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

The person holding me into the water finally stopped and I was able to pop my head out and suck as much air as I could. When I became satisfied, I turned around and found that it was Diane.

"Why were you trying to kill me?" Was the first sentence that left my lips despite the burning in my lungs.

She rolled her eyes and pulled me out of the water. "Because skeletal man was approaching we had to stay hidden. Okay?" She replied.

She started walking away from the sea and I had no choice but to follow her. I was starting to miss the familiar surrounding of my island. This looked more like an older version of Aromes and the dangers here were different.

"Where are we going?" I managed to ask despite the thousands of questions swimming in my head.

Faces from the Past