The Last Storm: The Shadows by Sam Sisavath

Author:Sam Sisavath [Sisavath , Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Thrills
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Cent

“The obayifo is not to be trifled with, my son. When you see one, you must run. Always run. Don’t fight it. Don’t be brave. Many men have tried, and many men have failed.”

“But how will I know when I see one?”

“You will. Don’t worry, you will. Its smell will give it away.”

“What kind of smell, Momma?”

“Food spoiled for years. Garbage left out in the sun too long. The stench comes from its soul. Its rotten soul. And its eyes. Its dark eyes.”

“How dark, Momma?”

“Darker than the darkest seas. So dark that to look into them is to gaze into the abyss. And sometimes, sometimes, the sea is blue like the ocean.”

“Have you seen one, Momma?”

“No, thank God. But I know people that have. They tell stories…”

“What kind of stories?”

“The kind that make your hair stand up. The kind that give you nightmares.”

“Momma…”

“Yes, my son?”

“I’m scared, Momma.”

“Don’t be. I’m here. You’re my child. The most important person on this planet of ours. I will always protect you.”

“But what if you’re not here anymore, Momma?”

“That doesn’t matter. I’ll always be here.”

“But what if you’re not here, Momma?”

She had smiled at him even as she stroked his head. He didn’t have much in the way of hair at the time—only a few strands here and there—but she enjoyed running her fingers through them anyway. “I’ll always be here for you. No matter what. No matter when. No matter where.”

“Promise?” he’d asked, in that childlike voice that could only come out of the child he once was.

“Yes,” she had said, smiling brightly again. So brightly that he barely heard the sounds of gunfire in the distance. So much gunfire, all the time. Even in the refugee camps, you couldn’t escape it.

“Promise, promise?”

“Yes, my darling. Promise, promise.”

He’d smiled, then, comforted by her soothing voice, her undying promise. She would always be there for him when he needed her. When the obayifo came for him, his mother would rise to protect him, for he was the most important thing to her, and would always be.

“Whatever happens,” she would say as he drifted off to sleep each night, “always remember that I will be at your side. Maybe you won’t always see me, but you’ll know I’m there. You will feel it. You will feel it…”

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