The Stone of Fate

The Stone of Fate

I've never believed in fate, or never liked it. The thought of having your life planned out for you unsettles me. Especially since my whole family is pressuring me to take over our farm. However, I want to pick my path, make my own decisions, and live my own life. Nevertheless, some things do feel like they were always meant to be…. 

I was sitting at the coffee shop watching the mountain out the window. I don’t like coffee, but I enjoy the calm environment there. The soft music, and the few people sitting around. Suddenly, a person came up to me. They were wearing a hoodie and I couldn't see their face. The way they walked was almost unnatural like they were a reflection in water. Then they dropped something, a smooth gray-black stone. I picked it and called “Oh, sir-ma’am, is this rocks yours?” They just left the store to the nearest shadow, seemingly… disappearing. I looked at the rock now, noticing a divot in it. It perfectly fit my thumb and out of curiosity, I pressed my finger into it.

Suddenly, the music stopped and everything except the stone turned blurry. Strangely, everyone else in the shop continued to act normal. Some writing appeared on the rock. It was pale white in a scratchy font and said: Fate has seemed to catch you. But do not be afraid, for death will soon perfectly relieve you. On midnight of the twelfth, an empty void and loitering will be your end. What? I couldn’t help feeling a little scared. Not knowing what to do, I threw the stone in my bag and went home. Originally I was going to throw it away, but something-no, I made myself keep it. Just in case.

As soon as I got home I lay in bed. That must have been my imagination-right? I might be going crazy. But the situation seemed too real, too precise, too alive. And what did black void mean? Night? They did mention midnight… and the twelfth. That was coming in two weeks. If this was real (obviously not…) and if I was to die it would be soon. But it was nothing, maybe I’m just tired.

All I remember in my dream that night was a black and empty place. No senses, not a thing. I awoke soon after, scared out of my wits. This has to end. I must go talk with Roxy, my crazy, but also wise college friend. She’s a night owl so she’ll be awake at this hour. We lived right next door and as soon as I saw her rosy face I was relieved. “What's up, Charlotte? It’s not like you to be up this late and you look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” she said, raising her eyebrows and letting me inside.

“Roxy, we need to talk.” 

As I told her the story, sweat poured down my face. Why was I so afraid of this death nonsense? All I could think about was that empty void and the stone I found. “Here’s the stone I was talking about,” I whispered nervously, showing her the rock.

“Is this the thumbprint…”-

"Don’t put your finger in there!” I cut her off.

“I think this is all in your head", she said frowning while handing the stone back. “Are you sure the writing wasn't on the rock beforehand?” Roxy asked, confused.

“I’m sure.”

“It probably was, and ya know some kids must have written it to scare people” she countered like it wasn’t important.

I knew with my heart that the writing had appeared out of nowhere, but I played along, hoping to get some answers. “But how do you explain the dream?” I asked searchingly.

 “Dreams are just reflections of our memories and feelings. You should probably talk to your doctor about this.” 

“Right, thanks a lot, I’ll just crash here,” I replied, still not satisfied.

The next morning I was determined to find out more, so I went to the local library. In the old, musty brick building I went to the section I never go to: The folklore section. I was surprised to see how many books there were, this town always was an odd one. I looked for hours through the endless pages. Books of stories, curses, evil stones, but nothing relating to what I found… The book with the name of Fate caught my attention. But when I looked through I found nothing of use until I came to a blank page. Suddenly, writing appeared. The same scratchy white font I saw on the stone. I was about to close the book, remembering what happened when I saw things like this before. However, something, no, I made myself look on. On the page, it said this: If you are reading this you have been cursed by the Stone Of Fate. The Stone of Fate is a magic rock depicting how you die. It can only do this if you place your thumb in the imprint. After this writing will appear and tell the victim their Death Fate and when it will happen. The victim will get dreams of their fate until the date. To stop the death from coming true the victim must find the Repel Stone, a powerful, yellow, metal-consisting rock that is found buried near water. Then the Repel Stone must be burned with the Stone of Fate along with the victim's blood on the day of their fate. Then the victim must grab the Stone of Fate while it is still hot and press their finger into the divot with the same hand they used to get the curse. Do all this while a second person chants: Fallen to the fated stone. Whispers cry and whispers groan. To be forgiven in your honor, we will burn away this monster. Death and life all the same come to merge for that is fate’s game. 

This seemed real to me now, what a mess. Fear washed over me. I had never had a “paranormal” experience, and it all seemed like it belonged in a horror movie, not my life. At least there might be a way to solve it. If my life is really on the line I have to try. I only had two weeks to figure out what this Stone of Fate was talking about. I looked through the rest of the books just in case. Nothing. I ended up checking out Fate and got a concerned look from the librarian. I was about to call Roxy for help but remembered how she didn’t believe me earlier. The book had said I could only read the passage because the curse was inflicted on me. Just to make sure I took a picture of the page. No writing. Most people-let alone Roxy-would never help me without proof. It was time for my only option-Steve. 

Steve was a nerdy guy who still lived with his parents. He was into all that magic stuff and the only reason I knew him was because he is a janitor at my college. When I got to his door a chubby lady, who I assumed was his mother, greeted me. “Hello,” I said nervously.

“What do you want?” she replied, not rudely, but straight to the point.

“Can I come in? I’d like to see Steve, I’m from the college.”

“Oooh. He’s in his room over there.”

I wobbled into a grubby room where he was playing video games. “Oh, hi, Charlotte, I didn't expect you here, haha,” he said awkwardly.

“Listen, something weird happened to me and I thought you could help.” And so I told him the story and he didn’t doubt me, not even for a second.

“That must have been a demon that gave you the curse,” he replied like it was no big deal. Shivers went down my body, I had never even questioned who or what gave me the stone.

“Besides that, I’ve never heard of such a thing. But I believe you and I will help, it’s not like I have anything better to do.” As soon as he said that, I let out a big sigh of relief.

“What do you think? I also don’t know what a ‘dark void and loitering’ mean?” I asked.

“I guess it means don’t loiter at night? I’m not completely sure but I guess we'll just have to be careful. Also, if what you say is true we must find the Repel Stone….” he replied.

“It said it was found near water, so, we could look at the Little Pond? Also, it said it was metal,” I said wandering off into my thoughts.

“I have a metal detector!” Steve exclaimed, reaching off into a pile to reveal the most beat-up hunk of junk I had ever seen, but it would do. “So, let's meet at the pond tomorrow at the pond, here's my number….”

From misty bogs to the swimming pool in the park, we searched for almost two weeks, going everywhere there was water we could think of. We found not a thing. I was getting anxious because we hadn't found the stone. However, I felt that we were close. Finally, on the day of my Death Fate Steve came up with an idea.

We were getting supplies prepared, and I was drawing my blood with a needle I bought online. The book hadn't mentioned how much blood to use so I figured a small container would be enough. “Ya know, we haven’t tried the Night Stream yet….” Steve mentioned, catching me off guard.

“What! You know that they closed that place down after an old lady drowned. How did she drown anyway, it’s just a stream?” I questioned.

“I heard it's pretty deep and wide, more like a river. Anyway, we've got no other options for a water source unless you want to examine my hose,” he replied.

“You're right, time is running out, let's head down now,” I shivered, getting impatient.

Once we got there I saw what Steve was talking about. The “stream” was huge! So we began our search, digging up anything we could find with the metal detector. All we found were coins, trash, and other useless things. I was getting nervous, it was already late and so we decided to set up the fire so that we would have it ready just in case.

I was taking a turn with the metal detector while it was close to midnight. I would have suggested we go to another place, figuring we had not found anything yet, but something held me back. Two weeks ago I didn’t believe in fate. Then, I thought it was my fate to die, but I knew now (and I’m not sure why) that it was in my story to live, and this place had something to do with it. Suddenly I heard a loud beeping. “Steve, I think I found something!” I exclaimed, starting to dig. As he was coming over I saw a flash of yellow before ”OOOF!” The sand underneath my feet gave way and I came crashing down into the water. 

All I saw was black. Emptiness. No feelings. No nothing. Something wasn't letting me fight the current. I guess this was what the Stone of Fate meant when it said “an empty void and loitering” would be my end. Strangely it was peaceful. No pain. No panic. I could have stayed like this forever, maybe I had been like this forever. But… I knew I needed to get up. This wasn't my fate. It wasn't my fate to be absorbed into this nothingness. It was my fate to live. To break all odds. To try. All I remember is a scorching stone sizzling through the emptiness. Like a wake-up call, telling me it was not over. 

It took tremendous effort to grab that stone. It was harder than lifting the heaviest thing or having your whole body hurt at once. I was about to give up. To let this horrid reality take me. But I knew that this was all I got. It may have taken a century for me to move a muscle and it felt like it. Everything had slowed and intensified like someone was using every last bit of them to destroy me. 

Eventually, I grabbed it. It burned, but that was the least of my concerns with what I was experiencing. The moment I put my thumb in the divot the current stopped and I was lifted to the surface. Light exploded in my eyes even though it was still dark outside. It was like I had just gone from the coldest place on earth to the warmest. Like I had been brought up from the bottom of the sea. I felt like a fish out of water. Slowly, as my senses came back I saw Steve’s face, astonished. “Charlotte, you’re alive!” I couldn't answer. It felt like nothing would ever go back to normal. I just lay there on the beach until eventually the ambulance arrived-called by Steve.

I awoke to the face of Roxy. Her rosy cheeks were redder than normal and she grabbed me by the face and examined me. “I’m glad you’re awake. You must be pretty confused. Luckily, the doctors say you’ll be fine and no permanent damage is done. You did have a pretty low temperature and blood sugar though,” She said, all in a rush.

“Can I talk to Steve… alone,” was all I was able to get out, speaking more to the doctors in the room than just to Roxy.

Eventually, when he came he was still shocked. “Charlotte, I think you were about to die back there in the stream. I don’t know how it happened but I saved you….” he said confused.

“I guess the book worked. Because I did everything it said to do. After you fell in, something started up inside of me. I lit the fire, put the stones and your blood in, and chanted the spell thingy. I wasn't sure what I expected when I threw the Repel Stone at you. But, amazingly, you caught it, I’m still not sure how it happened.”

“I’m… not sure either,” I was a little astonished myself. And that was all we had to say, at least at that time. We just enjoyed the reality of it all and the fact I was alive. 

Later, when I was all cleaned up and healed Steve came up to me. “I forgot to mention, after you woke up the stones were gone-both of them. And, I hate to say this, but I think I saw a cloaked figure out in the trees....” So, with one problem solved there always comes another. This time instead of escaping Death Fate and entering my true story I have to deal with getting rid of demons. However, I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Meanwhile, I have made a new friend, who has saved my life. It seems we have made a secret agreement not to tell anyone about this, for he never told the doctors. However, I have a strange feeling that whatever this is-magic, curses, whatever, is going to be involved in my life again. I used to hate fate. I used to hate having my life controlled. Now I realize that true fate is not dependent on a curse or a spell, but dependent on how you want it to be. Sometimes, it can be a good thing.