Brylee,
I am so sorry for dragging you into my mess! It’s your first day here and I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything being around me and all. I am a nice guy, I promise. I’m also sorry about the other night too. There is a dance next week and I wanted to ask you to go with me. Think about it.
Ephraim
I almost squealed out loud in the class. My heart was beating a mile a minute. This was a total shocker. Here I thought he wasn’t over his ex and he was asking me to a dance. I glanced up at the poster on the wall of the class. It read: Fall Formal
I would definitely go with him. Even though I didn’t know him too well, I liked him already. I wrote him back:
Ephraim,
I like the swan. No, I don’t feel like you dragged me into anything. I forgive you for walking in on me. Yes, I would love to go to the dance.
Brylee.
As soon as I dropped the letter on his desk my phone vibrated once again in my pocket. It almost caused me to jump. I was already worried about getting caught passing notes in class. Something so old fashioned nowadays. Guys never wrote letters back home. I pulled my phone out discretely and saw the text was from Ethan. Ethan! Only last week I was drawing his face in my sketchpad. I felt like I was cheating on him or something. Guilt prevented me from reading the text and I shoved the phone back in my pocket.
On the way home I had a strange smile on my face that was plastered there until Lyn interrupted my thoughts, “So do you want to hang out at my house or do you have to get home?”
That’s when I remembered I had promised Kayla that I would meet her at Wilson Lake after school. I had forgotten my house, the supposed curse, and the whispers in my ear. Now I was forced to remember them again. My momentary happiness was killed. I looked over at Ephraim who was again wearing his beanie and looking way too cute and I smiled. He returned the smile in a shy way and I answered Lyn. “I would love to hang but maybe a little later on. I have something to do first.” She nodded her head and then began talking about Miles and how he loaned her his pen today. I hung on to every word she said, trying to block out the regret of telling Kayla yes.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to meet and talk with her. I didn’t want to let Lyn down, and to be honest, I wanted to be alone with Ephraim and talk about this dance. I was giddy with excitement. He liked me, right? Or did he just invite me to be nice? Or what if he just wanted to make Amber jealous. I tried not to think too hard on it, who knew, my brain might combust.
We got to their house and I jumped out of the truck after Lyn. She gave me a serious look and asked me if everything was okay.
“Yeah, I’m fine I just want to go to the lake and draw.”
“You’re going to the lake?” Ephraim asked curiously.
“Yeah why?”
“Just be careful, sometimes trouble hangs out there. Do you want me to go with you? I could bring my camera and try to get some good shots.” Now I felt terrible. I wanted to be with him and learn more about him. I of course wanted to go to the lake and watch him take pictures. How was I going to do that while I talked to Kayla? He would know I lied about why I was going to the lake. An inner turmoil now churned inside me.
“Meet me down there in an hour.” It was all I could say that wouldn’t compromise the situation. I didn’t wait for an answer, I took off running toward the lake. He didn’t answer me but I had a feeling he would meet me, so I had better get there and talk with Kayla.
On the walk there I thought about what I had heard the night before. Was a light really on in the room and did the door handle really move? It was possible I was hearing things and really didn’t hear a thing. One thing was for sure, I wanted to go back home. I wanted a way out.
I saw her blue hair as I came up on the pathway to the lake. She stood there biting her nails and looking out over the water. It wasn’t as cold today as it had been and apparently Kayla thought the same. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts like it was a perfect summer day. She really was a pretty girl, even if her hair was electric blue and her eyes were covered in black eye shadow. She hid behind the make-up and it was a shame because you could see her natural beauty.
“Hey,” she said as I got closer. “I was wondering when you were gonna get here. How was school?” she teased.
“It wasn’t too bad. What did you do today, shop?” She sat on the bench and I took it as a cue for me to sit too.
“No I didn’t shop I just hung out. So are we gonna talk or are you too scared?”
Scared! She had no idea how bad the thought of my house really being cursed scared me. She didn’t know what it was like to doubt yourself like I was. I looked out over the lake and took a deep breath. I had to get in the right mental state for this talk.
Chapter Ten
“Yeah okay let’s hear it. Let’s hear all about how my house is cursed.” I sighed.
She laughed with an attitude. “You think I am kidding? You think I would waste my time meeting you here if I wasn’t serious? I have better things to be doing than hanging with some high schooler.”
It stung to hear but it made sense to me. Why would she come out here to tell me some ghost story?
“Okay sorry I have just been having a super weird day. I started a new school and got asked out by this super-hot guy…”
“You’re complaining about being asked out? What is wrong with you?” she interrupted.
“Well that’s not weird, it’s why he asked me out. Then there was last night.” I had to tell her about the voice. She seemed to really know what was going on in my house.
“Maybe he asked you out because he likes you dummy. What happened last night?” I curled my legs up inside my jacket and tried to stop the shivering.
“My friend Lyn had told me about the history of the Brown’s. She told me about how the little girl died of influenza and after her death the mom sort of went a little crazy. Then she told me how even when the house was abandoned the corner room light would be on. How people would hear little girl screams coming from the house.” I paused to make sure she was following before I continued. She was. “Then, last night on the way home from her house I saw a light on in the room so I ran to the house. Once I got upstairs the light was still on. Then…” I stopped myself. It sounded ridiculous coming out of my mouth. I couldn’t tell her and get the same reaction as mom and dad.
“Then what?” She sat on the edge of the bench, willing me to go on.
“Well, then I heard someone say ‘no’ in my ear. I thought I had gone crazy; there was no one there. But when I tried to open the door again they screamed ‘NO!’ ”
“What!” she yelled. “You tried to open the door, are you crazy?”
She wasn’t shocked by the imaginary person talking to me in my house; she was shocked by me trying to open the door that can’t be opened.
“There was a light on in a locked room. I wanted to know why. Wouldn’t you be curious?”
She stood now, throwing her hands into the air. I just sat there watching her; she looked like a crazy person.
“I told you yesterday that this house didn’t want you there. I told you it was cursed. You don’t believe me fine. Try to open that door and see what happens you won’t be around to find out what is behind that door. Trust me Brylee!”
“What are you talking about?” I was now getting mad at her. Like I knew what she was saying with all her gibberish.
“What I am talking about is the curse. You don’t know about it, not everyone does. Not everyone was around back then to see it played out.” She sat back down and her faced changed from crazed to calm. “It wasn’t a huge deal. Most don’t believe the curse or the witches even existed. Especially in this town, they all thought the sisters were just shut-ins, but not Violet. She knew they were witches, she knew they were capable of dark things and she talked them into doing what they did. At first they didn’t want to, but she changed their minds. Funny how money can do that, right?” I just nodded. I didn’t rea
lly follow what she was talking about. Witches? What did witches have to do with Violet Brown?
“See, Violet was desperate and she knew that those sisters could help her in her predicament.”
“What predicament?” I asked as she once again stood, walking toward the lake this time. I followed, trying hard to understand what she was talking about. Then it hit me; Pearl. Violets youngest daughter died. Would she need witches to help her save her daughter?
“Was it because of Pearl?”
“Yeah, you’re getting it. It helps that you know some of their history. Not that you know all of it, but you can follow along a little bit better knowing some of it. So, yes, Pearl got influenza and back then it was very hard to survive the flu. They didn’t have the medical technology they have today. The Brown’s had money, so that helped a bit. But doctors could only do so much and then the flu took over her body. She died in Violet’s arms in the middle of the night.” She turned to face me, a look of complete sadness taking over her face.
“She wasn’t the same after that, darkness took over her. She wasn’t the happy little socialite she always had been. You know about the Mayhew’s and the Brown’s feud right?” I nodded and she went on. “Everyone thought it was just a simple feud but it was more than that. It was an all-out war. After Pearl died Mrs. Mayhew tried to mend fences, she felt so sorry for what had happened that she was willing to forgive and end the fight. She went over there and tried to talk to Violet, but she wouldn’t speak. She just sat and stared at her as if she didn’t see anything. This just added more fuel to the fire. Mabel Mayhew took it as a sign that Violet was ignoring her. Not that she was distraught over losing her baby girl.”
She started to walk the edge of the lake and I followed. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if my mom had to go through that.
“So Mabel went around town telling everyone that Violet was a rancid bitch and no one felt sorry for Violet. She lost all the support of the town all because of Mabel. So when Violet started realizing this she went to see the sisters. They lived right on this lake in that house right there.”
She pointed to an old dilapidated house that sat alone on the edge of the lake. It seemed to be an island in the center of the lake from this distance. As we walked closer I saw the small dirt road leading up to the lonely house. No one could possibly be living in it now. It was boarded up and the siding was completely missing.
“The Barclay sisters lived in that house alone, never leaving or going into town. People thought they were just strange, no one knew what they really were. The sisters were abandoned by their family and had to raise themselves. Violet knew that was where she had to go when she made up her mind to get her daughter back.”
“Wait, what? Get her daughter back?” I had now stopped as Kayla kept walking. She turned and waved me to follow her.
“Yeah, she decided she was going to talk to the sisters about bringing Pearl back from the dead, or necromancy. Do you know what that is?” I gulped. I knew what it was. I had seen it in movies and read it in books. I knew nothing of whether it was real or not.
“Yeah, I know what it is,” I said quietly. I was now intrigued in hearing the rest.
“She went there and they listened to what she had to say. They turned her down repeatedly but it didn’t stop Violet. She wanted her daughter back so bad she completely ignored her other children. They were practically raised by the housekeepers. So finally Violet offered a large amount of money to do the job and the sister’s accepted. Pearl’s grave was dug up in the middle of the night and in the corner room of the Brown home, what used to be Pearl’s room, the sisters preformed the ritual.” The corner room. They performed the ritual to bring back a dead girl in my house. My body shook and my heart pounded in my ears, seemingly making my earrings jingle. I was now frozen to the earth. I couldn’t walk anymore so I sat down in the sand. Kayla looked at me puzzled; she didn’t understand why I was so afraid. Or did she? I didn’t know if I wanted her to continue her story, but she did anyway.
“So it worked, they brought Pearl back. Mother and daughter were reunited all while William was away for business. Something he did often. This was not a happy reunion for very long. With all things there is sacrifice. The sacrifice this time would be a life for a life.” Kayla sat next to me and made circles in the sand.
“Wait, so they brought her back to life just like that? How did that work? I don’t understand.” I didn’t get it, maybe I just didn’t believe it. Maybe it was hard for me to believe in witches and necromancy. It wasn’t the sort of topic I usually studied. Sure, I loved the movies and once for Halloween I had been a witch. To ask me if I believed they existed was a whole other deal.
“The Barclays were in fact witches just like Violet had thought. They also practiced the darkest magic possible. In order to harness that type of magic they had to be dark. Not just any witch could do something like that. These witches had been around for a very long time. They practiced magic all over the world.” She paused and stopped drawing her circles. Her eyes met mine, she was dead serious about all of this. I, on the other hand, was trying to follow the story and to believe it at the same time.
“You see, they really weren’t two poor abandoned girls, living in that old home. They used that house as a sort of front, all while they practiced their magic. They weren’t young either; they had been alive for a very long time. They were hundreds of years old, magic just helped them look young.”
Now I was starting to doubt Kayla’s story. Not only were we talking curses, but also witches that lived forever. This was Hocus Pocus stuff. Things I didn’t really believe in.
“So, back to the sacrifice,” she ignored my doubt and went on. “Violet had to make a pact to seal the sacrifice; she also had to give a life. She tried to give her own life for her daughters but that wasn’t good enough. The sisters told her it had to be the blood of a male, the first born male. Which would be Violets son, Homer. She had to do it, but the only good thing was the promise wouldn’t take his life until he was a grown man. The pact, however, was a promise to keep the information about the Barclay sisters a secret and to never ever tell anyone how Pearl really came back. Violet agreed and signed a curse agreement.”
“What’s that?” My head was spinning now. She signed her eldest son’s life away to bring her daughter back from the dead. I decided I didn’t like Violet Brown. There was a certain order in life. We live and we die. We can’t mess with that. We all have our ‘time’ to go. Violet messed with the order of people’s lived and I felt it was selfish.
“If Violet broke her promise the curse would take effect on her whole bloodline. Not only taking the life of her first born son but also taking every single first born daughter in the family. The curse states that it would take Violets life by making her go mentally insane. Then it would do the same to Homer and then all of the first born daughters. Not only would they all go insane but they would all be forced to kill themselves in the same place, the corner room. It’s like the room is the portal to the curse. It is where the blood payment must be made.”
My skin grew suddenly cold and I felt sick to my stomach, this was worse than any sort of curse I had ever heard of. Sons and daughters would be killing themselves in my house. In the very room where lights were turning on and the door never opens. I couldn’t hear anymore. I didn’t want to know if Violet Brown broke the pact. I didn’t care. I stood up and brushed off my pants and I heard the sound of my name.
“Is that a Mayhew?” she asked, looking toward the entrance of the path. I turned my head sharply and saw Ephraim looking around for me. I had totally forgotten he was coming here.
“Yeah, that’s Ephraim, he is the guy I told you about.”
“Mayhew’s are dangerous and sneaky. You would be better off hanging with someone else. I have to go.”
“Brylee,” Ephraim called again.
“Over here!” I waved. He noticed and started walking toward me.
“We need to meet ag
ain and talk more,” Kayla said, as she was now walking away from me. “Bye Brylee, be careful.”
I turned to see Ephraim’s wavy hair blowing in the cold breeze. He looked cold but bundled up in a faded blue coat. I turned to say goodbye to Kayla but she was already gone. She disappeared like she always does. Meanwhile, I could hear Ephraim getting closer. I took deep breaths to calm my nerves after hearing what I just had. I didn’t know why or how Kayla had heard those stories. They seemed so wicked and horrid and I didn’t believe them all.
“Hey, where’s your sketch pad?” He was staring right at me when I turned around, his blue eyes watering from the sting of the wind. The weather had grown a lot colder since Kayla had left and I shivered. I couldn’t draw even if I wanted to, my fingers felt like ice.
“It’s too cold to draw. Hey, do you know that house over there?” I asked as I pointed to the Barclay sister’s house. I figured it was worth a shot. Maybe Ephraim could help me make sense to all this confusion.
“Yeah, that house is where the old Barclay sisters lived.” I sat down and wrapped my arms around my legs. He sat too and took off his coat and handed it to me. I took it and placed it on top of my own coat. The heat from it warmed me instantly. “Everyone says they were witches and that they were driven from town by my ancestors. Some sort of curse or something. But no one lives there now. Maybe squatters from time to time.” So he had heard about this curse and also about the sisters being witches. I was now on the fence between believing Kayla and not.
“You’re freezing, do you want to go home? I’ll walk you.” He stood and gave me his hand. I took it and he helped me up. We walked at first in silence. Just walking closely up the edge of the lake and watching the swans circle each other.
“So, I want to know you better. That’s why I asked you to the dance. ”
The Brown House Page 8