Thrills Of Diabolic Illusion

 “I am not afraid to dare the darkest hour”, I recall saying as I saw myself being churned and vacuumed into a fiery chest kept in a cavern at a voracious island. The sounds of torrential water, beating at the rocks, dilapidating its beauty into nothing but evil confinement. The whipping sound of voodoo wizardry over some ambiguous and bonded girl brought me to the imprisoned rusty and archaic chest by some paranormal forces of time. I wanted to break the captivity of that girl and free her from the chains of bondage but the moment I visualized the act of bravery, I felt my limbs paralyzed and numb. I was all handicapped and could sense the cold shiver run down my spine.

The doorbell rang and brought me back to life in the city of the hills- Nainital, where I lived with my mother-Hanna and sister-Jessica, who was two years younger to me. Living on a ‘Heaven on Earth Apartment’, I delighted myself by oversleeping the day after last night’s horrific movie experience. It was the maid who chorused a chant and woke both of us. 

“Get up Grace and Jess, the day awaits you with surprises”, I heard the maid recite our names in a shrilling voice, which shook all my sluggish senses into a fright. 

The winter dawn was blending in with the atmosphere filled with the fragrance of musk roses. Mother was busy at the garden tending to her organic vegetables and fruits while preparing for the day’s routine. Jess who still laid adjacent to me was suffering from enteric fever, a form of viral which often kept her ill frequently owing to the mosquitos and climatic factors as diagnosed by the doctor.

As I pulled over the covers, I felt some mystic strength acting against my own, which kept me agape staring at a woman like a figure formed by the creases on the cover. Suddenly, I felt a scorching handhold my wrist which made the feminine outline over the cover vanish. It was my sister’s hand that groaned for my assistance to take her to the washroom. I put in all my strength and aided her to the washroom whilst breathing on every step she took owing to her feeble condition, while I wandered outside the washroom, I felt something peculiar with my sister’s behavior while escorting her to the loo. I started feeling the familiar throbbing and began foreseeing short-lived fragmented illusions of the mystic place I dreamt of last. Moreover, I could overhear my sister whispering in groans, as if she was talking to someone inside the washroom. Gosh! My head was splitting and I felt as if someone was tearing it apart. Gradually it all diminished into scarlet silence. My body began to wane as I developed a blackout which I remembered next, I was lying on the floor experiencing a cold water sprinkle by my mother and the maid. 

No sooner did my mother call upon our family doctor, a meek physician- Dr. Samuel Fernandez, who was frequently treating my sister for her illness had visited our humble home and examined the both of us. After a while, he comforted my mother by saying, “There’s nothing to worry about Grace. She just needs some rest and a good intake of healthy, nutritious food and water. Whereas, Jessica’s fever shows irregular patterns which could at times reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit. I have prescribed some medications that shall treat the fever. However, the utmost care and precaution must be taken to dab cold-water swath over her head, feet, and arms to minimize the fever intruding the brain.” The day ended with the maid grumbling over being delayed during the day and by draining my mother’s energy in nurturing both of us. 

As Jess dozed off to bed after her brunch and medications, I happened to speak to my mother about last night’s dream and sudden blackout that dizzied me to the ground. My mother just chuckled as if it meant irrational to her. She grinned and said, “Grace, all these imaginations are hallucinations which hold credit to your previous night’s horrific movie-The Ring.”  

The day passed into the hands of sluggishness and I overcame the stark old horror for a while. Jess had recovered from the dreadful viral and was in the pink of health. My mother had received a trunk call from one of my maternal aunt who lived in the Andaman islands- Mama Alisha. She conveyed to my mother about her arrival at our place after a week. We felt overwhelmed that at least there was someone ancestral who remembered us for our existence and would soon pay us a visit. 

After engrossing ourselves during an ordinary week of routine work, Mama Alisha finally managed to reach our home - all exhausted and sapped from a weary journey. However, her arrival brought in innumerable surprises filled with cheers, smiles, and excitement. She brought a lot of chocolates, cookies and ethnic outfits for mother, Jess and myself. She was a blessing in disguise and a source of true inspiration. We celebrated her arrival with Irish stew, rice, chicken steaks, and grill.

The next morning aunt woke up at five and was engrossed in her meditation. I woke up early too and tried to merge into my aunt’s physique routine. Mama Alisha was very sober, balanced and a patient listener. She was fervent, observant and sharp-witted too. Her optimistic temperament inspired me a lot and she became a hero-worship figure for me. At first, I hesitated in narrating to her the dreadful dream I had. Sensing that aunt would consider me retarded or out of my wits. Somehow, she, without a word perceived my reluctance and consoled me in revealing the heavy-laden feeling. I, at once shared with her the entire episode of the dream, ghostly figures drawn over the covers, my sister whispering in the bathroom and my sudden dizziness. I anticipated two possible outcomes as consequences to my aunt’s reaction to hearing the dreadful dream- one, discarding the adolescent fantasies and the other, by interpreting my dreams into realistic visions.

Mama Alisha, at once held my hand, chanted some mantras and closed her eyes. She persuaded me to close my eyes too. Again the visionary flash of the mystic place, lashing rains, the sound of thundering, a girl trapped in the chest, beating of evil drums and someone reciting a spell over the girl gave her a deeper insight and things appeared crystal clear to her. 

Suddenly, the shrieking voice of the maid calling out to us for lunch disrupted the imagery illusion. While sitting at the dining table, Mama Alisha and I were hushed at the mirages created while holding hands in meditation. I could see the worried look hover around her forehead. Probably, she was plotting something in her head as a counter-strategy. Immediately, I caught on that Mama Alisha was no ordinary person. She was gifted with the talent of decoding dreams, visions and interpreting them with realistic remedies. She prayed a lot and meditated too. She spoke to my mother about the paranormal incident and took her help in settling things down. Mother and I were terrified but we trusted Aunt Alisha to the bottom of our hearts.

My aunt came into action at once. She brought out some wrist bands from her bag which had some blue sapphire gems studded like beads on it. It was believed that blue sapphire broke all negative energy arising from the planet Saturn. She advised us to wear it and ensure not to remove it at all. She informed my mother about similar incidents which she had encountered earlier too and updated us that the dreams that Grace visualizes were no ordinary dreams. The dreams had a lot to do with spells and curses which would later magnify into a horrific tragic. Moreover, she briefed her future itinerary and travel plan to Yemen, to a voracious place - Socotra Islands. In addition, she allowed me to accompany her too. My mother feared the worst but blindly trusted her as she was the only hope we had after father’s demise. Before leaving she directed my mother to keep an eye on the maid and for few days not to allow her into Jess’s room or come in direct contact with her. I felt the shiver of suspicion traverse through my spine. I assumed that Aunt may have suspected some form of witchcraft or black magic being practiced by the maid over Jess.

Mama Alisha bore all travel and Visa expenses as she had foreign missionary funds hoarding her bank account every month. Eventually, after tiring our bodies overflights and waiting at the airports, we arrived in Yemen. She immediately contacted someone known to her, who got a cab and a ferryboat booked to take us to the Socotra islands. There she met a local resident, named Mabrooka, whose house we put up for the night. I fell asleep as I was too tired from the trip. As I dozed off, I encountered the familiar paranormal seizures with visualizing the mystic place, torrential weather, the girl trapped in the chest, sound of pounding drums, an evil woman casting wizardry incantation. However this time it appeared more coherent that the girl looked somewhat like my sister. 

My aunt woke me in the middle of the night and asked me to come along with her and Mabrooka. We carried along with us some flashlights and ropes that would come to our aide in reaching the spot. We traveled barefoot to a sheer cliff and got to the bottom of it which was on the periphery of the seashores. Under the cliff lay a dark cavern which was half filled with the seawater during high tides at night. There were some rocks naturally carved, that bridged the way to enter the cave. There Mabrooka lifted some stones lying in the cavern which lay partially immersed in the water and managed to pull out a wooden chest that appeared more like a baby’s coffin. I started quivering with Goosebumps and feared any ill-omen to prevail over us. In a jiffy of a moment, Mama Alisha broke open the chains of the corroded vintage chest that had rusted with the aging of time. At that very moment, scary nocturnal creatures flew out of the cave leaving us all fear-stricken to our feet. 

Mabrooka, who had mastered the art of witchcraft from Ghana was banished from Africa because it was believed that she did more harm than good to the local tribes in Ghana. She chanted a few mantras that magically opened the fortified rusted chest revealing a rotten decayed skeleton of a child. Out of the dark, flew a large human figure-a witch of the island, who at once caught hold of Mabrooka and strangulated her to death. I was terrified and hid behind some rocks. The evil witch next sprung beside Mama Alisha and revealed her entire episode of how she preserved her baby, named Jessica in the chest and drowned her alive because her husband had abandoned her. She revealed her name Grace, who practiced evil incantations every night in order to play evil with the people of Yemen. Now that we had unveiled her crime, she caught hold of Mama Alisha’s throat and before she could strangulate her, I said to myself in a faint voice, “I am not afraid to dare the darkest hour”, and immediately sprang to my feet and pelted a boulder on the witch’s face that loosened her grip on Mama Alisha. Mama Alisha without losing time struck the witch with a sharp stone and down came the evil witch, who sank to the bottom of her fate and consequently absorbed into the ravenous sea.

Eventually, Mama Alisha removed the skeleton from the chest and buried it outside the cave after praying and blessing the baby’s soul to rest in peace. We couldn’t bury Mabrooka as she too had been pulled into the violent sea.

Later on, when we reached back home we narrated the entire incident to mom and never mentioned anything to Jess. We didn’t want her to be troubled with any horrifying memories. Mama Alisha eventually disclosed to her mother the reason why both the daughters were falling sick and getting frequent blackouts. Coincidently, it had all to do with the names-Jessica and Grace. The maid was never involved in anything but the arrow of suspicion was evolved to divert everyone’s attention. Mama Alisha always prayed and meditated which made her spiritually strong to combat all evil schemes of the devil and efficient enough to interpret any dreams into realistic visions.