Beckoned Through The Dark

104 // Tiffany // Last Bullet

Abigail screamed like she was on fire, her body convulsing as if she was having a seizure, and then everything stopped; her voice died down and she went still, her eyes staring unblinking at us.

"Abigail!" Bridgette wailed. "I'm so sorry, baby, I'm sorry. Betty, do something, please, my daughter is going to die."

I looked at her apologetically, Betty didn't even do that for her own daughter, why would she care about Abigail, more especially after Bridgette betrayed her?

She made herself clear earlier when she said no one was leaving this place alive, and looking at her now, I believed her.

It was getting late with every minute we lost, the darker it got, and the more dangerous this mission became.

“Brad, what is going on out there? We need to move fast before someone else dies,” I whispered under my breath, hoping that no one was paying attention.

‘We are still moving on to Plan B, my guys are trying to open the window in one of the bedrooms, but the burglar is giving us problems. We can’t remove it without making any sound,’ he mumbled.

Great! Just what I needed.

“Just…hurry up!” I had to get everyone out safely, I couldn’t shoot at Betty from where I was seated. "Brad, give me something," I muttered under my breath, tapping my fingers on the ground.

"We are good to go." I exhaled as I heard that and I shut my eyes, praying for the best out of this mission.

It was true, I couldn't shoot Betty, but I could take her down if she came close enough, she just needed a little push.

I looked at Lwandle, she was staring at her best friend's body on the floor.

I could never understand why she was doing this, more especially to her friend, Abigail was such a sweet soul, well, when she pleased; but she wasn't a horrible person.

From the little I knew about her; I knew she was going to bounce back from this.

“Elizabeth.” A voice came from outside. “Baby, it’s me.”

Finally! I relaxed and took in the scene around me, there were quite a lot of people with their names on bullets, but right now I had to get everyone upstairs, Cecilia and Dineo needed to get out first; I wasn’t as concerned about everyone else, these two would slow us down, and I had no doubt Betty wanted to kill Cecilia more than anyone else.

"Listen up, do whatever I tell you to do. We can't sit here forever or else we are all going to die," I whispered as softly as I could, making sure they all heard me. From what I could see from the couch, Betty was distracted by her lover; she was seated on the floor with her head between her knees and her arms around her legs. "We are all going to go upstairs. Be as quiet as possible." I lifted my habit and took out my badge and pistol, and Lwandle gasped when she spotted my badge, her eyes wide in shock. I gave her a tight smile before taking out handcuffs and sliding them in her direction.

“You are a cop?” Vincent asked, but I ignored him.

“Come on now, move.” I nodded at Lwandle, pointing my gun at her. She gulped and placed her gun on the floor, and then she picked up the cuffs and restrained herself. “Guys, let’s move.” I stepped aside and gestured for them to head out of the room. Cecilia and Dineo went first, followed by Sello and Vincent. “Go with them,” I said to Lwandle, “Quietly.” She tiptoed after them, throwing one last cautious look towards Betty.

“What about my daughter? We can’t leave her behind,” Bridgette complained.

I exhaled, staring at her with bored eyes. At this point, I felt like knocking her out with my gun, but I controlled myself and smiled at her. “We will come back for her.”

“But-”

“You are wasting time.” As if reading my mind, Nthabiseng took her wrist and led her towards the stairs. “Bradley, they are coming your way. Hurry up.” I followed them, but a soul-wrecking laughter rocked the house, stopping me in my tracks and waking Betty from her stupor.

I turned around and found Abigail on her knees, clutching her stomach as she bowled on the floor. Her voice was deep and powerful, and there was a strong unnatural energy coming from her body.

I pressed the earpiece against my ear and whispered, “Brad, don’t waste another second.” I cocked my gun and slowly headed back down.

“Abigail!” Bridgette ran down the stairs, and I blocked her with my hair. “What are you doing? Betty is going to kill my daughter!” She yelled n panic.

Abigail laughed harder and stood up, her eyes cast to the ground, and the moment she looked up, it felt as if someone had knocked the breath out of my lungs; her eyes were a deep, dark red, and her face pale as a ghost.

“That’s not your daughter, dammit! Get the hell out of here,” I hissed at her, my eyes still trained in the shadowy figure before my eyes. I felt Bridgette back away from me, leaving me feeling crept out.

Betty took in the scene before her, and her entire body went rigid when her eyes stopped in the empty area where the hostages were seated. She looked up, her eyes wide in blind rage. “NO!” She roared, her hand going up as she lifted her gun in Abigail’s direction.

My eyes widened in horror, and I lifted my gun to stop her. Our guns went off at the same time,  but everything stopped as the bullets span around and remained suspended in the air, one behind Abigail’s head and the other past her ear, and then they both dropped on the floor, their clanging sound filling the silence.

Betty gaped in shock and then continued shooting multiple times until she ran out of bullets, all her bullets landing on the floor. She stared in unmatched horror at the smoke coming out of her gun before dropping it on the ground, and then she looked up at the indestructible figure before dashing for the door. She tried to pull at it, but it did not budge. “No.” She slammed against the door.

Abigail turned around and stared at Karabelo’s dead body leaning against the wall. “Don’t exhaust yourself mother,” she spoke, her red eyes still trained on the dead body in deep fascination.

Betty gasped, leaning against the front door as if she could disappear through it. “Karabelo?”

“Tiffany.” A voice came from the earpiece. “Tiffany, can you hear me?” Brad asked. “Tiffany, what’s taking you so long? And where’s Nthabiseng?”

That got me, I turned my eyes towards the stairs in panic, and as expected, Nthabiseng was coming down. I shook my head in terror, this couldn’t be happening to me now.

“Nthabiseng, what are you doing?” I asked.

She smiled at me, her eyes distant. “Honey, you have helped me enough, but this is my war now.” She stopped before me and held my face. “You saved me all those years ago and gave me a second chance. Save yourself,” she said and walked past me.

“Ah, my two mothers in one room, how wonderful!” Karabelo chirped, grinning in Nthabiseng’s direction.

Nthabiseng approached her with caution. “My dear, listen,” she spoke in a quiet, serene voice. “I know you are angry, but we can still work things out.”

Karabelo laughed humourlessly, it was strange hearing her laugh in Abigail’s voice, considering that I’d never heard Abigail laugh. “You have been out here for… how long has it been again?” She looked in my direction, her evil eyes devouring me.

It had been over seventeen years since she came back from the dead, and that was more than enough time to fix the life she had left behind.

If she had taken a step to saving her children, none of this would be happening. She preferred to stand on the side and watched as Betty turned her daughter into a monster, she stood by her husband's side all these years and watched him grieve over his late wife and daughters and said nothing.

She chose to do nothing and settled for a new life without her kids.

She used her second chance for her own selfish reasons, the dead were supposed to remain dead, but here she was, walking the streets of earth as if she was Jesus himself. She was using her birth right and her miracle to manipulate the hands of time, every time she fell asleep, she went back to the land of the dead, and then used her powers to get back to her host body.

She was playing with nature.

Nthabiseng knew that if the truth came out, she would be exposed, so since she couldn't have both Vincent and the twins, she chose to live a new life with Vincent, and kept him as far away from his sister and her kids.

Karabelo was right, no one here was a saint, they just kept their dirty evil deeds well hidden.

The moment Karabelo's menacing eyes landed on me, I knew that Nthabiseng was right, this was not my war.

I placed my gun back in its holder and ran for the stairs, but Karabelo lifted her hands in front of her, with her palms facing down, and then she threw them down with enough force to shake the house.

The ground beneath me quaked, and I came tumbling down the stairs and landed on my stomach right below the staircase.

I groaned in pain, my ears ringing as everything fell apart.

My entire body was aching, and I couldn't move a muscle.

Karabelo waved her hands in the air, covering every corner of the house with a dark energy, engulfing the house to the brim.

"Karabelo, stop!" Nthabiseng yelled. "You are going to kill innocent people!"

"Which innocent people? Your cop friend over here who kept your secret for seventeen because she wanted to have a big break? Your dear sister-in-law over there who ruined your career, stole your babies, and murdered you?" Karabelo asked, walking towards Nthabiseng. "Or us?" She stopped in front of her. "We are already dead."

Nthabiseng shook her head. "That is not true, and you know it. Abigail is still alive!"

"She has nothing to live for! Her sister is dead, her husband is also dead, her mother might as well be dead, and don't get me started on her father."

"That baby inside of you is not dead!" Nthabiseng yelled, and everything stopped.

Karabelo dropped her hands and stepped back, her face reforming into different emotions.

"What?" She breathed. "You are saying that Abigail is pregnant?"

What?

"That baby deserves to have a better life than what we all had." While Nthabiseng spoke, Betty got up from where she'd been lying and snooped towards the stairs since she could not open the door; Karabelo had breached everything.

"Honey, give it a chance to grow in a home with a loving mother."

That seemed to only loosen the screws in her head, Karabelo spotted Betty trying to get away, and she lost it.

"NO!" She roared and raised her hands at her lightning speed, and in one move, the house tore into half, tearing between the stairs, all the way down to the kitchen.

Screams filled the entire house as the roof came crushing down.

I curled into myself and shifted as far away from the wall as I could, cushioning myself among the furniture in the sitting room.

The atmosphere filled with thick dust coming from the huge tear on the ground, breaking down my lungs as I struggled to breathe.

Betty was holding on to the stairwell while dangling in the air, and I was stranded alone on the other half of the house, while Karabelo and Nthabiseng stood off on the other side.

"Help me, help!" Betty screamed over the noise of the tumbling walls.

"Don't worry, dear mother," Karabelo spoke from somewhere in the other side. "I'll help you; I'll make it all stop soon!" The dusk around her settled, and she came into view, her body covered in dirt and sweat.

She was the least affected by the impact of her havoc, and she stood tall on a mass of cement that had descended on Nthabiseng.

"Karabelo, honey, please help me," Nthabiseng croaked desperately. "We cannot end things like this."

"No, dear mother. I'm sending you back to the hell you crawled out from."

"No, please don't!"

"Put in a good word with your ancestors for me, will you?" She moved her fingers as if she was playing with a piece of string, a red glow growing around Nthabiseng. She pushed the rock off her and lifted Nthabiseng in the air, engulfing her body in a thick red mass.

Nthabiseng wailed in agony, begging her to stop. "Soon, mother, very soon," Karabelo declared, focusing as if she was working on a piece of art as she channelled dark energy into Nthabiseng's body. "I'm going to rip your soul inside out; the pain will be the last thing you remember of this world before you perish."

Nthabiseng's monstrous screams filled the air, taking everything down with air as she burned and vanished into ashes.

I stared in horror at the empty space where the woman stood, and I quickly reached for my gun.

"Karabelo, you can't do this! Honey, we can still be happy, we can have all the money to ourselves, just you and me. Imagine all the things we could achieve together!" Betty cried, her feet dangling off the edge. She was slowly losing grip of the piece of pillar she was hanging on to.

Karabelo stalked towards her in unshaken strength, a red magical glow basking around her body. "You took me away from my parents, you murdered my mother, you separated me from my sister and isolated me, and turned me against her and everyone else. You abandoned me repeatedly, because you feared how powerful I'd become, you feared what I'd do to you once I discovered your atrocities. And now you are going to find out." She clutched at Betty with her invisible claws and pulled her into the clear, far away from the ditch, and then moved her to where her dead body was now buried under bricks and covered in cement. "You did that, you killed me," she said and then turned Betty to face her when she spoke the next words, "And now I'm going to kill you."

Betty shook her head, fear written all over her face. "No, no, please don't!" She begged.

"Oh, mom! All I wanted was a fair chance, to be loved for who I am, without being compared to Lesego, Duncan, or Dineo."

The first thought was to escape and let them kill each other, but then Karabelo would snap Betty like a twig and then move on to kill me too and the rest of the survivors.

And most importantly, she was in a pregnant woman's body, now I had to find a way to stop her without killing Abigail or harming the baby.

Why did things have to be this complicated?

Truthfully, it wasn't. I searched through my jean pockets and took out a bullet, it was a backup plan in case things went south and back.

I released the magazine and replaced the first bullet with the new one, and then placed it back and cocked the gun, the sound alerting Karabelo of the impending danger.

I lifted the gun, the shining metal revealing my location.

Karabelo leaped in my direction since she couldn't attack me directly, because she didn't have a clear access to my body.

I quickly sat up and shot at her before she could jump from the other side, and she screeched in pure agony as the bullet went through and hit plunged itself into her right shoulder.

Her energy exploded, dissipating into smoke, and then everything stopped as Abigail's body hit the ground.

I exhaled and fell back against the couch. "Brad, if you can hear me, we need urgent assistance in here," I said weakly.

There was silence on the other end for the longest time, and I swore I would be dead before anyone ever thought of coming closer to this house; by now I’m sure the streets were swarming with journalists and police.

I would have loved to be out there, before this I would have jumped at the idea of walking out here with my head held high while escorting the suspect out of the house, with their hands tied behind their back.

This was supposed to be my big break, the case that would put me on the map after years of tireless effort. But all I wanted to do right now was to get back to my husband and kids and be there for my nephew like I should have been all those years ago when my sister died.

I didn’t want this life anymore, because we ran away from bullets as much as we chased after them; there was no guarantee of your life in the police force.

"Tiffany?" Brad's shrilling voice came from the earpiece in my ear, and I felt like crying. "You are alive! Thank God!"

I didn't wait to hear the rest, there was a lot of commotion coming from his side. I removed the device from my ear and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

I heard movement on the other side but didn't dare to move.

If Betty tried to escape, she wouldn't get that far, and as for Karabelo, she was not coming back anytime soon; she left Abigail's body as soon as she felt the burning impact of the holy water.

I had to thank Abigail for the idea when she wakes up.

It was over, it was all over, and we would all get to see another day; we all had another chance to fix our mistakes and mend our broken families.