarah remained silent before breaking her words out. “You don’t understand what is before you, Muzin! Those cards are what separates the living and the dead… like a shield meant to be torn apart so we can reach for greatness on the other side”.
