The summer was transitioning into fall and school was now in session. By the end of the day I was relieved to go home. I could smell mom's special rosemary bread from a mile away. I finally reach home and she greets me from the kitchen, "How was school?"
"Good, how was your day, mom?"
She was silent for a moment and then replied, "I saw her again... the little girl." I looked at her and I could see she was deeply concerned. She grabbed me hands tightly. "I need you to come with me." It was almost as if she was imploring me.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To a friend's house, we have to go find out once and for all what these ghosts want with us... hurry!" We hurried to the car and she quickly put it in gear, nearly forgetting to put on her seatbelt. The whole ride there my mother was humming to herself nervously.
We arrived at an old dirty maroon house. The front lawn was filled with shrubbery and the bushes had cobwebs stretching from one bush to the next. The stairs that led to the front porch of the house were less than safe, I could see through the holes into the crawl space underneath the house. I looked at my mother and I said "What are we doing here?"
She responded, "We are here to get answers."
Someone from inside the house yelled, "Well you're not gonna answers just standing there, come in!"
I jumped in place and my heart felt like it sunk to my feet. Quickly mother and I walked towards the door and said "I'm looking for Madam Huila"
I heard the person in the house slowly walking towards us. "And how can I help you?"
I poked my head into the door to take a peek and see who this Huila person was. As she stepped into the light, she looked at me and said "I'm sure you've seen scarier things than me."
I looked away as quickly as possible and felt embarrassed by the fact that she caught me ogling her. My cheeks flushed red and I didn’t know what to do so I looked down at my feet and begin to tap my foot against the steps. With the constant nervous tapping of my shoe against the beat down steps, my mother finally broke the awkward silence. "I was referred by a friend of mine. She told me that you might be able to help me find some answers." My mother reached out to pull me in closer to stop my nervous childish tick.
As mother pulled me, I fixated my attention on this Huila character while my mother continued to converse with her. Madam Huila’s hair was long, gray and frizzy, her left eye was blue. Her skin was tired and thick. She wore a long puffy skirt stitched together with odd patterned rags. She had an old, worn out grey shawl with green detailing, it covered her head and draped over her shoulders. She was short and paunchy. As she looked at my mother and me, her blue eye sent an ice cold chill down my spine.
“Yes, I may be able to help.” She pivoted and leaned toward us far enough that I could smell the overpowering scent of vick’s vapor rub and medicinal leaves. “Please come in, make yourselves at home.“ said Madam Huila.
Mother and I hesitantly made our way to a room behind beaded curtains. The room was dim and stuffy, the air was smoky. As I glanced around the room I noticed there were framed pictures with priceless trinkets and lit candles around them. There were too many, I couldn’t count them. I wasn’t sure what the meaning of all this was but I had a gut feeling that we were in fact at a witches home. Mother and I walked toward the table. It was the center point of the room. Over it, laid a purple table cloth upon which more candles were burning. We all took a seat and she began by muttering a phrase in a tongue I didn’t understand. She set an an old wooden box on the table which contained a deck of strange cards.
“What is the numeric address of the house you and your family are living in?” She said in an eerie voice.
“...3318…” Mother responded.
She took an inkwell and a pen out of this box and a sheet of paper. She opened the inkwell dipped the pen in and began to write down the numbers ‘3318’ I leaned in to look closer and the ink was deep blood red… the smell of iron began to swim in the air... It was blood. She proceeded to write down an arithmetic and paused. Then she looked up at me and said “How many members in the family, deary?”
My voice cracked, “...Five.” She started to scribble circles over the math.
“Ahh there.”
She folded the paper five times and swiftly ran it over the open flame of the closest candle creating black smoke over the page. Then she opened it, handed mother the deck of cards and told her to cut it. She took the cards laid a few out and said “Those ghost you claim to see are not there to hurt you. In fact they want to protect you, they are friendly, even playful.”
I looked at mother, she had a weird look in her eyes. “What do I do? I want them to leave me and my family alone.”
Madam Huila said, “You have to be vocal with them, announce it loud and clear that you don’t want them to bother you all.” She flipped one more card over “Hmm …” Madam Huila had a concerned look on her face.
“What is it?” said mother, eagerly.
“You and your family are in danger. Not yet but soon.”
I was frozen with shock and worry.
“What?!” Exclaimed mother.
“I am foreseeing a tragedy in your home. You have about a year. Leave the house before then.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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