Risen (Page 21)

She lifted her shaking fist up to the large door and was about to knock when the door swung open and her grandmother appeared.

She looked different than what she’d remembered. She stood there, tall and lean, in a silk bathrobe with images of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn painting on it. She looked as glamorous as ever. Her makeup was perfectly done and her lipstick was a beautiful shade of red that really made her lips pop.

“Grandma!” Rachel yelled as she stood there in the doorway.

“Excuse me, child?” the woman replied.

“Grandma?” She asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Who are you calling grandma?”

Rachel let out a laugh. “You’re joking! That was funny!”

“Please leave my property, NOW!” the woman yelled.

“What?” Rachel said. “Are you serious?”

The woman took a step towards Rachel which made her back up in fear. She could tell the woman was getting really upset as she approached her.

“Back up!” Rachel said.

“Get off of my property!” she said again.

“Grandma! Have you lost your mind? It’s me, Rachel!”

“I don’t have any grandchildren! No get lost, kid!”

“Yes you do! C’mon Grandma, it’s me. You’re favorite granddaughter!”

“I’m going to call the police on you!”

Rachel couldn’t understand what was going on. It was as if her grandmother had completely lost her mind. She didn’t look like a senile old woman-in fact, she looked quite the opposite. She was well dressed, groomed, and put together for so early in the morning and from what she could tell, she was quite lucid. She just couldn’t figure would why her grandmother didn’t recognize her.

She saw the woman begin to shake and her eyes turn red. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t pin point what was happening. She noticed small hairs growing all over her body as she stood there, eyes opening wider and wider focusing in on Rachel’s body. She began to get scared, really scared.

It looked to Rachel as if this woman was going to kill her. She started to back away as the woman’s eyes started to light up red and zero in on her neck. She knew this was going to be trouble as she started to move away quicker.

“You asked for this,” the woman said, as she began to move quicker towards Rachel.

“What are you doing? Go away!” Rachel yelled.

“I can’t now. You’re under my spell,” the woman said, fixated on Rachel’s eyes.

“Stop staring at me! This is creepy!” Rachel said, as she began to run away.

She turned to look over her shoulder but the woman had vanished. As she turned to face forward she felt a hand stopping her and pushing her back by her gut.

“Not so fast!” the woman said, now miraculously standing in front of her holding her back. “You didn’t think I’d let you get away did you?”

“Please! Let me go!” Rachel yelled as she tried to pull her body away from her tight grasp. “LET GO!”

“You’re strength will not get you far, child. You should give in now,” the woman said, in a hypnotic tone. “Give in to me. Let your fears fade away into the darkness.”

“NO! STOP IT!”

“Let go of wanting to control this situation. Let go of your desires. Let go of wanting to live,” the woman continued.

Rachel started screaming in hopes of drowning out what the woman was saying to her. She didn’t want to come under her spell and she knew if she listened to the words she might.

“Please! Grandma! It’s me, Rachel. Remember me?” she tried to convince her one more time.

The woman lifted Rachel into the air and looked at her right in the eyes. Rachel’s body shook as she hovered in the air. The woman started spinning her upside down over and over again.

“Stop! I’m sick! Please!” Rachel yelled. “Put me down!”

Then, all of a sudden, the woman put her down on the ground, and grabbed her ear.

“What’s this?” she said, snapping out of her trance.

“What’s what?” Rachel asked.

“You have the snakes triangle behind your ear, child.”

“Snakes triangle?” Rachel asked.

“Yes! My gosh, I’m sorry, child. You are one of us. I’m sorry for the mix up, I had no idea you were coming to visit,” she said, completely changing her tone.

Rachel now stood there, in complete shock. One minute this woman was about to kill her the next, she was a happy old grandma, waiting to welcome her with open arms.

“Rachel, my dear. How have you been?” she asked.

“Excuse me?” Rachel asked. “I’m sorry, but you just tried to kill me, do you remember that?”

“Oh please! That was nothing. Don’t mind me. I get a little crazy with unexpected guests.”

“Unexpected guests? Grandma? Did you not recognize me?” Rachel asked again.

“You know what, child. At my age, it’s a miracle I can even see a thing!” her grandmother said. “Come inside and have a cup of tea, Darling. Let’s clean you up.”

Rachel didn’t know if she should stay or go after what had just happened. A huge part of her wanted to run from the scene, but she knew she had to stay to find out what the letter was all about. She had to find out who she really was and get to the bottom of her family secret.

“Ok,” Rachel said, accepting her offer. “Promise me you won’t scare me like that again.”

“It comes in waves after the accident. I can’t control it, but I will try my best. Now that I know you are one of us, I can promise you I won’t hurt you. The snakes triangle will prevail and you will never get hurt by one of your kind.”

“What are you talking about, Grandma?” she asked.

“You don’t know?”

“No?”

“You’re mother never told you?”

“Um, nope! But it sure would be nice to know what it was that just saved my life.”

“The snakes triangle is our families crest and it is etched in behind your ear.”

“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked, trying to think if she’d ever noticed it before.

“You haven’t seen it?”

“Never!”

“It is very subtle but when you were just four days old we had the traditional carving ceremony done and etched the snakes triangle behind your ear so that you would have the official stamp of our people,” her grandmother started to say.