Nora didn’t care; she wanted answers, and if her mother’s voice was anything to go by, the woman seemed to want her inside the vortex.
“I am coming mother”, Nora whispered. “I am coming”.
She reached out for the darkness, slipping her hand through it first, before allowing her body to follow. The world behind her suddenly got consumed, and nothing about it remained as she fell endlessly, through the darkness and without any assurance that she would ever stop falling.
Yet, her mother’s voice continued to call out to her. “Nora! Nora! Nora!”
***
Muzin shoved harder than he had done before, ramming his shoulder into the door and feeling it budge badly as the shunt behind it broke away from the wooden frame. He stumbled into the room, accompanied by Naomi and Laura. They had just arrived as the wall began to seal itself, with Nora long gone inside of it.
Laura raced over to the wall but arrived too late as it solidified immediately. “This is bad!”
Muzin shot to his feet while he groaned in pain from his fall. “Where is she? Where is my daughter?”
Laura pointed to the wall, without words to spill and without the strength to make her snide comments either.
“I am responsible for this”, Naomi cringed and took some steps back. “I caused this”.
Muzin looked at the girl who slowly crouched and folded herself into a ball in the corner of the room.
“Where did she go?” he asked, in trembling tone and teary eyes.
Laura walked over to the table and took a look at the cards Nora had read. Her gasp alerted the duo and her the sight of Laura groping her chest in worrisome look made Muzin feel like dying inside.
“She has gone back”, Laura replied the man’s question.
Naomi got back on her feet and moved closer to the table with odd looking cards which bear no reasonable meaning to her lying on it. “She has gone back where?”
“Back to where it all began”, Laura replied.
Muzin and Naomi looked lost still, while they watched the lady begin to pack the cards back into their deck.
“Don’t we need the cards to bring her back?” Naomi asked.
Laura paused and looked back up. “We don’t want whatever is coming back through that wall, trust me”.
Muzin charged towards Laura and grabbed her aggressively by her arm, causing the cards to spill to the ground. Laura put up a fight as best as she could, but she remained no match to the man as he fumed and pinned her into the wall with his hand around her neck.
“I don’t care what comes out from that wall, but I want my daughter back and you will find a way to make it happen!” he fumed.
Laura stared the angry father back in the face and did her best to remain unperturbed, but Muzin wasn’t in the mood to play around obviously. He yanked at her arm and led her back to the table, shoving her into the seat as he laid the deck of cards into her hands as Naomi bent down to pick those that had fallen to the ground.
“I will not do it”, Laura said adamantly.
Muzin leaned closer to the pesky lady, eye balls reddened and his lips twitching as he replied, “She means everything to me, Laura, and I will go to hell and beyond if you don’t find a way to bring her back this instant”.
Naomi placed the fallen cards on the table and looked out the small window overseeing the yard from the basement. First, she caught sight of someone’s legs hurrying out the front door, before seeing the familiar face to be Lama.
“We might have a problem!” she called out to Muzin and Laura as she caught sight of Lama’s face clearly.
Muzin hurried over and looked out the window with a loud gas emanating from between his lips.
“They’ve spotted her!” Naomi pointed out, pinning her finger towards the creatures previously lurking in the shadows of the woods around the house.
Muzin jtted out the door and hurried towards the front door, while Naomi followed him. The front door was opened, and Lama had gotten some feet down the porch’ stairs when Muzin came running towards her.
“Lama!” he called out, sounding frightened and absolutely scared. “Please! Come back in!”
Lama shook her head and turned around to look at her husband. “We cannot become captives in our own home and our own world!”
Naomi came to a halt by Muzin, while she scanned around and took note of the Onamegas slowly crawling out from their hiding place.
“Those things are coming for you!” Naomi warned. “They are coming for you!”
Lama smiled, looked back at the woods and spotted some of them scurrying around.
“Haven’t you seen how they shy away from the sunlight?” Lama asked. “They cannot harm me, or at least not with the sun beaming down on them”.
Muzin shook his head as his eyes watered. “Please, don’t do this”.
Lama shook her head in response. “All I want is my life back… I want to go out and be me without having to worry about some damn card or the fact I can get devoured by some dad boded”.
Naomi watched as one Onamega hurried out from its hiding spot and into the sun, but suddenly burnt into crisp and absolute ash in the process.
“See?” Lama chuckled. “They cannot touch me provided the sun is up and out”.
He creatures growled and hurried about in the shades and darkness of the woods, while Lama proceeded towards her car. She whistled gladly and seemed unnerved by the fact demons and beasts alike were hovering around. She simply wanted some form of sanity and the ability to live her life as it used to be.
Muzin stepped towards the porch stairs, but Naomi held him back by his hand. “Look”.
She pointed at the sky above as Naomi neared her car. The clouds had slowly begun to gather and strangely so, while they sheltered the
