Page 16 of A Love Tethered to the Sun
The room started to spin as Rik burst through the door. “You idiot! You set off the time loop!” he yelled, but his voice sounded like someone had chopped and screwed it.
Everything had slowed down. I looked around and noticed I was now standing, but I was tied up to the bed as Kai’s head was between my legs. However, I backtracked or walked backward, for lack of better words. It’s like time was rewinding. I walked past the guards that originally brought me to this creepy place and tied me up. I exited the run-down building and watched as my love and my brother climbed the wall into this creepy place, but I couldn’t stop and warn them. I ran alongside Rik and Kai backward over the volcanoes, through the woods, and back to the beach party. However, they stopped, but I kept rewinding all the way past how Rik and Kai kidnapped the Kanes until I noticed my surroundings had completely changed.
Now I stood in a creepy voodoo store. I heard a very familiar voice, and a voice I didn’t recognize at all. I slowly walked through the beaded drape that separated the storefront from the back. My eyes were met with two men who conversed with a crystal ball shaped into a skull’s head. When I walked closer, I noticed my father was the man sitting in the seat closer to the door. He seemed to be seeking guidance from this voodoo priest. My father looked to be in his very early twenties, and judging from this meeting, he’d been dabbling with dark magic for a really long time. On another note, this had to be the most handsome voodoo priest I had ever seen. I could tell he was very tall from his height in the chair alone. His skin was the color of a fresh cup of mocha latte. With eyes the color of a new penny and shaped just like one, his full brows and lashes stood out against his blemish-free complexion. His dark ocean waves covered hishead in a uniformed manner, and they all flowed in the same direction.
My eyes trailed over his plump nose that spread across his face slightly, but it didn’t take away from his natural beauty. I brushed right past them and yet, they still couldn’t see me. I didn’t know what I was doing here or how this was even possible, but I had to wait and see how things played out. I believe a higher power brought me to this moment for a reason.
“Did you bring the things I asked for?” the stranger questioned Rik.
“Yes, I did,” Rik answered in his heavy Patois accent. My father removed a tiny satin bag from his pocket and poured a lock of hair on the table.
“Is this directly from your wife’s hair?” the stranger queried. I gasped loudly but quickly covered my mouth. Neither one of them looked in my direction because they couldn’t hear or see me.
“Yes, I cut it straight from her hair,” Rik voiced.
“Very well,” the voodoo priest voiced.
He placed the lock of hair on top of the crystal skull. A cloudy mist filled it, and memories played out. They were of me being brought into this world and then growing up. There was a memory of how my dad ambushed my brother by flattening his tire. He crept behind him and then attacked his own flesh and blood. Pierre screamed and withered on the ground as the venom coursed through his body. My poor brother suffered, and I hated he had to endure such a painful transition. That memory evaporated, and the memory of my sixteenth birthday appeared. I clutched my chest because I wasn’t ready to relive this moment, but I saw I had no choice. Quickly, I had biked up the hill and hopped off my bike when I made it to the house. I trekked up the porch stairs but slipped in some liquid. That’s when I noticed it was blood, and it came from my grandma. I rushed to her andcried. I turned just in time to witness my father plunge into my mommy. But this time, things were very different.
As she fell into my arms, pain shot through me as blood spilled from my mouth. I looked down to see my father had stabbed both of us. We collapsed onto the floor, and in a flash, my father ripped out my heart and placed it inside a small container. Pierre never arrived to save me the day, and I died. When the vision ended, my father smiled hard like he had just won an Oscar.
“Is this how everything will play out?” Rik asked eagerly. There was glee in his eyes and a huge grin on his face. His eyes shifted from the crystal ball and to the stranger in an anxious manner.
“Maybe… maybe not. It all depends on your actions. Did you pay close attention to the vision?” he questioned my father.
“I saw what I needed to. For years, my wife’s family has possessed the gene to manipulate time and time travel, but they're all too scared to use it. It’s time someone showed them how to use that power. Thank you, Eshu, for your help. I’ll be seeing you,” Rik spoke excitedly.
“Indeed, you will,” the man, now known as Eshu, replied.
My evil and heartless father left out of the store. I looked around because I tried to figure out why I was still there.
“Have a seat,” Eshu commanded. I clenched my chest, scared as hell. “Relax, child. I’m not here to harm you. I helped to bring you here to see this moment,” he stated. Slowly, I walked over to the seat Rik just sat in and sat down. “I am Eshu, but I go by other names. I am the gatekeeper of realms with many other gifts. I help the dead cross over, and one of my personal favorites is dabbling with time,” he revealed.
“Well, Eshu… I don’t think we have much to talk about, seeing as you just told my father how to kill two people that I love dearly,” I responded with much attitude.
“Did you see me tell him how to kill your family, or did I show him his actions?” Eshu probed.
I had no words because he didn’t tell my father how to kill my family. He only showed him a vision. “Maybe you have a point.”
“Thank you. Now… I know this might hurt a little bit, but I don’t believe in sugarcoating anything. Your mommy and grandma dying was inevitable. That’s been foreseen, but your death wasn’t—as you can clearly see that. Your father is a very power-driven man, and because of that, it will be his demise. His actions are what changed the outcome. He’s so driven to succeed that he went ahead and turned your brother into a blood-drinking vampire like him. In the end, your father’s actions saved your life. Like many women in your family born before you, you were blessed with the gift of time, and so is your baby girl,” he stated and grinned.
I clenched my stomach out of instinct. “We-we’re having a little girl?” I questioned, stuttering.
“Yes, you are. When Kai delivered that blow to your stomach, your baby girl started the time loop to save you and her. I honored her wishes and helped her out a little bit. If she hadn’t, you’d be dead because Kai had plans to sexually assault you in the most savage ways. The moment he entered you, he would have sensed that you were pregnant and beat you to death. So, if you haven’t noticed, our actions determine our future. Now that you know how all of this is going to play out, you have a chance to beat your dad and Kai at their own game,” he expressed, sitting back in his chair.
“What do you get out of this, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“My wayward souls will have new toys to play with.” He flashed me a devilish smirk.
“So, youarea bad guy?”
“I’m neither good nor bad. I am what I am!” he voiced, still smiling. “Now, I’ve told you all that you need to know. You havethe information to reverse your father’s actions, defeat him, and live happily ever after. Creek, you are more than capable of doing so. God’s speed and we definitely will see each other again.”
He snapped his fingers, and I coughed, gasping for air. Pryde quickly turned to me. In a flash, I was back in our deliberation room, where we strategized a plan against Rik and Kai.
“Beautiful, what’s the matter? Are you okay?” Pryde asked me.
Everyone surrounded me, and Healani gave me a glass of water. I quickly gulped down the water and fanned myself before I spoke. I stood up and walked to the front of the room, where everyone could hear and see me once I had calmed down.
