Cursed

by Brent Miller

  “Shoot,” Garrick responded, his eyes lighting up as he snapped his fingers. He leaned forward, and Tyler excitedly stood up, clearly happy that his friend was catching up. “Maybe you’re right. Okay, we have to test this.”

  “Don’t worry Garrick Elliott, I have you covered,” Tyler said. He sprinted to the kitchen. Garrick wasn’t sure what he was expecting Tyler to come back with, but he figured it would be something with garlic in it. Even just some garlic powder would do. Instead, he walked into the living room holding a clove of garlic.

  “What is that?” Garrick asked. He knew the answer to the question, of course, but he didn’t know the words to express his confusion at the situation.

  “Take a bite,” Tyler responded, holding the garlic out for Garrick to take.

  “Are you kidding? I’m not going to take a bite of pure garlic, Tyler. That’s disgusting.”

  “No, really. It’s not that bad,” Tyler said. “Here, look.”

  Before Garrick could try to stop his friend, Tyler took a bite. His face started contorting in disgust, but he did his best to disguise it. He smiled and held a thumbs up as he chewed through the pain. “See?”

  Garrick didn’t want to get anywhere near that garlic. His eyes were already starting to water just from the smell, and he was nearly certain eating it wouldn’t cause him to transform. As he hesitated, his mind started presenting every reason that this plan didn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t Aldric have said anything about allergies? It seemed like an important note if they were attempting to prevent transformations in public. Anyway, before his first transformation, he had actively avoided garlic. Since he had not thought about that in months, he was bound to have accidentally eaten garlic in more than just that one dish of spaghetti. Still, what if he hadn’t? There was a chance that this could give him an answer.

  “Just give it to me,” Garrick said. Tyler handed it over, and Garrick closed his eyes. Slowly, he raised the clove toward his mouth, the smell assaulting him with every second. If he breathed through his mouth, though, he could taste it. Neither was a reasonable option, so he decided to just hold his breath.

  “Wait,” he hesitated, lowering the clove.

  “It’s for science,” Tyler encouraged Garrick.

  “I’ll do it,” Garrick accepted. “But I am going to hide in your bathroom. If I tell you to run, you run as fast as you can. Do you understand?”

  “That,” Tyler responded, “is a rather reasonable request.” He led Garrick to the bathroom, and Garrick closed and locked the door behind him. Looking at the mirror, he raised the clove to his mouth.

  “Why am I doing this?” he muttered to himself. He exhaled deeply and took a bite. It wasn’t actually as bad as he thought it would be, but the aftertaste hit him like a rock. Then, he started to feel the acidity as he continued to crunch the garlic. His mouth started to burn and his eyes watered.

  “Oh, gross. This is the worst idea you’ve ever had,” he exclaimed through a full mouth. He tried chewing faster, just wanting to get the garlic out of his mouth, but it didn’t help much. Spitting it out wasn’t an option, though, because he’d already gone that far to test Tyler’s theory. Even though he was thoroughly confident at that point that it wasn’t the garlic, he was going to see it through. He started groaning and muttering in anger as he swallowed it. He couldn’t believe he’d actually done that.

  Garrick felt sick to his stomach. It was actually vaguely similar to what he’d felt the other night, and he was starting to get concerned. He leaned against the wall and slid down, breathing deeply and closing his eyes. The spaghetti had taken a few minutes to take effect, but if the garlic were the problem, a whole clove would probably be faster. A minute went by, but he didn’t feel any different.

  “Are you changing?” Tyler asked eagerly through the closed door.

  “No! No, Tyler!”

  “Oh. Well at least we know.”

  “Yeah,” Garrick muttered, opening the door. He looked at Tyler as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I’m going to go chug a gallon of tap water to get this taste out of my mouth.”

  “I didn’t think it was that bad. You’re overreacting.”

  Part of Garrick wanted to laugh at everything that had just happened, but a larger part of him just wanted to be sure he never ate garlic again, even if it didn’t mean transforming into a wolf.

  “Please just start the car,” Garrick ordered as he made his detour to the kitchen.

  Tyler was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, pointing out random buildings that looked old and had basements. Garrick really did appreciate his friend’s enthusiasm, but it wasn’t necessarily the most helpful thing he could be doing. They couldn’t be sure if the buildings were abandoned, or how exactly they could gain access.

  “What about a storage shed?” Tyler finally asked, apparently realizing that Garrick was probably not going to think any of the buildings they could find were suitable.

  “Yeah,” Garrick pondered. “That could work.”

  Tyler drove them to the nearest storage facility and parked the car. He sat for a few more minutes and rubbed the steering wheel nervously. Garrick looked at him, slightly confused.

  “Alright, so here’s the story: We are two young men moving to a new place as we start college. We have to store some of our belongings, given the lack of space in our new apartment. Does that sound reasonable to you? I think we can pass for a few years older.”

  “Tyler,” Garrick interjected, “They don’t care. I’m just going to go ask how much a unit costs.”

  He laughed silently as he climbed out of the car and closed the door. When he walked into the building, he saw one man sitting behind a desk reading a magazine. The office was actually very small. There was the desk, which had a computer on it, and the chair in which the man sat. The office held no other furniture whatsoever – not even a poster or calendar to lighten up the dull brown walls.

  “How can I help you?” The man asked, his eyes glued to the magazine, his feet on the desk as he leaned back in the chair.

  “I need to store some furniture,” Garrick said awkwardly. He’d talked a big game with Tyler, but he didn’t particularly enjoy communicating with people. “How much does it cost here?” That had gone better in his head.

  “Eighty bucks a month,” he said. He offered Garrick a quick glance before returning his gaze to the magazine. “Just ask your mom to hold your stuff, kid.”

  Garrick was offended. Despite the fact that he was still technically one by law, he hated being treated as a child. “At least I’m a reasonable age to still live with mine,” he thought, smirking to himself and wishing he had the self-confidence to respond in turn to people who treated him rudely. Instead, he just nodded and left the building without another word. Although he hated to admit it, the man was correct in his assumptions. There was no way Garrick could get that kind of money without a job of any kind, and he didn’t have a large base of people he could ask. Even if he did, there was no valid explanation for his reasoning.

  He stormed back to the car and opened the door a little more forcefully than he intended. There were still times that he had to remind himself that things tended to be lighter than he expected them to be. Back in the car, Garrick closed the door and explained the situation to Tyler. In retrospect, Garrick wasn’t sure why he hadn’t been aware that the plan would fall through. He didn’t have an income stream at all – any amount of money would probably have been too much. There were always odd jobs he could do, but nothing steady. Tyler sighed and put the car in gear, but he hesitated for a minute.

  “You know, you really don’t have to do this,” Garrick told him solemnly. He was grateful for everything his friend had tried, but it was clear they were both out of ideas. That was why the car still hadn’t moved.

  “Yes, I do. We are going to find a way to make this work, Garrick Elliott.”

  “How are you so confident?”

  “I have to be. Anyway, maybe I just haven’t ha
d the time to become as jaded as you,” Tyler said with a smile. As always, he tried to lighten the mood. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he sat up straighter as he asked, “What do you think about the abandoned warehouse outside town? It’s vast and completely desolate. No one has been there in years. Except maybe serial killers, but that was never confirmed. Anyway, you get a serial killer out there it’s survival of the fittest.” Garrick laughed, unsure of whether he found Tyler’s joke funny or if he was just amused by the fact that his friend was trying so hard to keep the situation as light as possible. He knew he’d be far worse off without Tyler to help him.

  “Seriously though,” Tyler added after waiting for a second, draining the humor from his tone, “I think it could be exactly what you need.”

  “I don’t know,” Garrick objected. “I think it would be possible for me to just break through the doors and run toward town. I don’t know how thick walls are to those types of places, but that wolf can get pretty determined.”

  “You don’t want to make this easy for me, do you, Garrick Elliott?” Tyler asked, exasperated but understanding. He looked left and right, as if a perfect idea would suddenly appear on the side of the street. Garrick wasn’t even paying attention to their surroundings. It was apparent to him that he wouldn’t find the right place anywhere in town.

  He needed a place with a basement; that much he knew. The wolf wouldn’t be able to climb the stairs, so it would be trapped for the night. Underground walls also meant it wouldn’t be able to break through. He also needed somewhere a bit out of town, because people would hear the wolf slamming into things if it were next door to their house.

  He searched the depths of his mind, clawing for any idea. There was an underground level of the school, and that building was in a neighborhood of its own. It would be far enough out of the way that he could be quiet, and no one in their right mind would want to be at the school at night. The problem was that it would be locked down during the evenings. He could break the locks, but he would prefer not getting caught breaking and entering. Anyway, there were bound to be cameras there as well, so he’d have to find a way to navigate around them.

  As Tyler drove, Garrick stayed trapped in his mind. Weaving through neighborhoods, Tyler just kept searching. As he turned past again, Garrick noticed the trees which bordered to town to the west. There were woods surrounding the town, with a river to the south. To the east, where they typically changed with Aldric, the landscape was flat. Just past the trees, where he couldn’t quite make out, on this side, was a hill.

  Garrick thought about the surroundings a bit more. This side of the woods was more popular – probably because the hike made things more interesting. However, just past the common campgrounds, he’d heard there was an old house up at the top of the hill. He hadn’t actually made the journey himself to see it because he’d never been incredibly interested, but from what he had heard, it was more like a ranger station, or even a watchtower. It was a building which had housed people who’d worked in the woods and monitored game hunting. That was years ago, before the jobs moved closer into the city and the building was left abandoned. That was one story. Another was that it was, in fact, a house where an old man had lived alone until he died and left it unattended. Then, there were the obligatory ghost stories. A few years back, the building had caught fire, and no one was around to do anything about it. Of course, since then, people claimed it was haunted.

  Whatever the truth was, Garrick didn’t care much. The reason for its existence, or that for its abandonment, didn’t particularly matter. What mattered was the fact that it was in fact abandoned, and that it could be exactly what he needed. He informed Tyler of his thought process, and Tyler was more than willing to go out of his way for a chance that they find the place. He sped through the trees as long as the trail would allow, but eventually, the two of them had to park the car at the bottom of the hill and hike the rest of the way.

  The trees started to grow taller and denser as they went deeper into the woods. Garrick was completely unfamiliar with his surroundings. There was something he found comforting about the woods, but he was also uncomfortable feeling lost. He wasn’t used to being unable to pinpoint exactly where he was. Nonetheless, the adventurous side of him enjoyed hiking and exploring new territory with his best friend. He’d seen plenty of maps of that side of the woods, but he’d never actually been there.

  “Up here,” Tyler called out. He had walked slightly faster than Garrick, who spent more time admiring the trees and getting lost in nature. It was a surreal feeling. There was something familiar – as if he’d been there before, although he could recognize differences in the patterns of the foliage. It all looked the same, but different. Then again, he supposed, trees were trees, so it should look relatively similar to the other side of town. He sped up to catch up with Tyler.

  An old, two-story, wooden building rested in front of them. Garrick walked up to it, examining it carefully. The windows were mostly broken, and a few had boards nailed to the frames from the inside. Some just had planks resting against them as well. Garrick couldn’t tell if they were intentionally pressed against them or if they’d fallen during the fire. He was confident, though, that there was at least a fire. There were scorch marks along the wall – black burns in the wood. As he approached the porch, Garrick climbed the three stairs that led up to it. An old wooden door rested in its frame in front of him, but the screen door that covered it was hanging off from one hinge. It reminded him of something pulled straight from a horror film.

  The stairs creaked loudly as Tyler climbed them to catch up to Garrick. Hesitantly, he placed his hand on the doorknob as Garrick continued to look around the perimeter. Garrick walked up to one of the windows. The glass was completely shattered, and he could see remnants of it lying around the ground near it. No one had even bothered to try to clean up after the fire. Maybe they’d deemed the condition too severe for repair. Garrick reached his hand through the broken window and pushed some of the debris to the side.

  He felt a prick on his arm. Startled, he pushed the beam over and pulled his arm back. The beam landed angled in front of the window. Looking more closely, Garrick realized there was still a piece of glass in the frame. His arm bled more than he’d expected, and he watched as a few drops fell to the floor beneath him. He realized he had made it worse by pulling his arm out suddenly, because beneath the blood was a deep gash in his flesh. Garrick wiped off the blood as the wound closed up. Attempting to get a better sense of the interior of the house, he peered through the window. He wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t collapse on them when they walked in. With the dim light barely making its way through the trees, Garrick wasn’t able to make out much more than a few feet inside.

  “Garrick Elliott, this door is stuck,” Tyler called from the patio. “It won’t budge. We’re going to have to find another way inside.”

  Garrick backed away from the window. It was barely large enough for him to fit through, but the beam had planted itself in the middle. As a last resort, he could knock the remaining glass out of the frame and try to squeeze through, but he hoped there was an alternative. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he pushed that beam forward, and he was definitely trying to avoid causing any more movement than he had to before he trusted the integrity of the building.

  “Let me give it a shot,” Garrick replied, confidently walking toward Tyler. He met his friend at the door and grabbed the handle. Expecting resistance, he pushed against the door. It opened with ease but creaked loudly.

  “Right,” Tyler said sheepishly, “I keep forgetting about that.”

  As Garrick pushed the door open another few inches, they heard a loud crash from inside. He froze the arm on the door, careful not to push or pull at all, as he put his other arm in front of Tyler. After a second, Garrick peeked inside, only to see darkness. He pushed gently against the door, trying to let more light into the room.

  “Hold on,” Tyler warned, placing a hand on Garrick’s sh
oulder. “Were you able to determine what happened?”

  “No,” Garrick admitted. “I assume it was a beam from the roof. The place looks like it really took a hit from what I saw over at the window.”

  “Whatever it was, you might cause more problems if you force this door open. Let’s take a look around. Maybe there’s another way in.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” Garrick concurred. He took another step back, carefully holding on to the door. As gently as possible, he let go of the handle and backed away. The two of them crept down the stairs and walked around the side of the building. Tyler had his eyes glued to the bottom floor, trying to find another way in, but Garrick had been trained to search his surroundings much more efficiently. His mind wasn’t just focused on a door or window on the first floor. He was looking for an entrance from the outside to the basement, or even a window on the top floor he would be able to climb to.

  As they turned around the side of the house, Garrick was able to see the back for the first time. A piece of the wall and roof were missing from the second story. Garrick was starting to understand why no one bothered to repair the house. Due to the age, there was no question that the renovation costs would exceed any value.

  “There’s a door down here,” Tyler mentioned. “It looks like there is more debris in front of it, though. I don’t know, Garrick Elliott, I’m starting to realize this may not have been the best idea. This place could fall apart any second.”

  “I’d survive. Look up there,” Garrick said, pointing out the second story.

  “That doesn’t make me feel any more secure, strangely enough.”

  “I’ll check it out.”

  “Do you see a ladder? I’ll follow you up,” Tyler asked as he looked around the yard. Garrick started running toward the building. He jumped at the wall, pushing down against it with his foot as he reached for the second story. He grabbed at the broken wall, but he just missed it. Instead, he drove his hand into a sharp edge of the wood and slid back down the wall. He groaned as he wiped blood from his hand, and Tyler watched in awe as the puncture wound closed.