Who is Audrey Wickersham?

“Audrey?” My dad asked hesitantly.

  I waited a few seconds and then said, “Just tell me right now if you’re cooking something.”

  “No Aud, of course we’re not,” my dad said, sounding more worried. “Do you smell burnt toast or feathers or something?”

  “Oh my gosh, no,” I laughed. “I did not just have a heart attack.”

  “Well I had good reason to ask,” he mumbled.

  I lowered my hands down slowly to my sides, but kept my eyes squeezed shut because I was afraid of the light triggering another spasm of pain.

  The smell was overwhelming me. My stomach growled loudly and Bruce giggled. I opened one eye slightly and peeked over at my dad.

  “Hello there,” he smiled at me.

  “Hi,” I said back awkwardly. I felt really confused and suddenly under a tremendous amount of pressure, and I didn’t know what else to say. Staring at my dad, smelling his breath as he spoke to me…it was making me hungry. I looked over at Bruce and waited for him to speak.

  “What’s up with you Audrey? How’s your head?” He looked concerned.

  I closed my eye quickly and suddenly realized in horror that I smelled my dad and Bruce. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen. I knew it! I needed to get the hell out of here. I was going to eat them! I knew it wasn’t safe. I couldn’t let them know what was going on. I mean, how could I tell them this? “Oh hey guys, you smell really delicious and I would love to snack on you.” Right, that’s disgusting.

  What was I going to do?

  “Audrey?” Agnes asked, coming over to where my head was.

  Oh gosh, I couldn’t handle anymore of that smell. It was too much and I had no idea what I was going to do to them. I jumped up quickly and ran down the hall to the bathroom, ignoring their worried expressions and whatever they were trying to say to me.

  I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, sliding down onto the floor. What was I going to do? I had to go back out there eventually. Maybe I could ask them all to go to the store or something? And then I could just sneak out while they were gone? But where would I go! No matter what I was going to be surrounded by people. This was horrible. I could try and take my dad’s car and drive out to the desert. No…I didn’t want to risk any human contact and with that car I would have to stop for gas at least one to two times, guaranteed. Plus he would flip out once he saw that it was missing.

  I must have sat there for twenty minutes debating what to do, when I suddenly realized I was fine while I wasn’t in the same room as them. And nothing else had changed about me physically to reveal to them that I wanted to eat them or anything. I cracked the door open slightly and called out, “Agnes?”

  “Yes, dear?” I could hear her shuffling now down the hallway to come and speak to me. I closed the door quickly so that she was forced to talk through it.

  “Oh,” she said, surprised.

  “I want to talk to you, but it has to be through the door. Is that okay?”

  “Of course, Audrey. Are you alright?”

  “I’m just feeling a little weird right now, is all.”

  She was quiet for a few seconds and then she asked, “So what would you like to talk to me about?”

  “The spell you were going to do, do you think it could actually work?”

  “I don’t know,” she said quietly. I almost couldn’t hear her. “I want to try it though. It’s better to have hope in it than to feel nothing but despair.”

  I said, “Yeah,” to myself. I sat there thinking for a minute until she asked, “Is everything…okay with you? Are you ill? Or I guess I should say more ill.” She sounded nervous.

  “No,” I said quickly. “I’m okay. I think I just had something weird to eat. Could we…possibly do the spell with you out there and me in here?”

  She was silent, thinking, and then she said, “Sure, yes. I think that would be fine. I want you to be comfortable and I do not actually need to do anything to you directly.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Great. That makes me feel a lot better.”

  “Audrey maybe Bruce should come in and take a look at you. Just to make sure you’re really okay.”

  “No!” I shouted loudly. “Just, please. Do the spell.”

  “Alright,” Agnes said. I heard her walk away, back to the living room. I could hear their voices drifting down the hall as she explained what I had said to her. Then there was silence for a little while. I guessed that they were arranging whatever they needed to for the spell.

  I waited quietly, wondering how I would feel if it actually worked. I wondered what effect the spell would actually have on the Zomorwai. Would they literally disappear? Would they come pouring out of my body? That thought made me shudder. That was the last thing I wanted, a bunch of worms crawling out of my every orifice.

  After spacing out for a little while, I heard Agnes begin to speak. It went on for a bit, and I regretted not being out there to see it. My first spell and I was totally missing it.

  Eventually I heard all three of them talking together, so I assumed the spell part was over. Well, I didn’t feel any different. I waited for one of them to come to the door. After a few minutes or so I could hear my dad approaching. His lumbering walk was hard not to recognize.

  “Audrey? Are you all right in there?”

  “Yeah, Dad. I’m okay for now. I don’t feel any different though, in case you were wondering.”

  “Well, we have to wait for that black candle that Agnes brought with her to burn all the way down, so it should be a little while. Do you want to come back out here-”

  “No!” I shouted. I was getting freaked out because they were eventually going to demand that I either came out or explain why I was in here. I had to come up with an excuse. “I’m sorry, okay? I just…I have explosive diarrhea.”

  “Umm…okay Audrey.” He sounded confused, and also like he was trying not to laugh at me, and then he said, “But let me know if you need anything, okay?”

  “Absolutely. I totally will Dad.” Just go away, I added mentally. I leaned back against the door and prepared to be bored out of my mind.

  A sharp knock brought me out of my daze, and I jerked away from the door and turned and looked back at it as if it had assaulted me.

  “Audrey how do you feel?” Bruce asked eagerly.

  “I don’t know,” I said quietly. I started to stand up slowly and felt all achy from sitting in the same spot for so long.

  “What?” Bruce shouted. “Speak up!” It sounded like his mouth was pressed directly against the door.

  I smiled for a moment at the image of him all hunched over and shouting at the door, and then replied, “I said I don’t know! Give me a minute.”

  “Okay well hurry up already. I sat there staring at that damn candle for hours and I think I fried one of my retinas or something.”

  I shook my head and then began assessing my body, seeing how it felt overall. I went directly under the light and saw that my veins were still green. So…no good. Damn it.

  “Nothing,” I said through the door. “I’m still the same.” I wanted to cry, but I knew there was no point. I was stuck in this stupid bathroom until we could come up with something else or until I could figure out another safe place to be. Maybe my dad could go stay with Bruce? No. Picturing my dad in Bruce’s jungle-themed guest bedroom just didn’t jibe.

  “Audrey,” Agnes said from the hallway. “I have one more spell I would like to try. It’s something that needs to be done before you go to sleep, so that’s why I kept it until now. I think it has a better chance than the previous one.”

  “Well, I hope so. Because obviously that one sucked.”

  “Yes, well, we’ll see about this other one. I made it specifically for you.”

  “Can’t wait,” I said sarcastically. I felt hopeless.

  “Well I will need to give you a few things. And you will need to fill up the tub with hot water, as hot as you can tolerate. Then you will need to put the herb
s that I give you into the tub and let them steep. Then I will write down the incantation that you need to say.”

  “Are you sure this is something that can actually work? It sounds stupid.” I quickly added a, “No offense or anything.”

  “Well it is not stupid. It is old magick and it is our last chance. So I need you to believe that it can help you. That alone can have more of an effect sometimes than the spell itself. The human mind is powerful, Audrey.”

  “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Just tell me when you want to give me the stuff and I’ll open the door for you to slide it in.”

  “Fine. Give me a few minutes.”

  Great, now I had pissed off the one person who could possibly help me. I went over and sat on the edge of the tub, wondering if I should start filling it now or not, when there was another knock on the door.

  “Audrey? Please open up so I can give you the supplies,” said Agnes. “I have the herbs for you to soak in the water, and some candles that you need to light and place around the tub. There are thirteen of them.”

  “That was quick. Should I like, start filling the tub now, or…?”

  “Just open the door first so I can explain this to you in more detail.”

  “But…I don’t want to,” I said, frowning.

  “What?” Now she seemed really annoyed. “How else can I give you everything? This is ridiculous!”

  “Agnes I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be mean.” I went to the door and opened it slightly. “Just slide everything through onto the floor, please? I’m trying to keep everyone safe, trust me.”

  She was quiet for a while, and I started to think she had walked away, but then I looked down when I heard something slide in over the threshold. It was a little jar filled with a mixture of things, then a plastic bag filled with small white candles. I reached down to pick it up and suddenly Agnes grabbed my hand.

  “Hey!” I shouted, trying to jerk away. “What are you doing?” I kept the door in between us and I kept my hand in the bathroom, with her hand clamped around my wrist now. “Agnes please, you don’t understand.” I was becoming desperate, because that smell was drifting up to me and I was looking at her hand as if it were a big juicy piece of prime rib. “You need to take your hand back now,” I said angrily.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” she demanded. “I will let go as soon as you do.”

  “I told my dad earlier, explosive diarrhea-”

  “No,” she said, cutting me off. “I don’t believe that. There is something wrong with you. I want you to tell me.”

  Damn her and her iron grip! “Oh my gosh fine. I can smell you! Right now, your hand…it smells really good. Do you know what I’m saying??”

  With that she yanked her hand back to her side and said, “Thank you for being honest with me. And for not biting me.”

  “Yeah, anytime,” I shook my head, feeling annoyed that I had come a lot closer to biting her than I cared to really let myself believe. “Just please don’t mention it to Bruce or my dad. I don’t want them knowing this yet.”

  “It is between the two of us. Now, here is the incantation.” She slid it under the door, pulling it closed as she did. She continued to talk to me through it. “After you fill the tub and let the herb mixture soak for a few minutes, you must light the candles and then kneel in front of the tub--in the nude--and speak the incantation out loud. Then you will enter the bath and hopefully cleanse away the effects of the curse.”

  “Is that all?” I asked nervously. I didn’t want to forget anything.

  “One more part. While you are in the tub, use your hands to gather up the water and pour it over your head. Do this three separate times. Each time you do it, say this.” She slid another piece of paper under the door.

  I held both pieces of paper now, and the herbs and candles, and I said, “Okay, I’ve got it.”

  “Stay in the tub until the water has completely cooled. I truly hope this works Audrey.” She said this last part quietly. I heard her start to walk away, and I heard my dad approaching again.

  “Hey Dad,” I said.

  “Hey, kiddo.” He was quiet after that, and so was I. I didn’t really know what to say.

  “Well…you had better get started. I love you, Audrey.”

  “I love you too, Dad.” I don’t even know if he heard me or not, because I sort of choked it out. If this didn’t work, most likely I would be dead either way as of tomorrow. Zombie or vampire. Or some kind of hybrid maybe? Who knew? I guess the whole idea of having a week or more was completely wrong. But we were dealing with something that had never happened before, so I wasn’t surprised there wasn’t a precise timeline.

  I turned and started up the tub and waited until the water was scalding. I added the herbs as it filled, enjoying the aroma that wafted around me. It smelled sort of like Magick Eye. I placed each candle around the tub, some on the floor, and lit them all. It gave the room a warm glow.

  I undressed and kneeled before the tub, unfolding the first piece of paper Agnes had given to me. “Here goes nothing,” I said out loud.

  “A shadow has been cast

  Never meant to last

  By the full moon’s light

  I shall make things right

  Let this evil be expelled from me

  At curse’s end, no demon seen

  Cleanse me now as I enter this space

  Restore my mind before it turns to waste”

  I felt a surge of hope after I finished speaking the incantation, and climbed into the tub. It felt incredible after everything that had happened, and I immediately relaxed down into it. I waited a few minutes before doing the next part. I reached over and laid the next sheet of paper open, so I could easily read it out loud while pouring the water over my head.

  “Forgive me please for anything I’ve done

  Eliminate this spell with the morning’s sun”

  I repeated this twice more, and then laid back and enjoyed the warmth and allowed myself to totally relax.

  I was only disturbed once throughout the entire process, and that was when I heard Phantom start to lightly scratch at the door. He persisted angrily, and started yowling loudly when I didn’t respond. I heard my dad begin to lecture him quietly as he carried him away into the living room.

  I think I fully fell asleep after that and didn’t stir again until the middle of the night. I woke up slowly, confused about where I was and why I was so cold, but when I moved I suddenly remembered. I climbed out of the tub, dried off, and wrapped myself in my robe and then went across the hall quickly to my room and flopped down on my bed. I fell asleep again instantly. Hopefully everything really would be better in the morning.

  Chapter 8

  I woke up gradually…peacefully, I guess. My head felt normal and I was so relaxed. I laid there for a while, on my bed, and thought about actually getting up. I rolled over to look at the clock, and saw that it was only six-thirty. I wasn’t tired anymore, but it felt good to be curled up under my blankets. It dawned on me that I wasn’t having any issues with my memory. Could the spell have actually worked? I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I needed to know for certain if things had changed. I lifted my arm up so I could see it clearly in the sunlight, the one that had started turning green, and saw that it appeared to be less…well, green. But there was still a hint of it there. I guessed that was a good thing, but I would have to wait and see if it kept improving.

  I grudgingly got up from my bed and went over to close my door. I had left it open all night. That made me nervous, considering how I had been last night. But obviously I was getting better, so there was no reason to be scared. I pulled on some clothes and then went out to get some breakfast and to see if my dad was awake yet. If I smelled him at all, meaning if he smelled edible, I would be heading back to my room.

  Phantom followed me out, tripping me a little as we went because he kept winding his way around my feet as I walked. I came out to the kitchen and didn’t see my dad. That wasn’t too surprisi
ng though. He didn’t usually get up on weekdays until he absolutely had to. That suddenly made me realize that I was supposed to go to school today. Well, I guessed I would have to skip it until I knew that I was better. Hopefully my dad would see it the same way. Of course, he didn’t know that last night he, Bruce and Agnes had been on the menu, but still. I was technically sick and therefore I should skip school.

  I sat down at the table, and looked down at my hand that I had injured. I had taken off the wrapping before getting into the tub last night and it appeared now that there was still a gash, but there wasn’t any green stuff oozing out. It just looked like a big cut in my hand that was trying to heal up. I didn’t try to open it up to see if there was any green underneath the skin, because I was scared it would start seeping again, plus I was just disgusted by it.

  I had been sitting at the kitchen table for a good twenty minutes now, staring at my hand. My dad still hadn’t come out. It was almost seven, which is when he usually forced himself to get up, so that he could do everything he needed to do and head to work by seven-thirty. I got up and walked to the front of the hall, and then called out, “Dad? Are you going to come out here?”

  I waited a few seconds and when I got no response I walked down to his door and knocked. “Dad?” I waited in silence, hearing nothing on his side of the door. My heart jumped up into worry mode. Not quite panic yet, but I was close. “Okay Dad, I’m opening the door.” I waited another moment, just in case he was coming out of his shower or something and couldn’t hear me. Who was I kidding though? There was no noise coming out of his room. I would have heard the shower running. A fleeting thought came and I shoved it away just as quickly. It persisted though and I thought What if I already killed him? There was no way. There would be a body, for starters. It could be in the room…

  Stop it! Just open the door, I said mentally. I put my hand to the knob and called out again, hoping he would respond, “Dad?” I practically shouted it, and I suddenly felt totally alone, and now really scared too.

  I turned the knob and opened the door a crack, and peeked in towards his bed. I thought maybe he could have just been in a deep sleep. I saw nothing though, except for an empty room. I mean the furniture was still there and stuff…but, no Dad. This really sucked.