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Mystery Suspense Fantasy

I didn’t sleep on my way back to my hometown. When I left away, I thought I would never have to come back, but there I was, feeling like I was heading to a ghost town.

It gave me chills just to think about it, but I had to be back. I left a lot of things behind when I left, including people I loved as my friends. One of them was Marlene, with whom I probably shared nothing in common, but we had lots of fun together.

The guilt haunted me because I was back because Marlene was dead after five days of being missing.

I heard the news on social media, there I found a friend who posted a picture of her saying that she went missing and they were looking for her. That night was hard for me to come back to my normal life, I was shocked not only because there’s never been a missing person in my hometown, but because the missing person was Marlene.

I must admit I worried, but not enough to come back and help on the search. Although I kept in touch hoping to hear news from her being safe, it all seemed to be in vain since I was back for her funeral anyways.

It was like a whisper following me as I entered the town. When I left, our friendship slowly split because of the distance and the communication. I was in the middle of my career and never talked to Marlene, even though we knew each other so well and promised our friendship would last forever.

I thought everyone knew everyone, but I guess I was wrong.

The moment I arrived, I found the newspaper with the news about Marlene on the first page: it said her body was found miles away from the house, somewhere in the woods. It was no longer a rumor that she was murdered as I heard before I get there, but apparently, the police kept the details to themselves and I thought it was best not to know.

At Marlene’s funeral, I realized I no longer knew her. I recognized some familiar faces, most of them used to be just neighbors for Marlene, but there I found out they knew her more than I did. There were not too many people in her house though, so whatever they said, I could hear it.

They talked about good experiences to remember her, most of them talked about the brightness she would spread with her simple presence, I could almost agree with that. Somewhere in the corner, away from Marlene’s family, there were those old women whispering while looking around. How I hated them for gossiping about people in life, even in death. I decided to walk away until I heard one of them say Marlene would sneak out at night sometimes. The woman claimed to have seen her do it and she even said she saw her leave the night she disappeared, but did not stop her because it seemed to be usual for her and she was an adult, what could she have done?

I was about to leave again when I heard another woman saying it was Marlene’s fault for leaving that night, but someone else said:

“I don’t think it was her fault, maybe she left because of the smell.”

“What smell?” Another one asked.

The woman who spoke gathered them closer and almost whispered. “The other day I was here, I walked next to her room, it smelled like old books. It should be a good thing for a young girl like her, but… There was also something rotten about it like something died in there.”

“Well, we can all agree she was a weird girl,” said another old woman, “but she did not deserve this tragic death.”

I was done listening to them. I finally walked away.

But I didn’t leave the house as I should probably have done. I was intrigued by the smell of her room that I wanted to witness it myself, but I was stopped when I tried to go upstairs. I barely saw her mother throughout the day, she came to me and said I couldn’t go upstairs. I was sort of surprised because a few years back I would walk in and out of that house whenever I wanted. I never felt unwelcome in that house until that day, Marlene’s mom even looked at me like she didn’t recognize me.

I apologized and said I didn’t mean to offend her, I gave her my condolences and left, it seemed the right thing to do.

But something was still out of place.

I was walking back to my old house without stopping thinking about what that woman said about the smell in Marlene’s room. I couldn’t recall her owning any book except for the ones we used for school. She was not really into reading, I wondered what the smell was about. Then I asked myself, where could she have gotten those books from? And the answer came to me immediately.

“The library!” I said that out loud that I scared someone who was just passing by.

I apologized and ran straight to the library. It was the only one in town and, since there is no other viable way to acquire books, it had to be the only place she visited.

The atmosphere as I walked in was the same as it was three years ago. Bookshelves were full of books because people rarely would borrow one and, of course, most of the tables were empty. I only saw a few teenagers there, but they were on the computers.

“Liana?” I got goosebumps when I heard my name and turned around. I was lost looking at the others that I never realized someone walked to me.

“I’m Trevor,” He added smiling kindly to me, I could barely recognize him, “remember me?”

Ah, yes! I remembered.

We were not really friends, but we hung out a few times with other friends. I didn’t recognize him because his hair was way longer back then, almost to the shoulders.

“Of course, I remember you.” It was half true. I was about to ask what he was doing there, but then I saw his name on his employee shirt. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

I didn’t know anything about anyone since I left, to be honest.

“Looks like some of us are doomed to stay here, right?” He joked, but it wasn’t that funny. He cleared his throat and added, “well, you know, I used to come here to enjoy a reading, so I ended up working here.”

“I see.” I said feeling awkward.

“I am glad you went to college,” he added, “I’m also surprised to see you here, what are you-”

He interrupted himself when he realized I was dressed all black and remembered Marlene’s death.

“Oh, I am so sorry, I’m such an idiot-“

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize,” I interrupted him before he mentioned something about it.

“Well, still, I know you knew her. I used to watch you two coming here almost every day after school, but it was you who wanted to be here, she would just make you company.” He said despite my effort. “I was planning to give my condolences to her family when my shift ends, hope it’s not too late.”

“It’s never too late.” I assured him.

He smiled thankfully, but he also was still sorry for almost forgetting it. For a moment, we remained in silence, it was probably uncomfortable, but it helped me to remember what I was there for.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“Did Marlene ever come here in the last weeks or months?” I didn’t know when Marlene changed. I don’t think I knew Marlene at all.

“Yes,” he said almost right away, “she used to come here at least twice a week.”

“What for?” I asked, “I mean, did she ever borrow something?”

I think I overwhelmed him with my questions when I noticed he shrugged, but it was in my bones to know.

“In my shift, she did borrow something a few times” he finally admitted, but he sounded insecure.

“What did she borrow? What books did she take?” I asked almost desperately.

“Look, I don’t know or remember that information.”

“You could look in your computer.” I insisted.

“No. I mean, yes, I could, but it’s not right. If my boss founds out, I might get fired and… I mean, she just died, Li.”

I did not insist again, but I should have looked disappointed when he said, “have you tried her parents? I believe she still has some books, sometimes she would come to extend the time of borrowing, maybe you should ask them.”

“I tried,” I admitted, “I guess it is still too soon for them.”

“Maybe you should wait a couple of days.”

“No, I don’t have a couple of days, I need to know now.”

“Know what?” He asked a bit confused.

Not even I was sure if I was still talking about the book’s names.

I felt goosebumps again. Something was haunting me since I heard about Marlene, so I needed answers.

In my silence, Trevor got time to make his own assumptions.

“I hope you’re not conspiring about Marlene’s death. I know there are not many details about it, but it is the job of the police.” He said.

“Well, I’m not trying to be a cop here,” I replied, “It’s just something I need to know, could you at least help me to know what she borrowed, please? At least the latest books.”

He still seemed to be in denial, but when he saw my insistence, we went to his computer.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when we checked the titles Marlene borrowed, what would she want to read about? Well, it certainly surprised me.

“James Everitt.” Said Trevor.

“What?” I was confused.

“I think it’s the author,” he said looking at his computer, “there is no title though. But it is in the town section, it is probably a diary or something alike.”

“Why? What’s in that section?”

I did not recall that section from before.

“It is sort of new. It was opened a few months after you left.” He explained, “The library collected every antique or historic writing from every family in town. Diaries, letters, anything that was old enough and they made a whole new section about it. I’m sure he said something about “knowing the town” to the tourists.”

I didn’t care about what the mayor said.

“And whose ancestor is it?” I asked. “His name doesn’t sound to me. Marlene’s last name is not even Everitt.”

“Internet exists for a reason.” He said.

He quickly typed something into the computer and read whatever he found.

“He was English, came here centuries ago and… He is related to Marlene.”

“What?”

I jumped a bit over the counter just to see the screen of the computer. There I saw a picture of the man named James and next to his photo was a picture of a woman.

“Both are ancestors of Marlene,” he explained, “the original family’s name is Everitt, but it changed when she got married and took her husband’s name.”

“So… Marlene just wanted to know about her family history?” I asked.

“I don’t want to sound rude, but I wasn’t her friend, I have no idea.”

And I was almost disappointed. He said that Marlene borrowed every diary written by him. In the last three years, she had been reading every word by James Everitt and sometimes she would even borrow more than once a diary she already read. Some were returned to the library while others were the ones in Marlene’s room.

I needed to know what was it that she was reading, but I would never get close to her room with her mother around.

“Can I borrow for a moment one she has read?”

“Which one? I think the man had plenty of time to write.”

“I don’t know, maybe one she read more than once if there’s any…”

I sounded desperate. Trevor was patient with me, he got me one of the diaries. I thanked him and went to one of the tables to find out what was in those diaries that were of interest to Marlene.

It was hard to get through the pages. The entries were from the late 1800s, the man’s handwriting was unreadable to me. I had to read more than once an entire paragraph and I thought I didn’t have the patience enough to continue, but I found a way.

The first entries seemed normal, the man would just talk about his life with his wife, his job, and his child, he seemed to be important back in England. It was in the latest pages that he wrote about when he moved into the town for reasons he didn’t mention, but that’s when it got weird.

He had nightmares where he said he saw his wife conspiring against him. After weeks of having the same dreams about her, he feared because in the latest dreams he wrote about, he said she tried to kill him. The dreams were driving him crazy, someone send him to a local witch, the only one who could understand it. She told him he was cursed.

“What have you found out?” Trevor asked behind me. After I looked at him, I looked through the windows and realized it was darkening. “I’m sorry, Li, we are about to close.”

“I know, I’ll leave too.” I said after I confirmed there was nothing more in the diary. “Trevor, do you believe in curses?”

He did not give me an answer, he seemed skeptical.

I started to explain to him what I read in James’ diary as we both left the library. It was confusing though because some things were not explained. My thought was that Marlene’s mother had to know about it and it was probably the reason why she did not let me go to her room. I asked Trevor if he would come with me to Marlene’s house, there was the truth. He still seemed skeptical but went with me anyways.

When her mom opened the door and saw us both, she said it was too late. She almost refused to see me by closing the door, but I instinctively stopped her and said, “I know about James Everitt.”

I wasn’t really expecting to stop her by saying the name, but she stopped closing the door and looked at me without understanding.

“What do you know about him?” She asked.

“I know he feared he was cursed,” I said, “but if it was real, what was it about exactly?”

“It was real.” She confirmed.

It seemed to be a secret she didn’t want anyone to know though. If she wanted no one to know, then why did she give away the books? It was probably a mystery for another day, she had a story to tell. “What the diaries don’t say is that James was unfaithful back in England. They moved here when her wife found out the truth and she was angry. James didn’t know her wife was related to the local witch, so she knew about witchcraft.”

Trevor and I listened to her words, but we were debating about it. She noticed it because she said, “I didn’t believe too until my mother told me about the curse. It is a family curse. it comes for every member when we are no longer kids. The witch sentenced him to death, but it would not happen easily. The curse says that is the one we love the most who will be the reason for our death. They will see our death in their dreams, like a prophecy. If they don’t talk about it, the prophecy will complete as it happened to James when his daughter dreamt of him.” She took a moment to hold the tears in her eyes. “My mother taught me how to fight the curse, but Marlene never told us who’s the one she loved the most. Instead, she was looking for a way to break the curse.”

“Wait, so Marlene was basically the one who choose her killer by choosing the one she loves the most?” asked Trevor.

“In other words, yes,” answered coldly her mother, “I believe she loved the wrong person because Marlene feared the curse would be complete. The day the police found her body she was close to the witch’s house, but no one has been living there for decades. Marlene was not murdered by other’s hands, but by choice. The desperation of not knowing how to break the curse made her kill herself, the police just confirmed it to me.”

I couldn’t understand the way she handled the pain as she spoke, I don’t think I’ll ever do. I was speechless that night, even though I had a lot to say.

“I am so sorry,” said Trevor, “we are sorry for your loss.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry, I couldn’t find a way to save her.”

Trevor and I left after realizing it was probably a mistake going there in the first place. Trevor was no longer skeptical about curses, he was terrified instead. He offered to walk me home and I said yes. He was so kind and innocent, he didn’t belong in a cursed town like that.

On my way back home, I couldn’t handle the fear anymore, it worsened after I heard the truth from Marlene’s mom. The guilt was clawing inside me, so I stopped Trevor and said:

“Trevor, I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?” he asked looking worried at me.

“A few months ago, I had a dream,” I confessed, “I saw Marlene’s death.”

April 17, 2022 02:21

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