ONE LITTE CURSE

We had come to the end of another year. There was a long holiday before us. My friends and I decided to try something new. Most holidays, we usually went for swimming or skating. We had been together as long as anyone could remember. At first, we had planned to do the usual until night covered up the whole sky.

We were cooped in one of our rooms discussing the upcoming days when Andrea asked, ''Why doesn't your mum allow us going in your attic.''The question was directed to me but I had no clue. I looked into my best friend's eyes and faces wondering,'' Why doesn't she? It was odd cause my mom was really easy going but she would always get waxed up when anyone talked about the attic. We were all trapped in our own thoughts. Before I could control myself, I said the thing that had been gnawing in all of our three heads,'' Why don't we go and see.'' Uncertainty was evident but we soon agreed upon the motion.

We waited till the middle of the night and everyone else was dead asleep. We crept up the creaking stairs each of us praying no one will find us. It was a relief to find ourselves on top of the flight of stairs with no interference. We stood there for a moment looking confused, anxious, and scared. I glanced at my friends and knew it was up to me, to make the first move. I swallowed my fear and summoned as much courage as I could before opening the old Victorian door.

Darkness, cobwebs, and murky stretches are the only present things. It looks empty. Let's go. ''This place is giving me the creeps,'' Anna said.

''Wait a minute,'' I said removing the torch I had carried. I knew there was something valuable in there. Something priceless. I brushed away the cobwebs and in the heart of it, all was a chest. I motioned the others to follow me, They did so, though reluctantly and the three of us found ourselves kneeling around an old, dusty chest. My heart began beating erratically without a reason. Different things began formulating due to my overactive imagination but I brushed them off mentally. I reached out slowly and opened it. At first, it looked empty. But when I looked closely, I saw letters. Dozen of them. We were all rendered speechless. What on earth were letters doing in the attic?

Dazed, I reached for a letter. 'TO THE READER' It read in the capital. Joy started filling me, boiling me but I removed the fragile material from the aged envelope and unfolded it with the gentile enterprise.

'Dear reader,

You must be a descendant of mine to get your hands on this. By finding this chest, you have discovered unfathomable greatness in a field that many take for granted..........

I paused for a moment and looked at my friends. Their eyes glistened with interest. I knew there was something very important. They knew it too.

'This is the key to your future. I was handed this information by my grandmother. Guard it well. You now have the power given to every Jedi warrior. Things shall happen. Unexplainable things. But it is your duty to face them. Be courageous,

Yours truly,

Tynila.

The door swung open and we turned around at a go. You have to dig on my farm every weekend.'' Said the Old man ."You see sir.....," She tried explaining.'' See what young lady? '' I can't see anything,'' the man bellowed,'' It's that we are as poor as a churchmouse and we have been cursed the whole family, I mean the whole family, that is why I stole from you. I have demons in me,'' she said trembling like a chameleon on a feeble twig.

''What? Demons? You mean you have demons? That's a good joke young lady,'' the man said as he fell with laughter. His anger turned and Priscilla could see him laughing until tears rolled down his ruddy visage. Mr. Gary was not angry anymore. Surely, laughter is the best medicine, we were not used to him laughing. He used to wear a stern face always as he worked within our compound as our butler. His laughter meant he was not convinced that demons can possess people and we all understand him in the quiet of the cobweb-infested right corner of the attic where we were as he was a staunch catholic.

In a sprit of a second, Priscilla's eyes turned blue as she dashed like a dear towards old Gary who was fixated in one corner. We heard him scream for help as Priscilla landed on him with a thud and started struggling him with so much inhuman vigor

"So it was true that she was demon possessed,'' whispered Carol. Immediately, Priscilla sensed our presence and stopped struggling old Gary. He ran for it after witnessing the scene. This time around she dashed towards us but she was too late as I had already passed the characters of the Jedi Warrior which meant I could even disappear at will

I took my friends' hands and we vanished into thin air as fast as lightning, we ran back into my room knowing the consequences that we would face. '' Thank God,'' said Eliza. It was shocking to hear that Priscilla had demons.

My blood ran cold it scared me so much.

After such a close shave of being watched red-handed in the attic and finding those ancient mystery letters. We were all hit to hay and we yearned to rest. So covered our selves with blankets and off we slept only to be woken up by cock crow signaling another day. The sun was up, the before glowing of sunrise lingering on the horizon, the lingering sickness in my body fled, gone away for good.

''Helter-skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman,'' said William Shakespeare. This day will linger in my mind like a crucifix in an Archbishop's neck.