Two

"I don't want to go there, mama." I know you are probably

wondering why? My grandparents were different and not in a good way. I feared

them too much.

"You have no say."

"I'm not going with you!"

I yelled at her.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me as

if she couldn't believe that I yelled at her, and she slapped me really hard.

"Do not raise your voice on me you cursed child!" she

snapped.

My body shook with sobs as I held onto my cheek where she

had hit me. It stung.

"I know that they can cure you of your hallucinations, I

just know it. They're the right people to go to at this juncture. I can't sit

back and watch my only child go crazy, thinking that she hears and sees the

devil."

I wanted to tell her that I wasn't hallucinating, but I knew

that it was only going to earn me another slap, so I kept mute.

Her watery grey eyes stared at me hard, daring me to talk.

"It's not up for a debate as you already know. Go into your

room and pack clothes that would last you for two weeks. Be out in ten minutes,

we'll be leaving then."

Without saying a word in response to her, I turned on my

heels and walked to my room. I felt numb. I hadn't seen my paternal

grandparents for over ten years. I last saw them during my father's funeral.

They hadn't even shed a tear. I had been just nine then. I remember very

clearly that day like it was just yesterday. Grandma had looked me in the eyes

with her stony blue ones and said 'She looks just like him, I pray she doesn't

turn out to be a failure like he was; neglecting home and tradition.' She had

kissed the rosary in her hand, and walked away from me. Before that time, I had

only ever met them once when I was four. Daddy didn't like taking me to them.

They gave me the chills, grandma especially, but now mom was taking me there.

What if she locked me in a closet again for days without

food just to cast the evil spirits inside me out?

Inside the car as mom drove, an uncomfortable silence

ensued.

We lived in Manhattan, and it was going to be one hell of a

long and uncomfortable ride to Albany. It was roughly a two hour and forty five

minutes ride.

As for the devil, I had started to hear and feel him right

from the moment I hit puberty at fourteen. It hadn't been so bad and frequent

in the beginning, but it was like as time grew, the more attached to me he

became. The more frequently he came to me.

"I'm…" Mom started to say, but she trailed off, her hand

tightening around the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry that I hit you back there," she spared me a

glance. I wasn't moved by her apology. She always apologized whenever she hit

me, but she never stopped hitting me if I moved outta line.

"I've just been so stressed lately."

She was always stressed. Always.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked.

"What do you want me to say, mama?" I murmured as I turned

my head to stare out the window.

"I'm apologizing here even if I'm not at fault! The least

you could do is acknowledge it." I could feel her glaring eyes on me for a

short while.

"Okay. I acknowledge it." I whispered.

"You're unbelievable." She fumed, but I was no longer

listening to her, the devil had come again. My eyes suddenly grew too heavy for

me to keep open, and I was forced into slumber.

"Leticia." It was like a distant whisper. I was standing

under the spotlight, darkness surrounded me, and it felt like slowly, it was

closing in on me.

"Hello?" I called out as the panic kicked. I had been in the

vehicle with my mom a second ago, hadn't I?

"Leticia?" I heard that whisper once again. I couldn't make

out whose voice it was, neither could I pin point where it was coming from.

Then suddenly in the darkness, I saw a silhouette advance

towards me. I couldn't make out much, all I could see was that whoever it may

be was tall.

Fear gripped at my heart when that feeling came over me all

over again. It was the same feeling I got whenever he was close. The same one

that choked me with fear.

"Who are you?" I whispered in fear as I inched backwards. The

closer the silhouette got, the clearer I could make out the figure, but I still

could not see his face.

"You are mine, Leticia. You can't run, neither can you hide,

I'll always find you." He said in an eerily calm tone of voice while I moved

backwards. Wherever I moved, the light followed me, but the darkness didn't

seize to surround me.

"Wh-who a-re yo-u?"

"Draven."

My eyes suddenly flew open at the loud yell of my name and

the rough shake of my shoulders. Mom stared at me with wide eyes, and it took

me a while to realize where we were. We were in a gas station.

I looked back at her to see her staring at me oddly. I was

used to that look.

"I want to get gas, you have five minutes to do whatever the

hell it is that you want to do, but once it's five minutes, I want you back

here."

I nodded frantically and alighted from the car almost

immediately, hurrying into the store.

**

I rubbed my sweaty hands together as I stood behind my mum, waiting for my grandparents to answer the door.

The door was abruptly pulled open, and the first thing I noticed in my grandmother were her stony blue eyes and wrinkled face.