"A deal's a deal, huh? I'm tired and I'm old. Other people retire, why can't I?", Ana whispered to it. But Ana knew. She knew she would never be released. The contract had been written in flames in the netherworld.
Ana was born blind. In exchange for her sight it asked that she obey. Indelibly, invisibly, she signed the contract. It opened her eyes. She could see things other people do not even suspect exist. Many thought she had been given a gift.
She upheld her end of the contract and she obeyed orders. People heard and flocked to her for healing. Ana knew she healed no one. What she did was to detach the spirits of the undead that cling to unsuspecting victims and suck the life out of them. They wreak havoc with people's lives, these spiritual vampires - discarnate entities that don't recognize their own death or don't want to leave the corporeal world. It had bestowed upon Ana the power to send them to...wherever they belonged - a very tough job sometimes.
A woman had come for a session once. She was British and remembered that in her youth she and some friends had desecrated an old cemetery, just for fun. She had been attracted to a burial stone that she pushed until it toppled and broke on the ground. She danced on it. She stopped when she felt something warm and ephemeral slowly creep into her being. Her cells, her blood and the very marrow of her bones were invaded by this sinister mist of dark unknown. Ever since then she felt strange, as if she was never alone and something lived inside of her. The woman suffered from an incessant hacking cough.
Ana "healed" the woman easily. The woman had been possessed by a little girl who died of smoke inhalation in her sleep as her house burned down. The little girl was beautiful and innocent. She just didn't know she was dead. Ana loved the little girl instantly.
Nightly Ana sat to rest (she always felt weak lately) as she smoked a cigar. Inevitably she thought about how she had honed her powers so well but her life lacked radiance. It was devoid of fulfillment . The powers of spirit detachment had begun to seem a little boring. Ana sat and chuckled at her skill. She had detached the spirit from the woman, but instead of sending the little girl to...wherever, she had inhaled her. There was nothing in the contract about not keeping a spirit for herself.
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This has been a Magpie Tale . Thanks Willow for the spooky prompt.
