The 400-Word Story: The Beach Man #5

Ifeoma

I can remember lying on the bed in the spiritualist’s dark room, but when I open my eyes, I find myself sitting on a round stool, inside a small hut.

‘Welcome again to our home.’

I turn towards the voice, and I see him – the killer – standing few feet away, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

‘Why are you tormenting me?’ I say.

‘Why?’ He frowns slightly. ‘Because a wife isn’t supposed to cheat on her husband.’

‘What do you-’

‘You know what I mean. You’ve been cheating on me with that boy, Peter.’

‘But I’m not your-.’

‘I knew you’d doubt me. Remember the dead goat when you were five?’

I frown. The dead goat.

‘Yes. Remember?’

‘But how…’ I turn away from him, and my biggest secret, the incident with the dead goat, rushes through my mind.

On the Christmas when I was five, our family woke up to a tragedy: the goat, which my father had bought for the celebration, dead. It hurt me seeing the disappointment on my parents and brother’s face; we were poor then, and everybody knew it was going to be a terrible Christmas. So, when I was alone, I knelt beside the goat, talking to it, begging it to return to life. It didn’t. But when I touched it, I felt energy depart my body. And just then, the goat bleated.

We had a pleasant Christmas afterwards.

But I didn’t stop there. Dead insects, dead animals, they all returned to life whenever I touched them. I was scared; I knew I was different from other people, so I stopped touching dead things.

‘You know,’ the killer’s deep voice brings me back to the hut. ‘You have the same scar she had. The one in your right palm.’

I shake my head. ‘I’m not your wife.’

‘Back then you always said that after death, souls return to live a new life in another body and that you hope we’d meet again.’

‘Okay, let’s say I believe you. What do you want from me now?’

‘They were envious of your healing gift, that’s why they killed you. But I saved some of your emergency potion. All you have to do is drink it, become invincible like me, and let’s wipe out the community, avenge yourself.’

‘And what if I disagree?’

The killer sneers at me, his face deeply malevolent. ‘Then you’ll die with them.’


Footnote: This is the fifth episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series.
Click HERE for the next episode.

Thanks for reading!