Bound in Death

I awakened to whispers filling the air around me.

“Bubbles, please help me…”

Only Nana called me by that nickname, and I was sure it was her voice that I heard. A deep unease stirred within me; was Nana alright? I called Mom even though it was 2:00 am and asked her to check on Nana. She called me back with grave news. Nana was gone…

I wanted to visit Mom and the others right away, but she said I should get some sleep first. I agreed but found no sleep for the remainder of the night. I left for my hometown before the day’s first light emerged.

The night we buried Nana, I was sleeping in my old bedroom when the whispers returned.

“Bubbles, I need your help.”

It was Nana’s voice, but now I heard it even while I was awake.

“Nana? Is that really you?”

“Yes, I had to wait till my body was buried to speak to you again.”

“What’s going on? How is this even possible?”

Nana went on to explain everything that had happened leading to her death. A demon had tried to steal her soul, but she had sealed it inside the house.

“It’s all I could do with what little strength I had to ensure that it didn’t absorb my soul. Otherwise, everyone in this town would be in grave danger.”

“But how can I help? I’m not a witch.”

“Yes, you are. Your mom didn’t inherit any powers, but you did; I sealed them years ago to keep the attention of the supernatural away from you, but now I have no choice but to undo it.”

Before unsealing my powers, Nana had me write down and memorise the spell to undo the seal on her soul and release her to the afterlife. She also gave me a second spell to memorise to trap the demon who was hunting her; she said it would certainly return once the seal was removed. There was only a small window for me to accomplish both tasks; there was no room for error.

Around 2:00 am, once I was certain everyone was fast asleep, I began to prepare for the rituals. I drew several sigils on the floor and the walls of my room and began to chant the spell to unbind Nana’s soul from the house. As soon as the spell was broken and Nana’s soul was free, just as she said, the demon appeared—it was a mass of undulating shadows with gleaming amber eyes.

I quickly recited the spell to seal the demon, and as I did, the sigils I had drawn beforehand glowed red. They struck the demon with beams of light that sliced through its deep shadows, undoing it from the inside out and disintegrating it into nothingness within seconds. Once the demon was destroyed, Nana’s soul took form before me, a glowing afterimage of what she once was. She smiled as she neared me and reached out to me with her hand. I reached out to her with mine, but my palm slipped through her ethereal form.

“Thank you, Bubbles. I’ll miss you so much. Goodbye…”

“Goodbye, Nana…”

My eyes brimmed with tears as Nana’s figure slowly faded in the air, leaving behind a few fleeting sparkles that rose to the ceiling as they, too, slowly disappeared. I quickly erased the sigils from the walls and got back in bed, but my sweet memories of Nana kept me awake till the day’s first light crept into the room.