Drenched in fear and barely able to keep his knees from wobbling, Daren begged for mercy with his eyes, and pleaded for some compassion with his facial expression.
“How do we get him free, Laura!” Muzin turned to his sister0in0law.
Laura fell silent, choosing to watch the boy drown in his misery at the expense of his life.
“You people never listen to me, so what does it matter now?’ she asked. “Even if I will tell you, then you have to promise me you will go back in and continue reading the cards as we ought to”.
Muzin stepped between his daughter and his wife’s crazy sister. “No!”
Nora struggled for a response as well, trying her best to give the right response, while she remained stifled by what exactly she ought to say.
“Do as she says, Nora”, Naomi begged. “If it will save Daren from that thing, then do as she says!”
Daren groaned aloud and prompted everyone to turn around to look at him. The grip around his ankle seemed to be tightening and there was now escape. The harder he tried to get himself out, the more difficult it became.
“Okay! I will do whatever it takes to read the cards”, Nora agreed.
Laura stepped closer to the girl and shook her head. “You will read the cards and bring my sister back, no matter the cost and no matter what the card demands of you”.
Nora swallowed hard and nodded her head. Her ability to make a choice had been taken from her without doubt and there was not telling what was about to become of Daren. His face looked pale and his eyes swelled with tears while he muffled sounds of pain softly too.
“They are dead, but they will respond to you”, Laura explained.
Nora looked to Daren and then back to her aunt. ‘Are you asking me to touch it?”
She nodded her head.
“That’s preposterous!” Muzin interjected. “My daughter isn’t going anywhere near those things!”
Daren groaned aloud and fell to his knees, struggling to keep himself from falling to the ground completely, as his ankle felt like it was burning wildly.
“Please, help me!’ he begged with drools of saliva dropping from his lips.
Laura yawned and locked Muzin in a stern gaze. “The longer that one holds unto the boy, the more it sucks the life force out of him… he might have just minutes to live or die”.
Nora spun around without uttering a word, as she hurried towards Daren and went on her knee. She looked at the boy briefly and tore her gaze from him as he had begun to weep, before slowly and carefully, reached to touch the dead cold hand tightening its grip around Daren’s ankle.
“Be careful Nora, for there are consequences touching the Onamenga”, Laura chuckled.
Nora’s hand had gone far enough and there was no recalling it as she felt the terribly cold and hardened skin atop the hand circled in grip around Daren’s ankle. The body shrieked aloud and hurried off from where it had planted itself, leaving Daren free. Daren gasped and sighed in relief, while they watched the creature vanish from sight and into a poof of dark smoke shaped in the frame of a skull.
Daren muttered softly and in weakened tone, “Thank you”.
He fell to the ground in a loud heap, prompting Muzin and Lama to race forward to help him from the ground. Nora and Naomi followed the grownups, with the exception of Laura who remained behind.
“One chain broken… some more to go”, she cackled to herself.
`` ***
The mood around the dining table was nothing as good a s somber. Muzin fumed with each spoonful of soup he took, while Laura tormented the ma with her endless smirks and incessant chuckles.
“I propose that we try and bring this thing to an end now”, Nora spoke, prompting everyone to stop eating.
She looked towards Daren who didn’t seem to be faring well since the dead man touched him.
“What is an Onamenga?” Naomi turned to look at Laura.
Laura raised her right brow, appearing lost as she looked to Nora for clarification on the question.
Naomi adjusted her seat so she cul look Lara in the face directly. “You mentioned something about an Onamenga earlier and I’d like to know what it is”.
Laura gasped, almost as if she now recalled, and smiled to herself before leaning back into her seat.
“Well, they are chains linking this world to the afterlife and with each one broken, things become more interesting”, she giggled.
Nora interjected and brought everyone’s attention towards her. “You mean with each one gone into smoke, the veil between our world and the oter side becomes weaker”.
Laura clapped her hands in attestation to how intelligent Nora was, with a little bit of condescension attached to the act.
“One step closer to bringing back your mother”, Laura added.
Muzin shook his head and rammed his fist into the table, causing everyone to become startled. “This isn’t right! We are Muslims and this is absolutely against everything we believe in! Dallying with dark magic and bringing the dead back?”
Laura ignored the man and held out her hand with the tarot cards neatly arranged on it.
“You alone can get this done and one way or another, the tarot card always wins”, she warned.
Nora, reluctantly, picked up the cards and slowly began to shuffle through the deck.
“What happens if we stop playing or reading the cards?” she looked up to her aunt slowly and asked.
“We all die painfully and traces of us will get wiped off from existence just as your mother’s was”, Laura replied.
Daren groaned from where he sat and adjusted in his seat. “Will that put an end to this madness?”
Laura shook her head fervently. “It will go to the next generation or any related bloodline to us and it will continue to roam around until someone is brave enough to end it”.
The mood around the table suddenly felt sour and troubling. Nora felt weighed
