Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  “I really did go to the library, I’m not lying Mom. I promise.” Ariel didn’t know how else she could convince her. Short of taking her to the librarian to confirm her alibi, there was little else she could think to do.

  Her mother stared at her for so long she started to get uncomfortable under the intense gaze. Finally, she sighed. “Does this have anything to do with that boy? The one that moved away?”

  Ariel could feel her face starting to burn with the embarrassment of being caught out. But she couldn’t let it show, the stakes were far too high. “No, it doesn’t.” She stared at her hands, fiddling with the ring on her middle finger.

  “Then why would you do it? Are you having trouble at school? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

  “School is fine, I just wanted to do some studying. I thought I would learn more by cramming.” She felt guilty for lying, especially when her mom was being so nice to her. “I promise I won’t do it again. I’ve definitely learnt my lesson.”

  “Good. So you understand why we need to punish you, your education is more important than anything else. Your entire future depends on it.” She gently squeezed her daughter’s arm. “When you look back, you’ll realize we weren’t just being mean.”

  Ariel nodded. For just a moment, she had thought her punishment was being revoked. Unfortunately, she was completely wrong.

  “Come on, let’s go and have some ice cream. I brought your favorite today.” She jumped out of the car enthusiastically. It took Ariel a few more moments before she resigned herself to the fact she would be hanging out with her mother all afternoon.

  It wasn’t as bad as she imagined though. Watching television, eating peppermint chocolate ice cream, and listening to her mother talk about her telephone call with Aunt Lea wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t as good as talking with Gabe, but she doubted whether anything could be.

  The nightly news came on the television, the sports presenter giving an update on the college football games for the week. A giant tiger bounced on the screen, the mascot cheering on his team from the sidelines and making a fool of himself. As he did a cartwheel, Ariel wondered how he managed to keep the animal’s head on, did they have to tie them to the rest of the costume? Velcro? Buttons?

  Suddenly, Ariel remembered her last conversation with Gabe. He said his school mascot was a raven. She had been fishing for information and he had given it to her, all she had to do was work out which high school had the mascot of a raven and she could find Gabe. He wouldn’t have to tell her where he was, she’d work it out.

  She stood up, eager to get searching. However, as she did, Ariel remembered she didn’t have her laptop. With no internet access, there was no way she could look up school mascots. She sat down again.

  “What’s wrong?” Her mother asked.

  “Nothing, I just thought about doing my homework but figured it could wait until later.” She smiled, hoping the lie would work. “It’s nice hanging out here with you.”

  “I’m glad.” She wrapped her arms around Ariel’s shoulders and pulled her close. The entire time, all Ariel could think of was how she could get her mother to give her back the laptop.

  For the rest of the week, Ariel was the perfect daughter. She did chores, made sure her homework was done on time, and followed every order given to her. She wasn’t late out from school once and didn’t argue when she was dropped off in the morning.

  By Saturday, she was completely over it. Moping about in her room, Ariel was at a loss for what she should do. All her schoolwork was done, there was nothing on television, and if she had to have one more deep and meaningful conversation with her parents, she was going to go seriously crazy.

  She wondered whether Gabe was missing her as much as she was missing him. Did he even notice that she wasn’t answering his calls? Was he even trying to call her? Perhaps he had moved on already, found someone else to talk to. Not knowing, or having a way to know, was killing her. It was worse than any of the punishments they could give her.

  Ariel even missed Cassidy, even though she saw her at school. On the weekends they usually hung out at the mall or just passed the time at home. Being on radio silence was difficult.

  Watching reruns on television, Ariel was about to go stir crazy if she didn’t do something. Figuring even talking to her mother was better than nothing, she headed downstairs. She knew she was desperate.

  Ariel found her mother in the backyard, trying to coax some herbs to grow. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Oh, hi Ariel. Hold this, will you.” She handed her a trowel, caked with dirt.

  “I think these herbs are a lost cause, they look pretty dead to me,” Ariel said, looking at the poor things. They obviously needed much more water than they had been receiving.

  “They’ll come back, they just need to be re-potted.” Her mother smiled reassuringly, Ariel still doubted it. “What are you up to? Have you done all your homework?”

  “Every single bit of it. I’m so bored.”

  Mom hesitated, pursing her lips in thought. Finally, she turned to her daughter. “You can go to the market for me, we need bread and milk. After that, you can visit Cassidy if you want to. Providing-” She held up a pointed finger before Ariel could get too excited about the new found freedom. “You go straight there and come back before it gets dark. You are to go nowhere else and speak to nobody else. Am I clear?”

  “Perfectly clear.” She waited for the final nod of assent, not daring to trust herself to say anything else. She didn’t want to say or do anything to make her mom change her mind.

  “Okay, go then. Remember, sundown. Don’t disappoint me.”

  “I won’t,” Ariel said happily. She handed back the dirty trowel and hurried to leave so she could get out of there. Even as she walked through the front door, she expected to hear a voice calling her back again. She almost ran just to get away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ariel raced through the supermarket to get the bread and milk her mother wanted. She was dying to see Cassidy and relieve her boredom – even if just for one afternoon.

  And who knows? Maybe she was finally getting back into the good books with her parents. If she followed their instructions to the letter, then perhaps they would restore her privileges. She was only really interested in getting her laptop back, everything else was sufferable.

  Cassidy’s house was a sight for sore eyes. Ariel raced up the path and knocked on the door, waiting impatiently for it to be answered.

  The door swung open moments later, Cassidy stood there with her baby sister on her hip. “Did you break out?”

  “I got a day pass,” Ariel replied, following her friend into the house.

  “What did you do to earn that?” Cassidy asked skeptically.

  “I was just my usual, charming self,” she smiled sweetly, trying not to laugh. “So what’s up with the baby?”

  Cassidy shifted her from one hip to the other. The thirteen-month-old just stared at them. “Mom and Luca are out so I got stuck with babysitting duties. Do you want her?”

  Ariel reached out and took Eleanora, she always liked the kid. Cassidy’s mother had remarried after being divorced from her father for six years. Just over nine months later they had their ‘miracle baby’. Cassidy was still getting used to the idea of having a step-father and a sibling.

  They took a seat in the living room on the floor, surrounded by Eleanora’s toys and play mat. “This baby has more accessories than I do,” Cassidy moaned. “I don’t see why I always get stuck looking after her. It’s not like I decided to have her.”

  “Because you’re a great big sister,” Ariel replied, trying to cheer her up. She had been there for every moment of her whole drama and she was probably the only one who knew how much Cassidy struggled with the new living arrangements. Her mother and Luca were completely oblivious, stuck in their honeymoon bubble. “It won’t be forever, she’s got to grow up eventually. Then you’ll get to hang out with her, show her how to do things and stuff. It w
ill be cute.”

  Cassidy just rolled her eyes. “She’s one, it’s going to be a long time before she can even feed herself.”

  “Okay then. Well, in two years we’ll be going to college and then you won’t be around to babysit,” Ariel said hopefully. “Just like I won’t be around to be tortured by my parents.”

  “Two years sounds like a long way away.”

  “I know, right?”

  They sat in silence, the only one making a noise was Eleanora as she found a ball to rattle around on the ground. She was completely carefree, oblivious to everything going on around her. Ariel actually felt envious, how nice it would be not to have any problems of your own. And to not care about anyone else’s.

  “Have you found a way to speak with Gabe yet?” Cassidy asked, breaking the trance.

  “No. He’s probably mad at me for ignoring all his calls.”

  “He’ll see that you’re not online, he won’t think you’re ignoring him.”

  Ariel slumped against the lounge. “Do you think he’d find someone else if I wasn’t around? He is gorgeous.”

  “Honey, he has a compulsion to kill people, do you really think he’d be out there dating anyone? He didn’t even dare date you,” Cassidy pointed out. “You were the one that pursued him.”

  “Only because he was scared about what he would do.”

  “I know, but he’s not likely to want to be with someone else. Not when nobody else knows his secret.”

  Ariel nodded slowly, wanting to believe it. She desperately wanted to see Gabe, be able to look into his eyes and tell him how she felt. Video cameras could only convey so much. She wanted to hold his hand, look into his black eyes, and just be with him. Something that was virtually impossible unless she found his hiding place.

  “I’d offer you my computer but Mom still insists on keeping the parental lock on it,” Cassidy continued. “She thinks I’ll be bullied by internet trolls or something.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t worked out the password yet.”

  “I’m close, I’ve ruled out everything obvious. Now I just need to get inside her head.”

  Ariel laughed. Cassidy’s mom had locked the internet connection for over a year and the battle between them raged on. While she wanted to protect her daughter from the world at large, Cassidy just wanted some space. They locked horns every other day about it.

  “Have you tried ‘my daughter is evil’?”

  Cassidy didn’t reply, just picked up a cushion and threw it her way. Ariel collapsed into laughter, she wouldn’t have expected anything else from her friend.

  When she recovered from the teasing, Cassidy grew serious. “I’m thinking of joining the prom committee. Will you do it with me?”

  “The prom? Isn’t that a bit mainstream for you?”

  “I thought it might be fun to actually do something and join a committee.”

  Ariel thought about all the time it would consume. Staying back after school, making decorations, deciding on colors, it all just seemed like a big waste of time. Time she would rather spend talking with Gabe or figuring out how she was going to rid him of the curse.

  “I don’t think it’s my thing,” she finally replied, hating to disappoint her best friend. But there were more important things than the school prom, she had to understand that.

  “I was really hoping we could do it together. Why don’t you want to? Is it because it’s the prom? Because it’s just a dance, we’d go together and just have fun.”

  “It’s not the prom, it’s just that I have other things to do.”

  Cassidy rolled her eyes, putting two and two together. “Right, you have Gabe things to do. Thanks for being a good friend, Ariel. It’s not like we’ve known each other since we could talk or anything.”

  “Cassidy, I’m sorry, I thought you’d understand that I have to help Gabe right now. He needs me so much more than a prom committee. I probably wouldn’t be any good at it anyway.”

  “I guess we’ll never know.” Cassidy stood and snatched Eleanora up off the floor. She stomped off, heading for the stairs. She paused just as she was about to disappear. “It would be nice if you focused on your own life for once and not somebody else’s. You’re only going to get yourself hurt.”

  Ariel didn’t know what to say. She felt like she had been slapped across the face, she may as well have been for the pain she felt.

  She hated arguing with Cassidy, it never accomplished anything. They would mope around until one of them finally got sick of it and apologized. Then they’d cry and hug and it would all be over.

  Yet something inside Ariel told her it might not be that easy this time. She could apologize a thousand times and still wouldn’t be able to get Cassidy back on her side. They’d crossed a line that wasn’t supposed to be crossed. Ariel just hoped she would be able to do something to fix it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Without any privileges, it was actually a relief to go to school on Monday. At least it would put a stop to the relentless boredom at home. Ariel gladly accepted the escort to school and hurried to get inside.

  She kept an eye open for Cassidy all morning but she was either avoiding her, or conveniently not in her sight. It only made the sick feeling in Ariel’s stomach even worse. She didn’t tell her parents about their fight, she couldn’t. They would only want to know what they were arguing about and Ariel couldn’t say without mentioning Gabe. It was a lose-lose situation.

  At lunchtime, Ariel returned to the Computer Science classroom. If she thought it would help, she would have had lunch with Cassidy but she knew it wouldn’t change anything. More likely she would refuse to eat with her and then she’d only feel even worse – if that was possible.

  Sitting at her usual desk away from prying eyes, Ariel started her family tree research. She had to start all over again with a brand new branch considering all the other ones she had followed finished with a dead end. At least she was getting quicker, knowing what to look for and what to weed out.

  Starting with records from the eighteenth century, Ariel tracked down records for another two generations. She wished they didn’t have such large families back then, the number of branches that sprung out were immense. It would take a lifetime of research to be able to complete them all. And Ariel didn’t have a lifetime.

  She worked diligently, writing down names and dates. Many of the people of the Morbose tribe died while they were young but many still survived to carry on the curse. Each child inherited the same power to remove the Black Eyed People’s curse.

  The search engine beeped with no matches. Again. With just over two generations to go before someone might actually be alive, her search abruptly ended. Ariel cradled her head in her hands, frustrated. It was the exact same generation that ended her search on all the other branches.

  That made a total of six branches of the Morbose family that all ended at the same place. All the records just completely dried up. She couldn’t even assume they all died because there were no death records. There were no birth records, no marriage records, absolutely nothing. It was like they all just disappeared in the nineteenth century.

  Ariel started to wonder if that was intentional. Could you erase all the records of your family? She doubted whether anyone would be able to do that, especially these days with all the information on the internet. But over a hundred years ago? Maybe, she didn’t know.

  The bell rang, pulling her from her frustrations. Ariel couldn’t stop thinking that there had to be more to it. She made a mental note, she needed to change her approach. If she was ever going to find someone to lift the curse, she was going to have to think outside of the box.

  Ariel went to class – Science – and tried to focus. She pushed all thoughts aside and stared at the numbers, trying to make sense of them. At least there was a pattern to the formulas, something she could actually figure out. Everything else in her life, not so much.

  The afternoon dragged and she was actually waiting outside for her m
other when she pulled up. She didn’t have to run that day, she was keen to get out of there.

  “How was your day?” Mom asked, a little too happy for Ariel’s liking.

  “Fine.”

  She pulled the car into the traffic, heading home. “Your father and I were talking today. You’ve been very good this past week.”

  Ariel instantly perked up, was her mother talking about what she hoped she was? “Yeah?” She asked, keeping it casual.

  “We’ve decided you’ve learnt your lesson. You can have your laptop and phone back.”

  “Seriously?”

  “As long as you continue to behave. Remember, we can take them away again at any time without notice.” She backed up her harsh words with a stern look, making it clear they weren’t to be messed with. Ariel didn’t care, all she could think of was being about to talk with Gabe again. Instantly, her mood was heading towards elation.

  When they arrived home, Ariel grabbed the laptop and phone and ran for her room – taking the stairs two at a time. She needed to see Gabe and know that everything was alright between them. She needed to explain why she never answered any of his calls.

  Closing the door, Ariel simultaneously turned on her phone and laptop. While waiting for the computer to boot up, she checked her phone. There were twelve missed calls and just as many text messages. She scrolled through.

  Gabe accounted for about half of the texts, the rest were from her other friends who clearly didn’t remember her privileges ban. Ariel went through each one and deleted all those that were no longer applicable.

  That only left the ones from Gabe. They started off normally, he was just checking in to see how she was. Yet as the days passed, they grew more urgent. Why are you ignoring me? Why are you not talking to me? Did I do something wrong? She felt so bad that he had spent the entire week thinking he had done something to cause her silence.