Dark Ordained - Brother Zombie

Dark Ordained Continued...

Ten minutes later Nancy had packed a bag full of potions and a single book. Then another bag with all her most precious books and belongings. Luc had done the same. 

Nancy explained that the ritual would move me over the boundary so there was no reason I would need to come straight back and that she and Luc would move across with me. 

I didn’t go home to get my things, Mariette had said she would collect my belongings for me. Instead I drove Joey’s car back to my grandparents with Nancy beside me in the passenger seat and Luc following behind in his car. We pulled onto the gravel drive and it was déjà vu. I felt like I was dreaming.

I got out and walked to the front door with heavy steps, which was open just as I had left it. 

Nancy headed off into the woodlands to set up the ritual, I heard her voice but didn't register what she said. I knew the plan was for Nancy to make a start while I released my brother from his rotting corpse. Luc came along with me just in case anything nasty was lingering inside the house.

I half expected Joey to be in the front hall but it was empty. Luc told me that he couldn’t hear anything moving and I secretly hoped that Joey had somehow managed to get away from his body and had moved over on his own. Nancy had told me that all I had to do was imagine I was easing Joey’s soul from his body, like embers blowing away, and it should free easily. The soul hadn’t been put in securely so it shouldn’t take too much to release it. 

I was still nervous, I just couldn’t shake the thought that he was a zombie, a brain eating, moving, rotting corpse that had once been my brother and I had done that to him. Every door I opened and every corner I turned filled me with dread, what would I find?  Nancy had also told me that because I had been the one to raise him that Joey would sense when I was near. Equally I would be able to feel him when he was close so I was waiting for some sort of sign.

I had just walked into Lyle’s office when I felt a chill spread over my skin. Like standing in an air conditioned room. Then I heard the sound of fabric being pulled over carpet followed by a low moan. I hesitated in the doorway.

“It’s alright. He needs you,” Luc was standing close enough behind me that his jacket kept brushing against my back.

“What if he…” I didn’t want to say tries to eat me, it was still Joey, talking about him as though he was some kind of monster felt wrong. 

“He shouldn’t attack you, but if he does I’m here, I’ll hold him back while you send him on his way,” Luc gently moved me forwards and I walked in. 

The leather sofas and the old rug were familiar but the stench of rotting meat wasn’t. I followed my noise and the dragging sounds around the end of the sofa and found Joey slumped down beside Lyle’s desk. His clothes were torn and crusted with dried blood and ooze. Chunks of his flesh were missing and hanging off in places. His jaw was hanging off to one side. 

“Oh, Jo. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have left you,” I crouched down beside him. 

He reeked, I tried to breathe through my mouth but then I could taste the stench as well. I settled on taking shallow breaths through my nose. He made a groaning sound and knocked his arm against my leg. The flesh oozed and left dark gunk on my knee.

“Mariette and Lyle are waiting for us. You go ahead and I’ll see you soon ok,” Joey groaned again and closed his eyes. Instinctively I placed my finger tips on his chest and I imagined a little orb of light coming free from Joey’s body so I could  let it drift away. It took a few minutes but eventually I felt something warm brush my fingers and Joey’s body went still. Luc gave an audible sigh. 

I opened my eyes and Joey’s body look unbelievably still. From just looking at it I could tell it was empty, no soul left. At the tip of my fingers there was a strange glowing green light. I lifted my hand away away from Joeys body and a green orb drifted free. It floated for a moment and gradually faded until I couldn't see it anymore.

“That was impressive,” I looked up at Luc and he was watching me with a strange expression on his face.

“I haven’t ever seen a releasing like that. One minute he was there and the next he just slumped over."  Luc helped me get to my feet. I looked back down at Joey's body, thinking I should bury it when it began to crumble away like ash.

"How did you do it?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer him. I didn’t know how I did it, and a panic started to creep in. My bones felt cold and I couldn't stand the smell anymore. I just shrugged and left the study. 

I kept walking until I was outside. I closed my eyes and started taking deep breaths of cold air, letting the sting distract me from the strange feeling that was making my skin crawl. When I opened my eyes I felt calmer. It was pitch black out, it had to be the early hours of the morning.

My grandparent’s house was built on a fairly large area of land, most of which was untamed woodland. When I was younger I used to play amongst the trees, always in view of the house and never too deep or after dark. 

I remembered the first time I had seen a wolf in the woods, I ran indoors and told my mother what had happened. She had laughed and told me that it was fine, the wolves lived in the woods because they protected the house but all the same I shouldn’t approach them or get in their way. After that, every time I saw a wolf I would wave and then back away slowly. I had trusted what my mother had told me but I had never felt threatened by them, despite how big the wolves had been. 

Standing in the cold I wondered how many times I had seen my grandfather, my father or even Joey and had just thought them to be animals. I needed to speak to my grandparent’s. I understood that they wanted to protect me as a child, I may not have grasped why things were the way they were, but why didn’t they tell me once I was older? Why was I the only one kept in the dark, the last one to know? They wouldn’t have been laughing at me behind my back, nothing as childish as that, but did they think I couldn’t be trusted? I wanted to storm into the woods, complete the ritual and hash it out with my grandparent’s. 

Fuelled by anger I stormed off into the trees. I got as far as three trees deep and then the darkness was so thick I could barely see and I could there was no evidence of what way Nancy had gone.

A shorter one for today but be sure to read the next one to see how the ritual goes!

L xx

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