“Isn’t that alcoholic?” Naomi asked whilst she tried to stop the bleeding on her hand.
Muzin looked up at the girl and then down at the alcoholic wine in his hand before replying. “All my life, I have done things rightly, denounced magic or anything occult but here I am, about to do anything needed to bring my daughter home… so, I need every ounce of courage I need”.
Laura went ahead and poured herself some as she too settled into a seat. Naomi wrapped a piece of clothing around the scratch to stop the bleeding, before downing her glass of wine in one straight gulp.
“We have to bring Nora back”, Muzin muttered while he rocked himself in his chair. ‘We have to bring my baby back”.
***
The darkness around suddenly began to clear into lightening just ahead, as Nora watched the blinding light threaten to damage her eyes. She gasped aloud and awakened to the sight of a face she knew was dead for years now, but which was now smiling down at her.
“Mother?” Nora called out in shock.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The world around felt different, from the color the room was painted in, to the familiar looking frame hunched over her with the brightest smile she had never thought she would come across ever again. Nora struggled to sit up, but her mother calmly refrained her from doing so.
“You shouldn’t be here, child”, she muttered, slowly retreating and walking towards the window.
Nora slowly dragged herself to an upright position and took a good look at her surroundings. It was her mother’s room, the way it used to be without doubt, before Lama came in with her changes, all in bid to eradicate the woman’s hold on Muzin. The pleasing sight warmed Nora’s heart, and the soothing air crashing against the house from every corner made her sigh in relief.
“You being here can only mean one thing”, Nora heard her mother mutter.
Nora nodded her head and settled her back against the bed frame. “I found the tarot cards… they found me to be precise”.
Her mother spurned around immediately, looking terrified to her core and unsure of what to say. She paced around some bit and seemed to stop to gather her innate thoughts, but nothing came to the surface for her to air in words.
“I read my own cards and it… “, Nora tried explaining but her mother lifted her hand up to halt the words.
“It brought you right here and in more danger than you could have ever imagined”, the woman said in paranoia. “You need to go back… you need to get back now!”
Nora upped herself from the bed, but felt her nerves strain with pain in the process. She walked over to the window and took a spot by her frightened looking mother.
“I know you want answers dear, but I can give you none, for I am trapped in my own hell”, her mother sighed.
Nora felt somewhat let down; she had hoped for some juicy information to help her get on with her activities on the other side.
“Am I dead?’ Nora asked the most important one she could think of.
Her mother shook her head and whispered, “No”.
Nora sighed in relief, but too soon.
“Not yet at least… but once he knows you’ve come for answers, it will be coming for you”, her mother added, sending chills down the girl’s spine.
“One who knows?” Nora inquired.
Her mother turned around and began hurrying out of the room and towards the living room. She hurried to the door and slammed it shut, before placing a shunt behind it to keep it firm and locked.
“We need to get you back and we need to get it done now!” the woman sounded in absolute paranoia.
Nora paused, seemingly unsure of what was getting into her mother. It wasn’t as she had expected things to be; the thought of seeing her mother for the first time in years was one she assumed would come with hugs and kisses and possibly some tears, but the woman before her seemed absolutely uninterested in anything of such.
“Is that all?” Nora asked. “Is that all a daughter gests from her mother after they manage to reunite after a horrible ordeal?”
Her mother ignored her and began placing what appeared to be cards on the table. Nora recognized them immediately to be the same one she had on the other side and it left her stomach churning with discomfort.
“I made a choice”, her mother muttered angrily. ‘I made a choice for you, for your father and for everyone, even if it meant I would be taken!”
Nora stepped closer but not close enough for her mother’s reach. “Choice? You made a choice?”
The woman ignored the prattling girl and continued to set the tone around the room for whatever it was that she intended to do.
“Your choice almost drove father crazy and then it made my life a living hell ever since that day!” Nora yelled. “Whatever choice you made is one shitty one if I must be sincere with you!”
Swinging fast and hard, but without Nora ever expecting it, her mother turned around and smacked her right in the face. It left them gasping at the occurrence. Nora took some steps backwards as she tried to reconcile the fact that her mother had just struck her instead of hugging her after they had not seen for years.
“Nora!” she called out to her daughter. “I am sorry! I am truly sorry!”
Nora spun around, headed for the door and yanked off the shunt to gain exit from the house. She hurried out the porch, which was in similitude to the one she had at home, but stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing the Onamegas in full swarm around the house and under the sun like it had no effects on them.
“This is impossible”, Nora said to herself.
Her mother walked over to the porch, yanked at Nora’s arm and brought her back inside immediately. She slammed the door shut and heaved a
