The Devil's Bonfire: Chapter 8

The season finale

Karma

The girl rolled her eyes provocatively at Simon and beckoned him with one finger.

He looked back at the group he had just left, Russell seemed to be delivering the punch line to some joke because the girls suddenly burst into fits of laughter. He turned back to the girl who was now swaying her hips to the music and he walked over to her.

“Hi!” She said “I’m totally loving your skinhead.”

“I almost ran you over, then you took off” he said accusingly “you were running from them, the savages and Seargeant Kaggwa said they got you, what are you doing here? how did you…” Simon was still going until she stopped him.

“Ran me over?” she was now quizzical “Where?”

“Back in the forest” he labored to explain “this afternoon at around three you rushed onto the road I almost killed you”

“Me, in the forest?” look, you must think I’m somebody else.

“They were after you, these savages, I swear it was you” he insisted.

“I don’t know what you’ve been drinking, but you need to split.” She said exasperatedly and turned to walk away.

“Wait,” he said “Lemme show you something.” He was now absolutely perplexed, but he needed to find out more about her, either she was lying or his mind was playing tricks on him.

He removed a hanky from his jacket pocket and picked a bottle top from the ground, carefully while she watched he placed the top in the middle of the hanky and folded it, after a brief second he flipped the hanky in the air and turned it around sideways. The bottle top had miraculously disappeared.

“Wow” she said exitedly “how did you do that?”

“It’s just a little magic” he smiled.

“So cool, can you teach me?” she pleaded.

“Lemme think about it while we dance,” he replied. “Shall we”

He took her hand and they made their way through a mass of bodies until they found a free space in the middle of the lawn.

They boogied to a number of hits including his favorites, Sean Kingston’s ‘Beautiful girls’ and Chamillionaire’s ‘Ridin’. Simon found her to be a terrific dancer and as the DJ spun a raga tune by some obscure Jamaican artist he put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer while gyrating from left to right.

She didn’t seem to mind and pulled him even closer with her arms around his neck.

“So what’s your name?” She spoke in his ear.

“Simon, what’s yours?”

“Rachel.” She answered while pointing to a golden chain around her neck from which dangled a calligraphically designed letter ‘R’, “Rachel Kalema”

“Do you always give your full name to a total stranger”

“Only when they’re cute,” she smiled mischievously.

“You sure know how to dance for someone so young” he teased.

“Don’t you know that dancers are born?” she retorted.

“Really?” he laughed “and what class are you in?” he inquired further.

“That’s a really clever way of trying to tell my age young man.” She joked.

“How about if I asked directly then, how old are you?” he shot back.

“Why not find out” she teased.

“Yeah, how?”

She pulled his face close and kissed him on the lips, in a very unexpected move her warm and moist lips enveloped his mouth and he felt his heart thump rapidly, quickly Simon regained his composure and pulled away slowly.

“Wow, you don’t waste time do you” he said “some kiss.”

“Am a girl of many talents” She purred.

“No doubt my dear no doubt, but I would wish for you to at least give me a warning before errr….displaying your numerous talents.”

“Fine my love” she cooed, “what I wouldn’t give for a drink right now.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” he concurred, “let’s look for a bar”

They made their way to a bar where he obtained a bottle of tusker for himself and a coke for her. Several tents had been erected all around the compound and plastic chairs were neatly arranged underneath them, he took her hand and led her to one of the tents, they slumped into the chairs with much relief.

“My feet are killing me” he complained, “Haven’t danced this much since first year.”

“What course did you pursue?” She inquired.

“Social Sciences” he answered.

“Have you found a job?” she dug further.

“No, still looking”

“Looking where?”

“What is this, an inquisition?” he joked.

“Just asking” she said defensively, “just imagine you’re on TV and I’m Oprah.”

“Okay Oprah, you can fire away just as long as I get to play Larry King later.”

“No, no, no” she cried, “tonight is about you.” As she said that Simon saw that she shivered a little.

“You’re getting chilly.” He noted as he removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

“I’m actually developing a mild migraine.” She sighed.

“Well, that’s because its way past your bed time,” he teased, a look at his watch told him it was a half past midnight, “my my my time sure does fly.”

“Could you take me home?” she pleaded.

“I’m your night in shining armor,” he replied and stood up, “could you hang on a second? I need to go tell my cousin.”

When he got back to where he had left Russell, neither his cousin nor any of the three chicks were anywhere to be seen, he whipped out his phone and dialed Russell’s number.

“Sup cuz?” Answered Russell.

“Can’t find you” Simon replied, “Are you still at the party?”

“Naw, got lucky man, ama spend the night at this hottie’s motel.”

“Alright cuz, see you in the morning,” Simon said and hung up.

He found Rachel shaking her head to Timbaland’s ‘Apologize’ “love this song” she shouted when she saw him, “did you find your cousin?”

“No, he split, so where do you live?” He asked.

“Near the power transformer, at the bottom of this hill.”

“Yes, I think I saw it, let’s get going then.”

Simon started the truck as Rachel climbed into the co-drivers seat.

“Fasten seatbelts,” he announced.

“Seatbelt on,” she answered “let’s move already”

Simon drove down the mud track till he reached a junction at the bottom of the hill, to his left he could make out the silhouette of the power transformer in the darkness.

“So where’s home,” he inquired.

“Just a few meters past the transformer,” she replied “there” she pointed into the darkness.

As they cruised past the transformer, a few meters ahead Simon spotted a small house lit in the front by a single security bulb attached to the roof, “I can see it” he said, it was a tiny red brick house with a hedge fence that formed an intermittent boundary around it, as he drew closer Simon dimmed his headlamps for he felt a feeling of apprehension come over him, there was a buzz of activity going on around the house and quite a number of people sitting or moving around the house.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” he asked, he turned to Rachel for an answer but she was gone.

Simon felt a chill run down his spine, he slammed on the brakes and looked all around the inside of the vehicle. One minute she’d been there and the next she was gone without a trace.

“Rachel” he shouted her name, “what in heavens……..” he went from being mildly worried to hysterical, how could she just vanish? It was almost as if she had melted into the upholstery.

Simon stepped out of the vehicle and it was only then that he noticed the group of villagers that had started crowding around the pick-up, he was just about to say something when he heard wailing noises from the house, he was quite familiar with the sounds, they were cries of mourning.

A young boy of around 13 was peering curiously into the pick up. he grabbed the kid by the arm.

“Did somebody die here?” he asked the boy

“Yes,” the kid replied.

“Have you seen a girl around here she’s about this high, white blouse, blue skirt” he pressed further.

“No” the kid replied “can I drive your car” he begged.

“Do you live around here?” he shut the car door to keep the boy from jumping in.

“Yes, this is my home,”

“You…you live here,” he questioned, “see, I’m looking for this girl she just vanished, Rachel, you know her?”

“Rachel was my sister, she was murdered,” the boy was now wearing a grave expression.

“Murdered?” he looked disbelievingly at the lad, “the girl I’m looking for is Rachel Kalema.” I was with her just now.

“That’s her, my sister and you must have been with somebody else because her body was discovered a few hours back, in the forest.”

Simon felt a tight knot form in his stomach and almost immediately the blood rushed from his head making him reel backwards unexpectedly.
.
Nothing made sense, who was Rachel? Why had she led him here? How had she vanished? And why was this kid telling him she was dead?

“Is she… Is... Rachel ……inside” he asked the boy.

“Yes” said the kid.

“Take me there” his voice was husky with trepidation.

The kid led him towards the house, the wailing and crying got louder as they approached the entrance, in the middle of the small lawn a large group of young men and women were stoking a fire around which they all crowded for warmth.

“Omwana wange omuto mamange” the wailing got shriller as he stepped into the house.

The most heart wrenching grieving came from one corner of the room where an elderly woman whom Simon surmised to be the mother was crying inconsolably, a group of several women dressed in gomesis or kangas filled the tiny room.

It all felt like a bad dream, the kind you fail to wake up from, but much as he tried not to think about it something told him the girl in the forest, Rachel and this house were connected. Beads of perspiration formed on his brow and he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, “this is some crazy,” he said to himself.

Laid out on a mat in the center of the room was the bloodied body of a teenage girl. Simon almost turned and ran when he beheld the horrific sight of the corpse that had been bundled in a white sheet through which the blood had seeped.

He stepped forward warily.

Simon suddenly felt very sick. It was her.

Surprisingly Rachel’s face looked calm and serene it was blemish less with an angelic beauty that made her look like a sleeping cherubim. The golden ‘R’ chain around her neck still managed to glimmer under the dim light from a sooty bulb on the wall.

Simon turned and fled from the house, in his haste to exit the scene he rammed into a person almost knocking them over.

“Hey watch it, bro,” said someone.

“You blind?” screamed another, Simon could barely hear them, their voices sounded distant, he tried to focus on the people confronting him but their faces looked hazy and vague, his sight was foggy and his head felt woozy, he stumbled past the group huddled around the fire and stopped to recollect himself, his legs gave way and he knelt on a patch just by the hedge.

A wave of blinding nausea hit him and forced him to double over and clutch his tummy.

Simon retched and vomited onto the grass.

"The occultist sees in the man of today a being in the full swing of evolution. Man is at the same time a fallen God and a God in the becoming."
Rudolph Steiner


Watch out for the Season II premier next month