Short Story: Memorable Part 2 of 2

Sara pushed herself off the tree and looked around wildly for the source of the voice. She paced about the tree and finally saw the thing that spoke. Crouched low to the ground was something that resembled a woman, but there was something very different about her. It wasn’t only seen in her vivid green and yellow eyes, but the strange orange pallor of her skin, wild hair, and length of her sharp fingers. The woman crawled on all fours, flicking her tail, and walked around Sara, sniffing her inquisitively.

"The old woman has given you a special gift to give me," the creature said in her odd voice. The sound of it sent the hairs on the back of Sara's neck standing on end. She had never been so afraid or excited in her life, which brought both smiles and tears.

"Kiliana?"

"Yes, that is my name."

Sara was shaking like a leaf and struggled to keep herself upright.

"Don’t worry young one, I have lived a long life and no longer have a taste for such flesh as yours. That gift that you carry would be more than enough." She licked her lip greedily and sat before Sara, her palms turn up in preparation to receive the pouch.

Tucked deep within her breast pocket, Sara unearthed the pouch and placed in Kiliana's leathery palms.

"Thank you darling, now wait for tomorrow morning. Your life will turn into the hell you have always desired. Now go."

The creature held the pouch between her sharp teeth and crawled into a small niche at the base of the tree. Still shaking, Sara began to slowly walk back in the direction she had come. The path she had taken seemed to be much clearer than it was on the way to Kiliana.

By the time Sara emerged from the forest it was already dark. Her friends that she had believed to be so loyal were no longer waiting for her at the mouth of the forest. She had hoped that they would be there to accompany her on the long walk home.

The street lights were on, but the lights within the homes filling the town were off. Most of the residents went to sleep early and the silence of their retirement made the walk home eerie. Sara had no problem walking through the forest. She was filled with too much drive and excitement to think of the dangers that were lurking behind every stone and leaf.

It was a relief for Sara to finally get home. The lights were off and her parents were already sleeping. She retired to her bedroom, and quickly changed into her lounge clothing. Sleep didn’t come very easy to her as her mind was filled with running thoughts of what she saw that day and what Kiliana would bring to her town. She also couldn’t stop thinking about her friends who she had deemed to be so loyal abandoning her. With angry thoughts, she finally succumbed to sleep.

It seemed as if very few moments passed before Sara was awoken to the sound of a shrill scream. Her eyes flashed open and she smiled with excitement. The screams were followed by more shouts and yells and sounds of destruction, crashing, cracking, breaking. It was still dark outside but a faint glimmer of morning light illuminated her room. She quickly turned to her window and looked outside. The windows of the residents of her town that were so often dark with their calm and comfortable slumber were alight in their panic.

A car tore down the street, screeching around the street and behind it was a large beast. Sara gasped at the sight of the huge animal leap and land atop the car. It reached its large clawed paws into the driver's seat of the car, causing the car to swerve and crash into the front door of a house. She could hear the people within screaming.

The screams and shouts of the people up and down the street grew in magnitude and the sound of several more roaring beasts could be heard. Sara pulled her eyes away from the window and sat crouched on the floor. She wasn’t sure of what was happening but from what she saw it was more than what she had bargained for. People were most certainly dying and it was her fault.

A shrill scream issued from Sara's house, followed by the roar of one of the mighty beasts. Sara stood up, petrified then pulled open her window. As she climbed over her windowsill and onto the roof she could hear both of her parents yelling.

Her feet scraped against the rough wooden shingles. She could feel splinters tear into the soft flesh of her feet but she kept sliding down her roof until she came to the rain gutters that lined it. More cars were driving frantically up and down the streets and people were running wildly about the neighborhood amongst the few beasts that followed. She jumped from the roof with more poise than she deemed possible, and joined the ranks of panicked residents running down the street.

Sara ran as fast as she could, ignoring the feeling of her bare feet painfully pounding against the ground. She blinded herself to the fear of being pounced upon by one of the hungry beasts; killed before she could Kiliana and have her undo her magic.

And so she was there, running as fast as she could through the forest, her lungs aching with the effort, her feet throbbing with pain. Sara nearly collapsed when she reached the clearing. Her knees buckled and she fell forward, barely bracing her fall with her tired arms.

"So how do you like it?" Kiliana asked, her growling voice low and sinister.

"This wasn’t what I wanted! People are dying!" Sara yelled. She pounded the ground with her fist.

Kiliana stalked around Sara's hunched form. Her face was strained with confusion.

"You're such a work of contradictions," she signed, sitting up on her cat-like hindquarters. "Follow me and we can reach some sort of agreement to fix things."

Sara followed her slowly to the base of the tree. She turned around and said, "Wait here," before she crawled into the depths of the crouch hole of the tree. Within moments she reemerged with a large green orb in one palm. She sat before Sara and beckoned her to sit down. Kiliana placed the orb on the ground between them and stared at it intensely. A flurry of colorful patterns surged through the orb and finally settled on a swirling red design. Kiliana smiled.

"I can end this attack on your town, but I must have you to do it."

"You need me? What do you mean?" Sara asked repugnantly.

"I mean, I need you to be under my ownership."

"What? No!" Sara yelled.

"I thought you wanted this thing to end? You wanted the killing to stop?" The woman picked up the orb in her long fingers and examined it closer.

"I did but not at my expense."

"It was your wish, so it would naturally have to be curtailed by a price that consists of you."

Sara thought for a moment of what she truly wanted. There was no guarantee that everyone hadn’t been killed at that point and whatever deal she was about to agree to could make things worse. She thought of her parents who she last heard shouting, most likely fighting for their lives. People like them she wanted saved.

"Okay-- I'll do it. Whatever it is, I will," she said solemnly.

Kiliana crawled back into her small home and came out with an asymmetrical shaped bottle which she planted firmly on the floor. It was smooth and glossy, filled with a smoldering cloud of shifting steam.

"I like to collect unusual things," she signed then she picked up the orb and held one hand above her. Colorful lights and sparks emitted from her hand, and within moments they were surrounded by darting golden lights which flew into the bottle with a roar.

"Those are the beasts? That's how you summoned them?"

Kilana nodded. "I collect and contain monsters."

She directed her hand towards Sara, condensing her into a small white light that was sucked into the bottle with a hiss.

"One day someone will ask me to unleash you from this prison. People are always able to find the worth in heartless souls like you."

The woman corked the bottle and pulled it back into her crawl space, then fell into her deep and long slumber.

©Ada Uzo-Okereke, Do not reproduce