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| My image of Ugo. The Protector by Sterling Brown |
To read the other submissions for Romantic Friday Writers, go here. The
theme for this week is Haunting in celebration of All Hallows Eve.
To read the other submissions for Weekend Dirty Dozen, go here. I’m
sure there’ll be a few spooky stories with bite there too.
***
Part Two (Read part one here)
Word count: 400
Slowly, Ugo moved her hands over
his chest working up a rhythm. Chanting, she called on the spirits of their
ancestors to clear her path and use her as a conduit to heal Ebube.
The air around her charged with energy, crackled like in a
thunderstorm. It distorted and moved in waves. For a while, she worked her
fingers over his skin transferring the energy of her ancestors into him and
drawing out the bad energy from his body. Her chi worked with her, guiding her. The mmuo ojo had used Ebube’s injury as access to haunt and attack his
spirit. The raging battle manifested itself physically as the fever.
If the fever subsided, then he stood a chance of winning the spiritual
battle. She had to draw out the pus from the festered flesh and close the
wound. She focused her energy on it, feeling his pain and fever travel into her
body. She screamed when excruciating pain rocketed through her body. Struggling
to keep her hands on Ebube, she doubled over in agony. Her back felt like it
was on fire. Gritting her teeth, she resisted the temptation to touch it. After
a while, the pain passed through her dissipating into the atmosphere.
Ebube’s body convulsed briefly. Closing her eyes, she maintained the
contact and chanted until his body stilled again. She moved her hands to cover
his head and eyes. It was hot like a bare flame.
An image entered her head. It was of Ebube wrestling with a demon with spikes
and boils on its body. The demon had him in a death grip on the ground. Ebube’s
blood leaked where the spikes had punctured his skin.
“Ebube,
get up! Fight for your life,” she shouted at him in her mind.
He heard her and turned his head towards her.
“The
amulet. Put it in my hand,” his faint reply.
Opening her eyes, Ugo took her hand off his eyes and quickly removed
the amulet from her neck. She folded it into his still hand. When she put her
hand back on his eyes, the image came back.
This time, she saw a large leopard mauling the demon, shredding it to
pieces.
Where was Ebube? Had the leopard mauled him too? Had she been too late?
The leopard turned around to face her. She screamed, “Ebube!” before collapsing
onto his body with exhaustion, descending into darkness.
***
Are you spooked yet? LOL. I hope you enjoyed the snippet. Share your thoughts, please. And remember to
check all the other submissions this week. Have a great weekend and stay safe.
