The Apparition of 27 Mainway : Visitors from under

“What a snob,” I murmured.
Having lived in the Mainway area for years, I could safely say I was now as popular as I could ever wish to be. Though seemingly withdrawn, our neighbours were quite friendly once you managed to perforate through the barriers of skin colour and indeed very high security walls. Mainway was an almost entirely ”white surburb” as my friends called it and only once in a while would you see a disillusioned black who also thought she was white walk down the main street. (I say she for I did not care about the males, what benefit were they to me?) One of the few girls of colour who had substance was Casey, a slender beauty who was almost entirely unsociable though. She thought boys were always trying to hit on her and maybe thats the reason why my very first “Hie” was ignored. She had an overprotective family that made sure no boys lingered around her and when they could not follow her around, they made sure her little garrulous brat of a brother was with her. What a jerk that boy would be in a few years!
As I strutted along in our street on this fateful day, I saw her. She pretended not to notice me until I called…..actually, even that call was ignored and I had to run to her for some attention. Yes…she was indeed a snob.
“Hie where are you of to?” I asked, immediately trying to make conversation. She smiled at me and I felt an air of relief. Since Maria told me about killing, I was an insecure wretch. She had made me kill our cat as I solicited for the dark and I knew that I had to do better than a cat! In fact, that ghost only ended up her ghost pet! It did not help much.
“Well, I am just taking a walk around the area. I realised that I do not know anything about the area the hard way yesterday,” she said with a chuckle. I was surprised too….she was also this bright at times?
“Mmm where are your folks?” I immediately asked since I knew they’d never allow her to take unaccounted for walks in the streets.
With a slight smirk she just said, “Away….at least I get a little me-time.”
“They are a tard over-protective of their little angel I can see,” I said with a smile. After weeks of Maria depression, I finally had a moment! Maria had said I had to kill something she hated if she were to stay and as far as my knowledge went, she hated only death!
“Only girl-child, you know how it is!”
“Well, for some years I knew how it was till my little brother, Tari. He does not act like the diva I expected him to be though!”
She smiled again. Mmmmmm that smile! It had an insane resemblence to Maria’s last smile when we moved from my room. It was a blinding light that made my pupils dilate in amazement. Hmmm or maybe I just have a weakness with beautiful ladies!
She then asserted,” Sometimes parents make the little kids divas you know…spoiling them and all. Its not wise to give a kid his every desire lest he feels he is entitled to preferential treatment.”
I simply nodded. She was beauty and brains encapsulated! After moments of silence, we exchanged numbers, talked about music, movies and books, said our byes and I went back home.

The first call I made was to Thomas. He was the very first friend I had made in the Mainway area and he liked Casey. I had to boast a bit!
“Guess who is a blacksmith?” I said to him as soon as he picked my call. He knew what it meant and immediately shouted “WHAT?” in amazement.

Inspite of the joy the outside gave me, being in 27 Mainway depressed me. This whole prayer issue and killing was a mess. After my walks, I usually ignored Maria, the age-old ghost who made my life a graveyard of stress. Maybe letting her go was the best after all…. If she wanted killing, she would have to do it herself. When I walked into the room, she almost jumped out of her skin (lets just pretend like she had a skin for lack of better words). I was still and on the phone but I had also been startled by the reaction that I shouted “What now?” which also startled Thomas who responded by also asking “What?”. I immediately cut of the line.
“Tawanda, it is here. The Zeurists are here….they are in the area and we are all in trouble!” she moaned.
“Who the hell are the Zeurists? What are you talking about?”
“You will all die if you do not comply…..they killed my family and they will do the same to yours if you do not do as they want.”
Uhmmm okay, this ghost was going mental for sure. Did she think this was Twilight ot Vampire Diaries? What compliance? What Zeurists?
“Maria, get real, Zeuri whatevers are not here, I have not seen them. What are those anyway?”
She was disappointed that I did not understand her. She was. “Tawanda, this cult is going to rip Mainway. They did it ages ago and every fifty years they do it. They recruit people, they…….”
“Shhhhh calm down. Breath in and out,” I said in a bid to keep her quiet. She was not making any sense.
Now I did not know that Thomas had come running to my place and he simply barged in, saw the phantom……he fainted.