Lilian_Nkunga

"Kelvin... If I leave, Zula will kill everyone," I said in a shaky voice, before breaking down into sobs. I closed my eyes and allowed the tears to flow freely. If I were to leave, then my previous experiences would come to pass.

"What are you saying? You don't have to be a hero! Someone else can do that!" His voice was already rising. "I don't need a hero... I-I need my sister," he pleaded in a small broken voice. 

Hearing his pained voice shattered my bruising heart into a thousand pieces.

"I love you all," I managed to say.

"What? NO!" he screamed but I cut the connection.



***



A ritual has governed Aromes since its existence.

Every fifty years, the first born child of a family has to face Zula and die.

This year, Xena is chosen.

The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she wakes up to meet her home island devoid of all its inhabitants; including her family. She searches everywhere for all the people but she is unable to find them anywhere. The situation is hard for her to comprehend. At first, she thinks its a joke. She hopes its a prank. She refuses to believe that she has been abandoned. Until she finds the first dead body. The dead mutilated body of her father.

Then she starts hearing and seeing things that aren't meant to be. Horrifying screams, a manic creature, a cloaked figure that only comes when she takes off her glasses.

Only then, does she realize that there is no escape and her inevitable death patiently awaits her.

ALONE: Retold

I ran as fast as my injured leg could take. Someone might be in danger and I was the only one here to help them. The scratches and bruises on my hands were already healing. There was barely a pinch from them, so I only had my strained leg to worry about.

The scream resonated in the air again. Its echoes left a path for me to take and I followed the sound. It sounded like a bunch of people going through torture. Like they were being mutilated. Like someone was being chopped down into tiny pieces. There was so much pain in the scream, that my heart ached for whoever it was. Their pain fueled my weak body and I ran faster.

I ran past my street and went further into the island. My heart was in my chest for I feared where the scream led me.

The last time I was there, I met that creature that pretended to be my mother. Thinking back to it, I realized that, it was only my fear that played tricks on me.

The Countdown