Obeah Woman…. Part 1

He eventually stepped into his mother’s room and stopped in the doorway.

Aubriana sat on the edge of the bed, her back stiff, fingers twisting together in her lap. Loretta was by the dresser, that same little grin still dancing on her face like she knew something nobody else knew. At 4’2, she looked harmless—small, sweet even—but the energy in the room felt heavy. Too heavy.

Rohan wiped the sweat from his forehead with the bottom of his shirt and frowned.

“Wha gwan?” he asked, glancing between the two of them.

Aubriana didn’t answer him.

She kept her eyes locked on Loretta instead, like if she looked away for even one second, something bad would happen.

Loretta chuckled softly.

“Yuh girl just tired. Mi tell har fi rest in yah likkle bit.”

Rohan’s jaw tightened.

“In yah?” he repeated. “Why she in your room and not mine?”

Aubriana swallowed hard. Her body felt strange. Warm… but not the good kind. Her limbs were getting heavier by the second, like the smoothie had melted through her bones and turned them soft.

She blinked slowly.

“Rohan…” she whispered.

The way she said his name made him move instantly.

He crossed the room fast and crouched in front of her, placing his hands on her knees.

“Baby, look at me.”

Her eyes drifted to him, hazy.

“Mi… mi nuh feel right,” she said weakly. “Mi head a spin.”

Rohan’s expression changed immediately.

He looked at the half-finished cup on the nightstand.

Then he looked at his mother.

“What yuh give har?”

Loretta folded her arms, unbothered.

“A smoothie. Wah else?”

“Don’t play wid me, Ma.”

His voice dropped low—dangerously low.

Aubriana tried to stand, but her knees buckled. If Rohan hadn’t caught her, she would’ve hit the floor.

“Rohan…” she slurred, clutching his shirt now. “Please… mi cyaan…”

His heart started pounding.

“Ma,” he said again, louder this time, “what di hell yuh put inna dat?”

Loretta’s face hardened.

“Watch how yuh chat to me inna my house.”

Rohan stood up slowly, Aubriana clinging to him. His entire body was tense now.

“She can barely stand.”

Loretta tilted her head.

“Maybe she too fast. Maybe she need fi slow down.”

Silence.

The words hit the room like a gunshot.

Rohan stared at his mother in disbelief.

Aubriana looked between them, confused, dizzy, her stomach twisting.

“Wha dat mean?” she mumbled.

Loretta stepped closer, her tiny frame almost eerie now.

“It mean,” she said calmly, “some gal get too comfortable too quick. Come inna people house, tek over people son bed, people son mind, people son life…”

Rohan’s nostrils flared.

“Stop talking.”

“No,” Loretta snapped, her voice sharp now. “Mi see har. Mi see how she have yuh. Since she come round, yuh different. Yuh disobey me. Yuh hide things from me. Yuh move like mi nuh matter no more.”

Aubriana’s stomach dropped.

This wasn’t about hospitality.

This wasn’t about a smoothie.

This was about control.

Rohan moved Aubriana behind him.

“You drugged her?” he asked, voice trembling with rage.

Loretta didn’t answer.

And that silence told him everything.

His fist clenched so tight his knuckles went white.

“Call somebody…” Aubriana whispered from behind him, panic creeping into her weak voice now. “Rohan… mi scared…”

He turned slightly, reaching for his phone with one hand while shielding her with the other.

But before he could unlock it—

Loretta smiled.

A slow… chilling smile.

Then she said something that made both of them freeze.

“Too late fi call anybody now.”

Rohan looked up sharply.

And that was when he heard it—

The front door downstairs creaking open.

Heavy footsteps.

Not one pair.

Several.

Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs.

Rohan’s hand tightened around Aubriana as he turned toward the bedroom door, every muscle in his body locked and ready.

Then—

A familiar voice slurred from the hallway.

“Wah gwan?”

It was his brother.

Jermaine stumbled into view, drunk as hell, one hand dragging against the wall for balance. His eyes were red, shirt halfway unbuttoned, and the sharp smell of liquor filled the upstairs.

Rohan immediately grew irritated.

“Nuh badda come in here wid dat,” he snapped.

Jermaine blinked, squinting into the room.

“Yow… why yuh a shout so?” he muttered, swaying. “Mi just come home…”

“Mi seh don’t come in here!”

The harshness in Rohan’s voice made even Aubriana flinch.

Jermaine frowned, finally taking a real look.

He saw Aubriana barely able to stand.

Saw her fingers dug into Rohan’s shirt.

Saw Loretta standing there too calm.

And just like that, some of the drunken haze lifted from his face.

“Wha happen?” he asked, slower this time. “Why she look so?”

Loretta answered too quickly.

“She fine. She just dizzy.”

Jermaine looked at the cup on the nightstand.

Then back at Aubriana.

Then at Rohan.

“Nuh,” he said, voice turning serious. “Dat nuh look like dizzy.”

Rohan’s chest rose and fell hard.

“She give har something.”

Jermaine’s eyes snapped to his mother.

“Wha?”

Loretta rolled her eyes like they were both overreacting.

“Unu too dramatic.”

Aubriana made a soft choking sound, grabbing at her stomach now.

“Rohan…” she whimpered, tears springing to her eyes. “Mi feel sick…”

That was it.

Rohan moved fast, guiding Aubriana toward the door.

“Move,” he barked at Jermaine.

But as soon as Jermaine stepped aside—

He noticed the front staircase.

Three men were coming up.

Big.

Silent.

Strangers.

Jermaine’s entire body straightened.

“Who dem?” he asked, voice rough.

Rohan’s blood ran cold.

One of the men cracked his neck as he reached the top step.

The tallest one looked straight at Loretta.

Then gave a slow nod.

That was all the confirmation they needed.

Jermaine turned to his mother in disbelief.

“Ma…”

Loretta folded her arms.

“Move out di way and nobody nah get hurt.”

Aubriana let out a weak cry.

Rohan pulled her tighter against him, fury burning through every inch of him now.

“You bring man inna dis house fi touch har?”

“No,” Loretta said coldly. “Fi remove har.”

Jermaine stared at his mother like he didn’t know her anymore.

“Yuh mad.”

“Mi protecting my family,” she shot back.

Rohan’s laugh came out dark and hollow.

“By poisoning my girl and sending strange man upstairs?”

The tallest man stepped forward.

“Hand over di gyal,” he said flatly. “And dis can stay simple.”

Jermaine sobered up all the way.

He cracked his knuckles and stood beside Rohan.

“Simple?” he repeated, with a dangerous smirk. “Unu pick di wrong house fi dat.”

Rohan glanced at him, shocked for half a second.

Jermaine spat to the side and squared his shoulders.

“Mi drunk, but mi can still beat bloodclaat.”

Aubriana’s knees nearly gave out again.

Rohan looked around fast—trapped in Loretta’s bedroom, one doorway, three men blocking the hall, Aubriana barely conscious, and his own mother standing there like the devil in house slippers.

Then—

Jermaine’s eyes dropped to the half-open closet.

And he remembered something.

His gaze snapped to Rohan.

“The back crawlspace,” he said low.

Rohan understood instantly.

The old hidden passage behind Loretta’s wardrobe.

The one their father built years ago.

The one Loretta thought nobody knew about.

Rohan shifted Aubriana’s weight and took one careful step back.

The tallest man noticed.

“Don’t.”

Jermaine grinned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then without warning—

He lunged first.

His fist slammed into the nearest man’s jaw with a sickening crack, sending him crashing into the hallway wall.

Chaos exploded.

Loretta screamed.

Rohan spun toward the wardrobe—

But just as he reached for it—

Aubriana suddenly looked up, dazed, terrified…

And whispered something that made his entire body freeze.

“Rohan…”

Her voice trembled.

“Mi… mi think Loretta call my father too.”

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