“We don’t know. Someone came into the hospital complaining about it a few hours ago, and then suddenly we were getting dozens of calls about the same illness.” The nurse walked away towards another house to help another doctor with a patient.
“You don’t think-”
“I do. It has to be us! What other reason would there be to have a huge outbreak of illnesses like a plague in less than a day?”
“Well, they could have eaten at D’s Diner again. You know the food is horrible there.” Andrew smacked the back of my head and walking down the street.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
“To Shawn’s. I think we need to read through that book now.”
**********
Walking to Shawn’s took forever without a car. Andrew was afraid that we would get in a car accident with us being cursed and all. I was more afraid about us getting mugged than actually getting into a crash. It took about half an hour, and when we got to Shawn’s he was starting to close up.
“Shawn! Hey! We really need that book right about now.” Shawn hurried inside to grab it and threw it at us.
“Take it. It’s not selling and it seems that you need it more than I do. I’m heading into town, need a lift?”
Andrew and I piled into the back of Shawn’s car. There was no way we were walking all the way back to town, especially now that we had something valuable. Shawn’s car was probably the only clean thing we had ever seen of his. He dropped us back off at our house, and we ran inside to our room.
Andrew opened the book and threw it onto his bed. I sat next to him and we both started reading.
There wasn’t much on the curse, but any little thing helped. A long time ago, when the Native Americans lived in large tribes, a beautiful woman would travel between the tribes. She would stay a few nights and seduced five men into loving here. The woman only wanted a perfect relationship, but each time the relationships would crumble. She took the necklaces her lovers wore, and cursed them with the feelings she had; anger, fear, sadness, jealousy, and hate. Each necklace amplified those emotions, causing the men to go insane, hurting the one’s that they loved and eventually harming the entire tribe. To get rid of the curse, you had to fight off the feelings, or leave them behind. Either you broke the curse, or it broke you.”
“Andrew, I think you have to fight it off.”
“How the hell are you supposed to fight off anger?!”
“Well, for one maybe you should try not to get angry.” Andrew kicked me in the leg after saying that. “Maybe it means you have to get all the anger inside of yourself out.”
“Ugh, why can’t there be easy curses? Or curses that give you something positive?”
Suddenly there were kids running down the hallway towards the common rooms. There was chanting and yelling down the hall, so Andrew and I got up to follow everyone. We made our way through the crowd to the front of the ring of people to see a huge fight. Some of the older boys were swinging punches at each other and yelling across the ring.
“I hate you! You’re a no good rotten little bitch! Go home already!”
“Ha, you think that’s me?! You’re the worst roommate ever. You don’t even belong here!”
They were back at it again, punching each other over and over again. I recognized the kids too; it was Dean and Joshua from down the hall. They were never violent towards each other, and had lived together for years now. They were some of the nicest kids I had ever known!
“Break it up right now!”
Some of the officers from down the street came in and started pulling them away from each other. They were cursing at each other, promising to murder them in their sleep. Dean was placed in handcuffs, then escorted outside while Joshua was escorted to the office. I had never seen so much hate come out of two people at the same time.
“I think we should get out of here.” Andrew pulled me by my shirt out the door.
“You don’t think-”
“I’m positive that was because of us. You know those boys. They would never act like that towards each other. Plus, I could feel some of the anger coming off of the other boys too.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
While we passed one of the street lamps we heard a huge shatter of glass. When we looked up at it, we noticed that the lamp had completely broken. The farther we walked, more of them started doing the same thing shattering just as we passed them.
“Well, that doesn’t make me feel like something isn’t going to murder us.”
“I don’t think anyone would want to try and murder us.” My arm started to burn some more, so when I pulled up my sleeve I noticed that the tattoo had grown. “Andrew, it’s getting worse. What happens if we can’t make this go away?”
“I don’t know.” Andrew nervously ran his hand through his hair, obviously concerned for our future.
“You know what I think we need? We need another raid. That should cheer you up!”
“Nicky, we can’t just go raid a house. You know that people are on edge right now.”
“Yeah, sure. But why not get some more money?!” I tried to give him my best smile, but I could tell he was seeing right through it.
“What did you do this time?!”
“Nothing. Well, nothing that would make you happy.” I nervously laughed and tried to look anywhere but at him.
“Please tell me you didn’t buy stupid crap again.”
“Well….”
“Nick you can’t fall back into your old habits!”
“I can do whatever I want! Part of that is my money, and I can spend it as I wish!”
“You can’t just go spending it on stuff though!”
A few months ago, when Andrew and I first started stealing from houses, I would always take the money and spend it on anything I wanted. Clothes, CDs and other junk. Andrew saw those items as worthless and chastised me for wasting money. He would hide the money from me, or lock it away so I couldn’t reach it. I just wanted to get things that I was never allowed to get, and now that I was free from the orphanage I deserved them.
“You’re just like them.” I mumbled under my breath.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I said you’re just like the rest of them! You are always telling me what I can and can’t do! Every time I try to do something by myself, you always tell me it’s the wrong thing. Well newsflash bud, I’m my own person and I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“Oh, really?! Fine! Go ahead and do whatever you want! Don’t expect me to let you back into our room either. Your stuff will be waiting outside for you.”
“Andrew, I didn’t mean-”
“Oh, so now you’re sorry? You’re just a selfish little brat!” Andrews eyes were turning that ugly shade of black again, and his fury was building with every step he took towards me.
“I do everything for you! I make sure that you don’t starve, and that you have good clothes to wear. Then you go ahead and take money from me and say you can live on your own? You’re untrustworthy, stupid, arrogant, and reckless. You are exactly the reason why I left my family.”
“At least you had the choice to leave!” I could feel myself losing control again, but with tears running down my face and my heart torn to pieces, I didn’t care anymore. “You had everything! You had a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, and an amazing life! You could have gotten anything you wanted! I was pulled away from my mother and thrown into a van. They told me my mother couldn’t have me anymore. They told me she was a life threatening harm to me, and that I would never see her again. They took everything from me!”
“You think my parents didn’t take anything from me?!” The cement under our feet started to crack, and even the sky started changing colors. “My parents locked me away from the world! It was always school, school, and school. They never let me have friends over, or even go anywhere. People avoided me because of how strict my parents were. I was the biggest target for bullying at school, but my parents
didn’t care. It was always about my sister. My sister got everything from them! She was adored by them; they worshiped her. Everything was about her, and I was drowning in her shadow.”
“Oh boo hoo, go home and cry to mommy about it. At least you could find them if you wanted!”
“I can’t believe that I ever considered you a brother to me.” Andrew shoved me to the ground and forcefully kicked me in the ribs. “I want you out by morning.”
With that Andrew turned around and started walking down the street. The street lights shattered around him, and every footstep cause the concrete to crack. Overhead a storm was brewing; thunder was sounding from every corner and lightning was off in the distance. I had a feeling that the Andrew I knew was never going to be the same again.
As the anger slowly faded from me, I made my way back over to the house. There were ambulances parked outside the house, and families were gathered around the entrance. I pushed my way through the crowd, again, and walked into the house. All of the other kids were out in the common room, but nobody was talking. A few of the girls were crying, and some tried to comfort them. There were two emotions reading on everyone’s face.
Fear.
Anger.
They were purposefully avoiding each other. Glares were being thrown across the room, and a few people looked as if they wanted to murder each other. There were some holes in the walls, and a few broken chairs laying around. It seemed that another fight had broken out while we were gone. Everything was spiraling out of control, and I had no idea how to stop it.
“What did you do to them?!”
One of the boys from down the hall grabbed me by my shirt and threw me against the wall. I could see specks of black in his eyes, exactly as I had with Andrew, and possibly myself. The curse was spreading, and I had to break it fast.
“What are you talking about?”
“Sammy! He’s in a coma because of you!” A small crowd of boys had gathered around us, and some of the adults outside were staring as well.
“Jessica too! She had a seizure.”
“What about Liam?!”
“And Jacob!”
“Hey! What are you talking about?!” Everyone quieted down, waiting for someone to answer.
“They’re all sick or dying. They’re the closest people to your room, and you’ve been gone all day. Confess Nick. We know you hurt them.”
“I swear, I didn’t hurt them.” Nobody believed me as they all broke out in laughter at what I said.
“Take him out back.”
Suddenly, three other guys grabbed me by the arms and dragged me towards the emergency exit. When they dropped me by the dumpster one of the guys punched me right on my jaw.
“That’s for Jacob.”
A few more guys held up my arms, while others punched me over and over. There were a few kicks to the stomach too, and after a minute I could barely breathe. I could tell my nose was broken, and maybe a rib too. They kept swinging, punch after punch, until one of my eyes was almost swollen shut. My saving grace was when Mrs. Armstrong, the overseer of the house, came out.
“Boys!” She pulled them all away from me. “That’s enough. Inside now!”
Mrs. Armstrong helped me up and I hobbled over to one of the ambulances. I sat down on the back as she called a EMT to check on my wounds.
“Are you ok?” she asked, trying to sound as caring as possible.
“Yeah. Just a beating, nothing I’m not already used to.” I flashed her a stupid smile, but ended up wincing in pain.
“I don’t know what has gotten into these boys. I’ve never seen anything like this in the thirty years I’ve worked here. They aren’t themselves and I don’t know how to help them.”
“Don’t take it personally. We're the troublemakers. The rejects.”
She remained silent as the EMT stitched up my forehead.
“I should probably tell you now. I’m leaving tonight.”
“You can’t-”
“I know, I’m not allowed to leave early. But I think it’s for the best. With everyone all scared and blaming me, I might not make it through the night. Just pretend like I ran away or something.”
I had really become good at lying to people over the years.
“Ok then. Leave your sheets and the clothes we gave you when you moved in. Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah. It’s time for me to go.”
“But what about Andrew?”
“Trust me, he won’t miss me at all.”
The EMT finished tending to my wounds and Mrs. Armstrong escorted me back inside. Some of the adults outside stared at me, others glared, but most didn’t care at all. I had become a ghost inside this town, which was great for a long time. Now, everything had changed and I just wanted to be noticed by someone. I wanted someone, anyone, to walk up and ask if I was ok. I wanted a family to share Christmas with and open birthday presents. I hated being a ghost. But I had to leave. And find another town to be a ghost in.
I walked down the old familiar hallway to our room, and stood in front of the door. I peeled my name off the door from underneath Andrew’s and walked inside. I opened the drawers of the dresser and threw my clothes onto the bed. I dug out my backpack from the bottom drawer and slung it over my shoulder.
I started stuffing clothes into my backpack, but I hovered over a couple of old shirts that I had. One was an old Ramones shirt that I got at Shawn’s the first time we went there. He hated that I was wearing a sweater with holes in it, so he threw that shirt at me and told me to change. Another shirt was actually one of Serena’s. One night Andrew and I slept over and we joked about all the floral shirts she owned. She told me to go try one on for myself. Everyone joked that I looked good in it, so I decided to keep it.
I was really going to miss them.
I took all the posters off my walls too. Old movie monster posters like Frankenstein and Dracula that I got from my brother. He loved collecting these things and he left them for me when he got adopted.
Once those were folded and placed in my bag I started tearing down the pictures. Some were of my idols and others from the crazy youth group adventures. My most precious photos were the ones by my bed. I took down the picture of my mother first then the picture of Andrew and I on our first day here. We both fell into the creek behind Serena’s house and she just so happened to take a ridiculous picture of us.
I folded my bed sheets up and laid them on my bed. I dug around a bit for my first pair of clothes; a blue polo shirt and khaki pants. Nobody liked them, but at least it was better than the rags most of us showed up in on our first night. I folded up the shirt and pants, then laid them on top of the sheets.
I picked up the rest of my little trinkets from my raids too; a little stuffed animal, a few books, pocket mirrors, and of course all of the little figurines I had kept. I grabbed the little green blanket my mom had given me from under my mattress, and wrapped everything in that. Before I placed them in my backpack I grabbed one of the dolls. I went over to the dresser, grabbed some paper and wrote out a little note to Andrew.
Andrew,
So after one year of friendship this is how it ends. Kind of anticlimactic don’t you think? I mean, we could have become Batman and Robin, or Mario and Luigi.. Instead we’re doomed to be Thor and Loki; once brothers now turned arch enemies. I’m really going to miss everything we used to share. You were my brother, Serena my sister, and together we were a strange, messed up family. My own personal family. The worst part is that Serena hates us now and you wish me dead. I guess that was doomed to happen though. When I finally think I have found a place to belong it always crumbles beneath my feet. Don’t worry about me though, I’ll be alright. I’ll find another house, hopefully without any curses, but with more friends. You get to start life over in college, so don’t go screwing things up now. Keep your grades up, don’t flirt with too many girls, and start making a good life for yourself. You deserve a better ending than this. For me, I still have a few years left before I
start over. I’ll make it through, somehow. Maybe I’ll find a perfect girl, and she’ll love me even with all of my flaws. Nah, I’ll probably wind up just like you, minus the college part of course. I’m gonna miss you Andrew. Oh, and that Captain America doll, it’s all yours. I always thought you were just like him.
Nicky
I laid the doll on top of my letter, and walked out of the room with my backpack over my shoulder. I couldn’t exit out the front, so I sneaked around to the back exit. It was the only door besides the main one, that didn’t have an alarm hooked up to it. That was thanks to us kids though, particularly the tech savvy ones.
Now it was just me, myself, and I. I had the world at my fingertips, yet I didn’t want any of it. I had no place to go, no family, no friends, and almost nothing to live on. Over the past year I had a total of two friends. Now they were gone and I didn’t know what to do. What I did know was that I couldn’t stay there.
I held my head up high and started walking down the street, heading away from town. It was an open road in front of me with amazing memories behind me. Anything was possible and I was reaching forward to a new future with every step.
As I neared the town line I felt a familiar pain in my arm, but this time I felt as if I was gaining something. I wasn’t angry, or drained of energy, but instead I started feeling lighter. I felt happier than I had the past week. When I rolled up my sleeve and looked down, the tattoo started fading from my skin. The further from town I walked, the more the tattoo faded.
Finally, I saw the solution to the curse. I had to get rid of the anger, but it wasn’t just the anger. I had to get rid of the source of everything; the only thing that could ever make me angry. I had to be free of the only thing that weighed me down. Unfortunately, the thing that weighed me down, was also the only thing that made me feel like I had a family. This whole time, the solution was right in front of me.
Andrew.
I had to leave him behind to set us free.
The Abduction of Abigail Page 3