Chapter 5

“Please help me. I need to speak with you.”

She bolted upright, but the familiar Fijian accent that whispered her name, soothed her fright.

“He isn’t around, and the angel is preoccupied as well, so I took this chance to get to you…” His voice grew stronger. “Will you help me?”

“Semi, how did you get here?”

She was surprised that ghosts could travel to other countries. She had never heard of a ghost doing that before.

Weren’t they supposed to be fixed to the place they died?

But here was Semi, not back in Fiji as she thought, but here.

Here?

Dammit!

She pinched herself.

“Ouch…” She whimpered.

“Shhh…” Semi cautioned. “He will hear us…”

‘I am awake!

Or am I dreaming with my eyes open?

Was that even possible?’

It wasn’t a dream.

He was sitting on her bed.

Here. In her apartment.

But, how?

“How…how did you get here?”

She managed to stammer out.

“The same way all ghosts travel.”

He laughed his big Fijian boisterous laugh.

She shushed him.

Looking contrite, he continued.

“Oh, my mother sends her love. Only one of us could travel, so she opted to stay.”

He looked sad.

Then he whispered.

“I need to warn you that Cagilaba is still determined to get you.”

He looked around fearfully as he uttered the dreaded name. His solid form fading a bit in his agitation and fear.

“I know.” He still looked fearful when she replied, but he was interested nonetheless.

“He tried to get to me, but the angels are guarding me now. He didn’t get too far with trying to take over my body.”

She thought for a bit, then asked the question out loud. “I keep wondering why he wants my body. Is it a game, or something more sinister?”

“I don’t know, my sister. But one thing I do know is that he will stop at nothing to get you.”

Semi’s voice was hushed. “Be very careful and stick close to the angel. And please. Please…get me and my mom away from him.”

He ended his impassioned speech with tears in his eyes.

He flickered, like a light bulb that was going out at any minute.

“He’s found out I am not there.”

He cried out with fear. “I am being recalled. Please help…”

His cry was followed by a scream of agony that faded into the distance.

She sat there, heart pounding, frozen with terror.

Her door banged open as Brett rushed in, bringing her out of her stupor.

“Who was that?”

She couldn’t answer. Fear locked her throat.

Breathing shallowly, she tried to alleviate the rising ache.

Shame mixed in with fright kept her tongue tied.

She was a coward!

She could help them, but she was too scared.

Too scared to go into that world again because she had almost died the last time.

Tears slid silently down her face as Brett gathered her into his arms. Tears of helplessness, sorrow, and shame.

The floodgates opened as she burrowed into him.

Nina couldn’t remember a time she had cried. Cried in someone’s arms, besides Semi.

Once she started, she couldn’t stop. The agony gushed out.

She thought fancifully it was like she was crying blood, not salty water from her eyes.

Brett let her cry.

One minute she was sitting on the bed, the next, she was on his lap. She felt like a baby, being cradled in his arms.

He made her feel safe.

He made her feel a lot of things. The last thing she expected was to feel safe, but she did.

“I couldn’t save him.”

His arms tightened, as he muttered.

“Don’t think about that now.”

The agony inside needed to be let out.

“I need to. I need to talk about it. Sometimes I think I am going mad. So, I block it out. I block out the horror. I know no one will believe me. They will think I am either making it up, or I need to be certified insane, and locked away.”

His eyes were compassionate as he gazed down into hers. They reassured he would not judge her.

“He is called Cagilaba, a powerful demon in Fiji.” Brett nodded his head in acknowledgment.

“I know.”

She continued, deaf to everything else, but the agony within.

“It first started when I was a baby. He tried to kill me then, I don’t know why. Then as I grew older, I felt I was being watched, but didn’t know by whom. That’s around the time I started hearing dead people’s voices. Then I started seeing them. I was terrified of going alone anywhere, insisting daily my mom took me to school, waited for me after school as well. I was a very clingy child because I saw these people no one else could see. When I turned 13, I suddenly realized, they were not out to get me. All I heard from them were cries for help. Help them with what, I wondered, but didn’t find out what, until my cousin died.”

He shifted under her. Forcing her awareness of still being on his lap.

She tried to shift off him, but his arms tightened.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. What happened then?”

He looked fascinated, so she continued.

“Semi dying was a tragedy. He was only 18, had so much to live for. He sustained horrific injuries in a car accident. Two days later, he died in hospital.”

Choking up, she stopped.

One of his big hands was running up and down her back, like mothers do to comfort their babies, or to quiet them. He meant to soothe, but it had the opposite effect. Trying hard to hide her arousal, she continued with a catch in her voice.

“His mom, my aunt Seni was inconsolable. She was a medium of sorts. She kept maintaining he did not die a normal death. That someone killed him. She also said the demon who carried out the killing had him imprisoned in hell. No one believed her. I thought she was delusional as well, until Semi came to me.”

Nina shuddered at the memory.

“Would you like me to make you a cup of tea or cocoa.” Brett asked her.

“No, thank you. I’m okay. I just want to get this off my chest.”

Gathering her thoughts, she continued with her story.

“The day they brought his body home from the hospital to stay overnight at his house, we did the sitting in thing. It’s like a wake. We Fijians call it a reguregu. His mom, and some close family or friends, women mostly, sat around the body. They slept there too that night. Until it was time to bury him the next day. It’s part of our tradition.”

She took a deep breath.

“I didn’t do the sitting around the coffin thing. I slept at my house which was a few doors away from his. I was sitting in my room working on my laptop, compiling my school essay, when there was a whoosh beside my bed. It wasn’t loud, but noticeable enough to draw my attention. He always did that when he wants to talk to me or get me to notice him when I’m busy. You know, make noises, won’t stop, until I look at him.”

Nina paused for a second, as she recalled all the funny things Semi had done to get her attention which resulted in them laughing so hard, they cried. Being of the same age, they had been in accord, liking the same things. She smiled, but her eyes smarted with tears. Her throat was raw with the tears still waiting to be shed.

“He was gay, you know. His mom knew. She accepted him the way he was. We both loved him so much. He was our world. His death was hard on us both. When I saw him standing by my bed, I thought the past days from the accident up to then, had all been a dream. That this was real. Him standing beside my bed alive, was real. I scrambled off my bed to jump onto him. I did that most times, which would end with us wrestling and laughing like loons. But I crashed onto the floor. There was nothing solid there. He looked sad. I realized then he was really gone, that this was his ghost. Just like I had seen dead people all of my life, I was seeing my cousin in the same way. The magnitude of that broke me. I screamed out my pain. My parents came rushing into my room to find me hysterical. They were shocked to find me talking to someone they couldn’t see. Someone they knew who was dead.”

The desolation sapped her strength as she intoned.

“That night was the night I realized that my aunt was right. I had a gift that would help stranded souls pass on. But to my eighteen-year-old mind, I deemed it a curse. I didn’t want it if I could see people that others couldn’t see. I didn’t want it because people thought me mad. Those who thought me mad, and who said so to my face, included my parents.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She brushed a tear away.

“He tried to talk, but I couldn’t hear,”

Her smile turned wry, the tears burning her eyes, as she recalled the occasion.

“I was more or less screaming. I didn’t want him to be dead. He overrode my screams with the message that he was killed by this vu called Cagilaba. He had been paid by a woman. Semi didn’t know why he had been targeted. But he said he was being held captive in a place like hell, by this demon. Something else he said came through, despite my hysterics. He said only I could free him. That was all he was able to say, before he vanished.”

With a sincerity, with certainty, he nodded.

“He’s right. You alone have the gift to free him. You have to accept it, accept who you are, and who you are meant to be. Seeing and hearing the dead is a gift. Only you can help them transition on.”

Looking at him in disbelief, filled with terror, she whispered.

“You believe that?”

Nina didn’t want that to be true.

He nodded his head.

The tremor in her voice came through in her whisper.

“I’m scared”

“All mortals are scared. When you go ahead, despite being afraid. That’s what truly makes real heroes.”

“You don’t know what it’s like having something alien take over your body. How, when you want to speak, another person’s words come out of your mouth. You have no control over your own body. You’re helpless, hopeless. When you can’t do anything, but whimper in the dark corner that you have been shoved into, scared that you’ll be left there in the dark, forever.”

She whispered that in a shattered voice.

She had rested her hot forehead against the coolness of his neck. Her words were muffled against the muscled chest beneath her face.

But he heard.

“Babe,”

She guessed that slipped out unbidden, although it gave her hope that he saw her as his babe.

“I can’t begin to understand how that was like for you. But one thing I do know is that you are way much stronger now, as well as much more powerful.”

As he drew in a deep breath, she felt the hard muscles move under the cheek she had turned to nestle against him.

He smelt so good.

‘Like the air after it rained, mixed with lemon essence’ She thought.

His body was distracting her.

“You are much more than he is. He is a demon with no body on this earth unless he occupies a human vessel. You, on the other hand have a flesh and bones one. That makes you much more powerful. Besides, you have the freedom to choose. Whether you allow him to inhabit your body or not, that’s your choice to make.” He finished.

“What if I’m not given that choice. What if I’m forced to do his bidding against my will?”

She was desolate.

She felt he gave her more credit than she allowed herself to believe.

“Look sweetheart, you were young and untrained. You didn’t know you had the power within you. Now that you do know, I have all the confidence in the world, and the whole universe lumped together, you will overcome this fear and defeat him. You have a destiny to fulfill, you know.”

He reached under her chin with a finger, then lifted it. His eyes were smoldering, but there was a smile on his lips. She felt a whole lot better after that pep talk.

There was also her awareness of him. He was a gorgeous specimen of manhood. Feelings of arousal stirred up within her.

‘Oh boy, this is not good. Stop.’

She had to move away, or she would definitely make a fool of herself again. But trying to extricate herself from his embrace, when he wouldn’t allow it, sapped her energy. His force field was too magnetic. She subsided, resigned.

‘If he wants me there…’

“Tell me the rest.”

He settled her more comfortably against him. The passing of air against her, gave her an idea of where those gorgeous lips were above her head.

“With my aunt, I tried to help my cousin get out of that place. We did everything right, but the vu was too strong for me.”

She could only tell him the bare essentials. The rest was still too raw.

She exhaled noisily.

Brett seemed to sense she was becoming agitated again, because he murmured, “Easy, baby. I’m here. I won’t allow anything to hurt you now. Take your time.”

She was grateful he was there to ground her. Recalling all of the past hurts was taking its toll on her. Her palms were greasy with sweat. Her body clammy with dread. But the strange thing was he made her feel safe despite all of it.

“There was a slap on my back, then a feeling like a snake running up it. That was how he entered my body. Then an electricity ran throughout my system. I felt like I was cut off from my body. Disembodied. I felt like someone was choking me. I couldn’t breathe.”

Distressed, she moved in agitation as she remembered that horrible feeling.

“I got you, sweetheart.” He said again, his voice soothing.

She settled.

“Thank you.” She said with gratitude.

“You’re very much welcome, baby.”

She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Anyways, from then on I was pretty much a spectator.” Nina continued.

“I tried to tell my aunt that I was there, but I couldn’t speak. I tried to reassure her when I saw how terrified she was. It was hard to expel him from my body. I was hog-tired. Like a vice gripped me. I was voiceless and scared out of my wits. This entity had taken over my body. He spoke through me. He was too powerful. With dawning horror, I realized I was a prisoner in my own body.”

He allowed her room to move, as she lifted her head to gaze at him.

“Have you ever felt helpless, hopeless, with a fear so deep you’re paralyzed with it?” She asked him.

He shook his head, knowing instinctively that she didn’t need him to speak. She was glad his hand hadn’t stopped its soothing movement on her back.

“That’s the way I felt. I vowed then, I would never allow myself to get into that situation ever again, if I was allowed to live through that one. And I kept that vow all these years.”

Taking a deep breath, she resumed.

“My aunt started fighting then, to get him out of my body. She called him out by the power she had. She struggled for three nights with him, then with her dying breath…” Nina stopped, choked up.

She was quiet, struggling.

Her throat and eyes felt raw with grief as she recalled that night.

She needed a moment to get her trembling voice to work, without the tears constricting her breathing.

“He killed her; you know. Just as he killed Semi.”

She was glad she could speak with calmness.

He squeezed her.

Slowly a sense of peace stole into her heart.

After all these years, she could finally take a deep breath. Figuratively. And literally.

It felt good to have that restriction in her heart gone as well.

“Now they’re both being held by him. I’m too scared to try to get them out. I wish they were not under his control. I wish I could help them to go to a happier place. A place they were supposed to go to if he hadn’t grabbed them.”

A sudden thought occurred to her.

“What if he’s holding more spirits? What if no one can help them? What if they stay there forever, without hope?”

Overwhelmed, she shuddered.

“Don’t think about that now. Try to get some sleep. I’ll stay with you until you sleep.” He looked inquiringly at her. “If you want me to. Do you?”

“I think I’ll be okay now. Thank you so much for being here for me. And thank you for listening.” Being grateful came hard for her, when life had not been too fair to her, but she was genuinely grateful.

Feeling light for the first time in years, a carefree feeling came bubbling up within her.

For the first time in a long while, that feeling of dread was gone.