It is the Trial day; Brien arrives to the court wearing a black suit and a tie, accompanied with both his parents. They are waiting in the hall for the judge to call him in the court-room in-order to testify; the Sheriff told him before, it is a routine Procedure: they are going to ask him questions to make sure that Malia was with him that night and if he had seen anything odd or strange. Yet he feels sick in the stomach and finds it difficult to breathe. He wishes Britt is here with him; she is his calming force. But she is grounded for having a night out without her parents’ permission and she is not allowed to see him or call him. ’God, I miss her’ he whispers and thoughts drive him back to the sunny morning in the motel and their first kiss.
A high hoarse voice calls his name, interrupting his day dreams, and invites him to the court-room.
With jelly-legs, Brien walks with heavy steps across the hall as the huge mahogany-like door sways open in front of him, he gets in and an officer ushers him to the witness stand, as he takes a seat, his eyes comes across an old women ; a crone, ugly and looks like something from or ready for the grave. Her hair is straw-like, lifeless and it’s extremely long and large. She pins him with her blood-shot serpentine eyes and gives him a huge smile that allows her tombstone blackened and broken into stubs teeth to escape her big mouth which seems like it smells like death. The sight of her makes Brien sinks in his cold sweat.
She rises from her seat and says with a wheezy, cackling voice: “it’s not over, kiddo… Britt is out of time” and bursts into a thunder-like cackle
The Crone’s words fall on Brien like a sharp sword, The judge bangs on the table to restore silence after the murmur rose in the room . Brien promptly steps out of the witness stand and starts running like his life depends on it, because it does. He has a weird feeling like a déjà-vu, he saw everything in Bardo, he is sure like hell that he knows what he is going to find in Britt’s house, he shakes his head to dismiss the dark thoughts rushing into his mind.
He runs like a wild horse till he reaches the house. He opens the door carefully, steps in , he slow motion he walks towards the stairs, like a thieve, he goes up and reaches Britt’s room , he pushes the door open and he sees Britt and his face turns Zombie-pale; a dark spirit is holding Britt and with a sharp thing it cuts her throat from vein to vein.
