The Haunted Hairbrush

The Ritual

Cecily's POV:

I hurry down the twisty streets of our little town, my heart thundering and try not to get my hopes up. I was sorry to leave Kendra alone with the demon, but this is a one-time chance, according to the shopkeeper. It's a chance to rid Kendra of the demon. 

Tonight reminded me that other people are noticing what's happening to Kendra as well. I take a route to the woods. Her mom was downstairs, sobbing because she'd noticed her little girl sneaking out for the past few nights. 

They'd also noticed her grades in science and history dropping, her two best subjects. And she basically dropped out of the lacrosse team. So naturally, her mother had jumped to the worst conclusion: that Kendra had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and started doing drugs, then going into a deep depression which would eventually lead to suicide.

Connor and I assured her that no such thing had happened, and Kendra was just acting up like teenagers did for some stupid frivolous reason. I told her that she'd been sneaking out to come over to my house since Granny wasn't feeling too well, and putting me through hard times. Which was technically not a lie, since Granny had Alzheimer's and Kendra did come over to my house one night, only it was to tell me that she named her evil hairbrush "Dark Magic" and kind of to kill me at the same time. 

As I step into the trees, a cold wind bites at my skin through my thin sweater, I shiver and tug my sweater closer. The path —if you could call it that— is narrow, a thin squiggle made up of lighter dirt than what surrounds it.  The moon is a perfect semi-circle, as it needs to be for the ritual that is (hopefully) to take place tonight. 

I start sprinting down the road. We have to do it before the sun is fully up, and it won't be sunrise till 25 minutes. Finally, I reach a small clearing in the woods. It's nothing special, just a few patches of grass here and there in an oval of dirt. The old woman who I still don't know the name of, and who somehow managed to find out my phone number stands in the middle of the clearing. 

In her hand lies an ornate sword. I approach her and stand about five feet away, unsure what to do. "Come closer, you naïve child, I am not going to behead you". I hesitantly did as she asked. "I shall perform a ritual to enchant this sword with heavenly power. As soon as the sword is enchanted, I will let go of it and you will catch it. If it touches the ground it will vanish. Then you will run to whatever place the demon is and stab it. Got —".

"STAB KENDRA?!?", I shout. "Well, yes, you see, a holy blade can kill a demon", the old hag says calmly. "You mean, the only way to get rid of the demon is to stab kill the host?", I ask, not even debating in my head whether or not I should do it. "Haven't you learned anything? Of course killing the host won't kill the demon. All its past hosts are dead. Killing the host with a holy blade will vanquish the evil spirit". 

The thing in my chest starts beating faster and louder. I feel like vomiting. "There's got to be another way, can't you enchant the blade to kill the demon and only the demon?". The old woman rolls her eyes. "Are there no limits to your idiocy? Even if I could somehow do that, a blade is a blade and once it penetrates the body that is that". 

My chest fills with some hope. A plan begins forming in my head and I mentally congratulate myself for my brilliantness. But there was always a chance it could go wrong. And there were a lot of ifs. And I would need the old hags help. "Alright, but if I do this, you owe me one. And I'm going to call in that favor right now, considering you don't have much time left to, well, live", I say. She doesn't even have the courtesy to look offended, but listens to my plan and nods her head. 

Soon she tells me to step away and instructs me to close my eyes then starts murmuring something under her breath. All of a sudden, a voice makes me open my eyes and stops old woman's spell chanting. 

"Oh, I think I'll be taking that sword, thank you very much", she grabs the weapon out of the shopkeeper's hands and stalks towards me. I would lunge to grab the sword back but my stupid body is frozen in shock.

"Sandra?", I ask in disbelief.