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 turning back to the counter when I suddenly felt the hair at the back of my neck stand.

I turned to where my mum and brother were and I found that they had frozen.

"What is this?" I whispered as a frown settled on my face.

I started walking towards them when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned abruptly and found Rema.

"Rema— did you— what's going on?" I whispered. I wanted to ask if he had been the one who froze them but that would have been stupid how did he get the ability to do that? It made no sense.

"What is going on?" I asked back. His brows were raised and he was watching me with confusion in his eyes.

"Can't you see?" I said turning to point at my mom and brother and I met them staring at me.

"Can't he see what?" My mom asked as she also furrowed her brows.

Xena: Dangerous Stairs