Written by Veluan, Fri Jun 19 8:24:44 US/Pacific 1998
Part 4
The next morning-Danielstreet, in front of the grocery,
Mack walked towards the grocery. He had to do some shopping, his mother was to busy and so he had to take the burden. Through the shopwindow he saw Helena. She looked a bit different, but he couldn't tell what. She nodded at the grocer and went out. Mack stood at the dooropening, she opened the door.
"Where were you last night?" he asked.
She ignored him and walked passed him.
"Hey!"
Still no response. "What's the matter." he approached her, but stopped since she didn't respond.
He stood still and watched her cross the street. She was a stranger to him. He looked at the bag she carried with her. Why did she do the shopping? Edward always did the shopping. He thought at the car coming home that last night, he didn't see Edward, her mother drove, but her mother couldn't drive, she never wanted to. Where is Edward? He thought while standing on the sidewalk.
"Son, get out of the way." a man with a big box stood behind him. Mack returned to the land of the living.
"Oh, sorry." he stepped aside.
"Thanks." and the man continued his way.
"Where is Edward?" Mack mumbled.
The Gedde estate
Helena opened the door and picked up the bag. She walked in and closed the door.
"Mother?"
No response, well that wasn't very unusual, the house big enough for it. She walked into the kitchen and put the bag on the table. She walked into the hall. She went into her mother's favorite room. The room was filled with bookshelves and African art. It was a tradition in the family to collect African art. It almost was a sort of tradition. Above the fireplace hung the picture of her mother. Her mother wasn't here though. She walked into the hall again and climbed the stairs.
"Mother?" she asked again.
"In here..." she faintly heard her mothers voice. She knew where her mother was, but she never was there on this day of the week. She entered the special room. There was a coffin against one of the walls. She knew that Edward was in it. She slowly remembered the night before. The ritual, the family feeling like she was really home. The strange dagger she got from Tetelo and her order to kill Edward. She didn't hesitate for a moment, the last thing she remembered was the surprised look on his face when his body hit the ground. Her mother was looking pale and sat in her chair.
"Mother, are you all right?".
She didn't respond. Helena saw that she had been crying. She slowly looked at her daughter. She tried to resist and her hands turned into fists, but only for a second. Tetelo claimed her body.
"Hello my pretty, this has become most inconvenient." She coughed. "Your mother has grown too weak. The night in the swamp asked too much of her. You completed your task, you killed a close friend, your body is truly a host for me now."
Helena looked at the contents of the coffin, the blinking of her eye was the only emotion noticeable.
"Come closer and kneel before me."
Helena couldn't resist. She kneeled. Tetelo took Helena's head and put it against her head. A young, attractive head against a wrinkled, pale one. Tetelo started to speak in a low voice. Helena couldn't understand it, but knew what it meant with every word spoken. The red dots disappeared. Tetelo let Helena go. Helena grew cold and fell backwards. Her mother jerked and sat motionless in her chair. A red cloud was around Helena, she could only see the red smoke, but there was a darkness beyond it. She saw figures, beastlike. They looked at here, laughing. The smoke entered her body and the darkness slowly went away. Helena felt warm again and stood up. The red dots appeared in her eyes. Tetelo watched herself. All the facets of youth were there. Tetelo smiled and walked towards the body of Helena's mother.
"You had one hell of a daughter, I'm going to enjoy this body."
The red dots vanished and Helena looked at her deceased mother. She closed her mother's eyes and cried.
If you have any comments, you can email Veluan at gjvdmeer@tref.nl.
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