Just Out of Reach (Norminah)

"Remember Me?"

Normani awoke with a massive headache. Her eyes drifted around the room in confusion before she remembered where she was. She had forgotten that Kehlani brought her to her home to keep an eye on her.

She sat up slowly as she felt movement in her stomach and the overwhelming urge to pee hit her. She threw her legs over the side of the bed, slipped on her furry socks and waddled to the bathroom.

"Mani, you awake?" She heard Lauren's voice coming from the hall.

"In the bathroom!" She yelled back but she soon regretted it when the pounding in her head got worse. "Hey, Laur?"

"Yeah?" Lauren peeked her head into the bathroom while Normani still sat on the toilet but neither cared.

"Can you ask Lani if she has some Tylenol? My head is killing me." She murmured as she massaged her temples.

"Sure, just hold tight until I get back." Lauren scared off to find Kehlani.

"Hello, love." The eerie voice was back, followed by a cool burst of air then a foul smell.

"Not you again. What do you want now?" Normani groaned. "I'm on the toilet for fuck's sake."

The demonic figure of Dinah appeared in front of her. "I need you to do something for me." It whispered.

Normani was about to protest when she could hear Lauren coming down the hall again.

The demonic figure whispered words in Latin then disappeared just as Lauren walked through the door. "I've got the....Mani?" She cut herself off when she took in Normani's almost dreadful appearance.

"Morning sickness." Normani's voice was back to the way it was the night before: flat and emotionless.

"Do you still need these?" She held up the Tylenol ad she walked further into the bathroom.

Normani grabbed the pill and fixed her clothes. "Thanks." She muttered as she walked past Lauren and back into the bedroom.

Lauren quickly walked out of the room and down the hall to Kehlani's room. "She's doing it again." She sighed.

Kehlani was looking through her spell book but she stopped when Lauren said those words.

"Doing what?"

"That voice thing. It's kind of creepy if you ask me." Lauren tucked her legs underneath her but and grabbed the bag of Cheetos from Kehlani.

"Um, excuse you." Kehlani snatched them back and stuffed a handful in her mouth. "These are my stress eating snacks. I don't share those."

Lauren rolled her eyes and climbed off I'd the bed to look through the mini fridge in Kehlani's room. There where a few beers, sodas, frozen snacks, etc. she decided on a bag of gummy worms from the nightstand table.

"So, what are we going to do about Mani? She says it's morning sickness but I think it's something else. She looked so.....drained and not like herself. You know what I mean?" She gestured with her hands as she spoke.

"We aren't doing anything. I am going to do something about it but you, Miss thing, are staying out of this. Whatever "this" is."

"She's my bestfriend! Besides, you nearly died from doing that spell last night. I saw the blood coming from your eyes and your nose. It was a lot of blood. So you need all the help you can get. Thank you." Lauren rolled her neck before quickly snatching the Cheetos and bolting for the door.

"You asshole! Give me my chips!" Kehlani tossed the covers off of her and followed behind Lauren.

"I'm stressed too." Lauren stuck her hand in the bag while she ran and made a show of shoving them in her mouth while she ran backwards.