Ifeoma
The sniffling from the other room stops after a while, then Shola emerges through the door, holding a notebook. I feel a stab of déjà vu as she settles across me; her twin sister had sat just there yesterday, listening as I told her about my strange dreams.
Wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, she places the notebook on the desk.
“I’m really sorry about your sister,” I say.
She shakes her head. “It isn’t your fault. Perhaps if she had been patient, none of this would have happened.”
“How do you mean?”
“Folakemi wasn’t supposed to start a private practice yet.”
I stare at her, confused, and she continues.
“Spiritualism is a difficult practice with different stages. My whole family practices it. There’re five levels of experience in spiritualism. Level one is the beginner stage, while level five is the master stage. In Nigeria, we have just few level five spiritualists.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What level are you?”
“I’m Level four,” Shola says, regretful look on her face. “But Folakemi was only Level two. She wasn’t patient to learn gradually. She was always eager to reach the fifth level and start her own practice. My father’s a Level five, but it took him thirty-seven years to get there. She renounced our family after a quarrel with him four years ago. Then she started travelling and was always keeping ears open for strange spirits. I guess that’s how she landed here. I’ve been here once to persuade her to return to our family, but she closed the door on me. She was mad because I supported my father in the fight.” She wipes her nose noisily. “But last night she called out to me telepathically, and I knew she was in trouble, so I took the late night bus to get here. Now from what I’ve seen in her notebook, she underestimated the beach man.” She leans forward and holds my hand. “You see, the beach man isn’t just a spirit but a demon who’s grown stronger and stronger over the years. We must stop him quickly.”
My heart races. “We?”
“Yes.” She nods, her eyes flashing with desperation. “We must stop him tonight.”
“Tonight? But I don’t—I…”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’ll teach you to become Level five again.” She squeezes my hand harder. “Ifeoma, you were a Level five in your former life.”
Footnote: This is the eleventh episode of The Beach Man, a 400-Word Blog Series.
Click HERE for the next episode.
Thanks for reading! And stay tuned for the twelfth episode next Monday.
I've been waiting for this episode all day. And my goodness! This is really exciting with a lesson learnt about patience and applying wisdom when need be. I'm sad the killer put an Folakemi's life. But I'm so eager to read about his doom--at least I believe he'll meet his end in a dreadful way.
ReplyDeleteThe way you talked about Spiritualism in this episode deserve a lot of praise. It sounds so real.
Thanks a lot, Uzo. I'm glad you liked the episode. The Spiritualism thing just came to me from nowhere. I wonder what a real spiritualist would say if he/she read this. :)
DeleteThanks for stopping by, and do have a great week! :)
She repeats "We?" at the same time I repeated "Demon?" Funny. I love the direction and how you're twisting this deeper into the supernatural. It's also so cool to learn about the levels of a spiritualist. Is that real? I didn't even miss the bad guy this episode. I've been waiting for what the sister had to say! Wonderful addition!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week, Kaykay!!
The spiritualism stuff isn't real. It just came to me as I wrote the episode. However, I plan on doing a research on the topic, as I do have a horror novel I plan to write some time. Well, that's why I like fiction: you could always twist things real and unreal, making them look real.
DeleteI'm glad you found the spiritualism stuff real, Robyn. Thanks for reading!
Have a great week! :)
Dude,hw u take sabi all ds spiritualist stuff,u don initiate or u b oracle nw.nce addition and d experience abt spiritualism,u must b d next dibia of ya villa.so ifeoma na spiritualist level 5 before.wow...she must b a deadly witch..wonda hw she doesn't knw.boi u g@ me hooked again..nce work.E'FACE.
ReplyDeleteDude,hw u take sabi all ds spiritualist stuff,u don initiate or u b oracle nw.nce addition and d experience abt spiritualism,u must b d next dibia of ya villa.so ifeoma na spiritualist level 5 before.wow...she must b a deadly witch..wonda hw she doesn't knw.boi u g@ me hooked again..nce work.E'FACE.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! I be oracle before nahh. LOL. :) Thanks for reading, Eface. I'm glad you liked the spiritualism stuff.
DeleteHave a wonderful week! :)
The Beach man is a demon?? Oh, I like that. I already can imagine exorcisms and blood and fights. :)This is getting better and better, Kaykay. Well done.
ReplyDeleteYou have some very nice developments here. I would suggest a little editing so you can get rid of the repetitions and make it a little clearer.
Have a great week.
I'm glad you liked this episode, Athina. I'd confess I'm not really satisfied with it, too; I kind of rushed it. Well, thanks for the suggestion. :)
DeleteHave a wonderful week, too. :)
I also didn't miss the villain here. His episode was more engaging. Nice again with the spiritualism.
ReplyDeleteSo it was true after all and the villain was not a disillusioned guy who thought Ify was his wife. She likely was really his wife.
How it will turn out is not my business. I'll patiently wait for where you steer this ship.
However, I'm curious as to how you wanna research into demonology, and to really clarify that demons do grow stronger and the likes.
sorry, I meant this episode was more engaging than to miss him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Doc. About the research into demonology, I have a horror novel I'm planning to right, so that's where I'll need more and "accurate" knowledge about Spiritualism and Exorcism. Well, I'll try and talk to a priest, then talk to a real Spiritualist or White Magician. I have to get correct details about how everything works, so the book would look real.
DeleteHave a wonderful week. :)