Chapter Five

She was tired. She was in a car with Sharon to see an old friend of Sharon's that was good at fortune telling and exorcism.

Even though Geneva wasn't really interested, Sharon had dragged her into the car after listening to her ordeal.

She was currently suffering from jet lag. Having arrived at Sharon's apartment a few hours before dawn, although she finally got to have a proper bath, she felt anything but refreshed.

She was still sleepy. Even when she managed to get a little sleep, the horrifying series of dreams she was suddenly having was taking a mighty toll on her.

She had had quite a number of dreams that felt so real in the past seven hours or so.

They had all appeared intermittently and frequently that she couldn't tell which dream belonged to which.

At the same time, they had been vague but she could somehow remember just two scenes that had been as clear as day and had a strange effect on her. Exactly how she had felt while holding that peculiar locket.

She had seen a woman whom she guessed was in her late forties. The woman was falling from a very high building. Her huge and dull blue eyes that looked faded were thrown open and widened with the realization of her end.

Her arms and legs were flaring around with a great attempt to grasp onto anything. Her short and dark chin-length hair danced along with her frantic limbs accompanied by the strong wind.

Her inevitable end came with a loud sound of bones breaking.

Blood seeped out from her head, messing up her already deformed pale face. Her once black hair, instantly polished.

On the top of the building, an open window revealed a person's hand. The human's gender was unknown because it consisted of a wrist down to five fingers. On the fourth finger sat a silver ring adorned with a purple hued... frozen liquid?

Instantly, the tall building was gone and replaced with a room. The interior was so blurry that Geneva couldn't clearly make out what any object inside looked like but strangely enough, she felt like she had been in that room before.

Suddenly, all she could see was a brown hair and black eyes belonging to a scrawny pale faced girl who looked seventeen or eighteen laughing hysterically.

The sound alone was disturbing but adding unto that, the look on her thin, long face and Jaws so wide open they could have unhinged.

Dear me she looked like those psychotic anime characters with a forever sinister smile plastered on their faces.

Accompanied by all these was a heavy smell of blood.

"Geneva!!"

"Eh?" Her senses returned.

"Were you sleeping with your eyes open? Like a ghost. Are you sure you aren't possessed already? You said he went missing, what if he ain't missing but is inside o' ya? This is serious."Saying this, Sharon stepped on the throttle and the car sped up.

Geneva studied this black African friend of hers. Her two inches hair was dyed magenta throughout save for it root.

She wasn't too girly but was a bold and brazen young lady who was surprisingly traditional. 'Just a good house, good food, caring boyfriend and a happy life and I'm good," Sharon always said.

Geneva had known her since they were little. Growing together had influenced her and freed her from her introverted self. It was not a wonder why she always sought the aid, assistance or support of this tigress in times of need.

" Oh my," Sharon exclaimed, "You can't talk no more? Are you my friend or the ghost? Speak up. Geneva, a Canadian ghost must know how to speak English right? Or no?"

Geneva sighed as her friend rapped questions one after another. "Stop that," she scolded weakly.

She didn't even know if what she'd dreamt about were still dreams again. They felt very real and the anguish in them felt like they were hers, occurring and reoccurring like a broken tape not even waiting for her to close her eyes anymore.

"Geneva," Sharon said in a rare concerned voice, "you should tell your parents now don't ya think?"

"I don't want to," Geneva replied. "I just got to lay them off my tail. I can't have that. Mum would lock me up with 24 hours surveillance camera installed on me and robots as bodyguards. If she learns about how I wasted my money on flight, my bank book would be hers again."

"You should go through your dad. He'll calm her down."

"No way." Just imagining her father's comical expression of eyes glistening with tears as she tells him everything made her shove that thought away, hard.

Looking out of the car, the warm air of a summer day caresses her round cheeks. Tall buildings passed, short buildings came, different people passed by like blurs and all Geneva could think of was –Why me?

Finally, she let go and started a weird sound of crying and laughing at the same time –what an odd noise.

"Mmn mmn, no, no, no." Sharon gave her a disappointing stare while shaking her head. "Please change the sound of that, that...that whatever you call it, that you do whenever you are miserable. It doesn't make people pity you; it makes people want to strike you."

*******

Finally, the car stopped at a building with peeling paints. It looked very old like a house that would collapse with just a kick.

Other houses around were a lot better but similar. And they were a lot of allies. No being was in sight. Her life less body was dragged by Sharon into the house.

Geneva did not know what she had expected to see but at a point, her crazy mind created a picture similar to the three witches that shared an eye in 'Macbeth', at another, shed thought of the sorcerers in 'Merlin'.

When she heard Sharon say 'an old friend of mine', she'd thought of a young woman good at tarot cards. But what she saw was an old friend of Sharon's in its literal meaning.

The woman was quite old, about her 70's. She was darker than both herself and Sharon combined. The only trace of white on her body were her eyes whose pupils even were covered in white fog.

Can she see? Geneva wondered as her eyes followed her saggy body that danced along with the bells, strange beads and black cowries all around her body.

There was almost nothing left of her hair. The bald parts that occurred at intervals also had cowries stuck to them as if glued there.

How come Sharon has such a friend? Is this scary person trying to save me or use me for sacrifice?

"Come, take a seat. We wait for you." The woman's voice echoed like a loud howl in the dead of the night.