Ancil“That bitch!!” Megan shouted.
I ran after Sara grabbed her and threw her to the ground. I then sat on top of her holding her two arms down and pressing them into the soil. She couldn’t move. She kept shouting at me to let her go but the more she shouted the harder I gripped.
“Listen to me!!” My voice grew hoarse as I shouted. It was probably because I was dehydrated. “Listen to me!! I’m getting tired of your bullshit. From the first day all you’re doing is bitching about everything. If I wanted to I could have left you to die but I didn’t. I protected you with my life. I protected Justin, I protected Saraya and I protected Clive like if they were my own flesh and blood. And I am damn well sure that Clive would have been alive today if you wasn’t so damn stubborn and learned to listen to me.” I took out my knife and said. “I’m in charge of you now and if you ever forget that I’ll do the whole world a favor and shove a kitchen knife through the brain of the daughter of Suraj Singh!!! You hear me?!” I shook her then shouted. “Do you hear me?!” I felt different. I never shouted at someone so loudly and with so much anger before but I didn’t regret one breath. Each word seemed like it was pent up for a long time. “Do you hear me?”
She lay on the ground with her eyes wide with shock. She clearly didn’t expect such an outburst from me.
“Do you hear me?!!!” I shouted again.
She didn’t respond.
I shoved the knife into the soil then placed my hand over her cheeks. “You have no idea how much I sacrificed for you. How many times I didn’t eat so that you and your siblings could survive. You have no idea!! I almost died going on food runs every week. I almost died saving you from the corbeaux. Hell, I almost died just trying to find a birthday present for Saraya. The least you could do is respect me and my friends a little more. Suraj Singh daughter or not, I will kill you.”
Sara, still in shock, remained quiet for a little while. But just for a little while. “Sorry.”
“What?” I asked.
Sara hesitated for a while then repeated. “Sorry.”
I was now the one in shock. I was speechless.
There was a special kind of quiet that enveloped the air. An unnatural type of quiet that I had never experienced before. The trees weren’t rustling, the wind wasn’t howling and the crickets weren’t chirping. The forest itself seemed to be as much in shock as Sara and I were in but from something else.
Megan who had gotten her lips bruised from Sara’s lash came up to me and said. “Jed, do you hear that?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
An aura that felt almost demonic lingered in the forest. I had never felt so afraid in my life. The darkness thickened so much that it literally felt like it was alive and strangling me. I had to take long and deep breaths in order to breathe. Sara was also breathing heavily so I got off her allowing her to quickly get up and try to catch her breath.
“What kind of obeah is this?” Megan gasped.
“I can’t breathe,” Sara said before falling to the ground. Dead or unconscious? I wasn’t sure. I checked the pulse in her neck, I was barely getting any vital signs.
“AWOOOOOOOOO!!!” A howling sound pierced through the thick darkness like a knife.
“Help me get Sara to safety,” I quickly said, picking up Sara’s unconscious body.
“Anansi said to only use the lanterns if we absolutely need to.”
“Well we need them now,” I said.
“For what? Sara? She’s useless at this point. Right now she’s only going to hold everybody back. We should leave her right here.”
“Megan!!” I shouted.
“Okay okay,” she said, taking out a lantern from her bag and lighting our path. “If that beast is nearby he would see us for sure.” She grumbled.
“Just stay quiet.”
I rested Sara down on the same bush pile where we were at first, testing her vital signs. She was still alive, but barely. I tried waking her up but she was unresponsive. While trying to wake her, some rustling trees caught my attention. I instantly told Megan to turn off the lantern and get down. She did. Now it was time to play the waiting game.
