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 was laying in shallow waters. I peered my eyes open. I sat up and took in my surroundings.

I was at the shore but it looked different. Even the color of my vision felt strange.

I got on my feet and started to move around; hoping to find something, anything. The sun was just setting so it cast a golden-orange light in the sky. Up ahead, there was a boat wreck. I walked over to it.

Then I saw it. There was a girl there just regaining consciousness. I ran to her to try and help her up. I was happy that I had finally met someone. Another one of Zula's victim.

When I got close enough, I brought my hands to grab her but the most unexpected thing happened. My hands went right through her. I couldn't grab her, I couldn't touch her.

I tried again but they went right through her like the first time. It was as if I wasn't there. Like I wasn't existing.

Into the Abyss