...---... (continued)

PART TWO:

Kathy...

Kathy..

Kathy.

Kathy!

The sudden realization that someone had been calling out her name made her body tremble not from the cold June weather, but that something was amiss. She tried to look around and see who was calling her, alas that did not work. The moment that she tried to scream, not even a single peep emerged from her oval-shaped cavity. She began to panic now, and convulsed , too. She collapsed onto the floor in agonizing pain.

Kathy. The voice called out, for the umpteenth time.

Her hands moved toward her face, and she felt like she was going to start wailing. Where her eyes, nose, and mouth had been- she found that either someone had used magick to make them vanish, or somebody had wished them away. The latter was something she could not imagine, or the former, really. What in the world had happened to her body, and to her dismay, her face was missing its main features.

The last thing that she could recall was that she had been so excited to be travelling to Livingstone for the 2023 June Scientists conference where everything that the invited guests needed such as: housing, food, funds to afford sightseeing, and going on tours, that had all been covered by generous donors from the Trong International Scientists Organization (TISO).

Kathy moved her hands to grab a hold of her fanny pack. Oh dear. She always had it around her waist. Did she forget it at the Livingstone International Lodge (LIL), or somewhere near the Livingstone museum? No. That was not right.

Then Kathy at last began to have flashbacks of what had happened at midnight. There she stood at the edge of the Mosi-oa-Tunya. She had ended up cutting herself, and later slipped, falling into the roaring waters that appeared like smoke not too far from the mighty waterfall.

Kathy felt the presence of something guiding her. Where was it taking her? She only remembered bits, and pieces of what had happened to her when she arrived in Livingstone. Now this thing was pulling her somewhere, and she could not even see where they were going. She felt a sudden other cold touch. Was this thing trying to take over her body, or something else had touched her?

The only thing that she knew for sure was that she needed to figure out a way to at least find out who had taken her face, and why. This was driving her crazy. She also hoped that it was not too late to try and save herself before the Grim Reaper, including the ancestral spirits, would try to drag her away from the land of the living.

Kathy heard the sound of a soothing, calm, gentle voice near her. This voice was not like the one she had heard at first. It felt like she was being reminded not to worry, and that they would be working to help her find out who, or what had killed her.

This made Kathy's heartbeat much more regularly now. Maybe things would work out after all, and she did not have to worry too much about trying to figure out why she was even standing at the edge of the Mosi-oa-Tunya late at night, all by herself. Then she suddenly remembered that that night she did also feel many eyes keeping track of her movements. Or had that been just a figment of her imagination. Her thoughts were certainly driving her mad. Maybe she had fallen into a rabbit hole like Alice, and was still trapped in Wonderland.

#...---...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_14cb1xCY-4.

27.06.2023

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