The Voodoo Club (self-insert #3)

Chapter 5

When I woke up that night, I was paralyzed.

It wasn't an uncommon occasion with me. I might've even laughed it off and gone back to sleep after reviving my limbs if it weren't for the sensation of something heavy pressing down on my entire body. Waves of pressure periodically swept through my skull, obliterating all sound. My heart pounded in my chest. My hotel room was dark and empty.

I'd experienced this once, and at the time I'd had a good idea of what it was.

Slowly and painfully I managed to move a hand, scrabbling blindly around on my nightstand for the telephone. An eternity or two seemed to pass before I dialed four numbers and held it to my ear.

Naru picked up almost immediately. "Nira. What are you doing awake?"

"The thing is there, isn't it?" I rasped. He was silent. "Look, right now I'm paralyzed. It feels likes something is on top of me."

"So you're being targeted, too?"

"No!" I grimaced as another pressure wave whooshed through my skull. "They don't know my name!"

He paused. "What has your name got to do with anything?" He asked slowly.

"Beats me. Look, I'm going to hang up and call Lin. He can—"

"Don't." His voice was cold, colder than water beneath ice. "Don't you dare. Nothing will happen as long as I don't take my eyes off of it. Besides, how is Lin supposed to get in here?"

He did have a point, but I didn't like the idea of him just sitting their with some murderous apparition for company. Automatically I began to whisper every single dua and surah I could remember, repeating them when I couldn't think of another. Ages creeped past, too slowly to count before reddish orange sunlight trickled in through the curtains. The pressure vanished. Taking a deep breath, I forced my muscles to wake up and winced as blood started flowing through my veins with a bit more energy.

"Thank you."

I jumped as Naru's voice blared in my ear. "You're still there?" I demanded, my voice guttering from lack of use. I cleared my throat.

"What do you think? Did you hear me hang up?" I winced at his unforgiving logic. "If I'm not mistaken, you've missed a prayer."

I hung up and scrambled towards the bathroom, my blankets tangled around my legs.

Breakfast was a half-hearted attempt at making jokes that earned red-eyed glares from Naru. In the van I managed to snatch a few minutes of sleep, but it wasn't enough to keep me from staggering into base behind Lin and Naru. Kasai bowed as she left. I managed a smile.

"I'll make you some tea!" Mai offered with the energy of someone who'd slept like a baby. I wanted to hate her for it, but she was Mai. There was no hating her.

She'd also made me a mug.

"Sure." Naru said as he pulled off his coat and scarf. When he stopped by the table, she finally got a good look at his face.

"You're eyes are red. Couldn't you sleep last night?" She watched him, concerned.

"No." He dropped his things on a chair and plopped down. Usually he sat down with all the poshness that came of being an Englishman, but today he was doing some championship-level plopping. "That ghost and I were glaring at each other all night."

Mai and Lin froze. "You mean the ghost from yesterday?" She asked.

He heaved a sigh. "Yeah. You guessed right, Mai. It showed up in my room last night. I figured it wouldn't be safe to take my eyes off it so I stared at it all night."