Purple Rain

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky.

They whirled, swirled and twirled in the night leaving purple canvases that hang low in the dusk, fluffy bright pink shades forming at their edges that seemed to beg you to reach your hand out and touch them. 

The scene was a masterpiece, one that could have been painted only by invisible fairies. The visible ones would have been too conscious of their wand signature to produce such a chef-d'oeuvre I first thought. 

You would see the images everywhere the next morning. On the morning news, on Instagram, through headsets in the metaverse… 

How do they do it? What do they look like? Many of us wondered. 

It had been months now and the fascination had not died down. This recent phenomenon, now a regular occurrence had undoubtedly captivated us all. The green and yellow clouds had not attracted this much attention especially since they had no shadows. And if you had looked closely enough they said, you could see their fairies attempting to make them artsy. 

I enjoyed looking at them, yes, but most of what these purple clouds brought me was suffering. 

On many nights, the purple clouds would begin to gather furiously. When they were at their thickest, purple rain would fall. 

" Wake up! Wake up, my child! It is time," my grandmother would aggressively shove me the second the first drizzle would hit the roof. " You need to go out and bathe in the prosperous rain. Soak in it. That way you can give me a great-grandchild." 

I would grudgingly wake up, drag my feet outside, stand there in the falling rain and allow myself to get soaked in these purple showers. 

They would hit my body and flow down smoothly leaving a tickling warmth as they dripped from my pyjamas to the grass below. 

Grandma would follow me out and watch me from the veranda. I had never seen her this determined. 

" Raise your arms up, look up onto the sky and open up your heart. You want the spirits to hear you. You want them to hear your prayers and bless you. They need to feel you really want this," she would nudge me. 

I would comply. 

This had been happening for months now. Ever since the purple clouds started appearing. 

In the beginning, I would leave my boyfriend Lio snoring and snugly tucked between our warm sheets. He would wake up in the morning and find me sleeping next to him my skin covered in purple pigments.

He would then wake me up and we would try to make a baby. Well, he would be in the mood to make love and I mostly would be performing a duty. 

After a few weeks of empathising with my predicament, especially after seeing how much of my sleep I had to lose, he would join me as I bathed in the purple rain.

But even that did not seem to work. 

A few weeks later, unable to cope with my grandmother's constant and pressuring demands, he had looked for his own apartment and moved out. 

" Call me when all this is over," he told me as he drove off. "We both have work in the morning Leila. We can't keep doing this. It's not worth it. Things either happen or they don't. And there is always another way. And whether we have a baby or not, I will always be there for you. But not like this. You cannot allow her to rule your life. Not like this." 

I was devastated. He was one of my few sources of joy. Now he seemed to be gone. Even when I went to visit him at his apartment, he would sometimes be cold and distant. 

"Are you here because you want me, or has your grandmother put you up to it?" he would ask me. 

" He is the bad seed," grandma would insist. " Let him go. Let's continue receiving the blessings and another will soon come. We need to remove the curse of the witches." 

I did not take her word for it, Even though I knew she was a blesser. Many women had come to seek her help to conceive. That's how she had afforded her lifestyle she told me. Her blessings had never worked on me. That's why she had suggested the purple rain. 

Lio and I had gone to the gynaecologist and the test results showed that even though I was a few years past my prime, we both were fine and could conceive naturally. 

After some recommendations on a diet that would enhance fertility, the doctor sent us on our way. 

We did not tell grandma about the visit to the doctor. If we would conceive, we wanted her to think her method had worked. We were ok if she took the credit. 

The only reason I found the soaking in purple rain bearable was because of the warmth it made me feel. It was like being in a sauna without the discomfort of all the heat around you. And it also left the skin looking tighter and brighter. 

My grandma's demands were a pain though. Especially now. 

I found it hard to talk to my colleagues or friends about it. So I went to the only place I felt I could get diverse, solid and unbiased advice. Reddit. 

Don't you love to hear the numerous opinions of strangers on the internet? 

Am I the AH? 

I am F37. A few years ago, my boyfriend and I moved back to my grandmother's mansion after she told me she needed me in her final years. 

We spent the money we got from selling our house after paying the mortgage to renovate the mansion especially now that we thought we would be living there for the rest of our lives. 

A few months after moving in, my grandma started pressuring us to have children. She says having a great-grandchild is the only condition she has in order to leave the house for me. Otherwise, she will donate it to the local children's hospital. 

She says she does not want her lineage to end with me since I am an only child and my mother who died in Iraq a decade ago was her only child. 

She has been making me soak in the purple rain since the purple clouds first appeared to boost my fertility. At first, it seemed like a good idea but my boyfriend tired of how my grandma was insistent on the ritual recently asked to take a break. It seems our decade-long relationship could be under serious threat. 

I no longer wish to partake in this as I am now finding it torturous and it has so far brought me emotional pain. I am willing to adopt a child in the future shall I want but my grandma insists that any child I should have has to be her blood. 

I however need a house to live in not just now but for the future too as the housing market has been crazy lately and we spent all our deposit making grandma's house liveable for us all. 

I am willing to walk away from all this and start life afresh and away from my grandmother's demands even though at 84 she still needs me to help around with organising cleaning, shopping and doctor's appointments. And with time, I know she is going to need me more. 

Even though I would wish to be with her and help her, I feel her demands are tearing me apart. They have already created a huge tear in my relationship. I feel like I should leave her house and ask to go live with my boyfriend and continue our lives without my grandma's involvement. 

Am I the AH for wanting to walk away? 

The comments had come in fast. 

r/fhtruno had wondered how dumb we were to have sold out house. They suggested we should have rented it and made Grandma pay for the renovations. 

r/45ghusto said that the purple rain has brought her apple tree back after it had not fruited for six years straight. 

" Bathe in the purple blessings before they are taken away. May your womb be blessed," she messaged. 

Many comments told me what I already knew. That my grandma was being toxic and abusive. 

One comment caught my eye though. 

"I have been through something similar, girl. PM me if you want to talk."  

I immediately messaged the person. 

That's how I had found myself seated next to a window at the chicken joint in Shaphad looking around to spot the woman who had brought me all the way. 

" Leila, you must be Leila?" I felt a tap on my shoulders. 

I turned around and saw two elderly women standing there looking down at me. I was confused. They then took the seat opposite me and stared straight at me. I was startled. 

"I'm sorry, I am meeting somebody here," I tried to be polite. 

" It is me, us," the one on the left uttered. " I am the one who messaged you." 

"Oh…" 

" Yes, Leila. I know this might not be what you expected. You didn't expect to see two of us and especially a woman with silver hair, but we would like you to listen to us," she continued with a stern look on her face. 

"This doesn't look or sound like it will be about why I posted on Reddit. I'm sorry but I must leave," I said standing up. 

" No please, Leila. Listen. This is very important. We have been looking for you ever since the start of the purple rains. We knew sooner or later we would find you." 

" Looking for me? You don't even know me … Why …?" I asked now frightened for sure. 

" The rains are here because of you." 

" Because of me? How?" 

" We don't know how you will take this, but your grandmother's interests have little to do with the house. You are a great descendant of the Witches of Magenta. Every few hundred years, when they have trouble continuing their line, they summon the purple rain to help them pass on their line. When we saw the rain, we knew what it meant immediately."

"And you are?" I asked them wondering why two elderly women would be saying things to me that weren't making sense. 

" We are the Witches of Yellowa. For centuries we have been taxed with taming the powers of the witches of Magenta in all realms. So far we have succeeded but you may be standing in our way." 

"Me? How?" 

" By having a Magenta child, you shall keep the clan going which will bring imbalance to the order we have been maintaining so far." 

" Grandma has been telling me about you. So you are the witches preventing me from having a child?" I asked angrily. 

" Yes, to protect you and the world." 

" From what exactly? My grandma?" 

" The Magentas and the phenomena they bring are not of this realm. They have changed this world so much that everyone thinks that's how it's supposed to be. Why can't you see the purple fairies painting the purple clouds yet you could see the green and the yellow? Think about it! Why does the purple rain fall yet the green and the yellow clouds never brought rain?" they nudged me.  

"Ok. Woman. You need to stop talking and show me!" I asked her. 

The one on the right who hadn't said a word stretched out her left hand towards me and opened her palm. I could see her circles. I placed my circles on hers and the scenes were shown to me. 

I saw my grandmother up in the clouds surrounded by red and blue clouds. She looked younger and stronger. She stretched her arms wide and pulled one of each together. They merged, forming a purple cloud. I could see red and blue fairies in chains pushing the red and blue clouds together. They were also in tears as though hurt by the task they were performing. Then suddenly, after the purple clouds formed, they would disappear. This continued until all the clouds had merged leaving only purple clouds. 

I then saw my grandmother in her current frame watching me each night as I bathed in the purple rain. Inside her belly, a baby would stir as I felt the warmth from the purple rain dripping through me. 

Unlike other circles, this woman's circles were also passing on information, separate from the scenes. It came in a rushing echo that sent my head spinning. 

All the children my grandmother's blessings had helped conceive were tied to the baby stirring in her belly as though powering it. And I would birth this child for her. The purple clouds would disappear and the sky would turn black opening a portal that would bring the Magentas of all realms to our time. 

The beautiful patterns and shadows we saw in the purple skies every night were just masks hiding the portal that had been opening slowly each time I bathed in the purple rain. 

I could feel dark evil as I pulled my circle from her's unable to take any more of this information that kept coming. 

" How can we stop her?" I asked after I could compose myself. 

" Garo here works at the newborn adoption service. We will help you legally adopt a child that you will pass off as your own. I will cast a spell that will make everyone who sees you think you are with child. After nine months, we will bring the child to you at the hospital and the purple rain can stop. Without birthing a child, you will be saving all of us. " 

"And grandma? Will she not know?" I asked.

The woman on the left took her hand and placed her circles on mine. 

I saw my answer. A yellow veil on grandmother's eyes and agreed to the deal. 

*** 

I looked at my baby girl as she sat on my lap attempting to blow out the single candle on her birthday cake. 

Lio who was recording the celebration let out a joyous laugh. He loved being a father. 

Grandma was watching the whole time smiling as she sat on her rocking chair. She had been joyous ever since we had brought her home from the hospital. On many days she would play with her and would also hold her in her arms and help me rock her to sleep. 

It had been a wonderful year of having the precious angel in our lives. 

After the party, and when all the guests had left, she had insisted on following me to her room as I put the tired sleepy head to sleep. 

"So when are you gonna give me a great grand baby?" she asked me after I had put her in her crib. 

"What do you mean?" I asked her startled. 

" I have been watching you play the game for two years now. Silently, like a fool. I have also been waiting. Patiently until you poured all your love into this girl before I could unleash my first strike. She is the leverage I didn't know I needed. The leverage you handed me on a silver platter. 

I am a Magenta and we will never be defeated. Go tell your Yellowas that. 

Now, I will summon the purple rain again. Give me a great-grandchild, the successor to the Magenta in this realm or you will never feel this girl's heartbeat again!" she warned me barking as she floated away. 

My bones shook. I looked at my child mercifully fearing for her life. 

A purple vein flashed on her forehead as I felt a sharp pain in my chest as though a spear had sharply pierced through my heart. 

How had she known…? I wondered. The Yellowas had promised me…

I knew I needed a new plan. I had to save myself and my child.