THE AGENI SERIES: AMA ANGENI Read online

  “You shouldn’t be worried about that. Enjoy what is the present. The gift the Creator has given you. As you know, life is short. Have fun and enjoy the history and the culture of this place. This trip is to bring healing for both of us.” She sat back, her eyes staring at something only visible to Kasey. “This trip should be life-changing.”

  That brought a snort out of me. Embarrassed, I tried to cover up the outburst with a shaky and a very unconvincing laugh. “For me? Or for you?”

  She never got a chance to answer for the waiter brought our entrees and all conversation ceased. We ate in silence, which was quite unusual, even for Kasey, but even stranger was the ride back to the cabin – nothing but more silence.

  Now I didn’t volunteer to start a conversion, either so I couldn’t blame Kasey for being quiet. It was just that the strange part about all of this is that Kasey is never silent.

  Well, I am just going to let her stay that way for now. Staring up at the stars suited me just fine now.

  Pulling up to the cabin, we went inside. Kasey started towards her room. “Have a good night, Lailah.” She said without facing me; exhaustion replacing the Kasey’s usual chipper self.

  “Good night. And Kasey…thank you.”

  Kasey then looked over her shoulder, her eyes only visible in the shadows. “You’re welcome…good night.” Her door closed behind her. Exhausted, I landed on the couch feeling the effects of just one glass of wine and closed my eyes. As I got closer to a deep sleep, Kasey’s eyes appeared in my mind. They were different somehow, hauntingly different.

  I jumped up later into the night. Looking around unsure where I was, I carefully took in my surroundings soon recognizing the cabin Kasey and I rented for the next few weeks.

  Apparently, I had fallen asleep on the sofa. Quite comfortably, I might add.

  Rolling onto my side I closed my eyes but immediately opened them when I heard breathing.

  My heart stopped. Listening closely, it was still there; soft and steady.

  I felt my muscles stiffened trying to tell myself that I was just overreacting. It was the wine.

  My eyes blinked trying my see around me but was met with nothing but darkness. Wait! There was someone there – standing over me. It had to be Kasey but as I tried to focus in the dark my eyes started to get heavy.

  “Cut it out, Kasey.” I muttered out loud. I fought to remain awake as long as I could until a gentle, warmth seeped through my veins sending me into a forced induced sleep. It pulled me down deeper into the comfort of my mind and I could feel myself slip farther and farther away. The thoughts of Kasey…the breathing…everything else faded.

  I just needed to relax and stop worrying. I told myself. No more worrying.

  Sleep soon won over and it all became a fleeting memory.

  

  The next morning, sunlight beamed through the window and I opened my eyes,

  stretching – feeling the energy of the sun flow through my veins. I slept, wonderfully. Better than I had in years. No dreams… no nightmares rather.

  I felt fantastic!

  I sat up on my elbows and blinked looking around at my surroundings. I don’t remember coming into my room last night. I glanced down at myself under the covers, and sure enough my pajamas were on. Interesting… Sleepwalking was new out of the many bizarre things that I had been going on with me lately.

  Playfully kicking the covers off with my feet, I jumped out of bed and ran directly to Kasey’s room. Today, I was ready for anything that she threw at me. This is an excellent start to this vacation! My body had been screaming at me to give it a break for almost two years now. The dreams were a warning signal I ignored for too long. This was a break from exhaustion. I burst into my friend’s room.

  “Kasey!” I readied myself to pounce on top of her in the bed. It was payback time!

  I got ready to jump when I halted mid-stride.

  There was no Kasey.

  Confused, I entered the room and checked the bathroom. Still nothing.

  Hands on my hips, I went into the living room adjoined to the kitchen. Not a glass or plate in sight that she could have used for an early morning breakfast. Stepping out onto the porch, I breathed in the fresh air; something that was a rare commodity in Philadelphia.

  Maybe Kasey went out for a run.

  Walking down the stairs, my bare feet rested on the dirt pathway where I wiggled my toes in the spongy red clay of North Carolina.

  “Kasey!”

  No answer.

  Sighing loudly, I stumped around the cabin, my feet feeling the sharpness of the stones hidden in the clay dig into the soles of my feet. By the time I made a complete rotation around the cabin, my feet were sore.

  Dammit Lailah, finish the search after you put on some shoes, I told myself, turning to go back inside. I climbed the steps towards the cabin but stopped feeling a presence behind me. Spinning around too quickly, I fell backwards in terror at the human figure looming over me. I landed on the porch, hard, but the figure made no move to help me up or to ask if I was ok. In fact, he…she…or whatever it was just stood there. I tried to make out who it was, but the sun blinded by vision making it quite difficult.

  “Kasey is that you? The sun is too bright. I can’t see you.”

  Then a voice spoke. “How can the sun be too bright?” I heard it say or rather him say. “The sun is constant whether nearer to the Earth or at its furthest point.”

  “Excuse me?” I said, helping myself up. He must have finally realized that I was having trouble seeing him because he stepped into the shadows by walking onto the porch.

  Oh shit! I couldn’t help thinking. It’s the hot guy that was dancing yesterday. And glory, he was just as steamy in front of me as he was yesterday. His long, black hair loosely blew in the wind down his back. He wore a pair of jeans and a white tee-shirt unlike the bare-chested, leather pants wearing guy he was when I saw him dancing.

  I prefer the leather pants; no shirt thank you very much!

  He held out a large, calloused hand to me and I stared at it in awe at its size compared to mine. My eyes travelled up the length of his arm that supported the hand, leading to outline sinews of his muscled arm.

  Placing my hand in his, in one powerful tug, he had me on my feet…face to…chest!

  Holy mother of God!

  The man was huge! I tilted my head up to only get a good look at his chin…And what a chin. Smooth, long…long and smooth and …

  “Are you done staring?”

  I jumped, stumbling away from him, embarrassed. He wore a smirk on his face obviously enjoying my humiliation which instantly irritated me.

  “I wasn’t staring.” I snapped, shocked at how the words came out of my mouth. An eyebrow shot up on his gorgeous face surprised as well.

  “I was the one who had to endure your excessive staring. I would think that I should be the one displeased.” He took a step closer his hand reaching out at my hair with a look of disgust on his face. The closer his hand inched towards me, the lower I leaned back, arching as far as I could go until I had no choice but to side-step him.

  “Uh…yeah! Hellooo.” I held out my hand. “My name is Lailah. And you are?”

  His tar black eyes snapped to my face, dropping his hand… ignoring mine.

  “Gawonii.”

  I almost choked. “Ga-wa…” I wanted to laugh aloud.

  Oh man! Does he really look annoyed? It’s not every day you run across a guy with a name like Ga…Ga…

  “Ga…Wo…Nii.” He pronounced slowly…a bit too slowly. Ignoring his rudeness, I planted a smile on my face.

  “Ok. Gaaa wonn niii. How can I help you?”

  Silence.

  Wow…this day gets weirder by the second.

  He continued to look me, up and down, not saying a word. I started to feel quite uneasy and felt the need to cover up even though I was fully dressed.

  “Now who’s staring?” I couldn’t help saying which only seemed to annoy him even m
ore.

  What the hell was wrong with this guy? He’s the one standing on my porch scaring the living hell out of me.

  Then his brow furrowed followed by another smirk. “You don’t need to fear me.” He started down the steps until he reached the path. “I can tell that you are alone. Tell your friend I am looking for her.”

  Figures! He was too arrogant for my taste anyway.

  Letting out a puff of air, I looked around me. Where was Kase anyway? This was just like her to leave me by myself to deal with her men she was hiding from. Although, I couldn’t phantom why she would hide from that finely made specimen that stood on this very porch a few moments ago.

  Giving up, I went back inside the cabin to get cleaned up and to eat something. Might as well be ready when she does show up.

  Chapter 3

  Hero

  “How much longer until we pull out?” I asked looking up at the blazing sun. Its rays were unrelenting, and I swore I could see my skin age every minute we stood outside waiting for the tour to start. Kasey was staring down the trail, focused on something that I couldn’t make out.

  “It shouldn’t be too much longer,” she replied, fanning a pesky swarm of gnats adding to the irritation. There weren’t many people at the station where they had decided to take a tour of the resort. In fact, as time seemed to creep past and the tour guide remained MIA, the few people that were waiting with Kasey and I, gave up and soon they were the only ones left.

  “Great!” I huffed, fanning myself with the map I had in my hand. “Ok Kasey. We waited long enough. It’s hot… I’m thirsty. Maybe we should leave too.”

  But Kasey still had her eyes transfixed on the trail. This time she didn’t respond to my whining. Her mouth moved slowly. So slow, I never would have seen it if I hadn’t noticed Kasey’s mouth quiver a bit in what look like amusement.

  “What are you staring at?” I asked, now curious. I stood directly beside Kasey and tried my damnedest to see what she found so interesting coming up the path. “Kase?” I called again. Staring at her, from the corners of my eyes. She held up her hand, silencing me. Rolling my eyes, I abruptly turned and walked away.

  “Sometimes you are –” I began, annoyed, arms flailing.

  “Ah! There is the guide now!” Kasey exclaimed. All traces of the trance she was in… gone. She smiled at me, her eyes glinting in a way to say, ‘there was no need to worry.’

  I turned in the direction that I was staring along with Kase and sure enough there was a bus or something of the sort coming up the path. In fact, it was already pulling in the gate. I stood there in silence, taking mental shots at the vehicle and the long stretch of road. There was no way I could have missed that thing coming up the road, but yet… I did.

  Kasey had already grabbed their carrying bags and placed them inside the vehicle.

  “Come on, Lailah!” She called out to me. “We have a lot to see before nightfall.” Kasey moved to the front and hung out the window, her black hair blowing freely.

  In what wind! My brain screamed! There hadn’t been a shift in this god-awful heat all freakin’ day!

  Shaking my head, I boarded the bus and sat down behind her and tried to make myself comfortable.

  “You know…you need to lighten up.”.” Kasey said turning completely around in her seat to face me head on. “You promised me that you would have fun. Now pull the stick out your ass chick and enjoy yourself.”

  Just then the tour guide, around in his late fifties, jumped back onto the bus. His skin deeply tanned by the hot sun making his teeth stand out, stark white, against his mocha colored skin.

  “Alright ladies, it looks like it’s just you and me on this tour today. Sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  Sitting back in the driver’s seat, the driver put the bus into gear and the bus lurched forward throwing me back into my seat. White teeth flashed in the mirror above the driver’s head, his eyes looking at me.

  “Sorry about that.” He patted the dashboard of the piece of junk. “This baby has seen many years and can be quite temperamental, but she is reliable.”

  “Yeah whatever.” I mumbled under my breath checking to make sure that I didn’t have whiplash. Satisfied that I did not suffer any injuries, I relaxed against the old leather seats and watched the beautiful scenery of the Smokey Mountains rush by the window in the brilliance of colors. They soon passed by some vendors along the road selling homemade beads and pottery. Since we were the only ones on the bus, the driver pulled over at one of the stops and allowed Kasey and I to look at some the beautiful merchandise. I had no problem making sure that I stayed as close to Kasey as I possibly could after what happened the last time, I went vendor shopping on this trip. No more weird occurrences were the pact I made this morning after Gawonii left the cabin looking for Kasey.

  “Oh! You still haven’t told me why the hot Indian guy was looking for you this morning. And don’t tell me it’s nothing this time.” I confronted Kasey purchasing a pair of beaded earrings.

  “Why are you so stuck on this guy? It really was nothing. I saw him in town, and he explained that he wanted to make sure that we were settled in the cabin. He owns the cabin. That is all. He will be by periodically to make sure that we are doing all right.”

  My mouth hit the dirt pavement. “He owns the cabin?” I could kick myself. I was really rude to him.

  “Yes. The manager that handed me the keys to the cabin pointed him out to me yesterday while you were MIA.” Kasey stopped walking and turned to me. “No…no, you were actually watching him…dance.” Kasey gave a cheeky grin.

  “Whatever. That’s all I was doing…watching.” I spotted the driver waving for us to hurry up. “Come on. We’re being flagged.”

  We got back on the bus and drove for what seemed like hours in the heat…the unbearable heat.

  The junk box, we traveled in, had no air conditioner and the windows that Kasey and I opened to get a breeze…failed.

  By the time we had reached our destination, I was drowning in my own sweat.

  “Is it me or is it cooler off that thing?” I said fanning myself, stepping down off the last step from the bus.

  “You’ll get use to the heat.” Kasey handed me a brochure. Apparently, we have traveled to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and from the looks of it, we have a full day ahead of us.

  “We leave before dusk so make sure you are back. You wouldn’t want to be stuck out here overnight. The wood spirits don’t take kindly to trespassers.” The bus driver yelled as we walked away.

  “We’ll be back on time.” I threw over my shoulder as Kasey dragged me towards the welcoming center. We followed a group of people inside and headed to the counter.

  “Wait here Lailah. I’ll get us a tour guide.”

  I nodded making my way to have a look at the postcards to keep myself busy, but it didn’t take long for me to become bored. I moved on to try to find something more interesting in the gift shop. Slowly walking around, I became intrigued by all the hand-crafted statues and trinkets that were scattered throughout. I stopped at a model of one of the mighty waterfalls that the brochure guaranteed that we will see today. Even from the model it looked powerful! I couldn’t wait. Close-up photos of the falls will be a great memory to have for however long I have left on this earth. And that was something I was not sure how long that would be. It could be today or years later.

  After calling for a follow-up of what happened at that appointment, I had a few weeks ago, the nurse said that there was not anything in the schedule about an appointment that day. If it was not for the voicemail that I saved on my phone, I would have thought I had dreamt the whole thing, but the nurse was adamant that an appointment was not set because the results had not come back in time for when I supposedly had gone into the office. No matter…I would just have to deal with it when I got home. I was not going to allow what I already knew in my gut ruin this trip.

  I walked down an aisle and my eye caught a glimpse of a dim glow in a c
orner. Curious, I hurried over to get a closer look when I stopped abruptly just as I was about to plow into a little boy. He jumped, his dark eyes wide with fright…his midnight locks, unruly, and brushing the tops of his shoulders. His skin glowed, the color of burnt sienna from many hours in the sun. He wore a pale green shirt that had ‘SK8 BOARDING ROCKS!’ written boldly on it with a beaded vest overtop.

  “Sorry Miss…” He started to say when he stopped mid-sentence. The boy looked up at her staring in admiration before dropping his awe-filled gazed to the floor. Without another word, he quickly stepped to the side in the tiny aisle allowing me to pass.

  “Thank you,” I said, looking down at the boy who was not much taller than I. In a few more years, he would be towering over me. I was getting ready to ask him his name when that glow caught my eye again. Moving away from the boy, I got pulled towards the corner until I stood in front of the most unusual knick-knacks. The glowing had stopped, and I wondered if the boy had seen it also.

  Turning around to ask, my mouth hung open realizing that I was alone.

  “Ooookkkk.” I said facing the corner again to look at the beautiful, yet odd trinkets. I picked up a couple of pieces; one necklace and a pair of earrings. Finding a nearby mirror on the wall, I held them up to see how they would look on me, loving how the tanning of my skin from just one day there had me looking quite native with the jewelry.

  Each piece was intricately beaded with turquoise woven within the design. Yet, although beautiful, the prices were not. Sighing, I laid them back on the corner table and started to walk away.

  “This one would be very lovely on you.”

  I turned to see Kasey picking up a necklace hanging on a hook and holding it near my neckline.

  The necklace was completely beaded with many colors and turquoise stones evenly distributed throughout with what looked like a large pearl cupped in gold to fall just above the cleavage. Kasey dropped the heavy artwork in my hand. “Get it. You look great in it. Plus, it will be an awesome souvenir.”