The Ashes Of GETORA

They were living happily ever after, and then everything changed…

John was in the living room and Sera was out doing what she was good at, shopping. John never complained n sera had nothing to complain about. John was a real estate agent and a successful one and Sera was a school teacher, she loved being around kids. They were a beautiful couple and everyone adored them.

The door bell rang but as John opened the door no one was there, a small package was lying on the door step. He took the package inside, it had no name or address of the sender, but it was addressed to Sera. John left the package on the dining table and went back to watching the ball game. In the evening Sera came home and John told her about the mysterious package. As Sera was opening the package a disturbing silence engulfed the house n she felt a chill run through her spine, as she opened the package she saw a small glass bowl filled with what seemed to be dust. Sera took out the bowl n when both of them looked closer they realized it was not dust but ash, n there was a small note inside the ash which read ‘’ behold the ashes of GETORA’’.

As soon as Sera read the words the note turned to ashes in her hands and she collapsed to the floor, the bowl fell from her hand crashing to the floor, the whole room was filled with thick dust, John was holding her but could barely see what was happening. Sera was trembling uncontrollably and blood was rushing down from her eyes n ears, it took barely a minute for the dust from the ashes to settle down but for John it seemed like an eternity. As the dust settled John was shocked to see Sera standing in front of him and smiling with blood all over her face, John couldn’t speak for a moment and then he slowly stood up, Sera was looking at the broken bowl and when John called her name she looked at him and said “ help me” and collapsed to the floor, unconscious. John lifted her up n put her on the bed and called 911.

As the ambulance arrived John tried to explain what had happened, but it made no sense and John himself couldn’t believe the events and the way they had happened. The paramedics took Sera to the hospital and the doctors were shocked to see that there was no external injury of any sorts but Sera had lost a lot of blood. John was waiting outside the intensive care unit recollecting what had happened when the doctors came out n told him that Sera was out of danger but they had to perform certain tests.

The next day doctors got the reports and concluded that Sera was epileptic, they explained John that they had found an epileptic focus in Sera’s temporal lobe. John was not convinced and he tried to explain the series of events that took place that evening but convincing a doctor of a supernatural experience was like convincing a priest that god does not exist. Sera was released from the hospital with prescription of strong medication which would in doctor’s opinion avoid any such incidents in future. When John couldn’t argue anymore he took Sera home. For a few days Sera was fine but the medication was so strong that she was only half conscious most of the time, she was getting pale day by day and couldn’t move on her own. One afternoon John was sitting beside Sera and fell asleep in the chair, a strange noise woke him up, he looked at Sera’s bed but she wasn’t there. The noise was coming from the living room so John ran towards the living room shouting Sera’s name and when he entered the room he saw Sera lying on the floor where the bowl had broken and she was scratching the floor with her fingernails.

Incidents like these were happening more often now, sometimes Sera would start screaming in her sleep and sometimes she would eat insects and once she smashed her face on the mirror and started cutting herself with broken glass, and she used to have no recollection of what she had done. John was feeling helpless, then he remembered the words written on the note: ’’behold the ashes of GETORA’’ and he knew that these words were the reason for whatever had happened to Sera. The next morning he went to the library to find some reference for the words and he did. In a book named ‘The Apocrypha’ he found that the word Getora was used in reference for a demon who collected the souls of its victims by possessing them, and after he had their souls all that was left of the possessed were their ashes. John was not a very religious person neither did he believe in supernatural theories or angels and demons but he had tried all the medications and Sera’s condition was still getting worst, so in the evening he went to the church and convinced a priest to perform an exorcism which would according to the book release Sera from the possessed state, but the exorcism ritual failed miserably. The priest explained that the demon inside Sera was very powerful and exorcism if continued would kill Sera. John thought that the whole idea of an exorcism was a big mistake and he should have listened to the doctors, Sera was not possessed by some demon she was epileptic and needed medical care. So he contacted the doctors and agreed that Sera should immediately be admitted to the mental ward of the hospital. John did all the paperwork and all the arrangements were made to take Sera to the mental ward the next day.

And then it happened, John was sleeping right beside Sera, at the stroke of midnight Sera suddenly woke up, she got out of bed and started walking towards the kitchen, her eyes were still closed. She pulled out a knife from the kitchen cabinet and came back to bed, John was fast asleep. Sera was holding the knife in her hand and was standing right beside the bed, she stood there staring at John, she was whispering something in ancient Arabic and then she took the knife and slit John’s throat, and she didn’t stop at that she kept on stabbing John over and over again furiously, there was blood all over the bed and the ceiling, then she stopped and lied down beside John’s body and lit the house on fire.

In the morning the firefighters were able to get the fire under control and when they entered the house everything was burnt to the ground all they found was a glass bowl filled with ashes.