Lucera

Untitled Part 1

1

Terror unlike she had ever known before seized her insides with ferocious relish and locked her limbs in place, as a brutal battle of wills waged inside of her head, a battle for her mind and consequently her soul. Hot perspiration seeped through the young maiden's thin cotton nightgown, drenching the duvet and pillow on which she was tossed about like a ragdoll by an unseen force. She was barely able to draw a breath, for powerful was the oppressing entity clamping down on her windpipe, as it attempted to batter her into submission and thereby gain control of all her faculties. She was no stranger to these types of ordeals, however, and would rather throw down with the boss man downstairs himself before she succumbed to the insidious monstrosity hell-bent on possessing her. As if discerning that very train of thought, said monstrosity tightened its icy claws round her throat and squeezed.

"You little bitch," it sneered and broke off in an unpleasant cackle that bordered on hysterical. "You are nothing."

Refusing to dignify the entity's obscenities with a response, she simply willed herself to calm, which proved arduous and then some, especially since the oxygen in her brain was rapidly dwindling. Summoning the vestiges of whatever remaining willpower she had left, she concentrated on the sword of the spirit and called out to her Father in heaven to intervene on her behalf. She was rewarded moments later with an unhuman-like squeal from the demonic spirit as her throat was released from its vitriol-filled vise-grip. Suddenly overcome with a strong dose of fatigue, the battle-wary maiden issued her version of a war cry of victory in the form of a drawn-out yawn and slipped into unconsciousness.

When she had awoken the next day the happenings of the previous night were all but forgotten. Kicking the rumpled sheets aside, the young woman clambered out of bed and made a beeline for the adjoining bathroom.

"Lucera."

Hand stretched towards the circular door handle, Lucera halted mid-step, a tingling sensation rushing up her spine, causing her nerve endings to stand out on end. That voice. Why did it sound so familiar to her, or was it possible that she was now suffering from hallucinations?? Taking a deep, steadying breath, she shrugged off the eerie encounter and staggered towards the face basin, where she freshened up, after which drawing herself a bath and began to mentally prepare herself for the day's gruelling tasks.

Fifteen minutes later a professionally decked-out Lucera sauntered into the dining area and was immediately greeted with the mouth-watering aroma of scrambled eggs and toast, but overriding those fragrances was the more pungent and addictive smell of coffee, which called to the young woman's soul like the sensual song of a siren.

"Sissy."

Turning her head towards the sound of her brother's gruff voice, Lucera smiled, a warm feeling brimming her heart.

"Good morning, Kai."

"You look nice. Trying to impress somebody at the office, a high-ranking officer maybe?"

Her tinkling laughter reverberated throughout the spacious room, as she glided towards the coffee maker.

"I can maybe throw my weight around as superintendent to find out who this mystery person might be," he teased, stashing his used silverware in the dish washer.

"I have not been searching, and I do not have an interest in dating anyone."

That was a bold-faced lie and she knew it. One of the things Lucera incessantly prayed for apart from the return of her vision was to find her husband, that one guy with whom she might share all her burdens both physical and spiritual and to whom she might prove an asset of a wife, although, there was one person who had consistently been there for her ever since her college days at the University of the Southern Caribbean. When they met, He was a Political Science major, while she had specialized in English Literature, but they both decided to do their minor in Biblical Theology and had bonded over their shared zest for Christian concepts and notions against organized religion as it related to the new age.