MALEDICTION (6)
She was safe for a moment. Catching her breath in a wooden house a bit close to the cathedral, which was now the only stronghold left. She didn't know how, but for some reasons these creatures didn't go there. But sadly between her and the cathedral was a horde of them circling above in the sky. And the one she had run from was still looking for her.
She couldn't stop shaking.
It was cold.
She did hate the fact that this was one of the coldest nights of the year. It always felt like that. Whether she was four, thirteen, sixteen or even now turning 18 in just a few months. Although she never equated that coldness to loneliness like most of the orphans did. And as stupid as it sounded maybe it was because she wasn't an orphan.
"My mom?" She asked Gil about how he felt, once when they were alone at her house.
"Yeah, how was she?"
"I can't remember." He responded.
"You can't be serious, I know you couldn't have been that young."
"I suppose not."
He dodged her question and immediately changed the subject whenever she brought up instances about his past life. A life of the days before he joined the church, or was involved in any of the 'white men's idiotic religion.
"Seriously? Stop it and just tell me."
"I have nothing to say."
It was always such a hustle trying to get him to talk about these things. He always built a wall around himself, he ensured it wasn't large enough to be noticed but ever present when needed.
'He's a murderer.'
No, she couldn't accept it, especially not from her own mother.
She caught her breath, and leaned on the wall looking out into the distance. A bright red illuminated the entire village, the colour of blood cast from the one supposed to be watching over them.
GRRR!
She heard it. Not wasting even a second, she ran to the back of the building and squatted covering her mouth with her hands. This was one of those scenarios where it seemed as though the mere beating of her heart would've been enough to signal the creature were she was.
THUD!
It was the sound of her heart, she didn't realize how scared she was until she could hear her heart beat.
And perhaps the creature would too, and that would've been the end of her.
GRRR!
She heard snarling coming from the other side. She squatted in the space between two wooden houses, it made a pseudo alleyway of sorts. However, unlike the other, this one had no obstacles to hide her presence.
The creature slowed down as it rounded the corner. It then began snarling at the other demons, probably communicating something she couldn't understand. She blinked twice before gaining the courage to look at the other end of the narrow alleyway.
Her heart almost popped out of her chest, she saw the creatures ashy legs as it just stood there, as if trying to calculate where she would've gone.
After sometime debating it walked away. But Njeri wasn't an idiot, she wasn't about to fall for that classic trick where the creature wants you to lower your guard so it can attack, no she sat there for a solid 15 minutes listening to the sound of its footsteps as they disappeared into the distance.
She then closed her eyes for another 5 minutes, opening them and standing up. Her dress was soaked in sewage water and her blouse in sweat.
"I need to get to the cathedral." She walked to the corner and peeked a bit.
The creature she was running from wasn't there anymore, but the ones that circled in the air just refused to leave. She dipped her head back in and gave a long sigh. She then looked around the alleyway.
There was a backdoor leading into the house. She moved slowly and entered it, closing the door behind her. She needed to look for something that would distract those birds-demon-things.
The house was empty, no one was in it, and there was barely anything to help her in her endeavor. Just like it was in many homes. Some of the nicer houses were made of mossy cobblestone, like the one she was in right now, others were made purely out of mud and water.
The one her father built was made out of iron sheets, some parts of it rusted by the end of the first month. At night it was extremely cold, during the day it was hot as hell. She doesn't even know how her mother preserved the fish for so long without them going bad.
She was a hardworking woman, Njeri just hoped she was ok. In this world the only one who can truly love you is your own mother, because only she knows the pain of bringing another life into this forsaken world. Of course they bickered, it reaches a certain point in girl's life that she begins to rival her mother, they argued about what to cook for the two meals in a day they had, about the monthly budget for the house and how they should spend it. They would argue about the boys she would associate with.
But even so, Njeri understood that her mother was only looking out for her. On many occasions her and her father would eat but her mother wouldn't, even though the old man barely did anything accept look at Njeri in a very non-fatherly way and get absolutely drunk with money he didn't have.
"He's such an idiot." She looked around and saw a metal lid on the side of what seemed to be a bed set up. She took it and suddenly an idea popped in her head, it wasn't a safe idea, but it was an idea none the less.
She walked back out and looked around, heading in the opposite direction. Raising both hands up, she began hitting the metal lid like a gong.
BANG!
She hit it again.
BANG!
She looked around, "That's probably enough to draw their attention."
She then let go of the lid and ran back to the corner and checked.
They had left.
She made a run for it, knowing if she didn't use this chance well she wouldn't make it to that safe haven they call the cathedral. It was bitterly ironic how the one place she resented was the one place that could save her for whatever reason.
GRRR!
However, she had made one mistake, she fell for the trick that she was trying to avoid. The creature that had been chasing her previously was chasing her now. It must have waited a distance away and heard her banging on the lid.
"Shit!"
She didn't have the stamina she had before, and now it seemed as though the creature was far much smarter about the entire chase that it was originally.
Because this time it it threw debris at her, it flung light poles, scraps of metals.
"Ouch!" One hit her arm, other her leg causing her to fall and role over before coming to a stop. The pain increased as she felt a thick liquid drip from her shoulder.
"Blood?" She wondered, her vision wasn't good right now, she was losing consciousness, and quickly.
'Is this, the end?' She wondered, it had been a while since she had contemplated her death. She had hoped to die somewhere in the south in the arms of someone taller than her at the very least.
'I didn't even get to see Gil one last time.' He had been taken into custody over four weeks ago,and she couldn't go and see him, her mother was worried that it might put their family in jeprody if anyone figured out how much they associated with him.
'Mama, I'm sorry I never listen.'
Everything went dark for a moment, before a glimpse of her mother appeared before her. She looked the same, her wrinkly old skin, fading brown eyes, and crusty pink lips. But maybe there were a few differences.
She was wearing a red blouse rather than the white one they had left home with that night.
"You got a blouse change mama?"
Her mother chuckled as she coughed, "Yes baby, I got a blouse change." It sounded as though she was gasping for air with every words she spoke.
"Are you sick mama?"
She gave her daughter a hug and the red colour of her blouse dripped over to her daughter's blouse, staining it red as well.
"No baby, its just a slight cough."
She coughed again, this time she coughed up red. The last thing Njeri heard was the sound of thunder in the distance, "Mama, looks like a storm's coming. Let's get you a sweater."
RAIN TO WASH AWAY THE RED ON THE STREETS!
TO BE CONTINUED!