Harmony of Lady Shadow Moon, DhNAi Divine [good beach reads txt] 📗

herself down. She waved the kids to have a seat and say grace before they dug in. Saki did the grace, adding her own touch of sarcasm and cynic in it, forcing Gran-Nai to pinch her thick thigh from under the table.

“Ow Nai-Nai,” Saki shouted.

Gran-Nai opened her eyes to see Saki's eyes. “Finish the grace little girl and without Saki's special features. Thank you.”

Aaron and Aanu held back a laugh, while Saki finished grace.

Aniyla took a deep breath, then sighed. “Okay, my turn now.  I want y'all to know I wasn't feelin' that behavior last night.” She gave a glare separately to each of them, then gave her stern gaze to the oldest at the table. “Particularly you Aaron. Your behavior put ALL our lives in danger last night. And it was all 'cause you thought me to be an old bird with crazy quirks.” Aaron's head fell at the words of his grandmother and instantly she responded to it. “NO. No shame at my table Aaron, shame and guilt won't change what you already did. Don't feel shame, feel the lesson, study it, then apply next time.”

Aniyla maintained eye contact with Aaron for only a few seconds, then completed her train of thought. “I been tellin' y'all and tellin' y'all about this beast. You just got your proof. It was not somethin' to be played wit'.”

She went silent, because she felt anger boiling in her chest, ready to open fire on her grandchildren. “But still, you girls aren't off the hook either. I told y'all to not leave that circle. But I'll let it go only if you take this threat serious.” She looked at them each again, but without anger. “Will y'all do that? I'm not askin' you to cower from him, no, never. I respect courage, I want each of you to keep it. But be warned, he is old, shrewd, cruel, and can wield control over the elements, dead bodies, live bodies, you name it. But he isn't god. So, where there is a will, there is a way. Will you take this foreal?”

“Yeah Nai-Nai. I will,” Aaron replies first. Saki nods, Aanujah simply answers yes.

“Good, good. Last night I was thinking of gettin' y'all on the next thing smokin', but thought better of it by mornin'. Out of many years this family been coming here I never got a chance to show y'all some truth. But uh, you go learn today!”

She settled down, making it a point to get her grand-kids anxious. She took a deep breathe, exhaling with a gentle smile. A smile holding her laughs in, seeing the anticipation grow on the kids' faces.

She says quietly, “There's a reason I'm so accustomed to the drop in temperature. There's reason why I have no southern accent—never had one. There's also reason why I have my own traditions, superstitions not native to the south, and just ways that seem foreign to these southern dwellers. Well, I'm not from Nkosia, Alabama.”

“Where you from Nai-Nai?” Aanujah asked, mindlessly fiddling in her wild bushy hair.

“Lucas County,” she simply states.

Saki said, “Don't tell me you from Nyjer; the Riders' hood.”

“I am indeed Saki S'hkmanyu,” Aniyla replied, turning her head to Saki.

 

 

After the new turn of events Aniyla had to come clean to the youngsters. Yes. It was her time to inform the kids of a time when Anubis, the wolf, was much more vicious. A creature that should never find its way into a child's tale. The year was 1949, Aniyla's family had just got settled into a new home.

A fancy home in Lucas County and the famous Red Riders' neighborhood. The homes built together making a circle with only one opening to get in and out. It was an affluent African American neighborhood, but to Aniyla it was just a band of bougie niggas. She, of course, didn't see this as a nine-year-old girl, but as time pass that was her exact sentiment. The non-black citizens of the suburbs proclaimed the fall of the Red Riders' neighborhood, turning into a hood or ghetto, was because the residents desecrated their own home. They allowed it to become what it became. But that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Aniyla recalled her first night in their new house. The streetlights were on, taking up spots on the sidewalks throughout the neighborhood. The night was quiet, peaceful. Aniyla along with her five siblings had just been fed a glorious meal made by their mama. But before tucking the children in bed, their daddy insisted to tell a bed story.

A story about the spirit wolf, half man, half dog that hunted their very county. And sometimes he descended in their own neighborhood. The worse part of the story was possession, he could take possession of any soul, able to make you commit atrocities if not strong enough to resist. He wants a soul he could take it, adding a new play-thing to his vault. The rest of your existence you would be at his mercy.

Aniyla never forgot her mother's eyes, that fright on the surface and the sea of regret she drowned in. That night is when Aniyla knew there was more to that tale than simply scaring little ones. Aniyla's suspicions were confirmed when her mama tucked her into bed, kissing her cheek ever so softly, while whispering an apology in her ear. The woman of the house fervently prayed them to sleep, begging god and all his angels to watch over her children. Aniyla wondered why dad even told them that story in the first place and why mama let him.

It was a requirement in the Red Riders' neighborhood. Secretly, there was a part of Aniyla that never forgave her papa for telling them the words about the wolf. There was a quality about his face, he enjoyed the fear produced in his kids. But that wasn't where she couldn't forgive. From that point at nine years old, Aniyla always felt she had a connection with Anubis.

A connection that somehow her father brought about. Years went on and through it Aniyla as well as her large family got very accustomed to life in Red Riders' neighborhood. The family knew exactly why no one ever moved out, once in. Once in there was no leaving. Marriage was the only exception, it disrupted the hold of Anubis.

Red Riders' neighborhood had a death grip on its residents. Aniyla finally understood why her papa's mama never dared to move there. No matter how nice the houses, the clean reputation of the gated community, or how well connected the neighbors were, it wasn't worth it. Aniyla never missed a beat when visited late night by malevolent spirits, full bodied entities that walked the streets at night, daring someone, anyone to come out the door. Aniyla's family became use to the wear and tear of homes and buildings by violent possessed animals.

The nonstop possessions, even the murders with a question mark hanging over it. The man-wolf was a vicious beast in the north, much different from the being in present day Nkosia. Aniyla always believed it was the weather that mellowed him out, since his origins were in a much warmer climate. The truth was Aanujah's birth calmed his killing frenzy. Anubis had a new job to train for and a murderous mentality would help him to lose much faster than win.

Even at the age of thirteen Aniyla wasn't afraid of the in-house visits, it became a part of everyday life. Luckily for Aniyla's household they weren't terrorized as much as other residents. Aniyla as a teenager she didn't care about the terror her neighbors received, she never cared for them anyway. Bone deep, she felt many of them deserved it. Sitting on their pedestal, turning their nose up at their own people, believing their superiority.

 

 

“Niyla,” her mother called from the kitchen, “could you get the door for me honey?”

Aniyla didn't respond, just stood from the couch, still in her pajamas, this late in the afternoon. The thirteen year old girl at the door was a perfect shade of walnut brown, never wore a skirt or dress, except when forced. Her trousers were held up by safety pins, being that she jacked it from her older brother's closet. She was a little thing with the softest face, who always felt uncomfortable in dresses or skirts. But no matter how crazy her clothes look her hair always was well tended for.

Her hair was blown straight or braided in the most beautiful plaits. She was Kanaja (Kuh-nay-juh), Aniyla's one and only best friend.

“Hey girl,” Aniyla greets, moving back to the comfort of her couch.

“I know you ain't still in your pjs,” Kanaja voices the obvious, glowering at her good friend.

“What you want Nay?” Aniyla looked up at her friend, then pushes back the curtains to the window behind the couch. The sight that met her eyes was two girls and two boys, her age, smiling a smile that made her want to throw her shoes at them to knock it off their face.

“Come outside,” Kanaja said, taking a seat on the coffee table, even knowing Aniyla's mama would have a fit if she saw her.

Aniyla glanced back at Nay. “What we go do?”

Kanaja shrugs her shoulders, her eyebrows raise and her lips poke out. “Uhhhh, the forest. TJ's idea.”

Aniyla froze at the thought of the forest. The one place she never dares to wander in. She was petrified of the forest and didn't know why. That was a mystery she had no plans of ever figuring out.

A slight shake takes over Aniyla's head. “I don't wanna go in the forest, 'specially not with those wenches. Bourgie ass stuck up whores. All of 'em includin' the boys.”

“Don't leave me with 'em Niyla. You know I don't like 'em either.”

Aniyla's face is incredulous. “Why you hanging wit' 'em then?”

Kanaja shoulders shrug, eyebrows raise and lips poke back out. “'Cause you know don't nobody else wanna hang with me out here.”

“I do.” Aniyla stabs herself with her own finger.

“I know,” Kanaja retorts, then stands, “so come.”

“I'm not hangin' wit' them. Let's just stay around the house or walk around. We can go over my Nana's house. She made some sweet potato pie,” Aniyla sung out.

“Ooh,” Kanaja smiled, “that sound good.”

Aniyla nods, saying, “Yeah.”

Kanaja dropped her smile. “No. I really wanna go in the forest. I wanna see what's in there once and for all.”

Aniyla looks out the window again, the group still wearing a taunting smile. She could throw up. She shakes her head again, eying them. “I don't trust them. You shouldn't trust 'em. But,” Aniyla sighs, “I can't tell you what to do. I'm not hanging wit' 'em.”

Kanaja smacks and pouts her thick lips. “Fine Niyla. See you tomorrow then.”

“Uh-uh,” Aniyla spoke, turning back to Kanaja.

“What?” Kanaja lit up. “You wanna go now?”

Aniyla lightly chuckles, then hops from the couch. “No. After y'all come back from the forest come here. Just so I know you okay.”

Kanaja sighs. “Okay.”

Aniyla grabs Kanaja by her shoulders. “I'm serious Nay Nay. Promise me.”

“I promise Niy.”

Aniyla walked Nay to the door and watched her depart with those four busters. Not a single one she trusted. She never trusted them. They were from scandalous families and knew only that. That was why she never hung around anyone but Kanaja.

The other kids were afraid of her, well afraid of her entire family. It was the norm for everyone to be terrorized by the wolf and his minions. But they weren't. So, their neighbors believed them to be in cahoots with the devil. The kids believed and stayed away, except Kanaja and her family.

But TJ, Kevin, Ashley, and Jasmine were from a different stock. Any that sided with Aniyla's family were in with the devil as well and treated as such. Aniyla sat on the porch till sundown waiting for Kanaja to return home. She rocked when she got nervous. Several times one of her sisters offered to keep her company, but she refused every offer.

Just in case