Toxic bloodlines, p.1
Toxic Bloodlines, page 1
copyright: Toxic Bloodlines © 2022 E.E. OSSAI
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
To contact author: toxicbloodlinesinfo@gmail.com
Contents
Dedication
Content Warning
Map
1. THE BIG BOOM
2. BLUE SKIES
3. SMOKE AND MIRRORS
4. IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN
5. LIGHTBRINGER
6. PERSON OF INTEREST
7. INFESTATION
8. BUTTERFLIES
9. SWEET SIXTEEN
10. THE HOUSE IN THE MEADOW
11. THE VISITOR
12. THE RABBIT HOLE
13. BLEED
14. POWDER KEG
15. HUNTING SEASON
16. THE BLIZZARD
17. THREE WISE MEN
18. THE LIGHTBRINGER
19. THE MORNING STAR
20. GROWING PAINS
Paradise
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
I dedicate this book to all the
outcasts, you’re home now.
Content Warning
This book contains the following:
Detailed descriptions of graphic violence.
Strong language.
Substance abuse.
Depictions of mental illness (Depression & Anxiety).
Depictions of grief/ loss/ trauma.
Racism and Harassment.
Mentions of off-screen S/A.
Mentions of abuse.
Mild drug use (Cannabis).
Depictions of the Occult.
Explicit depictions of body horror, gore, blood, broken bones, vomit, and self-harm.
Thalassophobia.
Use of guns.
And other scenes readers might find disturbing.
RATED 16+
Chapter 1
THE BIG BOOM
The days leading to my sixteenth birthday were unforgettable. Cosmic, horrifying, and thrilling- those would've been the best words to sum it up. September sixteenth was the Genesis of something insidious that took root in my neck of the woods: Seventh Heaven, a quiet town at the center of an old-growth forest.
This is where it began.
I was sitting in my bedroom typing a review for my blog that nobody ever read. It was a banned book. A concerned parent with a highlighter and nothing better to do thought the material was too ‘mature’ for us to be reading in school. I knew where this concern for ‘our young minds’ stemmed from; it roughly translated to ‘I don’t want my children to know how cruel Pop-pop and Meemaw’s generation was.’ The controversy around the banned book only piqued my interest. What did the village elders not want us to know?
Through the opening of my bedroom door, the smell of something burning interrupted my train of thought. I sniffed around, looking for the source.
What is that?
I caught the aroma of saffron wafting in the air. I paused my music and listened to the rapturous laughter coming from downstairs.
What’s going on?
I could hear my aunt hilariously scolding her husband as she coughed. It was his job to check if the rice was done boiling. I let out a stifled laugh, snorting my strawberry smoothie, then continued typing.
It’s always something with those two.
“Rani!” my aunt screamed from downstairs.
I ignored it. She was using my nickname, so it probably wasn’t that serious.
“Kiiiiim?” she called out again. I sighed.
Please don’t say my name, Please don’t say my name.
“KIMBERLY!” she yelled in a firmer tone.
I rested my head on my desk.
Maybe if I stay silent long enough, I can hide in my room for a few more minutes. And If I'm lucky enough, skip today's Sunday dinner entirely.
That was never gonna happen. I lifted my head from my desk with a sigh.
Aunty Aminah always wanted us to eat dinner together as a family. She pushed for this tradition because of her tight work schedule at the hospital. She was hardly ever around for breakfast, but she was always around for dinner. Eating together at the table was her way of catching up with all of us. After my cousin left for college, we didn’t do it as often, but she’d been fussy lately.
The increasing sound of her slippers clapping and the smell of her floral perfume slowly filling my room let me know that she was close. I had one paragraph left. Maybe I could finish it before she walked in and gave me a speech about how I ‘need to get out more.’ She always made me laugh when she did that.
Aunty Aminah was the only parental figure I knew who forced me to act my age. Of all my aunties, she was the only one who encouraged me to break the rules - with limitations, of course. This was a brown family, so rebellious lite. My fairy godmother was worried that I was missing out on my youth. Hoping to spark something in me, she’d often given me those ‘when I was your age I did’ blah blah blah talks.
I wish she understood that I’d never be an extrovert. I tried.
They scared me.
With my time running out, I powered through the last chunk of my review.
Would it matter if I don’t fix the typo? Would people even notice?
I had to fight the need to delete everything. Then aunty Aminah slowly opened my bedroom door.
She poked her head in. “Are you busy?”
I sighed. “Ten more minutes.” Aunty Aminah tiptoed in because it didn’t matter; there was no negotiating.
“Kimberly Elizabeth Abadi,” she called out my full name with folded arms. “That blog is not going anywhere. And you still haven't looked at those brochures for that writing camp this summer, the one you forced us to consider, ‘It will be good for my college applications,’ remember that? They called me this morning asking if you were still going.”
“Yeah, I meant to get to it, but I already made plans with Arik. A few of us are visiting his lake house for a few days. I didn't think I might go for the camp—” Wait a minute…I cringed.
Oh crap! I wasn't supposed to tell her.
I slowly looked at her.
“Busted,” she chuckled.
I tried to think of ways to retract what I had said, but the cat was out of the bag. The best I could do was hide my face in my hands instead and hope aunty Aminah doesn’t want me to talk about it.
Please don’t make me talk about it.
I sunk deeper into the bottomless pit of cringe and instant regret.
I’ve been so freaking careful!
Aunty Aminah made an exaggerated thinking face. “Hmmm, let me guess. Arik was the boy with the curly hair who came over for Christmas last year?”
I groaned. “Please stop,”
“He's cute. The aunties loved him. I’ve never seen someone eat so much,” she teased. It reminded me of my grandaunt’s reaction to him returning for thirds. “Is it…a chill thing, or is it serious?” She tried to sound ‘hip,’ and I wanted to dig myself into the ground.
“Chill, Thing? What is that?” I laughed, my cheeks warm from the extreme levels of embarrassment.
“Well, is it?” She asked again.
“It’s going to be ten months, so, yeah, it’s pretty serious,” I replied, realizing how long we’ve been together. We'd kept it a secret for so long.
“Ten months!” Her jaw dropped. “Are you two, you know…being safe-” she closed the door behind her to give us more privacy.
Oh my god.
I pulled the strings of my hoodie, well, Arik’s hoodie, and retreated under it like a turtle. “This isn’t happening right now.”
“You’re not a little child anymore. Your generation is a lot more exposed to these things than mine was. My parents would never talk about these things, but we can. I did the same thing with Aaron when he left for college.”
I chuckled.
My aunt continued. “It’s your life, your future, and I only want the best for you. My job is only to prepare you; if you aren’t doing it alre—”
“I’M A VIRGIN,” I blurted out, hoping that would end this conversation. “We haven’t done anything, and thank you, but can we stop, please.”
“Okay, fine.” She smiled. “I knew you two were dating.”
“What gave it away?”
“Arik came to see me to ask what to get you for your birthday. This was last month. He’s charming; we can thank his mother for that. Thank god he didn’t take after his father.” Aunty Aminah laughed and shook her head. “Imagine that?”
I blushed.
So that’s why Arik was asking me all those questions even though I said I didn’t want anything. I thought I had covered my tracks when it came to him. The plan was to hold out on telling my aunt and uncle until we hit the two-year mark.
I’d be seventeen going on eighteen. I assumed the i
“I won't tell Baba, but you must rip the band-aid off soon. If Baba figures it out alone, he might bury the poor boy in the backyard. He’s already asking questions,"Aunty Aminah ran her fingers through my hair and hugged me before she reached over and closed my laptop.
“Wait! I didn’t save the—”
“And no, you’re not going to any lake house alone with a teenage boy and his friends that I don’t know. I’m chill, but I’m not that chill,” she picked up my laptop from the desk.
“But his dad is going to be there the whole time; we won’t be there alone,” I lied through my teeth, hoping she’d take the bait.
She gave me a knowing look. “You, my dear are a terrible liar,” she opened my laptop. “Save your thing; I’m running out of time.”
“Fine,” I frowned, saving the review in my drafts folder.
With my laptop in her arms, aunty Aminah opened my door. I could hear uncle Ahmed’s heavy footsteps thumping up the staircase.
“HABIBI!” he called out.
I could see his shadow in the hallway. With her left hand, aunty Aminah gestured for me to get moving.
“What are you two whispering about? I heard something about a lake house!”
“Oh, stop shouting,” aunty Aminah yelled back at him. “This man wants to bring the house down today,” she chuckled.
Exiting my room, my phone started to ring in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out to see who it was. Arik? I had to swipe left and decline the call. It was too much of a risk to answer him now. I saw the back of uncle Ahmed’s head as he went back down the stairs. I put my phone back in my pocket…Arik, again. I put my phone on silent, and he called again. I stopped halfway down the stairs. Maybe I should answer.
“Kim. No. He’s a big boy. He can wait,” aunty Aminah huffed.
“Okay, okay,” I walked back up the stairs.
My aunt frowned. “Really, Kim,”
Entering my room, I sneakily pulled out my phone to check if I had received any messages from him.
Arik always messages me before he calls. Nothing, not even a meme. Weird. I felt uneasy. It’s probably nothing…right?
“What are you people doing!” My uncle shouted, coming back up the stairs.
Aunty Aminah walked back into my room.
“I’m literally putting my phone on charge.”
“Come, come, come, I only have fifteen minutes left,” My aunt snapped her fingers, growing impatient.
I tossed my phone on my bed after sending Arik a ‘call you later text.’
“Okay, okay.” I put my hands in the air and surrendered.
I had only taken a single step away from my bed. Suddenly, there was a shattering sound. Something had fallen. I got a fright. I looked back and saw the framed photograph of my mother broken on the floor. It had somehow been knocked from my bedside table… How? Bending down to pick up the picture, the lights in my bedroom began to flicker. Then the light bulb in my lamp popped. I flinched and almost tripped over.
Then the electricity cut out.
Everything went dark.
The sounds of crickets began to fill the silence.
“Again?” Aunty Aminah exclaimed as she flipped the light switch on and off to no avail. “That’s the third BLOODY time this week!”
“Is the electricity out?” uncle Ahmed shouted.
“Yes,” she replied. “I don’t know what’s been going on in—” before she could finish her sentence, uncle Ahmed unleashed a flood of curse words in Arabic. The two of us burst out laughing. “Ahmed, it’s enough. You want them to call the police?” the man continued to complain, getting louder on purpose. “He is so dramatic,” she shook her head with a fond smile.
I heard my cousin Aaron riling his dad up even more, reminding him of the soccer match that was on tonight. Uncle Ahmed started fake crying. Aunty Aminah placed the laptop on my bed. I heard her alarm go off in her bedroom. Aunty Aminah’s shift was about to start.
I guess I got what I wanted.
My aunt sighed and left my room.
As I sat down on my bed, feeling guilty. My phone screen lit up; Arik was calling again. When I finally answered it, I heard static and Arik’s broken voice.
“Hello, Arik? Hellooo? The signal’s bad, Arik?” The call ended. “Okay?” I tossed my phone on my bed, laid back, and stared at the ceiling. I thought about what to do while waiting for the power to return. It was too dark to read, so maybe I could listen to music. It usually took thirty minutes; that’s how long it took the last time.
Aunty Aminah returned to my room, putting on her earrings in a rush. She stood before my mirror, brushing her hair with the last rays of sunlight from my window. “What does he want? He’s called you a hundred times.”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged, boredom already setting in.
“Rani, you mustn’t let him distract you. Focus on school,” she tied her hair up with one of my hair bands.
“He’s not distracting me,” I sat up.
“I’m just telling you,” she left my room and didn’t close the door. I groaned and got out of my bed.
“Rani, you shouldn’t let him distract you,” I grumbled as I closed the door.
I searched my room for something I could use to pick up the broken glass. I got a piece of paper from my desk. As I knelt down to reach for the first broken shard, I heard a weird sound fill the air. Thunder? The noise kept growing louder. It was coming from outside. The neighborhood dogs barked, and a few car alarms went off.
“What is that?” I heard aunty Aminah call out from down the hall.
I got up and walked to my window to check for what it was. My neighbors were out on their lawns talking amongst themselves, trying to figure out what had happened. The clouds were dark and stormy, they were rolling in fast…
Rain?
I didn’t remember seeing anything about rain on the weather app. Looking at the sky slowly getting covered, I noticed a reddish gloom highlighting the clouds.
Weird.
I was about to close my curtains when something caught my attention. A middle-aged man standing next to my mailbox. The stranger glared at me; his lips quivered, his skin pale as if he had seen a ghost. He raised a shaky hand and pointed at…
Me?
Frightened, I shut the curtains.
What was that about?
Taking a step away from the window, a bold red light that shone in from a crack in between the curtains caught my attention.
Huh?
I opened my curtains again.
Oh my god.
Blood red skies. Birds flew away, and I could still hear that strange rumbling sound from above.
That can’t be thunder.
I was about to sound the alarm.
“Kim?” My aunt walked back into my room, staring out the window.
It started in my chest. Then a slow surge of heat burnt through my whole body. My skin prickled up, and my heart began to race. All I felt was fear. I could feel sweat building around my neck. Then my chest began to tighten up. It happened so fast that the air escaped my lungs, suspending in me the process of exhaling, unable to breathe in. Three drops of blood fell out of my nose.
“Kimberly!” Aunty Aminah ran over to me as I fell to the ground clawing at my throat.
Through my panic, I felt the house shake, it was light at first, but it became violent. I heard a whistling sound as if something was falling. It grew louder and then turned into a thundering roar.
The windows in my bedroom burst, sending sharp glass shards flying all over. My aunt threw herself over me then I heard the surreal sound of an explosion, a big boom. I sat up with a deep gasp, stunned.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” my aunt held my face. “We have to go,” she calmly said, rising to her feet.
In my confused state, I started to question if any of this was real.
Using each other for balance, we ran down the hallway and toward the stairs. I caught the unsettling sight of our family photos falling off the walls as if some invisible force was knocking them down. My uncle met us at the end of the stairs, reaching for us.
Aunty Aminah pushed me forward as a light fixture fell from the ceiling, almost hitting her. My uncle took my hand and led us out of the house. We ran out onto the front lawn. Aaron was crouched down on the grass shielding his head with his arms. Uncle Ahmed reached for him, wrapped his arms around us, and used his body as a shield. Huddling together, we shook until our trembling gradually subsided.
