Eboni stood on the mountaintop looking out over the vast land. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she exhaled slowly. She opened her eyes and almost screamed when she saw her mother floating in front of her. "Mother is that really you?" She asked shakily after the initial shock wore off.
"Yes Eboni it is me," she said as she floated closer and stood in front of her.
"How can this be? I saw that wolf kill you," she said frowning. "You saw my body die but this is my spirit form and it can never be destroyed."
Eboni reached out to touch her but her hand went right through her mother's body. "I knew I must be dreaming," she said sadly.
"Your body has put itself in an unconscious state so it can heal itself and I am here to guide you through recovery."
Eboni eyes narrowed as she remembered what Alexander did to her. "That bastard," she said angrily.
"Becoming angry is not going to rectify what he did to you," her mother said as she walked past her. "He is after all an animal parading around in a man's body." She turned and looked at her daughter face contorted in anger. "You look just like your father with your face twisted in anger like that."
"I wouldn't know. He left us when I was just a baby remember." Eboni wrapped her arms around her waist and stared at her mother.
"I think it's time I told you about him. Come and walk with me unpa I have much to tell you."
Eboni smiled at the nickname her mother had given her when she was just a child. She always felt comforted when she said it. As the two walked, the scenery changed from the mountains to a beach. "How did that happen?"
"We are in your subconscious and whatever we want to happen will happen. You only need to think it and it will be so. Do you want to touch me?" She said stopping to face her daughter.
"Yes mom very much," Eboni said looking expectantly at her mother.
"Then think of your arms wrapping around me and pulling me close. Think of the love and warmth you always felt when I wrapped you in my arms. Think of all the times I held you in my arms giving you comfort and peace and when you are thinking and feeling these things, then you will be able to touch me."
Eboni did just as her mother requested and as the feelings were beginning to overwhelm she reached out and grabbed her mother pulling her in a tight embrace. When she felt her mother's arms around her, she could not hold back her tears. "I'm so sorry mom it's all my fault. You would still be alive if I had listened to you." Eboni sobbed into her mother's shoulder. Her body began to shake and she felt her legs growing weak. Suddenly her mother grabbed her by the shoulders and squeezed them tightly.
"Eboni pull yourself together. None of this is your fault! You are innocence in all of this. Now stand up straight and stop crying please," she said wiping the tears from Eboni cheeks with her fingers.
"You should hate me," Eboni said looking at the sand.
"The only person I hate is your father. He is the only one that is at fault here. He is the reason that I died that day Eboni."
'How can that be?" Eboni asked.
"Sit down honey I want to tell you a story." When Eboni sat in the chair, her mother provided she continued. "From the time I started elementary school until I graduated from high school all I ever heard from my parents was that they wanted me to meet a proper young man, get married, and give him lots of children. I heard it so much that I began to believe that it was what I wanted also. Well when I was a senior in high school, I met the man who I would later marry. He was so sweet and kind in the beginning, a real gentleman. He was sensitive to my needs and he showered me with gifts almost on a daily basis. They were not expensive little trinkets that you could buy, but they were from the heart. Sometimes they would be poems that he wrote, or something that he carved out of wood, or a new dance routine he made up just because he said I inspired him to do so.
Anyway, after graduation, we got married and he went to work in a paper mill and I settled in my roll as a homemaker. We tried and tried to have a child but I would always miscarry. Three years into the marriage, he began to drink and dabble in drugs. The sweet man that I knew turned into a monster almost overnight. It began with verbal abuse. He would accuse me of doing something to myself so I would miscarry. Then of course, the physical abuse began soon after. Finally, I got sick and tired of being his punching bag so I told my parents what was going on. My mother looked at me and told me that sometimes a wife has to go through things but she should never leave her husband. She told me that once I got pregnant he would calm down. My dad never said a word he just looked at me as if I had grown two additional heads. So having nowhere else to go I went back to him. The miscarriages did not stop and neither did the beatings."
"Oh mama how horrible that must have been for you," Eboni said interrupting her mother.
Her mother only smiled and continued with her story. "Well four years into the marriage I found myself standing on a chair with a rope around my neck. I just did not want to go on with my miserable life any longer. I stepped off the chair and as the rope tightened around my neck shutting off my airway, I felt a peace I had not felt in a long time. I felt myself falling and then I blacked out. When I opened my eyes again I was laying on my sofa. I tried to sit up and only realized someone else was in the room with me when he asked if he could be of any assistance. He was so beautiful I thought he was an angel sent to retrieve my soul. He laughed when I asked him if he was and he told me no that, he was something better. He told me that he had been watching me for a long time and he knew that my husband was hitting me. He told me he could make all my troubles go away. He said he could give me a better happier life and in return, all he wanted was for me to promise that I would never leave him. He promised never to raise his voice at me, never to hit me, and to love me always. Well I was no fool. I was not about to leave one hell for another unknown one. So I told him as politely as I could to please get out of my home. Several days later, my husband came home drunk and angry. I was in the bedroom and before I could get away, he grabbed my arm, threw me down onto the floor, and began punching my body. All I could do was ball up into the fetal position and wait until it was over. All of a sudden, the punching stopped and then I heard his voice. The man that was in my home only a few days ago was bending over me talking to me in a soothing voice. He picked me off the floor, sat on the bed, and cradled me in his arms. He looked at me and asked me if I wanted it to stop. When I nodded yes, he told me I only had to repeat the words he was about to say and it would all go away. I desperately wanted it to go away so I did as he asked. I had essentially promised never to leave or disobey him.
He did as he promised and took me away. Life was good. I rarely saw him. I lived a lavish life and he never asked for anything in return. I even went to college and earned a degree. He wanted to celebrate. I had turned twenty-seven and I had just graduated from college. He was very excited. We had dinner, lots of alcohol, and lots of sex. You were conceived that night Eboni. I did not realize until it was too late that it was his plan all along. I did not know what he was until after you were born. A damn demon of the spirit world. Apparently there is a prophecy all about you unpa."
"What kind of prophecy?" Eboni asked.
"A human who is bound to an otherling will bear him a female child. That child will have the ability to remove the souls of the living and cast them into the otherworld or simply destroy them if she wished. She will have the power to switch souls between human and animal bodies alike. She will be more powerful than any otherlings since their creation. The prophecy also says that you will be able to go to the otherworld and bring back any soul you want."
"None of these powers have manifested themselves to me so I don't think the prophecy is talking about me," Eboni said shaking her head.
"The prophecy also talks about your mate. The werewolf who will claim you and have dominion over you. He is the only one that will be able to unlock your abilities. His soul will be the only one you will not be able to manipulate. The prophecy will not be denied Eboni. You will eventually mate with him."
"No, please mom don't say that. Please don't say Alexander is my mate and that he is going to control me." Eboni chest felt tight and her stomach hurt. "What does any of this has to do with my father?"
"Well your father thought it was taking to long to unleash your abilities so he took it upon himself to find your mate. He knew he could control you through me. The words I repeated back to him bonded me to him for eternity. He made a deal with a loner werewolf to assist him in this task. When the beast saw you, he wanted you for himself. When I tried to protect you, he saw me as a threat and killed me. That is the reason I wanted to get out of the woods when I heard a wolf was seen."
