F O U R

~E V E~

I hardly could sleep all through the night as I toiled around the bed. It was hard. All of a sudden, I felt emotions for a girl I had met just because I saw the Inyoka tattoo on her wrist, and I was worried that maybe I had killed her.

Calm down, Eve, You haven’t done anything; what are you even saying? It couldn’t have been me; the Inyoka only visited because... why would it visit me exactly if I hadn’t used my powers before then? I need to invoke the spirit before it comes, and I didn’t, nor was I in danger for it to protect me, so why would it visit me?

Or have I seen something wrong? No, the tattoo marking was definitely on her wrist; it was clear as day.

So what could have caused this because of the way Rachel pleaded?

My forehead furrowed as my eyes squinted, thinking deep into this; it was also a personal issue for me.

All through the night, the rays of sunlight blasted through my curtain and attacked my eyes. I thought only of the possibilities that the Inyoka had been made active. I don’t know what it means, but it was a huge problem.

I shrieked as I looked towards the door, “Eva! Eva! Eva!” Raghul banged repeatedly as if there were an urgent crisis right now.

“ugh…” I groaned as I fell back on the bed, covering my face with my pillow. “Can you stop making a fuss over there and just come in?” I yelled out and threw myself over to face the ceiling board with my arms spread apart.

“Eva, we have got bad news.” Raghul broke out, and I got up instantly as only one thought came to mind: “Are the police here?” I wasn’t afraid of them, just that I really needed to stay out of trouble for now.

“No,” Raghul answered. He paused and asked, “Did you do anything again? Eva,”

I shrugged before answering, “No,” rolling my eyes with an hiss. What does he take me for? Just because I screwed up yesterday doesn’t mean I do this all the time. Twenty-first century Raghul needs to cool off. The generations before him will kiss the floor I walk on and won’t even question my character. Where does he even get such boldness from?

“All right, I trust you because we do not have the time for any of that. Take a look at this,” Raghul said, handing over the papers in his hand to me. “I found this in the mail,” he added. I looked at the papers in front of him and then back at him.

“Raghul? I am not paying you so that I can do your job,” I say.

He took it back and grumbled out loudly, “You aren’t paying me anything; this is like a blood covenant signed by my great and a lot more great father, of which now I have the burden to carry on, which I didn’t ask for; I should be at a law firm as we speak.”

I folded my hands and snickered, “Doing what at a law firm? Running errands, I saw your results from school, and they didn’t look that good. I will shave my hair if they even put you on to be their messenger to run errands for them. You are fine here, Raghul, and I also think I should at least pay you.”

“That won’t be possible now because we are out of funds,” Raghul declared as he narrated everything that was written in those papers; he knew all of that and still wanted to make me read, “It will be a miracle if we even have a roof over our heads by next week.”

I scoffed, unable to believe the crap he was telling. “The government is stupid then, or aren’t they aware that my father handed over all of his possessions to me?”

“Yes to you, but you died as well,” Raghul responded.

“I have lived in this house the moment my father brought me here; generations of Raghul have done so as well, and now that I am five hundred years old, if the government wanted to cause me any trouble, they would have done that before now,” I said, brushing it off again. “Or what do they plan on doing with an old house like this?”

“While I was downstairs, I looked in, and it seems your father was an important figure in the past who helped the army. The government is only realizing this now and is surprised to see that his property is still very much standing and plans on changing it into a landmark," Raghul explained, and I rolled my eyes.

I never knew of my father’s job as he never stayed at one place for long, but I did know he was such a great father. But what must I do now if I can’t confirm if this is true or not?

“They know people are living here, and so they are offering to pay us to leave the property or they claim it by force,” Raghul said.

“In what world can they claim the property by force? It is not even possible; we are safe, Raghul, and I am not selling,” I said, laughing in the mix because this was ridiculous.

Raghul frowned at my lack of interest in this: “In a world where the only name to this property is written as Gareth Samuel Allistair and his daughter, by the way, Elizabeth Allistair, we have no choice but to sell; we need the money; we are broke.”

“Have you gone mad, Raghul? Have you forgotten what is beneath this house?” I asked furiously, not being able to control my rage. This is the worst Raghul I have had in all generations.

“The human statues,” Raghul said as he came to realization.

“Exactly! I will figure out a way.” I said reassuringly, like I could handle it; I hardly knew what to do next. “For the money issue, how is it that our banks are empty? We had generational wealth in there.”

“No, you never had; you were broke the moment we stepped into the twenty first century, and since you never made any investment like I told you too, all of our money vanished with the numerous lawsuits from different people; we had close to six hundred people on your neck just last year alone, which was why I pleaded that you lay low for a while and you couldn’t listen,” Raghul said, not hiding his shadiness at all.

This was depressing.

“No need to worry then; I am expecting royalties soon,” I said to lighten up Raghul’s mood, but he just went on to complain further. “What Royalties? The publishing house is not only suing you but taking all of your books from their book outlets; we have hit our lowest, Miss Eva, and since I don’t work and you don’t pay me, I am broke,” Raghul expressed as he covered his face in frustration and sighed.

Everything was happening all at once; my downfall was happening right in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I just sat there and acted surprised that I got into this situation.

Something happened; there could have been a shift from last night. I can’t be the only one who is going to suffer all of these.

There was a knock coming from the main door, and I looked at Raghul bewildered. “Since when do we entertain visitors?”

Raghul raised his face from his palms and said, “I will go see who it is.”

“I will come with you; I need some coffee to get rid of this headache.” I massaged my creased forehead as I followed Raghul downstairs.