The Curse of Thelonious [✓]

thirty two

Lera could feel her body trembling in anticipation for what was to come, her fingers anxiously picking on the lint of her wooly scarf.

Atlas had texted her his whereabouts whilst she was walking home, tears slowly welling against her lashes when he explained what he had found. He was putting on a brave front for what must occur but she knew he was terrified. She had done some research on her laptop, avoiding her parent's worried questions and printed a few pages out.

They were ready.

During the day the cemetery had looked perfectly fine but now the sun had set, it was as though the view had come straight out of a horror movie. The marble headstones stood in neat rows like soldiers lining up to battle and the few scattered trees curled inwards, almost as though they were leering in a predatory way.

"Does it have to be here?" she whispered to Atlas beside her who was clutching the bay leaves tightly.

He nodded slightly and spoke in a hushed tone, as though he was afraid to disturb the dead beneath their feet. "Yeah, 'fraid so. The book said it's something about how graveyards are a portal to the other side. It makes it easier to contact spirits, jinn and demons."

Lera inhaled and exhaled deeply to prepare herself before taking a determined step forward to where Colette Wakelins' grave was. They had decided on doing it there as it seemed the safest option. Whilst they didn't really have an inkling of how the dead worked, they were hoping Colette's spirit would do all in her power to prevent them getting hurt.

Atlas bent down until he was eye-level with his mothers' headstone and traced her name lightly, almost longingly. Swallowing nervously, he tried to quench the fear rising inside him, threatening to overwhelm him. Without a word, he slowly pulled out the thick rope they had gotten from the DIY shop as a precautionary measure and handed it to Lera. She knew what she had to do.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled as she used it to tie him down to his mothers' headstone. She knotted it tightly, glad when he couldn't move a centimetre from where he was trapped. He only nodded in reply; the two teenagers knew they didn't have much choice. Exorcisms were messy and although Lera trusted Atlas with her life, she wasn't sure if the evil inside him would attack either of them.

She took a quick look at the paper in her hands on which she had collected a variety of prayers from different languages. Atlas had explained to her that the book emphasised the idea that all religions came from one God, from one original source. And so, it made sense to her to refer to all three Abrahamic religions. Summoning every fibre of hope from within her, she began, merging the prayers together as she spoke.

"My Lord, I beg you to cast away any and all evil spirits and creatures residing amongst the soul of Atlas Sinclair. In your name alone, God, I command all demons to leave at once, to leave us free as you created us. In the name of God, the one and only Lord of the worlds, I bless the body of Atlas. I bless him from the darkness lurking in the depths of his soul and I demand the evil to flee."

Her voice had started out hesitant but once she saw the reassurance in his dark eyes, it grew stronger. She had put together the translation of all the prayers she had found online and decided to appeal directly to God instead of the demon for their own safety.

Nothing happened.

She blinked, releasing the breath she hadn't realised she was holding as she looked around. The sky was still, the trees swaying slightly in the wind and a few owls hooting in the distance. She was about to untie him after a few suspenseful minutes, to declare that it was a waste of time when all the colour in his face dropped.

Atlas felt his body growing weak with dizziness as small beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. He clenched his eyes together in fear as he felt something inside him shift. Whisperings were ringing in his mind, his skull almost ringing with the pressure of it. One voice was shouting and another was praying although he couldn't make out any words or who they were.