“You can’t do this!” Lisa cried out as she beheld the scaffold that had been erected in front of the old courthouse. Three wooden stakes stood upon three piles of pyre, and that could only mean one thing…
“Oh, yes we can! You’ll see!” the man who held her captive snickered. Lisa’s mind went numb with denial! She couldn’t believe she had survived all of their ghostly misadventures only to wind up losing her life at the hands of her neighbors! She wasn’t ready to die! She had so much that she wanted to experience before her demise, and it was gut wrenching to think that she would never get the opportunity to even try! Departing this earth was devastating enough, but the worst part was she wasn’t the only individual fated to their doom that night! She wasn’t only referring to her male counterparts either- with the three of them perishing, the truth about the recent mayhem would disappear with them! Once they were no more, Rebecca would have an even greater reign of freedom, and more innocent souls were going to get lost! The gathered crowd had no idea how truly tragic this situation would become!
A group of folks in colorful t-shirts merrily snapped pictures of what was transpiring, and one of them chirped, “Look, honey! It’s just like in the witchcraft days!”
Delron snapped at them, “People died during that period! And history is about to repeat itself! This isn’t a tourist attraction! We’re in real danger! Please, save us!”
“Don’t do anything of the sort!” Ezekiel commanded as he jaunted onto the stage. “Those criminals are responsible for dozens of deaths in this town, and we’re putting a stop to their mischief before they cause any further damage!”
“We’re not trying to spread harm, we’re trying to prevent it from spreading!” Adam appealed to the onlookers present. “If you kill us, the evil that’s invaded Melas will only strengthen! We can put a halt to it, but you gotta let us go first!”
Ezekiel smirked at his bid for their release. “Nice try! You’ve had all this time to curtail this chaos, and yet, you let it persist! What kind of fools do you take us for?”
“Particularly big and blind ones!” Lisa retorted. She glanced to her left, and she saw Adam’s eyes widen in fright at her audacity. She couldn’t discern Delron’s visage, but she got the vibe that he shared Adam’s sentiments. She turned her focus back to Ezekiel, who bore the expression that a person might have if they got punched in the ribs! This gave Lisa some satisfaction, and she needled him further by saying, “What? You expected us to treat you like gold when you’re about to murder us?”
“This isn’t murder!” Ezekiel refuted. “This is self defense! We’re not going to sit idly by while you destroy our entire city!”
Lisa shot back, “No, you’re gonna make your last act on this planet committing the worst sin possible! Good luck justifying that to your maker!”
Ezekiel folded his arms, and then he challenged them, “Oh, okay! You’re not guilty, huh? Then why has all of this trouble always seemed to have circled back to you?”
“That’s the way they want it to be! They’re attempting to frame us so you all let your guards down!” Delron spelled out.
“Who’s ‘they?’” Ezekiel probed.
The trio all met each other’s eyes and wordlessly enquired to one another on what the best course of action to take was. If any of them uttered the truth, Ezekiel and his mob would likely view them as insane and lock them away, however, if they offered them no culprit, then they would likely carry on with the execution! Either route they took would lead to a disbelief of those who heard it, so it was difficult to choose the right option! Eventually, Adam bit the bullet and articulated to everyone, “It may sound crazy, but the real villain of this story is a vengeful spirit who got unjustly slaughtered but has risen up to slaughter the descendents of her wrongdoers!”
It took the collective a lengthy stretch to absorb this outlandish claim, but once they did, laughter began to ripple throughout the space! Ezekiel chortled, “Wow! I expected a cockamamy excuse, but not a whopper like that! Whoo!” The spectators’ giggling increased in volume, but apparently, not everyone partook. “Abby, baby! Isn’t that hilarious?”
“Don’t call me that!” Abby softly requested. It didn’t totally surprise Lisa to hear that they became an item at one point, but it did stun her to see that Abby seemed unable to meet his gaze! She stared at the ground with her arms folded, and she seemed uncomfortable as he referenced her! Lisa found this confusing- with Abby’s relentlessness over the need to punish them, she would have thought that she would’ve been glowing with pride at this event! Instead, she appeared as though she wanted to shrink into the congregation! What was going on?
“Abby, what’s the deal?” Ezekiel obviously also possessed a high level of befuddlement on this development. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Still not making eye contact with him, Abby croaked out, “Not like this!”
The horde booed and hissed at Abby, but, to Lisa’s astonishment, Abby didn’ budge! She didn’t justify herself to anyone, and she seemed to have lost all of her usual bravado. Lisa couldn’t comprehend her sudden change of heart until it occurred to her that Adam made a plea for morality and peace to her, and, as if she needed more proof of his honesty at this juncture, it must have had an effect on her after all! Lisa looked over to Adam to get his reaction to this transpiration, and she happened to witness movement directly past him. It took her a minute to register that Delron’s hands could maneuver more than hers could…
Luckily, Ezekiel was oblivious to this incidence because of his growing alarm in Abby’s behavior! “You said you almost strangled one of these traitors!”
“I’m glad I didn’t!” Abby meekly expressed. “Now that they’re at death’s door, it just seems… wrong!”
“Seriously? You wanna protect them all of a sudden after all they’ve done?” Ezekiel grilled her.
Abby contended, “It doesn’t make sense to kill them and not give them a chance to fix this mess!”
Ezekiel countered, “What makes you believe that their release won’t cause more killings?”
“So, the solution is to cause the killings ourselves?” Abby snapped.
“What? You still have the hots for that jerk, don’t you?” Ezekiel gestured towards Adam, and Lisa noticed that Delron swiftly repositioned his palms in their original position. Lisa sincerely hoped that Abby would instigate Ezekiel further so that Delron could slip out! She thought that perhaps he could have called for help prior to their demise, but, at the very least, her mind would feel slightly more at ease to know that at least one innocent being would have gotten spared! Unfortunately, Ezekiel didn’t seem to have the ability to behold Abby any longer and did not turn back to her! He instead addressed his frustrations to Adam, “How dare you sink your claws into her! Well, I won’t allow you to influence anyone else!” He exclaimed to the others, “Their regime of terror is done!”
Most of the array chimed in with agreement, but Lisa espied a few individuals who seemed persuaded by Abby’s reasoning! Lisa dearly hoped that more supporters would voice their disapproval so that Ezekiel would give up this lethal plot, but that didn’t happen- he drew out his lighter without objection! Lisa beseeched the lot to spare them, but no one could listen to her pleas over the roar of their own enthusiasm over this occasion! Her pulse skyrocketed as Ezekiel advanced towards them with a wicked grin planted across his face! She regretted allowing her optimism of escaping to prevail, and she wished she had done more to say goodbye to the living world as she braced for her final moments…
With total abruptness, Ezekiel faltered in his footsteps! It perplexed everyone around him, including Lisa! She saw him staring at the floor, but she couldn’t fathom why until he inquired, “What did you do?”
“What did I do? Not a whole lot! Being tied up doesn’t let you do a whole lot!” Lisa snarkily replied. She began to get the impression that he lost his marbles, but then…
“Don’t play dumb with me!” Ezekiel barked. “I felt something brush past my legs, so I know you did something!” It buoyed Lisa’s spirits to realize that Hester showed up to defend them, and it startled Lisa that she had let her pleasure over this feat become transparent enough for Ezekiel to observe it! “Yes, see! You have something brewing here! What is it?”
Lisa wasn’t sure what to tell him. She knew Ezekiel wouldn’ believe the truth, but she couldn’t drum up any other plausible explanation for that phenomenon! Fortunately, Adam had an inkling of how to counter him, “She didn’t do anything! You’re the one causing trouble right now! Meanwhile, the actual monster is out there wreaking havoc while you’re wasting your time here!”
Ezekiel hissed, “Don’t give me that b.s.! Whenever she’s upset with someone she doesn’t like, catastrophe strikes!”
“I don’t wish you any misfortune!” Lisa honestly relayed to him. “I want you to let us go, but what you do with yourself after that is none of my concern!”
“You’re lying!” Ezekiel insisted. “Of course you wish misfortune on those you don’t like, that’s human nature! And who do you dislike more than me at this moment?”
Lisa’s insides plummeted when she heard a familiar person assert, “I can answer that!” A different sort of excitement fluttered through the populous, and Lisa’s grimace grew more pronounced! She seriously doubted he visited this locale to offer her assistance, and she disliked that her downfall would include further humiliation from this repulsive reprobate! Tommy leered at her, and Lisa did her utmost to remain as neutral as possible! Whatever he had in store for her, she would not give him the satisfaction of showing him any emotions over his antics! Tommy taunted her, “Seems like you’re in a bit of a jam!”
Ezekiel tittered at Tommy’s version of a quip, and as much as bantering with her ex irked her, she crossed her fingers that she could use this opportunity to bide some precious seconds where a miracle could befall on them before it was too late! “What do you want?” she posed to him.
“I came here to set the record straight about us,” Tommy informed her. “I had no clue you were busy with-!”
“Set the record straight? The entire planet believes your side!” Lisa’s brows furrowed upon this explanation. It astounded her to consider that he sought her out with the intention to prove anything else to anyone else! “You’ve already won! Your work is done!”
It intrigued her to see his confidence waver slightly as he catechized, “Why haven’t you been on social media lately?”
Lisa had to blink extensively in order to fully comprehend what he was demanding! Once she mentally certified he had, indeed, asked what he asked, she couldn’t fathom a rational motivation behind it! “I was getting destroyed by your minions, so I disabled those apps! Why?”
“People are starting to say that if you were really nuts, you would have been on there having a fit…” Tommy reported. As Lisa drank in his words, she spotted Delron’s activity out of the corner of her eye. He unmistakably used this distraction to tiptoe over to Adam’s post, and she tried not to pay too much attention to the two men as Delron strove to untie Adam. She simply took an inward note to keep Tommy and the others occupied no matter what it took! Tommy went on, “They’re starting to say I’m the nutty one ‘cause I’m the only one showing interest in the breakup! Well, I know you must regret your decision to leave now since you got into mortal peril trying to live without me!”
“I have no regrets about my decision! None!” Lisa fiercely stated.
Tommy told her, “I wrote a song talking about how you’d die without me! Seems like I was right! You’re nothing on your own!”
Lisa pursed her lips at his slant, and as infuriating as his jibe was, she was determined not to dignify it in any fashion! Ezekiel, however, interpreted her response differently than she aimed to portray. “Oh, you’ve done it! You’re setting her off! She’s gonna unleash her dark magic ‘cause you upset her!”
The multitudes guffawed at his insult, but Lisa sighted shadows above the scene that signified his allegation had merit! She couldn’t permit Rebecca to augment this disaster, she had to do something to prevent her from bolstering her power! She covertly viewed Adam and Delron, and all of a sudden, she knew exactly how to cease this crisis from commencing…
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