Goodbye Normal (22 page)

“Oh my god where is it?” she groped some more. Her arm flew around without direction trying to find the stick. Her hands were getting dump and she was already trembling.

Her hand stumbled upon something but it was not the stick. It felt like a hinge bone. She threw it away with a shudder.

“Yes” she rejoiced after feeling the actual stick, Zoe lit it up and her eyes fell to her watch, It read twenty second to go. She searched for the last door. She quickly took of her chain and held it on her hand. Five second.

There it was. The last door finally! Her legs ran to the door and 3…2…1.

There was the same light that shimmers whenever she uses the necks powers. It glittered for few second.

 The door opened. She made it.

The door flew open and behind her everything disappeared. The four magical rooms were gone. She peered inside and her eyes got the taste of another century.

The first room she stumbled upon looked like a study. It had incredibly impressive painting and drawing on the walls. There were old books in different corners and many more in the shelves. A good number of liquor bottles lay empty on the floor. The room was bright but rather claustrophobic. Here nostril caught up with the strong dusty odor. She noticed from the pulled out drapes that the windows were down. Her fingers lightly touched the furniture which pulled out pretty dusty. An old newspaper caught her eye, she snatched it from a couch and read the year. Her brows pushed up, it wasn’t that long! Just three years back!

 She walked through a narrow corridor and peered into the first room on the right. The room was empty with a messy bed and some more liquor bottles and books. Not seeing it coming, she felt sorry for their confined life that second. They must have had it rough she thought, not seeing another human being for years was an extreme torture.

 Entertaining her curiosity to search another room which was also on the same side, she made a strong stop by the door after noticing people asleep on a bed.

She sprinted to the bed, and there she found three bodies. She stood on the edge of the bed scrutinizing their features. Despite their circumstances, they appeared peaceful and comfortable. On the left was a Caucasian male, he had rich chestnut hair, a very hefty frame and an attractive face, he was not drop dead handsome, but there was something distinctive about him, something very appealing .

The body on the middle was of a Korean girl, plausibly her height. She had straight black hair and even when asleep she was quiet the beauty. And last was a black guy, very muscular and offensively good-looking. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was a criterion in their selection matrix to only pick, good-looking individuals.

 Zoe placed the back of her palm on their forehead and noticed that they were incredibly warm. She tried shaking them out of what looked like sleep but none of them woke up. The three humeleons were stagnant.  They didn’t even display a reluctant snuggle or a shift of posture. They looked dead but alive.

“Oh no” she cried, running back to where she came from. She wondered if the heat was from an infection or something else more serious.

Zoe opened the door to the mass of excited witches waiting on her impatiently. Their faces were masked with eagerness and curiosity.

“I found them, they don’t look too good” she announced.

There was a lot of chattering, whispering and veering in the crowed as the coven leaders answered to her call with fast paced steps.

They followed Zoe into the room and Chris took hold of Zoe’s hand, she turned to meet his concerned eyes.

“You okay” he muttered.

She nodded, and smiled briefly.

Longwood went to check them out himself.  After he made his observation, he searched around and saw a small bottle. “Can you pass that please.” he said looking at Chris.

He handed the chairman the small plastic bottle and when her sniffed its content he nodded.

“They drank a sleeping portion. Go get Turtlehead.” he told Chris.

Watching Chris’s back, the atmosphere was back to a cooling point.

“You did fine, congratulations.” Longwood beamed and the rest agreed with smiles and nodes.

Smiling back politely, her blue gaze met the humeleons. They were wearing modern clothes. She then wondered how come they were not in skintight trousers and worn up collars with laced ruffs. Or better yet for the Korean a colorful piece of hanbok lying around would surely amount for her existence. Zoe instantly remembered the newspaper in the study and the glanced at sleeping potions and wondered again if the humeleons also had witchcraft abilities. “Are…Are they…how did they get it?” Zoe asked pointing at the potion bottle.

“Teleporting.” Longwood said “Over the years, we have sent them essential needs like clothes, drinks and newspapers through teleportation and some few times sleeping portions to shorten their sentence. A drop of this portions, secures five years of undisturbed sleep.”

Five long years! Something had to be done; they couldn’t wait for that long.

“So we have to wait that long for them to wake up?” if so it would be absurd.

“No, Turtlehead’s magic will work on them returning immediately.” Longwood assured.

That was surely a relief. She stared at them again and thought out loudly

“Does anyone know their names?” Zoe asked her eyes curiously holding on to the still lot.

“The white male is Lonard Burton.” offered Fred as Zoe veered her attention to him “body of a 23 year old aged 210years old, the girl is Jin-joo, body of a 21 year old with 207 yrs and last is Clay Middleman, body of a 22 year old having 210 years.”

“Hi greatgranpa.” Zoe said wittily.

Fred chuckled “They sure are old.”

“It’s very challenging to think about what they are capable of.” said Longwood with a serious face.

“I hope these scourged years have been a lesson to them.” Maydith chipped in.

“Virtue is not what I expect from them but control.” Longwood explained.

Turtlehead strode inside with his potion case clenched tightly under is armpit. He looked older than he did the last time she saw him. It must be the light in the room. It was brighter now than it had been in his lab.

He placed the plastic case on the bed, opened it carefully and wore his spectacles before observation. He checked them briefly then went back to his case and removed a glass bottle with green fluid.

“How long have they been asleep?” questioned Moosemond who was standing beside Lonard’s head.

“Three to four years I guess. I’m not very sure. But regardless the portion will work the same way to any number of years” Turtlehead replied inspecting Clay.

“It will only take 10 minutes to bring them back if all goes well.” Turtlehead explained further going for his case.

“What do you mean if all goes well?” Longwood asked with brows pulled together.

“I mean it as it is Longwood.” Turtlehead replied sharply, going for Lonard’s head. He appeared morose. He was yet another fellow who couldn’t dissuade his hate for the humeleons.

Carefully with Moosemond’s help, they dropped a single drib of the liquid in his mouth and the exercise was repeated for the rest of them.

In ten minutes these monsters will be free again, how unruly. Zoe thought as she got hyped with anxiety.

Searching around the room for Chris, she realized he had not returned with Turtlehead. Why not? Could he not handle seeing them? He was backing out when she needed him close.

Five minutes, she read her watch. And noticed there was nothing more frustrating than a time limit. Being on the clock just gets someone on the verge of madness. She could almost hear her head screaming for time to stop. Then what?? she asked herself, the humeleons won’t have to be part of their lives.  How idiotic, and pathetic! Three minutes.

Please come back Chris, you have to come back. Her bravery was cooking away.

Zoe wasn’t sure what they could do when awake. Probably kill them all and run free. Maybe they were more powerful than them. She consoled her fears whilst eyeing the coven heads. She turned away from the humeleons and her eyes met Maydith who stealthy walked to her side.

“We will be just fine,” Maydith murmured. Great! She had noticed her nervousness. “We made them, we can destroy them”

 Dwelling in her words, they kinda felt like an energizer.

They heard movements from the bed and both heads turned franticly.  

It was Jin. She shot up so fast, it was hard to believe she had just come from an year length of sleep.

Jin looked around nervously “where am I, and who are you?” she asked.

Maydith was just about to explain when both Lonard and Clay jerked up at a lights speed.

“Hope I’m not dead, though this looks like the better version of the hell I envisioned” Lonard said in lazy husky tone.

“Sad enough, none of you is dead, we finally found the Channeler.” Maydith said.

“Finally! so who is my savior.” Clay asked, already pinning his instincts on Zoe. Both Lonard and Jin stared at her. Zoe slued away from their vague glares and walked out of the room not needing their appreciation. It was done out of necessity certainly no strings attached.

Crowded with impatient heads, Zoe loitered around the lawn looking for her missing friend.

Chris was perched on a bench, away from all the craziness around. He looked very much away from their world. Instinctively he turned to meet her lingering steps.

He shifted from the bench and watched her fasten her pace prior noticing him.

“Chris you’re so unfair, why did you leave me alone” Zoe complained.

“It’s not always about you Zoe.” Chris gnashed sharply.

“Oh.” She flushed and sunk on the bench beside him. He was right. “You’re mean too.” she compromised with a smirk.

He sighed then bit his lower lip “I needed space before those things resurrected.”

“They have.” she said bitterly, easing upon her seat.

Chris cast his eye at her. He noticed she looked sullen “Are you okay?”

She nodded “I’m okay, I’ve unleashed beasts and now all I can do is wait for whatever they pull off.” she said hitting her thighs with her palms in resignation.

“I think we should give them the chance to prove us right or God willingly wrong.”

“A beast is just a beast. I haven’t decided whether to think of them as human or not”

“They could still be” said Chris.

“Zoe, Chris, the humeleons are gone.” called Clarissa breathlessly.

They both got up lithely and ran towards the commotion. There were more than twenty witches on the grounds, how did they escape that quickly. Worst of all, what were they doing? wherever it was they went!

 In the chaos of the dissipated crowd they first saw Maydith run around like a lunatic. She was shouting orders at Fred when they got to her.

“I don’t know how! Do it, just do it now” she shouted at Fred’s back.

“Chris. Oh thank God, can’t you find them in your head?”

Chris looked at her like she was going nuts. “Maydith you know it’s impossible, they must be already too far”

“Just give it a try” Maydith urged desperately. Zoe had never seen Maydith helpless; she always had the- everything is in control confidence vibe, now some threesome humeleons were taking her to zones uncomfortable.

Chris sighed and closed his eyes. His face grew serious and crinkles formed on his forehead, then quickly he eased back.

“Nothing”

“ARE YOU SURE” Maydith asked.

“Maydith don’t worry we will find them” Chris promised.

“What happened?” Zoe asked.

“I don’t know, we were giving them updates of tomorrow’s ball and told them about our expectations then we gave them restriction on how they will go about living freely again, when suddenly they fired away. They were so fast we could hardly register to what happened the minute they took of. When we were talking to them I tried so hard reading their minds but I couldn’t.” Maydith said.

“Zoe let’s go hunt those unruly beasts.” Chris told her, and they run off to the parking lot.

Guided towards the town by the midday scorching sun, it was a blessing they were on a bike. As the wind cooled the temperature on her skin her mind mulled over the short stretched future. She was hopeful that they were clever enough not to massacre innocent people in broad daylight. Her thoughts saw her tightening her hold on Chris waist. Despite the slashing wind, she could feel her skin heat up inside.

Chris halted at Joe’s dinner. They jumped out of the bike and Chris went to his pocket for his phone. 

“Shit.” Chris hissed.

Zoe looked at him questionably.

“They are at happy hour. Iann, the bar manager is a witch. He just texted me.” Zoe recalled the name from her mentor short list. Happy hour was a block away. They rode to the bar and were welcomed by Jin-joo’s annoying grin balancing her lean figure by the door.

 Jin-Joo slewed inside the bar “They found us” she said in an amusingly tone.

Chris walked inside and Zoe followed, rolling her eyes at Jin-joo who made an annoying face at her.  Inside the bar, they found few people seated but unmoving, completely motionless. They were like human statues.
What have these monsters done
! She panicked and threw an angry stare at her fellow blue eyed Lonard.

What Zoe hadn’t noticed was that, all the statued bodies were gazing up at him.

“Hey Gorgeous, you want a sip” Lonard asked in his lazy husky voice.  He was standing on top the counter, clutching a bottle of scotch.

Behind the counter was a broody looking Iann.

“What did you do to these people?” Zoe fired.

“You don’t know?” Clay chipped in, acting surprised. He was sitting among two still girls while playing around with a cigarette on his fingers “Don’t worry we didn’t kill them. We just froze their senses.”

“Incredible huh!” Jin-joo said chuckling. “I used to really enjoy this back in the days. Right now they cannot feel us, hear us, see us, they can’t even smell us.”

Zoe’s lour was piercing. If a look could slash somebody like a sword, Jin-joo could be drowning in her own pool of blood.

“Little kids shouldn’t see what big people do now, should they?” quipped Lonard dropping down from his podium.