Haunted

Chapter 1: Our Witch

The one with the darkest of hearts, the one who could kill by merely moving her hands and imagining your face, my wicked neighbor. Yes, you guessed right, the Witch at the back of my house.

The one who is known for performing rituals at odd times, tormenting souls, and pouring out libations.

Before she knew it, flames of burnt offerings filled the air as she tried to read at midnight.

Sofia stared in disgust and utmost disappointment, “what could she be burning by this time?“. Out of curiosity, Sofia went to the balcony to take a look at what the witch was up to.

Renting a house in Enugu has been the worst mistake Sofia made in all her years.

Feeling happy and excited, Sofia packed into a spacious apartment where few people lived.

Little did she know that her so-called neighbors were pretending, and wearing a happy masks. They lived in fear but acted as though nothing disturbed them. She found the house beautiful and appealing, with beautiful design and a spacious structure.

After seeing a house that had everything she needed, Sofia decided that they'd be no going back, hence she concluded that it was like every other house which was true.

But there was a little different. After a few days of living in that house, She started having an eerie feeling about the house.

With time she found out about the Witch, her escapades, and how no one dared to cross her. Finally, the cause of the eerie feeling she's been having was revealed.

The weather was so cold that night but what could she do?... To satisfy her intense curiosity, she went to the balcony and lay flat, staring directly at the witch's shrine.

A thick black python moved around the shrine, It moved as though it was guarding something. A couple of men and women all dressed in white stood there with calabashes in their hands.

A pregnant woman lay flat on the table, With her eyes closed, hands tied up and legs spread wide open. An old man sat on the right-hand side of the shrine, his leg was four times the size of a normal human's leg.

Sofia blinked and stared at the old man with her mouth wide open. In all her years, she only heard of these things in moonlight tales.

Never for once had she imagined that something like this existed, she was shocked to the brim.

He had deep holes in his leg, and worms of different sizes spurt out of his leg thereby causing him extreme pain. He cried out loud begging the witch for help, but no, he got the latter.

There she was, adorned in white regalia that had beads of different sizes alongside embroideries at the helm of the cloth. Her white gown glowed brightly alongside the Bangles of different colors on her wrist.

A shiny silver necklace rested on her neck, this necklace had a butterfly pendant on it. It had different inscriptions on it.

She looked normal but could be recognized as the Witch through her white regalia. The old man cried out asking what he did to deserve such pain and torment.

From the look of things, the Witch had tormented him severally.

He begged for mercy but it only got her infuriated, she went closer and gave him a wicked look. Next thing, she amputated his arms.

He wailed and groaned in pain but it was like music to her ears. She opened him as though she were a surgeon and drew out his intestines.

With a grin on her face, she drew his intestines one by one. She started with the smaller ones and increased her speed when she got to the large intestines.

She grinned and showed him his worm-infested intestines as he coughed blood continuously.

He placed his left hand on the opening in his belly, trying hard to stop the bleeding but all to no avail.

The Witch left him for a while and came back with a plier, he looked pale and tired but he struggled to stay alive, slowly begging her minions to save him.

They looked into space as though nothing new was happening. She opened his mouth and plucked out his canines and premolars, graciously Staring at them like someone that won a lottery.

He screamed from the effect of her actions, blood oozed out of his mouth as he slowly lost strength.

“I regret the day I decided to serve you and your god, we used countless people for sacrifices, why does it have to be me this time around?“, he asked amidst tears, definitely hoping for a good answer.

“It is given and takes, your canines and premolars are major ingredients to complete my ritual and renew my strength”.

“ I politely asked for it but you never obliged, all you requested, we gave to you, but the one thing we needed, you bluntly refused but offered to get a replacement”.

“Now I have it, the wages of sin is death”, on completing her sentence, she took a dagger and stabbed him in the skull.

She watched as his blood splashed on her face and all over her body. She stabbed him again and again in his throat, Unleashing her anger and happiness at the same time.

She took the calabash that contained the canines and premolars, carefully, She placed them on a red earthen pot that had hot coals...

She added a green liquid, she brought a black viper and placed its head on the pot, she pressed it hard just to make sure that the poison centers.

When she successfully brought out the poison, It turned the green liquid into a very dark color.

She placed her thumb on the snake's fangs, “argh”, she screamed as the fangs pierced through her finger, Making blood ooze out.

She calmly placed her thumb in the pot and all her blood dropped inside the calabash, making the mixture boil in a rush.