Expelling Demons [On Hold]

3

Ashlyn

"Mom, Layna's talking weird in her letters again," I call out from the tiny room in the center of our house, streching my voice to reach through the open door leading to our kitchen outside.

"What do you mean, Sweetie?" my mom asks, walking inside, letting her dark hand caress the splintered, molded wood frame.

"She writes in lines like a poem, and nothing she says makes sense." I earn a puzzled look from my mom, who drags her heavy legs and pregnant stomach over to where I stand. "Here, read it."

A gasp escapes her lips. Her hand flies to her forehead. "Oh," it all she says, though.

"What?" I ask.

"Oh, darling, Ree. Dear, Ree, my dear. I knew this day would come. Oh goodness my dear."

"What, Mom, what is it?"

"What did Layna say in the last letter she sent you? Did she say anything about our poultry?"

I can't imagine my mother acting so strange for pure enjoyment, but this must be a joke. Poultry?

"Mom, you're talking crazy."

"Go put the chickens away, Ree, and I'll kill 'em and cook 'em so you can bring 'em to the market to sell tomorrow with your little sister."

"Why are you calling me Ree?" I draw in an exasperated breath. "What is going on?"

"Reread the letter once you get back from putting the chickens up, dear," is the only response she gives me.

A long sigh escapes my mouth as I shuffle my bare feet out of the musty room and into the cool, Autumn air. The sound of chickens clucking brings me warmth as I scoop up my favorite chicken, Bess, who just stopped laying eggs a few weeks ago. Her red feathers are soft beneath my arms as I carry her to the coop. She'll be the first one to go. All of the other chickens still lay, and my mom has no sympathy for the retired bird.

I lay the bird gently in her cage, tensing as I think of my mothers big brown hands wrapping around the chicken's neck. I prop the coop door open with a twig and head over to the little wired off garden in the far end of the yard. I grab some greens to throw into the coop and watch the other chickens come running. I close the coop and run back into our house.

My mother stands hunched over the kitchen table, muttering to herself, her round stomach in one hand and a yellowed paper in the other. This paper can't be Layna's. Layna has all of the crisp, white, government issued paper. The paper in my mother's hand has to be from the town market.

"Mom?"

"Go get your sister," she tells me, not even glancing up at me.

"Why? Mom, what's going on?"

"Just do as I say." I stay where I am. "Now."

I walk out of the front of our house and holler for my brother, who looks up from the mud pie he plays in with his friends and runs over.

A smile bears through his chubby cheeks as he screams my name, "Ash!"

"Ren, do you know where Myana is?"

"Mi Mi went to get berries," he tells me.

A sigh escapes my lips. My brother frowns. "I gotta go, Ren," I tell my little brother, skipping any explanation that would go right over the three year old's head. Myana probably went to go get berries by the river bend, but I'll be able to stay inside if I tell Mom I don't know where she is, so I walk back to the house without a word.

"Where's your sister? You didn't find Myana?"

I hesitate. "No."

"Well, go back out there and find her."

"But I don't know where she is."

"I'm sure you can try," my mother retorted, throwing her arm up and motioning towards the door.

I walk out of the room without a comment.

I skip right past my brother and the neighborhood children, climb over the old wooden fence that seperaes our backyard from the forest, and make my trek up to the river, where I find my younger sister, laying on the floor.

"Myana?" I call out to her. "Myana, we have to go back for some reason. I got another letter, but it doesn't make any sense and Mom is freaking out about it." I nudge her with my foot. "Myana, wake up!" I don't have time for this. "Why can't you sleep at home like a normal person," I mutter as I crouch down to roll the sleepyhead over.

My hands make her limp body roll over onto the soft ground.

I scream.