Roger and the Necromantic Abode

The Grave

The next night, Elizabeth came to Eric’s room and was tying his hands and feet with a rope when Eric screamed and said “Ruth! Grandma is coming to tie your hands and legs!”

“I am already tied up!” Ruth said.

“I am going to put a masking tape over your little mouth so that you wouldn’t be able to speak…. And there you go. Amelia must be putting one over your cousin’s mouth now.”

Then, Elizabeth, Amelia, James, John, Ariel and Eve got into the car and drove away. They parked behind a bush where no one could see them and they waited for Stevenson to come to faith.

At last, Stevenson came. First Ariel and Eve climbed the wall and landed on the ground without making any noise. Then the rest of them got out of the car and popped the trunk in which there were two axes and two swords. Each of them picked their own weapons and marched towards Stevenson and encircled him while Ariel and Eve picked up Ziphora and did not let her go.

Ziph cried, “Stevenson! Bite them and run.”

Stevenson barked at them and bit Elizabeth and she went bonkers. She said, “James, murder him.”

When she said this Stevenson’s and Ziphora’s secret powers got combined together. So all of them froze for a minute. Stevenson asked Ziph, “How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. But you have to go now and I will communicate with you in one way or the other.”

“But….”

“Go!” Ziph exclaimed, almost breaking down. “Or else the spell will break. You have only fifteen seconds.”

Stevenson started running to the broken wall and the spell broke. And Elizabeth said, “Get him.”

James ran to catch him but John stayed there. He acted as he sprained his ankle very badly. He caught Stevenson by the tail and he screamed with pain and he used a little bit more of secret power and made James let him go and he ran. But James didn’t give up so easily. He picked up his axe, which had fallen to the ground and flung it towards Stevenson and it caught in his ribcage. He could not even scream due to the pain.

Ziphora felt it and cried out, “S-T-E-V-E-N-S-O-N”

James and Elizabeth did not let him go that easily. Elizabeth picked her sword and cut several times through his body. She instructed James to do the same thing. When they got exhausted, Elizabeth told Amelia and James to dig a hole and throw the remains of Stevenson into the hole and to Ariel and Eve not to let Ziphora go until the whole process is completed.

After all of them went to sleep, Ziphora ran to Stevenson’s grave and said, “What did I do to see the death of all my loved ones, Oh God? First my mom, then my father and now…..” She mourned his death all night like this.

The next day the first thing in the morning for Elizabeth was to take Ziphora to the veterinary doctor when Ariel said, “My best friend, Sarah, is a vet. I will call and tell her to come here.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Call her.” Elizabeth said.

Ariel called Sarah and said “Sarah, I need to see you. It’s an emergency.” Sarah told her that she’s on the way.

Sarah came and said, “Is it okay if I take Ziphora and drop her on my way to my home? I am very late for some appointments. Tell me what you need to know.”

“Yes, it’s fine. We need to know whether we can abort this puppy. If no, what food should we give Ziphora, what food should we avoid, what exercises are suitable for her and what exercises are not. And how many puppies are there.” Ariel said.

“I took a vow not to abort any puppy. So, no I can’t. As for the food, give her lukewarm milk once a day, carrots are good, high quality dog food, apples, plain white rice, bananas, fish, pumpkin. Don’t give her bread, apple seeds, apricot pit, raw fish, raw eggs etc. For the exercises short walks are the best. Over exercising is not good.” And with that Sarah left with Ziphora.

In the evening, Sarah came back and said, “There are three puppies. I ran some tests on her and she is a little bit unhealthy. So please do not give her the foods that are harmful for her. And take good care of her.”

“Wait!” Eve said. “How many months left for the pregnancy?”

“28 to 38 days.” Sarah said. “You should take care of Ziphora in the last three weeks.” Sarah left.

When Sarah left, Elizabeth said, “Make the dog do all the exercises and eat all the unhealthy food.”

“Are you sure?” John asked.

“Yeah. I think you didn’t hear the vet.” Ruth and Eric said together. “At least make an exception.”

Amelia glared at them. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Fine, let her eat all the healthy food.” She said grumpily. “But she should do all types of hard exercises for example, high jump, running around the house fifty times in the morning and twenty fivetimes in the evening. If she gets tired, beat her with that iron bar and she will start doing it again.”

“Who will do all of this Elizabeth?” Amelia asked.

“Since John has sprained his ankle and the doctor advised him not to move out of the bed, let Ruth and Eric do all of this. If they do not do this, I will cut your salary into half.” She said glaring at James and John.

All of them went inside. And Ziphora slept because it was a long day for her and she dreamt of Stevenson in heaven. Stevenson said ““Ziph, don’t worry about me. I am safe here. This will be our first and last meeting in the next two years. There is no discomfort here. No hunger, no pain and the only thing I’m concerned about is you. Take good care of our babies. I met your parents here. They are very sweet. When I came here they welcomed me to this beautiful place as their own son. I will pray for our family every day here. Stay safe and healthy.”” And he vanished. When Ziphora woke up, she decided not to worry and started to focus on her children.