The Cursed Man (14 page)

The thin man stiffened and gasped. Milos and Henry released him and backed away.

“Get it off of me,” the thin man said. He grabbed at his throat and wrestled with something unseen. His eyes grew wide and bulged.

The woman instantly quieted and backed away.

The thin man reached for Henry, but Henry pulled away as if the man were diseased and contagious.

The thin man fell to the floor and continued his struggle with something unseen. He gasped, choked, convulsed, and moments after it began, it ended. The marks of handprints outlined by a formed bruise created instant panic in the room.

“I told you,” Alister said. “Now stop wasting time and get me where it won't have the chance to do this ever again.”

 

 

 

Present day.

 

“Sit,” Bonnie said to her seventy-pound golden retriever General.

General calmed down and sat. He drew his ears back, wagged his tail and whined.

Bonnie laughed. “You're such a faker.”

General licked her hand.

“You're a good boy.” She scratched his head and attached a chain to his collar. “Maybe I can take you to work so you can bite that creepy doctor right on her ass.”

General barked.

“Yeah, I know. She probably tastes bad,” she said as she patted his back. “Come on.”

General charged toward the door and pulled Bonnie along. She yanked back on his chain, but he didn't slow until he reached the door.

“Don't pull on me when we get outside. The ground is wet, and you'll make me fall.”

Bonnie pulled the hood of her raincoat over her head and slipped her feet into rubber boots.

“Let's make this quick,” she said. “I want to be back inside before the downpour starts up again.”

She opened the door and General pulled her down the steps. He pulled Bonnie across the driveway and stopped at his favorite tree.

Bonnie slipped in the mud and sighed at a sudden downpour. “So much for beating the rain, General.” She squinted and turned away from the driving rain that pelted her face.

“Just what I want running around the house—a wet dog.”

General didn't seem to notice the rain. He sniffed the base of the tree and became fixated on one spot. He lifted a leg and peed.

“You're crazy,” Bonnie said. She tugged on General's leash. “Just like Michael.” She shook her head. “He's denying the curse and yet I've seen what it can do! People have died,” she said. “A lot of good people.”

Never in her twenty-plus years of service at Sunnyside had anyone make it through the night after communicating with Alister. And after years of no activity surrounding Alister, this doctor comes out of nowhere and not only lives through the night after seeing Alister, but she also puts the curse's existence in question.

“Something bad is coming,” she said, and a shiver rocked her body. “I can feel it.”

A motion-activated light blinked on around the backside of the house. She tightened her grip on General's leash and watched the illuminated area. General growled and the hair on the nape of his neck stood up.

“Quiet,” Bonnie said as she tugged on his leash.

General continued to growl. His eyes were fixated on the light and his tail was pointed straight behind him.

“Come on, General. Let's get inside.”

Bonnie walked toward the house but could only go as far as the length of the chain. General remained unmoved, his stare transfixed and his growl deep.

“General,” she said as she tugged on his leash. “Come.”

General took off. His sudden burst of speed caught Bonnie off guard. Her head snapped back and her shoulders were ripped forward. She slipped in the mud and fell face down in a puddle. She looked up to see General disappear around the back of the house.

Bonnie struggled to her feet and wiped the mud from her eyes. She took a step toward the light, and General yipped.

“General?”

The rain stopped and the light flicked off. The yard was filled with darkness, and ominous shadows backed her up and encouraged her to run to the front door and into the house. She slammed the door behind her and locked the deadbolt.

She pressed her back against the door and panted. The beat of her heart was so intense it made her limbs tremble. “What in the hell was that?”

“You should learn to mind your own business.”

Bonnie's eyes went wide and focused on the silhouette of a person that walked toward her.

“I want to know what you are doing in my house.”

“But this is my house,” Bonnie said, and she reached for the doorknob. She twisted the handle and pulled on the door.

The deadbolt held.

“I think you're mistaken,” the shrouded person said. “This is my house and I want you out!”

 

Chapter 17

 

 

 

“Breakfast is served.”

Alister sat up and searched the darkened room. A blurry shadow moved about and the confusion of his sudden awakening made it hard to understand what was happening.

“It is a beautiful day, and you are sleeping it away.”

Alister swung his feet off the bed and placed them on the floor. He picked the sleep out of the corners of his eyes. Nothing about the moment seemed real.

“The sun is shining, and there isn't a cloud in the sky.”

“It's still dark,” Alister said, his voice raspy.

“Only in this room. I can only hope you will find a way to get yourself outside.”

Alister rubbed his face, fingered his beard and groaned.

“The air is cool, and the smell of fires burning certainly makes the statement that fall has arrived.”

The light in the room blinked on and Alister clamped his eyes shut.

“I've made it through an entire day.”

Alister forced his eyes open in time to see Michael sitting on the bed beside him. He shifted his weight.

“You know what that means, and you should be happy,” Michael said.

“I am.”

Alister looked at the covered window and then at the clock above the door.  Nine o'clock.

“How long was I sleeping for?”

“Since yesterday afternoon.” Michael motioned toward the food tray he had placed on the table. “I'm sure you're hungry.”

Alister gave him a courteous look. Pancakes, orange juice and two slices of burnt bread were on the tray.

“Confused is more like it.”

“You just need a little time to wake up.”

Alister sat in silence for a moment. “I don't understand how you are here.” He stood, went into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving it open a crack. “When you didn't return after talking to me yesterday, I thought for sure the curse had gotten you.”

“I told Dr. Lee how upset you were when I spoke to you. She thought it best I keep away from you for the rest of the day.”

Alister flushed the toilet and came out of the bathroom. “What? Why?  She had to know my worry of the curse returning would have me up all night.”

Michael looked to the clock and smiled. “She said my returning this morning would have a much bigger impact on you, that it would prove that there was no such a thing as a curse.”

“Is that what she said?”

Michael shook his head. “I can't help but think that maybe there never was a curse to begin with.”

“If that were true, then how do you explain everything that has happened?”

Michael shrugged.

“What about all those people that died?”

He shrugged again. “Have you considered the possibility that your mind might be playing tricks on you?”

Alister shook his head. “If it were my mind that was playing the tricks, then how would you know everything you know?”

“I don't know…I'm just saying. Maybe some of the things you believe happened never really did.”

Alister scratched his head and pursed his lips while he considered Michael's words.

“If it were my mind playing tricks,” Alister asked, “wouldn't it only be inside my head? And how would you know about it?”

“Who knows?” Michael asked with a smile. “Maybe I'm not really real but only a thing alive inside your imagination.”

“No,” Alister said. “My experiences tell me something else.”

Michael stood. “The doctor has been here for a few hours. She's been waiting for you to wake up. There's something she's been wanting to show you.”

Michael walked to the door and Alister got back into bed.

“Tell her I'm not interested, that she should leave me alone.” He pulled the blanket up to his chin and turned to his side. “You both should or other people might think it's OK to talk to me.”

“Not this again.”

 Alister allowed a smile to take over his face. His back was to Michael.

“The doctor told me you might say something like that. She wanted me to tell you that you've already broken your vow of silence to two people and nothing has happened to either one of them.”

Michael exited the room and Alister rolled onto his back. He sighed, interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on his chest. In this moment, it was as though someone had lifted a thousand pounds off of his shoulders.

Although the idea of the curse being created by an overactive imagination sounded ridiculous to Alister, the possibility that the curse was ending was becoming more real. If he was going to be honest with himself, it felt good.

“Damn good.”

 

 

 

The past.

 

“Hello?”

Alister listened to the echo of his voice quickly fade. The room was musty, unquestionably made of concrete and no bigger than eight by eight square feet. He stood and reached his hand up to touch the ceiling. Debris rained down around him and he tasted dust.

“Can anyone hear me?”

When he awoke, he was stiff from the odd way he had been lying on the hard floor, and the absence of light played tricks on his mind. He would see things that made him curious.

He moved around with caution. His hands were extended out in front of him in search of anything solid, and after taking a few baby steps forward, his fingertips swiped the rough surface of the wall. He felt for detail and easily discerned brick and mortar. On the wall, a slight protrusion with a uniform vertical crack went from the floor to the ceiling, cut across horizontally for about three feet and dropped back down to the floor. That portion of the wall was colder than the brick and perfectly flat.

“It has to be a steel door.”

The handle had been removed, and Alister assumed it had been sealed from the outside. It was obvious Henry, the red-headed woman that looked like a cartoon character and the quiet guy bulging with muscle must have listened to his instructions and locked him away.

“Finally.”

He moved to what he thought was the center of the room and sat. Something hard poked him, and he searched for the object.

A thin metal item about five inches long and weighing a couple of ounces intrigued him. He ran his fingers up and down the shaft for any clue as to what he had found. It had a cylindrical shape throughout and held the chill of the room. A small button stuck out and he pressed it.

Click.

The object shifted in his hand ever so slightly, and he ran his fingers over it again to try and identify any change.

“Ouch.”

It sliced his skin and he pulled away. A switchblade. He understood the people that had locked him in the room had left it for him to use.

 

 

 

 

Present day.

 

“Hello, doctor,” Alister said. He watched Anna enter his room and close the door. She set her briefcase down and looked at him curiously.

“What's this?”

“A new leaf.” He looked at his hands. They were shaking. “I've had some time to think, and I wanted to tell you how glad I am that you didn't give up on me after yesterday.” He looked at her. “I wanted to thank you for that.”

Anna smiled and so did Alister.

“I think I'm finally starting to understand,” he said. “You have nerve to stand up to the curse. You were told about all the bad things that happen to people and what might happen to you, but you continue to come. The possibility of endangering yourself for my well-being has meant nothing to you.” He licked his lips. “Selfless. And when you told me you were going to return the next day, you did. You didn't take the easy way out, and I realize it's because you care.”

Anna placed a hand on the back of Alister's chair and leaned against it, her focus so intense it penetrated into his soul. “I'm happy for you, Alister. I really am. Today is a new beginning for you.”

“Something inside is tired of resisting the idea of getting better, and I think it's time I take down the barrier.”

Anna's smile stretched wide enough to show her teeth. “I see something special inside you that's been struggling to get out.”

Alister looked at the window and a knot in the center of the plywood that covered his window held his attention.

“I won't allow that part of you to rot inside this hospital,” Anna said. Her eyes were glassy and her voice was filled with just enough passion to draw Alister's eyes away from the swirl of the wood.

“Michael had mentioned that there was something you wanted to show me?”

“There is.”

“I'm nervous, and I'm trying desperately to hide it.”

Anna smiled. “And I'm nervous for you, but I need you to trust me.”

“I do,” Alister said. “I want you to know that I really was hoping you were going to come back after the first day I met you, but something inside wouldn't allow me to believe you would. I decided that night as I lay in bed unable to sleep that I would rather find out I was crazy rather than a man cursed.”