Unknown time and realm

The demonic volcano explodes in a towering lava fountain and spews a steamy, sulphureous gas. Rumbling swells to a crescendo that sends a shockwave through the ground. A fiery chasm splits the road at the foot of the mountain, devouring burning shacks and cars. A roaring sound fills my ears and throws me off balance. As I stumble into Amber, she grabs my hand to pull me upright.

A wave of black smoke billows across the roadway to swallow Lucy, Daniela, and her adult sons. Noxious fumes invade my nose as we're plunged into darkness. I'm struggling to breathe. My heart hammers with panic as I gasp for air. The disembodied voices of strangers cut through the murk.

"You're broken, Aislinn."

"Cursed and condemned."

A whimper escapes my lips as Amber releases my hand. I reach for her, but my fingers clutch air. "Honey, don't leave me!" We're going to die in this hellhole.

As if she's reading my mind, my former best friend shouts, "Sheriff Graves, come back! You've got to get my boys out of here!"

Lucy's silky voice floats from the fog. "What about the kid? Aislinn's a horrific whore, but her daughter doesn't deserve to die."

Daniela's voice lowers an octave as she growls, "Fuck those putas."

My hands close into fists as rage surges up my spine. I strike at the darkness, even as I know my blows won't land on anything living. "Bitch, come say that to my face!"

The ground shakes and I struggle to remain standing. Eerie screams of unfamiliar voices mingle with the insults thrown by Daniela and Lucy.

"You'll never find your stupid baby."

"Conlan's dead. You don't deserve him."

Through the shouting, Amber's soft voice somehow reaches my ears. "Naomh Bríd, déan sinn a chosaint."

I remember this prayer. Saint Brigid, protect us.

The dense fog darkens, then swirls to encircle me. Heavy, humid air presses against my skin and chokes the breath in my throat. Dizzy and unable to breathe, my knees buckle and I collapse.

As I lay on my back in the dirt, a suffocating miasma squeezes the air from my lungs. Each convulsion brings images of painful betrayals.

Born of incest, product of rape.

Lucy stole Robert.

Daniela turned her back on me when I needed her most.

A tremor opens a spiderweb of cracks in the dirt road. I squeeze my eyes shut. Tears flow down my cheeks with the final blows.

Autistic daughter.

Dead son.

Suddenly, blinding white light sears my eyelids. I cover my eyes, but dazzling rays slice through my fingers. Fresh air streams into my nostrils. My lungs expand and I exhale in ragged coughing. Pressing my forearms into the road, I'm able to lift my chest and head. As I blink hard, my vision slowly returns. The whirling fog retreats to leave a circular clearing for me and Amber.

Twinkling lights swirl and dance around my daughter. Amber's eyes widen in surprise as tiny translucent balls zip up her nose and into her mouth and ears. A cluster floats between her legs to disappear into her crotch. She's lit from within, her skin translucent.

Disembodied screams and shouts fade to silence as the ground settles and the tremors stop.

My daughter moans and bends to put her hands on her knees. Oily shoulder-length hair falls in a curtain to cover her face.

I push up to a seated position and reach to touch her, but she throws back her head with a laugh. Thick, lustrous hair flies upward and away from a face which is no longer fourteen and pimply, but refined, porcelain beauty. Her shoulders straighten as her beanpole body plumps and curves to pinup proportions. Beams of light shoot from her fingers and toes to dispel the fog.

Lucy's voice interrupts my transfixion. "Finally, something interesting! I was about to die of boredom."

Daniela erupts in a rare giggle. "Hate to break it to you, but you're already dead."

Lucy and Daniela are three feet to my right and floating above the Salvia brothers. Ben's eyes are narrowed and his mouth set in a frown. George is wide-eyed with a half-smile on his face. Fuck me, I know that cunt-struck look.

As I rise to stand, my eyes flick back to the glowing young woman. Long red hair reaches her waist. Her skin is unblemished and creamy white. She's barefoot and wearing a short green tunic belted with cordage. Hanging from her right shoulder is a wooden bow strung with animal sinew.

Unblinking green eyes meet mine. Her lips don't move, yet I hear a woman's voice.

"You are a divine being, my child."

Her seductive voice unleashes a flood of memories. Countless letters and phone calls with Daniela. The one person with whom I could share my fears, hopes, and dreams.

Meeting Christopher. I was bored and standing against the wall at a fraternity party when this handsome redheaded guy met my eyes. My interest piqued as he crossed the room to join me. In a thick Irish brogue, he asked, "Do ye hail from Donegal County?" When I laughed in surprise at his correct assumption, he dropped the funny accent and we talked all night until the sun came up the next morning.

A long time ago, I was happy. A small, abandoned part of me wants to open my heart to this wonderous being. "Brigid?"

Brigid's lips widen in a dazzling white smile and she nods.

An uneasy feeling grips my gut and sparks the memory of Brigid's arrow slicing through my womb to pin me to the ground. My searing grief overwhelms any fleeting joy. This bitch made me think I was crazy from all the pregnancy hormones!

For the longest time, I thought I'd had an epic nightmare about a near miscarriage until I saw Dr. Betty Morton in the psych ward with Amber.

My mind's reeling with confusion. There's so much I want to ask her, but all I can manage is, "Why?"

Her smile doesn't waver, but somehow a melodic laugh fills my ears. "My priestesses called upon me to save your baby girl."

Doubt stabs at my emerging hope and tears stream down my dusty face. "Then why did you let Conlan die?"

The goddess's smile retreats to an unreadable mask. She speaks without moving her lips. "The boy king was taken to keep him safe."

As I'm struggling to make sense of the goddess's riddles, Lucy's laughter interrupts my train of thought. "Oh my God! Do something witchy already! Shoot Aislinn with a thunderbolt or something."

Brigid raises an eyebrow and reaches behind her back to retrieve a six-foot arrow. The shaft is an inch thick and covered in sigils. I'm frozen as she draws back the bowstring. My brain is screaming Run! But I'm overcome by a strange peace with the realization that my suffering will end. I open my arms to Brigid and her arrow. "Do it."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I hear a whoosh as Brigid sends the arrow flying.

I wait for the arrow to tear through my heart, but nothing happens.

Opening my eyes in surprise, I see Lucy shoot into the sky, Brigid's arrow in pursuit.

Daniela gasps and drops to the ground to stand protectively in front of her sons. "We mean no disrespect. Please don't hurt them."

Ivory fingers close around the bow as the goddess returns it to her right shoulder. "I've no quarrel with the Salvia family."

As Daniela babbles her gratitude in Spanish and English, Ben and George exchange uneasy glances. They're turned away from Brigid and are staring at something behind me.

I tear my eyes away from the goddess and pivot to find a dark whisp of smoke rising from a deep gash in the dirt road. The smoke darkens and coalesces into the shape of a hooded human. The grey cloaked figure stretches to well above six feet in height. As muscular white hands reach upward to remove the shroud from his head, thick red and white streaked hair tumbles to broad shoulders. He's barefoot, and wearing a rustic, sleeveless brown shirt and brown pants that end at muscular calves.

Green eyes stare from a chiseled, handsome face. I'm invisible as he looks over my head to gape at Brigid. A bulge forms in his pants at the crotch, and his lips spread into a lustful grin.

"Granddaughter, you have exceeded my expectations."

I find my voice. "Seamus O'Donnell? You're supposed to be dead!"

Deep, rumbling laughter fills my ears. "I shed that old body. Find me a suitable replacement, and I'll grant you your son."

His honeyed words seep into my ears to induce a dizzying nausea. As an explosion rocks the roadway, I stumble backward. Warm hands grasp my shoulders as Brigid turns me to face her. Fifty feet behind the goddess, lava streams along a widening crevice.

Seamus O'Donnell materializes behind Brigid. As his hands shoot out to grab her waist, she releases me. Lightning fast, the goddess whirls and grabs an arrow from her quiver. Brigid's face is impassive as she shoves the wooden shaft against Seamus's chest to keep him at a three-foot distance.

George moves to Brigid's right. His forehead is wrinkled in a frown as he growls, "Fucking perv. Leave her alone."

Twenty-five feet behind them, the magma river splits the earth with a groan.

Seamus raises his right hand to snap his fingers. A door appears at the edge of the lava flow and opens to a sunlit sky over a green meadow. The view zooms to a grassy hill at the center. Atop the hill stands a redheaded white boy. His back is to us, but he's barefoot and wearing a green tunic. The boy bends over a granite stone atop the hill. As he turns toward us, he hoists a gleaming sword above his head. The boy looks directly at me and smiles. "Hello, Mother."

With a scream, I run toward the door. Broken glass slices my skin as I sprint past exploding shacks. A sinkhole opens in the road to my right, which I dodge. As I leap into the doorway, the vision vanishes and I face plant into the dirt. The earth groans and heaves, tilting me upside down at a forty-five degree angle. I grab and kick frantically for something to hold on to as I slide towards the fiery abyss. Blistering heat singes my eyebrows as my head and chest clear the roadway. The last thing I hear is Daniela's shriek. "Die, puta!"

Suddenly, strong hands grab my right arm and calf to stop the hellish descent. Ben Salvia yanks me sideways off the slab and I'm flung through Daniela. For a moment time stands still as I'm suspended in soupy miasma. A wave of nausea sends bile into my throat. She unleashes a volley of swearing and I belly flop on the dirt road. The impact jolts my gut and I vomit in the dirt.

Rolling away from the sickly smell, I find Ben Salvia ignoring his mother to stare at Brigid and George. I rise to my elbows as Brigid turns away from Seamus and toward George. Ivory fingers reach to stroke his cheek. George's eyes widen, then close as he inclines his face toward the goddess. Brigid wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him against her body.

As their lips touch, Seamus lets loose a roar whose force blows out the windows of the roadside Porsche . "You soil yourself with this brown peasant!"

Another explosion shakes the earth, and the Porsche erupts in flames. Ben grabs George by the shoulder and pulls him from the passionate embrace. "We've got to get out of here."

A deep sigh escapes Brigid's lips. Extending her right index finger, she draws a circle in the air. Inside the circle, the hell scape vanishes, and the reservoir reappears.

Seamus howls with rage and a ringing sound fills my ears. He sweeps his cloak upward like a giant bat, then sweeps it over Brigid's head.

A sudden shove against my back sends me tumbling through the hole. Weightless, I float away from the flames and explosions. My view of the dirt road telescopes. The last thing I see before it narrows to a pin prick is Seamus's cloak in a crumpled heap. No body-sized lumps underneath.

I'm suspended in darkness as the disembodied screams fade.

AUTHOR NOTES:

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Playlist The Ghost in You by the Psychedelic Furs

https://youtu.be/0hePKh2bdLc