Chapter 4: The Ritual

Celeste went to Mia's shop and told her everything.

"I know what happened to you…my doll told me" Mia said

"Then can you help me?" Celeste asked

"Yes, I can …this Black Bride kills all couples are getting married or are newly wed, all of them who either live or come, or try to leave" she explained

"Then what should I do?" asked Celeste

"You need to perform a ritual in which you summon her and ask what she

wants, maybe if you give her what she wants, she'll stop haunting you and Avin" she told her.

She gave her a book of rituals. She took it and was leaving but she stopped her

and said:

"Celeste this is the same person who killed your friends Rosa and Daniel…you

need to hurry"

She was driving her way back to the mansion but she received a call from Avin,

he asked her to come in his hotel immediately. She went there, Avin grabbed

her hand and locked his room. They sat on the bed and Avin told her a secret.

"Celeste…I have to tell you something…when Daniel died, back at the hospital

the doctor gave me his journal, which was in his pocket. I wanted to give it you

but couldn't because of the stuff that has been happening…today I read it and I

found out that he was only using Rosa for money, he would have burned her if

she had married him. You were right about him, we should tell Rosa parents" he

told her

"Yes we should! I knew about him! I told Rosa but she never listened…damn

that horrible creature!" she cried

Both of them went to the mansion, on their way Celeste told him everything.

"Are you sure that ghost is haunting you?" he asked

"I'm damn sure! Mia told me everything, it also haunted Rosa…I must perform

this ritual" she assured him

Then they went to the mansion and told everyone everything.

"I can't believe that monster wanted to kill our Rosa!" Mrs Markov cried

"We should have known…we should have never let Rosa to marry him" Mr

Markov sighed

"There's also something you should know that Rosa was being haunted by a

ghost" Celeste told them

"What?" Mrs Markov wondered

"Yes, it's a ghost of a bride…she kills couples, she's "The Black Bride" she

explained

"WHAT! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" Aretha yelled

"Calm down Aretha" Avin advised

"CALM DOWN?! How could you possibly say that! She's lost her mind… she

needs to come to her senses" Aretha shouted

"You think I'm crazy!? Rosa saw her too, she told me" Celeste argued

"What's the PROOF Rosa was haunted by a ghost!?" She demanded for a proof

"I'll show you proof!" she shouted.

She went in Rosa's room and searched for her diary. She found it and showed it

everyone.

"Here is her diary, in which she wrote about herself. She even told wrote about

that ghost, about whom she only told me…she felt like somebody was always

whispering in her ears, she couldn't sleep at night and even if she could she

only saw nightmares" she explained

"See! I need to perform a ritual to stop all of this chaos" Celeste said

"What a RITUAL!?" Aretha argued

"STOP IT ARETHA! If by doing this ritual this ghost will stop, then she can do

it" Mr Markov permitted.

Aretha got silent. Celeste went in Rosa's room, she read the instructions and

according to it, closed all the windows and curtains. The room grew dark, then

she drew an arcane pentacle on the floor and on each edge she put a candle. She

stood in the center of the arcane pentacle and in front of her, she placed a

mirror. She started the ritual, she closed her eyes and spoke with a lit candle in

her hand.

"Thou who haunts me in my dreams and sleep

I command you to come and meet me"

But nobody came. She again tried but still nobody came. On the third try, a

voice came from inside the mirror as:

"What do you want from me Celeste?" the Black Bride asked

She opened her eyes and saw the same Black Bride. She got terrified but asked:

"Are you the ghost that haunts me?"

"Yes" she replied

"And you're the one who also killed Rosa and Daniel?" Celeste asked

"Yes" she answered

"Why?" Celeste asked

"Because Daniel deserved it, he was gonna kill Rosa first so, before he could I

killed him"

"Then why ROSA?!" Celeste shouted

"Because her death was written, if wouldn't had killed her, Daniel would have

burned her…I gave her an easy death instead" she answered

"Then what do you want from me?" Celeste asked

She smiled and shouted in a dreadful voice:

"You want to know what I want…I WANT YOUR SOUL!"

She put her hand outside the mirror and grabbed Celeste's neck. There were

huge claws on it, while struggling to escape the claws were forced inside her

neck, she started choking her. She couldn't breathe, she screamed for help, she

was starting to get unconscious. Luckily, Avin came and broke the door. He

saw the hand choking her, he grabbed a knife and cut that hand. The arm went back into the mirror, the cut hand struggled to live but then soon got burned and vanished. Then everybody came after hearing her screams. They saw unconscious Celeste resting in his arms.

She was resting in her bed. She woke up and told them everything.

"She says she wants my soul"

"Really? first you said that you've been hearing Rosa's voice from her grave

and coffin and now you're saying that some ghost wants your soul" Aretha

taunted.

"You think she's lying! The're scars on her neck" Avin scolded her

"She must have hurt herself! I'm sorry I can't stay here any longer, I'm going

home" she decided.

"Aretha don't go! she might kill you too" Nora suggested.

"Seriously? you too Nora… if the ghost want to kill me then kill me! you hear me? kill me ghost! kill me!" Aretha yelled

"No Aretha don't say that!" Celeste advised

But Aretha didn"t listen and went to her to room. She was packing her stuff

when she heard a whispering sound, it said "Look here". She turned around and

saw the Black Bride. She grabbed her neck and screamed:

"You want me to kill you! Then I'll fulfill your wish!"

She lifted her in air and opened her mouth, spiders came out of her mouth that

crawled to Aretha's face. She struggled and screamed for help but in vain.

Everybody heard her screams and came to her door. Again, Avin broke the

door. They saw her hanging from a noose with her eyes turned completely

white.

"Her eyes!...it's a sign of being possessed!" Meira cried

They quickly took her a to a hospital, but she couldn't be saved. She had

already died when the Black Bride choked her. They sang chorus on her funeral

but this time Celeste didn't hear her voice. After they buried her, everybody left

but Celeste and Avin stood there.

"I didn't hear her voice…maybe if I'm alone I'll hear her, you go Avin" she

suggested

"What if the Black Bride tries to attack you again?" he asked

"Then you'll come and save me… and throw that holy water from church" she

advised

He nodded and left. For a few moments she stood there, then heard Aretha

calling her as:

"Celeste my grave is dark…come to me I'll feel better"

Celeste felt scared so she turned and tried to run but before she could the Black

Bride rose from the grave and wrapped her arms around her. She started pulling

her in the grave. Celeste screamed for help, Avin heard her and came for help.

He threw holy water on her arms, her arms burned and she went back into the

grave.

"Celeste are you alright?" he panicked

"Yes, but we have to go to Mia's house right now!" Celeste said