I never thought my quiet hometown harboured such dark secrets until the day I stumbled upon the truth. It began innocently enough but it soon escalated into an absolute nightmare, with widespread rumours of a shady cult headed by a group of women in my small hometown and strange occurrences of people disappearing mysteriously.
It all started when my mother began acting strangely. She became distant, spending hours locked in her room, whispering to someone on the phone in hushed tones. At night, I could hear her chanting strange incantations, her voice echoing through the house like a sinister melody.
I tried to brush it off as stress or overwork, but deep down, I knew something was wrong. And then, one fateful night, I made a discovery that would change everything. I followed my mother into the woods behind our house, curious about where she disappeared to every night. As I crept through the trees, I stumbled upon a clearing bathed in moonlight. There, in the centre of the clearing, stood a group of cloaked figures, their faces obscured by shadow. I watched in horror as my mother stepped forward, joining the circle of these people. There was a naked man whose face was covered with black polythene in the centre and his limbs were tied with a rope.
Two women wearing black clothes with their faces completely covered came and started beating the man with a belt. Everybody took their turns to beat him up. Then they started making small cuts on the body of the man. Again everybody took their turns to make cuts on him.
They smashed a wine bottle on his chest. I was standing there witnessing all these from my very own eyes. I couldn’t believe the horrifying things happening in front of my eyes.
They began chanting something, their voices rising and falling in an eerie cadence. I couldn’t make out the words, but their meaning was clear - something dark and sinister was happening in front of me, and my mother was at the centre of it all. Terrified, I fled back to the safety of our home, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that had settled over me like a shroud. I knew I had to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.
I remembered reading a similar description of the incident last night in some book at my library. I don’t exactly remember the name of the book but I remembered bits of print and other small details.
I started looking for the book at the library. Over the next few weeks, I delved deeper into the secrets of my mom and those mysterious people, piecing together fragments of information from the book.
A cult named Zued used to exist during the 1980s led by Mayana who used to kidnap people to perform their rituals. The description of the ritual was identical to what I witnessed after I followed my mother that night. One day Mayana suddenly disappeared and nobody found her dead body but after that, these things stopped happening.
I started searching for the original author of this book. I searched for the author. This book was written by Mrs. Martha Anna Marie in 1995 and was originally published in 1996. The copy of the book I borrowed from the library was just 5 years old. Unfortunately, I was unable to contact the author directly but I contacted the publication regarding the author of the book. They gave that information already available online. Apart from that they also gave me her outdated landline number.
A day later :
My mother called me for dinner when I was reading that book. I kept the book on my bed and went for dinner. After I returned, the book was nowhere to be found.
After my mother left the house to go shopping, I rummaged around her room in search of more evidence. I came across the book I borrowed from the library along with a big rusty book with the same Copper symbol mentioned in the book written by Mrs. Martha. As mentioned in the book by Mrs.Martha I was unable to open that book without the key. This converted my doubt into belief.
The fact, my mother took the book from my room and kept it in her cupboard. But the more I uncovered, the more I realised that I was in danger. The cultists knew I was onto them, to protect their secrets they can go to any extent. One night, as I lay in bed, I heard the sound of footsteps outside my window. I peered through the curtains to see a group of cloaked figures standing in the moonlight, their eyes fixed on my house. Panic surged through me as I realised they had come for me. I fled into the darkness, racing through the streets as they pursued me with relentless determination. I knew I had to find a way to stop them, to expose their evil deeds to the world. With trembling hands, I reached for my phone and dialled the only person I could trust.
As I waited for help to arrive, I huddled in the shadows, praying that I would survive the night. And as the first light of dawn broke through the darkness. I fainted that night and woke up in a hospital. Later I came to know that my mother was gone and nowhere to be found. I knew that the nightmare was finally over or I may be wrong.
It was my fault that I didn’t expose them to the world. The memory of that dark day still haunts me, a reminder to trust no one, not even your family members. And though I may never fully understand the true extent of my mother’s involvement in the cult or those shady activities. I loved my mom and still miss her .Police is in her search .I don’t know where she is or what she is doing. I don’t even know if she is alive or not . I wish she was never involved in these things. At same time I felt releif that I no longer have to live with sketchy human being like her. I am feeling of relief and sadness at same time. But some nights, when the wind whispers through the trees and the shadows dance across my window, I can’t help but wonder if the cult is truly gone, or if its dark legacy still lingers, waiting to ensnare its next victim or even me.