Beckoned Through The Dark

105 // Abigail // Revived

“Karabelo, what are you doing? Why am I still here?” I felt like I was losing grip of reality, I kept seeing flashes, but I was not sure what was happening. I was hearing many voices at the same time, and they got even louder when I tried blocking them out.

Karabelo had me trapped inside the same baobab tree she was holding my sister, but Claudia was nowhere to be found, instead, there was a giant snake.

I didn’t even know how long I’d been stuck in here for, but I knew that Karabelo was using my body to cause mischief in the real world, and there was no one to stop her.

What I didn’t realise when I took her powers in the real world was that she was bound to this place spiritually, and she was stronger here than she ever was when she was still alive.

“You see, at first I wanted to get back at my dear mother, but that damn cop friend of yours shot me with a bullet dipped in holy water,” she mused, walking around like the goddess she was.

She had all the power here, the place danced to her tuned, and she didn’t shy away from showing it. There was no telling time down here, everyday felt the same, there was no sleeping, there was no resting; it felt like eternity.

Karabelo had no means of getting out there, she was stuck here, and she enjoyed keeping me with her; she enjoyed having someone to torture. She tortured me, okay? This place was dark and quiet, with lost souls floating around, but most of the times, they were not quiet, she would unseal their voices and make me hear all their cries.

It was messing with my mind and made this place even more unbearable.

I always wondered how Claudia must have been, trapped here with no way out, now I knew every feeling there was to it. It still felt like yesterday when my soul escaped from my body, and I wanted to go back to my life.

“Karabelo, how long have I been here for?” I asked in panic, it felt as if something was ripping my body out there.

“Eight months and counting.” She laughed, her voice echoing throughout the tree.

“What?”

She sighed dreamily, her face lighting up in menacing joy. “It is amazing, isn’t it?” She teleported us to the sea where her lost souls were moving in an endless trance. “I have spent years building this place, this is my kingdom, and I’m the only one who can control what happens down here. There’s no one coming for you, your mother, your sister, your father, my grandmother; they all can’t save you.” For a moment there, I accepted that I was not going anywhere. “Soon enough, your family will be forced to unplug you from the life support, and your will be buried into the earth and rot away while you spend the rest of eternity with me. Soon, you will learn to love this place, trust me. And when you do, we will forge a way out of this, and we will rule the world together.”

Everything around us started to slow down, and a new energy filled the atmosphere. “I’m sorry to steal your thunder again, dear sister, but that is not going to happen.” We both turned around to be greeted by Lesego.

She looked supreme, she was surrounded by a white light, and her eyes were glowing in white while her hair was silver and longer.

Karabelo’s creation seemed to surrender to her presence. “How did you get in here?” Karabelo asked furiously.

Lesego looked in my direction and smiled.  “Abigail, get out of her,” she commanded and swept me away with just a twitch of her finger, and I was pulled back into my body.

A beeping sound hit my ears, and I jolted up as a shockwave vibrated throughout my entire body. I took in a long, heavy breath and fell back onto the soft surface. 

“She’s back!” I heard someone say, and then everything from there was a blur.

I was patched up and then moved from the theatre to another ward, I was out in seconds, and by the time I woke up again, I was all alone in a hospital room, connected to a drip.

I stared up at the ceiling, praying to my ancestors that this was not another joke; would die if I ended up in that place with Karabelo again. Lesego’s face flashed in my mind, and I quickly sat up and cried out in agony when my stomach pierced in immense pain.

“Abigail, take it easy!” Barbara said, laying me back against the pillow. “How are you feeling?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I croaked, my throat felt dry, one would swear I wasn’t under the ocean a while ago.

Barbara gave me some water and then did some final check-ups before leaving. A few seconds after she left, the room started piling up with familiar faces, and I couldn’t help the tears that flowed. This was not an illusion, I was alive.

“Abby!” Claudia rushed forward and threw her arms around me, and then she pampered my face with kisses. “You are back,” She said in tears, holding my face in her hands.

I couldn’t find any word to say to her, she had no idea just how glad I was to see her; Karabelo had convinced me that she had been eaten by the snake and was dead. “I thought I’d never see you again,” I cried and held her hand tightly.

“Well, now you have your entire lives to see each other,” Sello said and stepped forward, pulling Claudia into a side hug. “I’m glad you are both okay.”

I gave him a small smile and looked around the room, and I wasn’t surprised that my mother was not in the room among the guests. There was Cecilia, Vincent, Clay, Tommy, Jack, Dineo, and Duncan.

My hand involuntarily moved to my ring finger, and my eyes welled up with tears when I felt a ring too big for finger; it was Ryan’s wedding ring.

I’d never allowed myself to think about him, I couldn’t imagine a world without him and refused to let myself believe that he was dead. The room filled with silence, and I felt every pair of eyes on me.  I blinked away my tears and looked at Cecilia. “Where is Lesego? I thought she would be here.”

They all exchanged sad looks, and Clay gave me a weak smile and gulped. “We haven’t seen her in eight months, she… she left,” he said, and Tommy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

She must have gone away to get training and reacquaint herself with her calling, and she was a master of her powers now. She saved me. I smiled at the thought but did not want to get their hopes up since I was not sure of what happened back there after I came back to life. “She will come back,” I said to Clay.

He nodded his head and buried his hands deep in his pockets. “I know. It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s good to be back.” I turned to Vincent who was standing next to his mother sitting on the chair, he looked a bit lost. I imagined since Nthabiseng was not in the room, she had gone back to the land of the dead. He must be lonely after spending all those years with her. As if reading my mind, Cecilia caressed his hand and smiled up at him. He gave her a small smile and looked at me, giving me a firm nod.

Ha! Guess a few things were still the same, Vincent Nichols was still not a fan of mine. He walked out of the room without a single word, and Jack went after him.

“He is not well,” Cecilia said softly. “He was never the same after discovering what happened to his wife and everything that followed. He was distraught when the police never found her in the house, Karabelo had burned her body and made sure that she perished.” She drew in a deep breath and stared at her hands. “After everything that happened, he expected his only surviving daughter to stay with him, but he never even got the chance to speak to her, because she left while we were all at Betty’s house.”

I could imagine how he felt, I knew how it was to be surrounded by people and still feel alone. Clay and Tommy said their goodbyes and left, and Duncan who seemed to be close to Tommy, left with them.

It was just me, Cecilia, Dineo, Claudia, and Sello left in the room. “What happened to everyone else?” I asked.

Cecilia called Dineo to come and sit on her lap, and then she turned to me. “Well, my daughter is in a mental institution, and all her accomplices are in jail.” My mind drifted off to Lwandle and Nomalanga. “And well, my sister is dead.” She shrugged and continued playing with Dineo’s hair.

I looked at my sister and father, they seemed to be in their own bubble; they were laughing and chatting, and Claudia looked extremely happy. I was glad that she had someone to turn to all those months I was away and when Bridgette went to jail.

A loud commotion came from outside, and we all turned to look at the door. The voices continued for a bit longer, and then Tiffany walked into the room looking annoyed with Brad behind her. “All am saying is that he shouldn’t come home late like he has been doing lately,” she grumbled.

Brad rolled his eyes and threw us an apologetic look. “Honey, Clay is an adult, he can take care of himself,” he said pleadingly.

Tiffany scoffed, placing the flowers and fruit-basket on the side table. “Well, he could be sixty years old, and it wouldn’t change the fact that he is my nephew.” She stood back with her hands intertwined, and then she looked at me in wonder. She looked nothing like the tough cop I met over a year ago, she was more loose, young, and motherly. “I’m sorry about your shoulder,” she said after a while, and we all laughed.

Karabelo wouldn’t stop talking about how Tiffany shot at her with a bullet covered in holy water. I smiled and moved my shoulder, but it was all healed up. “Well, consider yourself forgiven. We are all here because of you today,” I said.

“Well, technically, we are here for you,” she joked, and once again, the room filled with laughter.

“Thank you.”

She grimaced and looked at all the faces in the room. “In all honest, I didn’t do it for you. When that girl was wreaking havoc with your body, it crossed my mind to blow your head too many times.” I gasped, feeling offended, but then she smiled brightly and left the room.

“Are we all going to pretend like she didn’t just say she was going to kill me?” I asked, and they all smiled without a word.

A few seconds later, Tiffany walked back into the room, with a baby in her hands. My breath caught in my throat as she walked towards me in slow gentle steps. “I did it for this little guy here,” she said playfully while tugging at the baby’s mini blanket.

Her words played in my mind repeatedly, she said she could have killed me, but she couldn’t. I remembered how Karabelo hinted a few times that they were keeping me alive, because they wanted to save some brat, but I never for a second thought that she was talking about a baby. My baby.

Tears spilled out of my eyes, and a chocked cry escaped my throat. I covered my mouth with my hands and shook my head in disbelief. This was truly a miracle, I never thought I would be able to have children, that was never an option for me. But now I learnt that I’d brought a life to this world while in deep sleep, that I had a piece of Ryan in me for nine months, and now I would watch him grow by my side.

“Would you like to hold him?” Dineo cheered, and everyone else chorused.

I nodded my head and sat up straight. Tiffany placed him in my arms, and my heart melted as soon as I saw his cute little face. He was so tiny and beautiful, and I couldn’t believe he was really mine. He looked so cute in his fluffy, oversized blue onesie. “He is so beautiful.” Like his dad, I wanted to say. He would be so happy if he was here, he had always wanted to have a child more than anything in this world.

“What are you going to call him?” Sello asked with teary smile. He looked torn apart, but in a good way. I could just imagine what he must be feeling, losing his daughter the day she was born and meeting her after twenty-six years, and becoming a grandfather before he could even be a father to her.

“Am I late?” My heart leaped with joy as Lesego’s voice filled the room. She was standing at the door in baby-blue ripped jeans and a matching long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was dyed in platinum blonde and it was in a bob-cut like the last time after her release from prison.

“Lesego!” Dineo ran and crashed into her, wrapping her around her in a tight embrace.

Lesego smiled and hugged her with one hand since the other was holding balloons. “Hey, Dinny. I missed you too!” She gushed and placed sweet kisses on the little girl’s face.

I smiled. “You are just in time to meet Baby Ryan.” She smiled brightly and stepped farther into the room, and then she placed the blue and white balloons on the nightstand and joined me on the bed.

“He looks so tiny.”

“Do you want to hold him?” I asked, and her eyes widened in horror.

She backed away a bit and shook her head. “No, I’ll pass.”

“Can I hold him?” Dineo asked excitedly.

“Let me.” Claudia took him from me, and they all went stood around the couch to see Ryan.

Lesego watched them and smiled at me. “How does it feel?”

I sighed and leaned back against my pillow. “It all seems so surreal. I mean, I’d made peace with the fact that I would never have kids,” I admitted, my eyes trained on my tiny bundle of joy. “I didn’t get to experience what it feels like, and I didn’t even give birth to him the way I’d imagined.” Lesego squeezed my hand. “I wish Ryan was here right now, he would have been so happy.”

“I’m sure he is.”

I nodded and turned my attention to her, taking in her radiant face. “I thought you had long hair.”

She laughed and ran her hand over her head. “I did,” she said sheepishly. “I stopped by the hair salon before coming here.” I shook my head at her, she had beautiful hair.

“And Karabelo?” It had been bugging me since I woke up, I needed to know what would happen. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life in fear, especially now that I had someone to protect; I didn’t want to put my son in any danger.

“Don’t worry about her.” She sighed and rolled her head back. “She won’t come after any of us anymore, you are safe.”

I believed her, but for some reason, there was something in her eyes that told me she had given up a part of herself to make it all happen.  I didn’t want to ask her what happened back there, that was between her and her sister. All that mattered now was that we were all safe.

Nomalanga, Bridgette, and Betty had ruined everyone’s lives, but in doing so, they also brought us together. We had a second chance to live better than we were before, and this time, as a family.