Death for Centuries

Seven minutes have gone by and no Livvy. I decided to levitate myself back to the second floor and headed towards the room Archer and Lyra were exploring earlier to see if Livvy has gone inside there.  ‘Okay, I think this house either doesn’t like me or is trying to show off their spooky side.’ I thought, using my other hand to make quotations. The red hallway looks like it’s beginning to stretch as I inch my way closer to the room with the hidden bookcase. 

Each door I open, I can sense Livvy is not present. As I open the second to last door on the right, I can feel a gentle breeze coming from one of the bookshelves, I close the door behind me and pulled my way into the hidden room. Careful not to step on any broken bottles as I approach this humongous wooden desk, covered in newsletters, pictures and some files. I started to tug on one of the drawers, assuming Lyra and Archer didn’t get a chance to thoroughly look into it.

            It’s locked. Using my left hand, I used a small of amount of electricity to get the drawer to open. Hearing two clicking noise I know I’m in. Slowly pulling it out, I see a couple of dark red files, each labeled with names I recognized, yet one of them screams curiosity. Pulling it out and laying it on the desk, I opened it up and immediately I was smacked with shock and terror, I quickly took a couple of pictures of the few pages in her document and sent it to the group. 

Once it was sent, I began to read everything, skimming through non important things, her picture and her eyes glaring into my soul makes my stomach drop. Before closing her file, a small folded up piece of paper was sticking out and decided to see if it’s worth reading. It’s a letter addressed to Aaron McCourt’s mother. 

‘Dear Mrs. McCourt,

We thank you for your generosity on taking in our daughter. We extend our apologize on behalf of our family that continues the loss of my dear husband. She will follow orders, willing to learn how to be a classy lady, diminish her attitude, and control her powers well before midnight. We have included $1,000 in the envelope to help purchase her needs. Once again, thank you for looking out for her.

Best regards, 

Mrs. Black’

When I tell you I hit the jackpot, my insides were jumping up and down, telling me that there’s a possibility that Archer is related to Aunt Olive. I hurried to put all the files away and locked the drawer. I go over and opened the door to this mysterious room connected to the other secret room. It’s a set of stairs twirling down to what looks like a basement. Checking for any cobwebs, I switched my globe to my left hand to us my right to hold onto the railing. Few minutes later, I wind up in a dark hallway, there were different designs of old paintings that represents the family tree, but it looks like it’s made of dried blood. The smell of spoiled rotten eggs starts to fill up my noses as I get closer to what appears to be another door. I tugged and pushed it several times with no luck. 

“Welp, worth a shot, do I have any WIFI to call Andy?” I said. Before I pull out my phone, the same blood curdling scream made my heart skip a beat and it was coming from the dark, I turned around so fast that I almost lose footing. My globe goes out as I panic to try and find the door as my anxiety heightens. Right as I find the door handle, it easily opens and I zoomed into the pitch black room and locked the door behind me. Trying to catch my breath, I revamped my powers to ignite my shield to get a better view of the room. All you could see were chains dangling against the wall on the far right, a small desk with a wooden chair and a worn out candle stick, a bed with way too many quilts piled up, and a small door with three bars as a window to the other side.

‘I believed this used to be a jail cell that Lyra and Andy found earlier, if so, I know how to get out.’ I said in my head, I creeped up to the door only to feel another breeze hitting my back. Instantly sweating and shaking, I took a big gulp and turned around to face the darkness. Red eyes pierce through my soul, a pale arm with blueish veins popping out, extends with sharp like nails pointing at me. I couldn’t move, I can’t breathe, as I tried to scream nothing comes out but a gasp for air. Suddenly, my body levitates on its own and the red eye creature is controlling me with their powers. 

Out of nowhere, fog begins to consume me, making me pass out, cold to the touch. ‘That should shut her up, nighty-night, my love’ a faint voice echoes.

My arms feel heavy where my body feels light as a feather. I opened my eyes, it’s a bit blurry at first and took some time to adjust to the dim lights or so I thought. I’m still in the jail cell, but I feel like I’m hovering over it and everything is upside down. 

“Didn’t think it would take you that long to wake up.” A voice said near the door, them my body was slowly being pulled upright, to face whoever did this to me. “This family has gone hay wire since I’ve killed off those two.” It spoke again. ‘Wait, two? As in the couple who wanted nothing but peace-‘ my thoughts were cut off. “Those two ruined my daughter’s chances of living that high class and earning her spot as the member of the town. I went through so much trouble all for this?!” she said, it was Livvy. Her eyes were blood shot and her skin appears to be light than usual. “Aunt Olive? What possessed you to torture our family, let alone coming back in the first place?” I asked, holding my tongue from raising my voice.

            “Now young lady, what you’re missing is the buildup of my long overdue creation.” She said as she pulls the chair from the desk to sit closer to me. “You see, long before Aaron was born, as a sixteen year old, my powers were beginning to get out of control, nearly killing everyone I love, yet the person who tried to stop me was killed on impact. My father.” She said. So it wasn’t a disease or some war that killed her father, it was her. 

“In order to cover up the crime and prevent me from being burned at the stake, my mother sent me away to stay with a family friend until things start to calm down. I’ve spent nearly forty years with this family, treating me like one of their own. They even helped me raise my only child out of wedlock.” She continued. “After overhearing Mrs. McCourt discussing the wedding plans with his father, I developed hatred and felt betrayed for not reaching out to me to see if my child, Mina, could marry their son after everything I’ve done for them!” spitting out with anger. “So, I decided in order for things to be my way, I came up with a spell with a light touch of control to get Mrs. McCourt to agree with me of having my child marry Aaron and have hatred towards Stephanie, that way my daughter can experience that luxurious life.” She said, scooting closer to me. “When that wasn’t enough, I came back to my potion room and pulled out an experimental spell I was working on and found the opportunity to use it on Aaron the night before the wedding.” Now I see what she’s so uptight. “But what is with you cursing both families? Didn’t the couple die on the spot?” I asked. 

“After he killed Stephanie, my daughter found him passed out on the lawn and brought him back down here, so I can wiggle out that spell and replace it with the love spell. However, it created an electrifying shield that exploded and killed both Aaron and my daughter.” She said with anger. “As you can see, that moment on I came up with a curse that will affect every women of the Jones’ family to live up until they’re twenty, the same age my daughter passed, where I can watch them from a far trying to find a loop hole into breaking my spell. When one dies, I collect their soul into my potion bottles I’ve been saving for the past 100 years, prepping them for tonight with a touch of a few ingredients.” 

Smiling from ear to ear, Olive proves satisfaction and little to no hope for me. “You’re literally wasting time on this spell, Olive. It’s been little over 200 years, I understand your pain, but man haven’t you even thought for a second what your daughter was feeling or thinking about what she really wants? Did she ever mentioned or express how it affects her too?” I asked. Shocked by my question, she sat up straight to readjust her posture. She hesitated a little before moving on to her speech.

“She may have brought up something about wanting to keep her life as simple as possible without this chaos, but she doesn’t know what’s been going on behind closed door. All I ask of her is to look beautiful and follow Mrs. McCourt’s orders.” She said huffing out her fumes. “Unlike you, my mother always checks to make sure that I’m happy with how things are going for me and have open arms when it comes to advice, but you? Nope! You care more about your status and pride in this fam-“ she threw a non-worded spell to shut my mouth. “Enough! While you enjoy the sad small cell, I’ll be next door to finish what I started.” She hurried to the door and locked it behind her, with a snap of the fingers, I was dropped to the ground causing my knees to buckle. My mouth is free and gave my final words. “You know the bad guys always loses, right?” I said with a snooty remark.