Interitum

Abena Malcolm

Description

A set of twins, Violet and Mary Deneuve, made a naïve pact to meet God and the Devil, face to face; they were in no way prepared for what came next. Motivated by determination, and a desire for real answers, they set out to intimately experience life after death. Expecting a lone adventure, the sisters encounter and befriend kindred souls, with common ambitions, who aid them in their spiritual quest. Their journey through the Afterlife uncovers a series of unnerving elements. From overt stalkers to occulted magic, and the hidden agenda of the gladiatorial guards. In this 7 book series, follow the adventures of Violet and Mary as they plot, scheme, fall in love and try to uncover the sinister secrets of God, the Devil and the Afterlife.

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 04 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369490136
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

INTERITUM
Latin for life after death
Abena Malcolm

Copyright © 2023 by Abena Malcolm.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023903580
ISBN:
Hardcover
979-8-3694-9015-0

Softcover
979-8-3694-9014-3

eBook
979-8-3694-9013-6
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 03/28/2023
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
AU TFN: 1 800 844 927 (Toll Free inside Australia)
AU Local: [phone] ([phone] from outside Australia)
www.Xlibris.com.au
849675
Contents
1Death
2Purgatory
3Hell
4The Other Side
5The Wall
6The Guards
7The Recovery
8Macus
9The Spy
10The Plan
11The Memories
12Mrs Scot t ’s Story
13Revelations
14Victo r ’s Capture
15The Capture
16Taken
17The Glass Cube
18Torture
19Mrs Scot t ’s Warning
20Where Is Mary?
21The Kiss
22Wh o ’s Calling?
23Him
ONE
DEATH
My heart throbbed in my chest. Working twice as hard to get the blood I needed to my vital organs. Even taking a shallow breath was difficult. The oxygen my body craved did not reach my lungs; instead they deflated as the air slipped past my parted lips. No matter how hard I tried, they would not allow me to take another breath.
White tiles and bathroom fixtures swam as I moved my head. I wasn’t supposed to be in this room. Where was Mary?
The darkness started at the outskirts of my receding consciousness — engulfing me. My grip on this world loosened as the last vestige of my life slipped away. The time had come. My body had given me the signals for death.
Suddenly, there was nothing. More than nothing. No sense of ‘self’. I did not exist. No air. No atmosphere existed around me. There was just my essence floating in pure nothing — less than nothing. Numbness and loneliness coursed inside me. Yet, at the same time, it felt as though a peaceful blanket enveloped me. This would be my last peaceful moment. I didn’t know what lay ahead of me, I just hoped I would be able to get through it in one piece.
A familiar wave of panic spread through me. If I had had a body, it would have started at the back of my throat and worked its way to my extremities, making my fingers and toes tingle in the aftermath. The familiar sensation panicked me further — why did I do this to myself? Why would I be so stupid? What if it didn’t exist and my consciousness floated in this vast emptiness, forever thinking?
I have made a mistake.
A distant, muted ‘thump,’ ‘thump,’ ‘thump’ thrummed in my ear; a sound which I vaguely recognised. The panic turned to fear as the sound became louder and louder; seemingly originating from nowhere. It surrounded and vibrated through me, and with a sharp jolt I remembered what it was. My heart, the beat of my heart.
One by one, my other senses came back to life. The tangy scent of dank, stale air — different from the air I was used to, but not unpleasant — drifted my way. A freezing ground soaked up my body heat, and stars sprouted behind my eyelids, creating intricate kaleidoscopic patterns. As these renewed senses came flooding back, I worked out I was lying on my back on the metallic floor.
My lungs inflated, prompting me to take several deep breaths and inhale the life giving source. I realised the thumping wasn’t just the beat of my heart, but the throbbing in my temple pounded to the same rhythm. The pain was unbearable. I scrunched my eyes up even further, but it only worsened the pain.
Knowing that I must do something, and I couldn’t stay in the freezing cold much longer, I eased my eyes open. A strange pitch blackness greeted me and I lifted a hand from the floor and waved it in front of my face. The air rippled from the movement, but my hand was invisible in the darkness; only stars sparkled slightly out of reach. I kept my eyes open, petrified to close them again and prayed they would adjust to the complete darkness.
A small smile crept across my face as the deep black faded enough for me to see a muted rectangular outline far ahead of me. A door.
My instincts told me to reach that door and face what lay beyond it; no matter how unpleasant. It was the path for me; the next step. I couldn’t go back if I tried — no one in my position could turn back.
I sat up and goose bumps pricked my skin and I realised I was naked. Embarrassed by my state of undress - even though no one was around to witness it - I hugged myself in an attempt at modesty.
The semi-darkness engulfed me as I sat for a moment, thinking about the life I led, and concluded it was too short. I didn’t truly live. I was never given a proper childhood and my teenage years flew by in a cloud of unremarkable incidents. My familial upbringing and supposed ‘path’ took over my every waking hour, and freedom was never time-tabled. My days were spent in prayer and homework - “Playing is for children,” was the only explanation I was given. He was the only thought in my mind. I wasted hundreds of hours sitting in my room reading the Bible, bathing myself in His words and teachings. Thinking back, I think I wasted my time on Earth and now... I can’t think of it. What was done was done, and I needed to be ready for the next stage.
When I summoned the courage to stand up and make my way to the door, I found that my limbs had turned to lead. I struggled to move, stumbled but regained my balance, and when I finally found my bearings, I realised with a shock that the outline of the door had disappeared. My only way out.
The skin at the back of my neck prickled alerting me to a presence behind me, but when I spun around, I faced nothing. The oppressive darkness — which had come back with full force — successfully hid the being lurking inside it.
I took a deep, steadying breath — which burnt my throat and lungs — and exhaled. I watched as a cloud of mist emerged from my mouth, giving a clear indication of the room’s extreme temperature.
“Shit,” I whispered to myself, my voice hoarse from lack of use.
Suddenly, my legs moved of their own accord. They were guiding me to my predetermined destination, as though I had made this journey before and the steps came back from a deep-rooted source. With my renewed sense of purpose, the darkness receded, the temperature increased noticeably, and the hazy outline of the doorway appeared again far ahead of me; in the direction my legs were already carrying me. My speed increased with my noticing. I found myself jogging, running, then quickly sprinting to the door, clearly desperate to reach it and escape this unnerving place which I had awoken. The further I ran, the lighter the room became. The doorway became clearer and more inviting, and the bright lights pulsed around the doorway hypnotising me. I needed to go towards the light. This is what I had been working towards my entire life. I hoped this is where it would begin.
I stretched my hand out to grasp the doorknob, but before I reached it, the door swung open. A pure white light blinded me and I stopped in my tracks. I lifted my right hand up to shield my eyes at the same time as an eerily disembodied voice intoned: “Welcome to Purgatory, please keep to the left.”
My eyes adjusted to the bright light, and the details of a long, straight, white, windowless corridor materialised. Divided in the middle by a thick red line, the corridor faded into the distance but did not end. A distant memory jolted in my mind, but was too intangible to form.
Mounted at regular intervals on the ceiling were naked fluorescent tube lighting, reminding me of my old high school hallways. The only things missing were the metal lockers which lined them and the hormonal teenagers which filled them.
“Welcome to Purgatory, please keep to the left.” The female voice repeated, making me jump. I started forward. I touched the left-hand wall, afraid of what might happen if I strayed even an inch across the red line. After ten paces, I glanced back towards the doorway, but it had vanished. The endless white corridor and red line stretched behind me much in the same way as it formed in front of me. The scenery did not change as I walked further away from my starting point. No twists or turns, and no markers gave away the distance which I had travelled or an end point.
The silence in the hallway took me aback, the soft ‘slap’, ‘slap’ of my bare feet was the only sound in it and it echoed unnaturally around me. A feeling of loneliness sprang forth from an untouched corner of my mind. All my life, I had been surrounded by people, and without my other half, I was not complete.
I took this time to examine my body and assess the results of my earlier actions. My veins had expanded and rose above my skin. A tangled web of swollen arteries, veins and capillaries covered my entire chest, but it looked the worst above my heart. The blood vessels had t