That Voodoo You Do

Aleece was doing her psychology reading while Boyd played Call of Duty. Video games weren’t really Aleece’s thing as she usually preferred to watch and had never had video games in Louisiana, she was usually reading on the porch with her grandmother or out in the trees just her and her thoughts.

“What are you reading?” Boyd asked sparing her a glance, Aleece didn’t look up she just tossed her hair to the side out of her face and replied,

“About the brain, basic functions of hypothalamus and amygdala and all that.” Boyd whistled and went back to shooting enemies, he rarely played in groups or put on a headset like some other teens. Boyd was pretty solitary from what she could tell. She thought he wanted more friends just didn’t know how to go about getting them. She lifted her eyes to look at him curiously, wanting to offer him words of wisdom or encouragement, but she wasn’t as good with words as Mawmaw. She wasn’t inspiring or insightful, she was just a teenager with an affinity for the occult.

“You staying for dinner?” he asked and Aleece hummed uncertainly, “Titi’s making chili.” Aleece smiled and hummed happily,

“I love your aunt’s chili,” she said softly and Boyd smiled at her as he paused the game and scooted across the floor to sit in front of her. He peeked at her book and looked up at her.

“You have psych with Lydia don’t you?” he asked and she held up a spare notebook with definitions and key terms written much neater than Aleece’s usual chicken scratch. The definitions were in different colors and key terms highlighted, they were very impressive notes. “You wrote her notes,” Boyd noted and Aleece nodded.

“Didn’t want her fallin behind,” she said and Boyd looked at her curiously.

“How you going to give em to her? Just waltz into her hospital room and hope she doesn’t bite your head off?” Aleece gave him an even look, she blinked as if he had asked one of the dumbest questions before she replied, matter of fact,

“No, I’m going to give them to Allison and Allison is going to give them to her.” Boyd hummed in agreement and looked over the chapter Aleece was studying. Aleece glanced at him and turned the page. “You’re gunna die you keep readin’ over my shoulder,” she warned him and Boyd looked at her and then his game. Thankfully he was able to shoot the enemy before he was killed. He remained in front of her but sat on the floor with his back against the couch, Aleece smiled at him and went back to copying her notes.

“So why were thinking about werewolves today?” he asked and Aleece shrugged a shoulder.

“Just little things that have been happenin’, like those animal murders,” she replied absently.

“You mean Kate Argent?”

“Reports are conflicted, some say an animal did it some say a person did it, I think someone with claws did it.”

“A rangaroo.”

“Rougarou,” she giggled looking at him and Boyd nodded, testing the word before shrugging. “Maybe the Hales, if some woman burned my pack alive, I’d want revenge,” she added and Boyd chuckled.

“You think the entire Hale family were rougarous and they were killed because of it by Kate Argent and then-?”

“Survivors of the Hale family, maybe that Derek guy, killed her in return. Comes full circle,” she turned the page in her psych book and began writing down some notes, taking her time and writing as neatly as possible with various colors for various things. Boyd shook his head and continued playing his game.

“You are definitely something else, Ally,” he commented and Aleece glanced at him a bit worriedly before he added, “It’s a good thing.” Aleece smiled and went back to writing and Boyd continued his game and the two fell in a comfortable silence. Boyd wasn’t one for sharing his emotions or thoughts and Aleece wasn’t one for playing therapist. She cared for Boyd but she found it hard to be the one with the life saving advice. Her Mawmaw always knew what to say and how, Aleece never got a chance to learn that technique. She was always floundering for words.

~*~*~*~

Aleece was walking home after dinner at Boyd’s, kicking at a rock she dug out of the corner of Boyd’s driveway and basking in the moonlight. She inhaled the chilled air and looked around the moon illuminated wood surrounding the housing unit Boyd and Aleece lived in. Everything was still, save for the cool night air stirring in the needle like limbs of trees. Aleece frowned as she looked up at the moon, rounding out and almost full, a few more weeks and a full moon would hang high in the sky.

Whispers hung in the air, sounds breathing through on the breeze. Aleece stopped walking and closed her eyes, hearing the ritual drums in her head as the spirits mingled with the air. She could feel the heat of the fire on her skin and remembered her Mawmaw, face painted and bones in her hands,

Spirits linger all around us, ma petite, listen to the wind, bend to the sun, they’ll tell you what is happening. You need only listen.

Aleece jumped as a scream echoed through the night air, piercing through the hum of drums and shattering the whispers of the night. Aleece spun around and around again trying to find the source but it was encompassing. She knew one thing though,

It was Lydia’s scream.