The Curse

She told me that she loved me and I believed her. I believed her so much that it gave me the confidence to be open with her. I felt for the first time I could finally tell someone the truth. I can finally be free and live my truth with the person that loves me. I didn’t know that once the truth came out that I couldn’t take it back. I wish I never said anything. I wish I could have foreseen what trouble I would be in if I told anyone. No one told me that it could be like this. No one told me that my life would forever change.

The day that Emily told me she loved me was the day I decided to ask her to marry me. The sun was shining so brightly that day that her dark hair seems to have red streaks in it. The brown in her eyes seemed bright especially when she smiled at me. Life couldn’t have been any less perfect. She made my life complete and I thought I made hers complete too. I wanted to believe that she was the one for me so badly that I didn’t see the flaws that she displayed so freely in front of me. I was so blinded by her beauty that I didn’t see what was standing right in front of me.

The problem was I never had someone that loved me. I never truly had a person that could see beyond the physical faults that I deemed ugly. So, when a beautiful girl came in my life and just smiled at me and accepted me, all I could think of was how I wanted to be with her. All these years that we have been together and she finally told me she loved me. She made me the happiest man in this world. I remember her smile and how it didn’t really reach her eyes and for some reason it didn’t click in my head that she might not really love me. I smiled back and the words just spilled out of my mouth like vomit. “Marry me!” the look on her face afterwards didn’t register in my mind when she said that she wasn’t ready for that step in the relationship. “We need to be completely honest with each other before we can get married,” I remember her saying that. I remember that something in me didn’t sit right when she spoke those words but I wanted to desperately have her as my wife that I would have laid down right there in front of her and spill every last darkest secret that I had. When I opened my mouth to utter my deepest darkest secret, nothing came out. No matter how hard I tried to word it, the words didn’t want to come out of my mouth. Her face cringe in an ugly manner and she lets out a sigh. “You know where I am when you are ready to be honest with me.” She left me standing in front of my home and feeling empty inside. All I could do is watch her leave and enter her house next door. I really didn’t know what stopped me from telling her my secret and for some reason my mother’s face popped in my mind. I let out a laugh, realising that she was the one that I needed permission from if I ever wanted to tell outsiders about our secret.

I wanted nothing more than to hear my mother say yes but she looked at me in such a way that I flinched at the sight. “Nothing you say will allow me to give you permission. You know the rules.” Her voice was stern and cold. My mother was never a warm or loving woman. She always put the secret first. The secret is everything and it is the reason why our family have survived for so long. We never accepted anyone that didn’t know the secret and if you were an outsider there was a long list of challenges that you needed to pass in order to know the secret. I hated that we kept the secret to ourselves. I hated that I couldn’t share a part of me to the person I love. I knew that keeping the secret was keeping me alive but there were moments where I wish that I didn’t need to keep this secret. I wanted to argue more but my mother said something under her breath and I couldn’t make a sound. I shouted out but still no sound came out. I stood up and my chair flew behind me against the wall shattering into pieces. My mother slowly stood up just as I was about to say something. The look in her eyes seemed like fire and I knew at that moment I screwed up big. “Fine, if you want to tell her, just know that you will never be welcomed back into this house. You will not be part of this family and you will have to protect yourself. Is that what you want? To be an outsider and to be on the run because that is what going to happen if you say anything,” I wanted to interrupt her but she lifted her hand up to stop me. “You have a choice to make and if you tell Emily then better be ready to not have a home. You will not be welcomed here anymore and sure as hell not in this province. I don’t want you to danger this family.” For a moment I wanted to take everything that I said back but the love that I felt for Emily seem to fuel the urge to tell her even more. My mother left the room shaking her head and there was a small pain in my heart. The test or the curse as they refer to it, is placed on my heart. The curse is for the person that is going to reveal the secret and if the receiver of the secret cannot accept or is any way a danger to the family, the person that revealed the secret will not only be excelled but silenced to never reveal the secret ever again. They would have no home, no family and no safe place to live. They would forever be on the run.

The day I told Emily the secret was also the day that it was raining. I smiled up at the sky because I knew that mother was worried. This was her doing. It was her sign that she cared and that she was worried. I remember I thought that she was worried for nothing. That Emily was the love of my life and she would love me even after I told her my secret. Emily and I was at the tree where we met for the first time. I remember that she had glasses on that day and her hair was curly. It is one of my favourite memories of her. I smiled as I saw her under the tree’s branches trying to find shelter from the rain. When she saw me, her smile was so bright that it reached her eyes. All I could think of was how lucky I was to have her in my life.

“So?” she drawled

“I really love you and what I’m about to tell you is something that my fa…” I couldn’t continue. “My f…” I couldn’t utter out the word family. Emily frowns. “Your family?” she asks and I shake my head no.

“My family doesn’t know. They are in the dark, just like you.” My mother’s words came back to me. She said that she would protect this family not only from outsiders but from me as well. I wanted to smile at the thought but anger was the main motivator. I remember that the only thought at the time was how could my own mother not trust me but then I thought of Emily and all those emotions seemed to be replaced by her love. I looked at her and I can see that there was still a frown on her face. I smiled at her and immediately her face changes. “What I’m about to tell you is something that I had to keep a secret for all of my life. It’s dangerous if the wrong people found about me.” I never took my eyes off her face. I wanted to take in every expression and every hint that I could possibility decipher on whether I should stop but not once did her expression change. I remember a voice in the back of my mind urging me to stop and just to go back home but all I could see was her beautiful brown eyes, sparkling with an emotion behind it. I felt drawn into her eyes as though whatever I was about to tell her was going to stay with her.

“I’m a witch,” my voice sounded different and then there was ringing in my ears. The ringing got louder as the seconds ticked by but just as fast as the ringing started it completely stopped. It was at that moment I realise that I could never go home again. The curse has done its job. I felt the disconnection from my family as I looked at Emily.

Emily wasn’t smiling this time. I couldn’t tell what expression was on her face but I knew that she would never accept me. I knew that whatever love that she had for me was gone when I confessed what I am. She shook her head a couple of times before she ran away from me. The last thing I saw was tears rolling down her face. I watched as she disappeared before I fell down to my knees. I wanted to cry or scream but all I can do is stare in the direction that she disappeared in. I just kneeled there not moving because where would I go.

I remember that Emily came back but she wasn’t alone. She had two other people following her. I couldn’t see their faces because of how dark it was but something seemed off. When she stopped in front of me, I just knew what was going to happen. In that moment, all the lessons that my mother taught came back. All the lessons that I took for granted, that I thought was not real because we are in the modern world came back. I always thought that when witches disappeared in the dark that the hunters would be no more.

“They got smarter when we disappeared. They had to because our magic and coven protects us while their intelligence would guide them. They are not gone. They are just waiting for us to make a mistake and then they would strike. That is why there is so little of us. That is why we do the challenges before we tell anyone that we are witches. Hunters, while they are patient, they too can make mistakes. When they think that they are on the verge of the truth, they become too confident and then we strike. Don’t let our guard down ever. The rules are there to protect us, to preserve our lineage. That is why we never tell anyone, be it our friends or lover.” My mother’s words have never been truer. I was stupid to think I knew better. I have no family, no home and no one to help me with what I have to face.

Emily looked like she won the lottery and the men beside her had matching grins. They think that they had won but I still have my magic. Before she can open her mouth, I whisper under my breath and they all flew backwards as though someone has pushed them. I stood up from the ground and put my hand against the tree. I whisper again under my breath and this time the tree started to move. The tree detaches its roots from the ground and start to move towards the three hunters. The distraction gives me enough time to get away. The last thing I heard as I get into my car is Emily’s scream.

That wasn’t the last time that I saw them. Every time I think I found a place I felt safe they would show up. I don’t really know how they do it without magic but what I do know is that I will never give up. One day I will overcome this curse and return home but till that day come, I will forever be on the run.