CHAPTER 14: THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The mist had finally won. It had entered the body of the strongest host. There was no stopping it now. The mist began to take over Suzanne’s body. First the body. It immobilized Suzanne. The mist could feel Suzanne struggling, willing herself to move, her every nerve demanding that her muscles react. Then the consciousness. The mist began to enter Suzanne’s consciousness as Suzanne lost hers. It went into Suzanne’s consciousness and saw flashes of Suzanne’s memories.

There was Tom, his mouth grazing the base of Suzanne’s neck as his hand squeezed her breasts provocatively through her satin robe. Suzanne had moaned as Tom pulled back the edge of the robe to expose one side of her breast. Suzanne had gyrated her thigh against Tom, wishing for him to take her there and then. Such pleasure. Such ecstasy.

Another memory appeared. This was of Suzanne and her grandmother at the nursing home. Suzanne was peeling an orange for the old woman as both laughed over a joke. The mist found the face of the wrinkly old woman somewhat disturbing. In fact, it felt uneasy, having stumbled upon this memory. So it abandoned this memory and went even deeper. The mist had to travel to the very core of Suzanne’s consciousness to fully take over her body and soul.

This time, it was presented with yet another memory. The mist saw a 9-year-old Suzanne sitting at the front porch of a house. She was crying. The mist felt Suzanne's pain. It was the feeling of abandonment. Her mother had left her. Suzanne cried uncontrollably as she wondered if she had done something wrong to anger her mother. The mist did not like this memory. It was full of sadness.

It traveled even deeper this time and saw an even younger Suzanne. A three-year-old Suzanne was skipping merrily at the park holding a woman’s hand. She was holding ice cream in her other hand, laughing and shouting at all the things she saw at the park. Such joy. The mist was unaccustomed to this feeling. Bliss was something it hadn’t felt in a very long time. The woman turned to face Suzanne and smiled. That face. It was strangely familiar.

And then little Suzanne accidentally dropped the ice cream onto the pavement. Tears welled up in her eyes and she started to wail. The woman knelt to face Suzanne and gingerly wiped the tears from her face. “*Don’t cry, mummy will buy you a new one*.”

Suzanne stopped crying and smiled, hugging the woman. “I love you, mummy.”

Another memory. This one was perhaps embedded within Suzanne’s subconsciousness. Here the woman was holding a baby Suzanne in her arms as she sang a lullaby to lull baby Suzanne to sleep. The woman smiled at Suzanne before planting a kiss on her forehead.

“*I’ll always love you, sweetheart*,” said the woman. That was love. Love in its purest form.

The mist felt an aching pain, one it had never experienced before. There was an immeasurable joy going through the memories and yet the pain was immensely powerful. And that face….where had the mist seen it before.

And just like that, all its memories came flooding back.

* “You lied! Let me go! What are you doing? No, please don’t hurt me! No! Help…..please….”*

*“Do you swear to sell your soul to the devil?” *

*“Mummy, don’t leave!”*

*“Olivia Summers! You are a disappointment to the family!”*

*“When I grow up, I’ll be the best clairvoyant ever! I’ll make you proud mama!”*

The plethora of emotions and memories were too great. Perhaps that was why it had come to seek Suzanne in the first place. Not because it had wanted to consume her powers, but because somewhere deep inside the mist’s consciousness, Olivia Summers was fighting tooth and nail to see her child one more time.

*I was Olivia Summers, I was the woman in her memories. I cannot hurt my child. I love you, Suzanne.*

***

“*I love you, Suzanne*”

Suzanne opened her eyes, her vision still a blur. She had heard a woman’s voice. It sounded familiar but for the life of her, Suzanne couldn’t place a name to the voice.

“Suzanne! Wake up!”

Suzanne blinked a few times. She felt groggy and weak but could make out Tom's silhouette hunched over her small frame. His good hand was shaking her shoulder trying to wake her up while his other hand hung limp.

They were both in the protective circle now, with the whirlpool of a hurricane swirling around them. She assumed Tom had pulled her in with his good arm. She started to blackout again, but Tom shook her shoulder and pointed to the white phoenix.

“It’s losing!”, he yelled. And so it seemed. The phoenix was relentlessly attacking the black mist as it grew smaller and smaller.

Suzanne gathered all her might to sit up. She fished out a miniature glass ball from her pocket and whispered to Tom.

“Throw this at that black smoke.”

Tom nodded, took the little ball, and with all his might, threw it at the black mist. As the ball whisked through the air, Suzanne urgently whispered a small chant. And just as the ball neared the mist, it transformed into a shimmering white net and engulfed the mist. The mist did not struggle. In fact, it looked as if it had given up.

The phoenix took no chance, immediately opened its enormous jaw, and swallowed the mist whole. Suzanne did a reverse of her hand gestures and bit into her finger once more, smearing the blood on the two yellow talismans again. The phoenix burst into a fiery white flame, its brilliance covering the whole room before its ashes rained onto the floor. And with that, the hurricane disappeared. All was left was an unconscious Suzanne in Tom’s arm as he hugged her tightly.

No one noticed the small portion of the black mist that had pierced Suzanne seeping out the egress.

***

2 MONTHS LATER…

“Are you sure you want to resign Tom?”, his colleagues surrounded his table as Tom packed the last file into his cardboard box.

He smiled, “Never been more sure in my life.”

“What’s your next move?” asked another.

Tom lifted his cardboard and grimaced slightly, his arm never really healed from the contact with the black smoke, whatever that thing was. At nights when the weather was cold, he would feel a dull ache in the arm, much like how an arthritic person would feel.

“I might travel the world first. Then maybe take up another degree. In Theology perhaps.”

His colleagues laughed, thinking it to be a joke. Tom waved goodbye to them and stepped out of the office. He walked slowly through the crowded halls, trying to remember every room, student, and event here. He would miss the place. But he couldn’t wait to start a brand new adventure with Suzanne.

And speaking of the devil…there’s my girl. Tom broke into a huge grin and he walked faster. Suzanne’s red Beetle was parked right in front of the entrance. She poked her head out of the driver’s seat, her sunglasses covering her eyes. She had just gone for LASIK a month ago and no longer required to wear prescribed glasses from now on. The sunglass was just a fashion statement.

“Going somewhere, handsome?”, she teased.

Tom hopped over to the passenger seat and kissed her deeply on the mouth, not caring if any of his former students saw them.

“To my apartment, lady. I’d like to teach you a lesson or two…..”, he teased. Suzanne giggled and started to drive but stopped when a black cat jumped in front of her car. She slammed into her breaks.

“Dejavu…”, she whispered as the black cat stopped to look at them before scurrying off into the bushes.

“What’d you say?”, Tom asked.

The cat gave off a very familiar vibe. Almost as if it knew Suzanne. It made Suzanne think of the black mist somehow. She shook off the thought. Suzanne was positive she had performed a full ritual for the ashes.

“There shouldn’t be any remains….”, she told herself out loud.

*Take care, Suzanne. *

Suzanne blinked and cocked her head, trying to catch a glimpse of the black cat. Did it just call out to her?

“Suzanne?”, Tom prodded again, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. He had become extremely protective of Suzanne ever since that fateful day.

Suzanne turned to Tom and kissed his cheek. “It’s nothing. Let’s go, we haven’t finished last night’s lesson. I think you need to educate me on Kamasutra again.” And with that, they sped off.

***

The black cat stopped in front of the nursing home and saw an old woman sitting under a big yellow umbrella, sipping a cup of tea in her rocking chair. It jumped onto the old woman’s lap, catching her by surprise. The black cat meowed softly and began to purr.

The old woman looked at the cat, put down her cup of tea, and smiled, wiping a single tear that had formed at the corner of her wrinkled eye and began stroking it as her chair rocked back and forth. And as she did, she closed her eyes and hummed a lullaby for the cat. It was the exact same lullaby that Olivia Summer had once sang for baby Suzanne Summers.