Jonathan and Other Weird Stories

Jonathan, See-quelling (six)

"Run," Jonathan said, taking trembled steps backwards. His face was crippled in shock, and even his eyes refused to blink. "Run, now!"

Right above Funmi, Adesuwa was a second away from pouncing. Funmi's pounding heart fueled her and instincts took over. She rolled away, and Adesuwa landed on her limbs, growling like a beast. There was little time to think. Funmi stretched to grab the bible and swung it at Adesuwa, but the charred woman struck it with her fingers and the bible shredded to pieces.

"Are you fucking stupid?" Jonathan snapped. "You can't fight her. Just run."

Adesuwa stood slowly, taking her time to stretch her back and her legs. She looked at the holes in her palms, where she had been nailed, and there were holes on her feet too. Her chest rose as she drew a long breath—even though she only had a dent for a nose, it sucked in the air like it was her first time. She stared around the church; her hideous face squeezing with disgust.

Funmi scrambled to her feet, with gasps of breath rushing through her lips, clogging her throat. She held the railings of the altar for support, jumped off the podium, darted towards Jonathan and fell into him. Jonathan did not waste any time. He grabbed her arms, helping her stand upright, then he sped off. Funmi followed, and they ran towards the church's exit, their elbows jabbing the air behind them. Their feet pounded the floorboard like a stampede. Jonathan was faster, but Funmi hustled to keep up. She did not want to be left behind and the exit still seemed a thousand miles away.

Splinters of wood shaped like stakes jetted past them, and one flew past Funmi, dangerously close to piercing the back of her head. Funmi glanced behind her and her face widened in heightened fear. Adesuwa still stood there in the altar, and she had splinters of wood from the shattered pulpit levitating all around her, like they worshipped her. Adesuwa pointed a crooked finger and the splinters obeyed. Funmi looked forward again and increased her running pace. The splinters flew like bullets, and a few off them went past her. One of them found Jonathan's left thigh and he winced, falling on his face. Funmi ran to him and helped him stand; she placed his arms across her shoulders and dragged him through the aisle—his right leg followed, half dragging and half stepping.

Funmi glanced back again, but Adesuwa wasn't there anymore. "She's gone," she whispered frightfully into Jonathan's ears.

"She's never gone," Jonathan told her. "Just move. We need to get outside and find a place to hide."

Funmi grunted. Jonathan was pressing too much of his weight on her and Funmi did not know how much longer she could carry him. "I thought you said she couldn't be in this church."

"Hey, I told you I didn't see how she was killed. How should I have known they nailed her to the cross and burned her alive? The clothes over the crucifix probably prevented her from escaping all this time, because it was a fixed image. I warned you—everything put in place had to stay in place. When you mess with something you shouldn't, it leads to chaos."

Funmi chuckled, but not because she found him funny. "Don't you dare blame this on me. You're the one with a crazy mother who—"

Something grabbed Funmi's ankle and gripped tight, and Funmi screamed, pushing Jonathan to the floor. She looked down. Adesuwa's burnt hand erected from the breach in the floorboard, and it held on to Funmi's leg. Funmi stamped the hand with her free foot, repeatedly, like she was trying to kill bugs, but the hand did not let go.

"She won't let me go," she said, her eyes welling with tears. Funmi wanted to give up and fall on her knees, crying out loud, but then the thought of a wood driving through her thighs set panic in her heart. She tried pulling herself away, tugging her captured leg, but Adesuwa still wouldn't budge. "Jonathan."

"Just shut up," Jonathan snapped. He crawled to the benches and helped himself to sit, panting hard. "You're the one who made the hole when you broke the floor!"

"Seriously? You're going to blame this one on me too? Fuck you!" Funmi resumed stamping the hand again, harder than before, like she wanted to decapitate Adesuwa's hand with the heel of her foot, but the hand seemed like steel. Funmi raised her thigh one last time, stiffened the leg as best as she could, then stamped the hand. But the floorboard broke open, creating an even larger breach.

Adesuwa shoved her head through the breach, tearing through it like it was paper; she grabbed Funmi's second foot with her scrawny fingers, gave one tug and the girl lost balance. Funmi fell and struck her jaw against the floorboard. She turned to Jonathan, but he sat there watching like his head was blank. He did not move, and his eyes were glazed, but his lips quivered and Funmi had never seen anyone so crippled with fear.

"You and the pathetic life you've been living," Adesuwa spat, glaring with her large eyes. Her voice was surprisingly pleasant, but Funmi wasn't falling for it. She had no lips on her face, and the darkened gums holding her teeth made her appear more menacing when she spoke. "Aren't you tired of wasting our life in that hospital? I'll take over your body and the first thing I'm going to do is stab your nurse's eye with that injection she keeps sticking inside you," Adesuwa added, and it sounded like she was offering Funmi a favour and Funmi ought to be grateful.

She pulled Funmi toward the breach in the floor, toward the hole that knew only darkness, and Funmi's bare buttocks scraped the old, wooden floor. A few tiny splinters, that were sticking off the floor, pierced her butt cheeks, and Funmi screamed. It felt like blunt needles piercing her deep inside. Adesuwa did not care; she dragged Funmi again, and the splinters slid even deeper. Funmi bent her neck, turning to Jonathan again. Tears dropped from her eyes, and she did not have the strength to fight anymore. She said no words, but the look in her eyes said a million and they just kept staring at him as the tears flowed. He did promise to keep her safe.

Jonathan sighed. He pushed himself, struggling to stand. Running away and hiding had always been his solution, but not fighting. Never fighting. Funmi knew this, and yet a part of her still stared at him with hope in her heart—hope that she was wrong not to trust him. Jonathan closed his fist over the stake in his leg, and he pulled it out, swallowing a wince. Funmi managed a weak smile, as though she knew exactly what he would do with the stake. He hurled the stake at Adesuwa, but then she caught it mid-air and drove it into Funmi's leg. Funmi cried out, slapping the floorboard in pain. The piece of wood pushed inside her, and with every second, it grew more excruciating, like the insides of her leg was on fire. The stake protruded her leg, passing through like Funmi had no bones.

Jonathan let out a battle cry, charging forward, and lanced Adesuwa's head with his dagger, sticking it deep in her jaw. Adesuwa screeched, before she finally let go of Funmi and disappeared into the dark hole. Jonathan rushed to Funmi's side and pulled the stake off her leg, and she screamed again, even louder than the first time. He grabbed her and helped her stand.

Funmi felt paralyzed, like she could hardly move, but she managed to throw her arm across Jonathan's shoulder and let him carry her. "I can't believe we just killed her," she said under her breath.

"Killed her? The only thing we did was piss her off. We just bought some time, but after she's healed, she's going to come back a lot angrier. And I've seen her angry—I don't think it's something you want to see. There's no chance of beating her. We just have to go."

Funmi was too tired to feel panic, like she had given up and didn't care much about her life anymore. She just wanted the pain to end. They kept moving as fast as they could, dragging one foot after the other, since they were both injured. "She mentioned I was wasting our life? Our life, like I'm sharing it with her. And she wants to take over my body. What does that even mean?"

"I told you, you two are the same. And it's as I feared. She wants her consciousness to fill every layer of your mind and trap you here. She wants to live again in your body. If that happens, she'll be free to roam the earth once again and continue her serial killing. We have to stop her somehow."

"You just said we can't beat her."

Jonathan stayed quiet and looked ahead at the door to exit the church. He pushed it open and they walked out into a clearing, with a few trees towering sparsely. "There might be one way we can actually beat her, and you're not going to like it. But first, you must understand how this reincarnation thing works."