Read Online Consumed by Love - A Short Story by Pavarti K. Tyler - Free Book Online Page A

usually after a few drinks or when they were out with friends. Yet
he never talked about his parents. Bree only knew they were extremely
superstitious and committed to raising their children the “old way.”
    When everyone, including
the holistic healer who advised her to bury a cow liver in the backyard during
a full moon, had given up on Hugo, Bree broke her promise and made the call.
Rita lived near a small town in New Hampshire, in a commune with other Abenaki
Indians in the area. According to Hugo, she also maintained the “old ways.”
    The phone on the other
end rang.
    Hugo hummed in the next
room, a new development in his illness—no tune or melody, only the mournful hum
of a vacant man.
    “Kway?” a soft voice
answered.
    “Um, hi. This is Bree.” Her
chest tightened.
    “Awani na?” the voice
asked.
    “Is Rita there?” She
forced the words out, her fear and nervousness battling for the right to
constrict her throat.
    “Rita! Oho! One minute.”
The phone fell against the wall, and the slam of the mouthpiece assaulted Bree’s
overwrought nerves.
    “Kway?” a stronger voice
asked.
    “Rita?”
    “Oho.”
    “Um... I hope that means
yes.”
    “Oh! Yes, I’m sorry, it
does. Who is this?”
    “Ah, it’s Bree. You
might not—”
    “Bree! My sister! I’m so
glad to hear from you. How’s Nevada? How’s my prodigal brother? We missed you
both at this year’s gathering, and again at the funeral, of course.” Her voice
darkened at the mention of her father.
    “Yes, I... um... I’m
sorry for your loss.”
    “The community’s been
struggling to find a new leader. It’s hard for a small group like us to stay
together. Daddy’s death was... well, it’s been hard.”
    Her sister-in-law spoke
as if they had spent their childhood growing up together.
    “I’m sure—”
    “Are you...?” Rita
suddenly sounded hopeful. “Are you calling because Hugo has reconsidered coming
home?”
    “No,” Bree blurted out. “I
mean, he’s never mentioned it.”
    “Oh.”
    “Rita, I’m calling
because... well, Hugo’s sick.”
    A sharp intake of breath
on the other end of the phone preceded silence, and the moment spread across
the country, connecting wife and sister in panic and dread.
    “Bree, you need to bring
him back home.” Rita kept her voice quiet and serious, none of her usual
perkiness in her grave tone.
    “Hugo wouldn’t want
that. D-do you know what’s happening to him?”
    “You need to get him
home, Bree. I can’t say anything more than that. When did he begin to fall?”
    Fall? “Umm,
he started getting sick about four months ago.”
    “After Daddy died?”
    “Yes, the doctors think
its grief, but Hugo never—”
    “No, he never did.” Rita
sighed. “Bree, you have to bring him home before this changes him. We can help
him, and he can be home and lead his people.”
    Lead his people? “What
the hell is going on?”
    “You just have to get
him here before we lose him completely.”
    “Lose him to what? To
who? Rita, I’m not bringing him there without some kind of explanation, without
knowing what is going on. The doctor’s can’t tell me anything!”
    Rita snorted. “No, they
won’t.”
    “Rita!”
    “Bree, has he stopped
talking?”
    “Yes.”
    “Has he stopped eating?”
    “Mostly.”
    “You have to get him
home before he starts losing his hair. Before the tune of the devil takes over
his mind.”
    “He’s... started
humming,” Bree whispered into the receiver.
    “Listen to me. You need
to get on a plane today. Get him home. If he changes, no one will be safe.”
    Rita’s voice dripped
with fear now. “It never occurred to me that my brother would let it go this
far. He should have known what was happening when it began. He’s been preparing
for it his whole life. I always assumed he would come home.”
    “What are you talking
abo— Rita, I can’t! He doesn’t want that. He wouldn’t want that.”
    Sobs broke from Bree’s
throat; tears of concern and