Chapter 3

The hut was much bigger than Annabelle expected. She didn’t expect that there would be people who still lived in this kind of place. Instead of a ceiling, it has a thatch roof. The hall was painted red and decorated with black symbols and drawings of caricatures. The wooden front doors were waist-high and painted with black and red squares. One door in white letters was labeled IN, the other OUT. She bent down and entered through the OUT following her father closely.

The air inside was heavy with incense. It was so strong that it made her dizzy. She swayed on her feet and had to grab her father’s arm. He shrugged her off quickly as if she was cobwebs clinging to his arm, and she fell to her knees. She waved her hand in front of her face and quickly got up from her position on the ground.

Through her watery eyes, she saw the white figures painted on the hut’s inner walls move as if dancing to the sound of a beat. She strained her eyes and waited to hear the sounds, but on