The Cursed Dragon

by Rachal M. Roberts

Then Ravanan instructed Kalara to leave the apartment. She did, even turning around to show him the door that had the number 208 posted on it. There was an outdoor staircase that she went down.

  Now he was getting somewhere with her. Ravanan made note of the trees and topography. Kalara even looked behind her at the style and color of the apartment complex, tan with green trim.

  Then he told her to walk to the mall where he had found her – here the road map fell apart. The landscape and buildings all tended to look the same, typical and nondescript. The wonder of being inside a car was apparently more exciting than driving through the outside world. Some buildings were remarkable enough for Kalara to remember, but for the most part she hadn’t cared enough to observe where she was – which was very uncharacteristic for a dragon. Eventually Ravanan gave up and told her to stop.

  If only he knew where to look for Annette. She had to be somewhere in the middle of the continent.

  Kalara’s body started walking to the middle of the chamber, just like Ravanan did when he wanted to morph back to his base dragon form.

  Then she heard him say “Oh, we almost forgot, I know you don’t want that robe ripped in two when you shed your tiny human form.” She felt the ceremonial healing robe leave her body to be stored once again. Now she was naked, even though she couldn’t look down to see her skin she still felt the openness and cool cavern air on her most private of body parts.

  She was walking, not of her own volition but willing all the same. She was trying very hard to stay calm despite her anticipation. It was going to happen, after a year of waiting, she was going to find her past. Ravanan must have observed her thoughts because she heard him cast “CALM” on her. Her heart and breathing immediately slowed down, and she didn’t mind at all because it was for the best, she wanted this, desperately.

  Her body arrived at the destination point, and almost immediately she heard herself cast “REMEMBER EVERYTHING FROM MY LIFE”.

  Nothing happened. No memories, no past, they weren’t there. The whole spell had been for nothing.

  Her world was quiet.

  Kalara felt Ravanan walk out of her mind which made her feel even more empty. She had nothing he wanted, not even hope. She was truly alone. There was nothing inside of her, not even a person, she was hollow.

  It hadn’t worked.

  She ran, not caring where, she just took off and ended up at the seer pool. She was crying and fully expecting to die soon, it didn’t matter, nobody knew her or what she was. What she was didn’t even have a name, she was a grotesque mishap that reeked of humanity.

  Ravanan came near her at the water’s edge and she braced herself for the killing blow. She bowed her head and pulled her hair around to the front, exposing her neck.

  Without looking up Kalara said “I’m ready. You don’t have to say anything, just get it over with.”

  She was hurting so bad she let her tears fall without wiping them, it didn’t matter for soon she would be dead, her human body was motionless with sadness.

  Had Kalara been even remotely sensitive or aware, or had looked at him, she would have seen his tears, his pain. Ravanan was in as much agony as her.

  Ignoring her, he released his sapphire robe back to the wardrobe chamber and jumped into the seer pool, swimming deeper with every stroke until he couldn’t be seen. He didn’t return.

  Chapter 11

  Todd was worried for his step-mom. Almost a month had passed since she had left to get Kalara. He couldn’t call her because she had intentionally left her phone. If only she had said where she was headed maybe he wouldn’t worry so much.

  The needs of their people continued though, and Todd was glad that he had stayed behind to help his tribe, or rather, he was glad for any opportunity to visit the sweat lodge and pay an offering to speak with the ancestors. The tribal elders didn’t like it though because he was so young, they forbade anyone from referring to him as a medicine man or going to him officially for their needs even though everyone knew Annette’s special connection with the ancestors was also in him. His medicine worked, even his healing salve and chant worked, but like all of his various medicines and tasks it came with a price he was happy to pay. The drawback being he had to pay first every time before he could work his medicine, making his patrons have to wait outside of the lodge. It would be exhausting and impossible work without the stamina that came from the gift of the rooster and a high protein diet.

  Todd had always had a high sex drive, just as much as any other guy, if not slightly above the norm. But as often as the Earth was taking his seed, his lifestyle was not sustainable without the extra testosterone. Sometimes the thought would cross his mind how very peculiar his spiritual calling was, to have sexual relations with the Great Spirit, sometimes several times in one day, was unbelievable, but his ancestors had known what was expected of him and had given him a way to cope with the task; a drain that would surely destroy a regular man. And as with any beneficial situation, the one receiving the benefits did all they could to minimize drawing attention to it and risk losing it, in other words – he didn’t talk about it. Todd didn’t want it to end and was giddy with happiness, to question it would be folly. The Great Spirit was blessing him, his muscles were bigger, his mind was sharper, his medicine was powerful, and of course there was the pleasure of knowing he was giving himself to the most beautiful being in the universe, life could not be better for him.

  But one thought kept nagging at him, how had Jenniffer known about the gift of the rooster? He also found it odd that his sister was with Bill at all, it didn’t make any sense.

  One morning he decided to find out and went over to Bill’s house. Sure enough, Jenniffer was there and he had woken them both up. He waited outside the front door and he could hear his sister being her usual grumpy self, she never had been a morning person.

  Footsteps thundered to the door.

  Bill opened the door, his cheek was red from a slap and fresh fingernail tracks. Todd didn’t know what to say so he just nodded and walked in. Bill went to the bathroom and Todd was left standing in the living room. Jenniffer bolted from the bedroom carrying her high heels and purse, making a beeline for the door. “Good morning Jenniffer, sleep alright?” Todd grinned.

  “Go to hell Todd. Go straight to hell.”

  Todd followed her outside, “Did he hurt you?!”

  “Yeah, his morning breath is vile. The disgusting pig should have killed himself instead of trying to be in my world.”

  Todd held her arm to keep her from leaving. “Seriously, are you alright?”

  Jenniffer huffed, she rolled her iridescent-blue-green eyes and glared at her brother “No, I’m not fucking alright!” she began to cry.

  “What did he do to you?” Todd demanded.

  “Nothing.”

  “Then why are you crying?”

  She only shook her head and looked away.

  “What the hell? What is wrong with you?”

  “It’s Annette. She...” and then Jenniffer dropped what she was saying and hung her head.

  His heart skipped a beat “Annette?! Is she here? Why didn’t she come to the house first?”

  “No, I haven’t heard from the bitch.” Jenniffer tried to wiggle free from his grip.

  Todd wanted to slap her for calling their step-mom that but he didn’t. But neither did he release his vice-tight hold on her arm. “Then what are you blaming her for? Tell me what is going on! You look horrible, like you haven’t slept in days.”

  “Todd, I want to tell you, but I can’t, I just can’t. Now let my arm go. I want to leave.” She was frantically trying to pull away like a raccoon caught in a claw trap.

  “Fine!” Todd let her go “Just tell me this, do you like Bill or not?”

  “Hell no!”

  “Then why are you sleeping with him?”

  Jenniffer didn’t answer him, she slammed the car door shut and sped off, kicking dust in the air and leaving deep tracks in the yard.

  Todd
found Bill in his kitchen and took him by the neck. “What

  “Nothing, I swear!”

  “Yeah, she said the same thing and I don’t believe it. You raped her didn’t you?”

  “Come on Todd! You think I’d do something like that? I mean, I know you two aren’t close or anything, but I would never harm her, she’s your sister. I love her.”

  Todd shoved him hard “Like hell you do! What did you do to her? Is it the gift of the rooster? Has it messed you up? Tell me what you did!”

  “I woke up. It’s like this every morning. I wake up looking into her pretty face, watching her sleep. That’s all – I swear – I watch her sleep and then as soon as her rainbow eyes open and she sees me, she slaps the snot out of me and storms out of the house. She is so different in the mornings! At night, everything is great, she’s happy, I’m happy, then the sun comes up. If she wasn’t so hot and I wasn’t so freaking horny all the time I wouldn’t be with her. I mean she is a pussy cat at night, but man alive, daylight comes and you’d think I was bedding down with a man-eating tiger. We ought to call her Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde.”

  “No kidding?”

  “Like I’m gonna lie to a medicine man... or my best friend for that matter.”

  “But it doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know, I can’t figure it out either.”

  “Well, when did she start being this way? Was it after you took the gift of the rooster?”

  “It has been this way all along with her, ever since I looked at her car.”

  “There was nothing wrong with it was there?”

  “Nothing. I figured it was just a way to get me in bed.”

  “Yeah, I thought the car sounded fine when I heard it. Can you believe she got rid of her corvette? What is going on with her?”

  Bill shrugged.

  “Look, Bill, you are the closest thing I have to a brother and I want to believe you, but I can’t. I know my sister and she don’t like you. And just because she ain’t my favorite person in the world doesn’t give you the right to hurt her. I know what I saw and it doesn’t look to me like Jenniffer wants to be here. So why was she? How did you get her here?”

  “She drives over here.”

  “You’re telling me that my sister drives for over an hour so she can fuck a guy that she can’t stand? Something isn’t adding up. Don’t you find it odd that she went from hating you to wanting you? I do, and I think somehow you are making her do it.”

  “Are you calling me a liar? I told you, we love each other. We are SLEEPING TOGETHER! Don’t you get it? Now I told you all I know, why don’t you go talk to her about it? Better yet, if you don’t believe me, then get your ass over here at night and watch!”

  “I just might do that.”

  “Great. Enjoy the show. Maybe you’ll see her tramp stamp, it has my name on it.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Todd drove his fist into Bill’s cheek.

  “That was a bad idea” Bill said as he wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth and reared back with a tight fist. But he didn’t get the chance to throw it because Todd was quicker and didn’t wait for a gentleman’s word exchange. Punch after punch came at Bill’s face, there was no time to defend against Todd’s fury, however, the fist fight was in Bill’s kitchen and he knew the path of retreat would take him over the dog’s water bowl and to the knife drawer. Bill acted the punching bag and back-stepped strategically over the water trap, letting Todd trip in it.

  Todd looked up from the water puddle to a serrated blade. Bill wielded the knife out the back of his fist with his arm drawn across Todd’s chest. “I don’t want to fight you Todd” he warned. But Todd was getting ready to lunge, fueled by twice as much testosterone as a man should have.

  “Too bad!” Todd knocked him down and pried the knife away. The punching resumed, with every hit Todd said his words “Leave. My. Sister. Alone!”

  “NO!” Bill roared and with a mighty strength he flung his arms wide, grabbed Todd by the shoulders, then launched Todd across the floor. Once free, Bill scrambled outside. Todd followed and was surprised at the door as Bill planted his foot in the small of Todd’s back and kicked him into the yard. “Get your ass outta my house! And don’t come back until you know I’m not lying!” The door slammed and locked. Todd started to break the old door down then thought better of it when he heard Bill cock his gun.

  Todd drove out that afternoon to see Jenniffer in Tulsa. He knocked on the door “Jenniffer? You home?”, he waited “I went by your work, they said you got fired. Why didn’t you tell me? Come on Jenniffer..... Open the door.”

  “Go away Todd.”

  “No. We need to talk.”

  “I don’t want to see you.”

  “Fine by me. I’ll just yell really loud. WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING WITH BILL?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “WHERE ARE YOU CATS JENNIFFER? LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT!”

  That did it. Jenniffer opened the door “Shhhhhh, everyone will hear you. Don’t say it please.” she said as she went back to the couch where apparently she had been sleeping moments before.

  Todd joined her in the living room. The apartment looked fine considering Todd hadn’t been there in over two years, the only thing wrong or missing was her cats. “Jenniffer, I didn’t come over here to fight. I’m worried about you. I can be nice if you can.”

  Jenniffer gave a laugh “Did I miss something? Is it Christmas already?”

  “Are you alright? I didn’t know what to think this morning. I mean, look at you...” he paused to take in her rats-nest-hair-do “It’s like you’ve just given up trying to be pretty.”

  “Todd, you don’t have a clue what I’m going through. Just leave it at that.”

  “How can I – when obviously something bad is bothering you? Is it the cats? I know that must have been hard for you, I’m sorry you had to do that.”

  “It’s more than that.”

  “What then? Why did you lose your job? And why were you over at Bill’s last night?”

  “I can’t tell you because Annette won’t let me.”

  “Oh. Don’t worry about that, I won’t tell her you told me. What is going on?”

  “No, you’re not getting it, I am not able to talk about it, even though I want to.”

  “OK then,” Todd looked puzzled “.....let’s talk about Bill.”

  “Jeez, Todd, what is there to say? I hate your friend, you know that.” She grabbed the remote, quickly losing interest in the conversation because she knew it was going nowhere.

  Todd kept on at her. “How do you know about the gift of the rooster?”

  Jenniffer looked a little lost at first but then remembered “Oh, yeah, that. Boy that is really gross isn’t it? Did you really do it?”

  “You didn’t answer me, how do you know about it?”

  “Can’t really say.” she tried to focus on the TV.

  Todd was getting nowhere with her. “Why do you go over to Bill’s? If he is abusing you then stay away from him.” He ignored the TV and noticed a tear falling down her face. “Oh, that’s it! I’m gonna kill him. The son of a bitch.”

  Jenniffer turned to him “No Todd, don’t. It’s not him. I hate him but he has nothing to do with this.”

  “You are not giving me anything here. What am I supposed to do? Sit back and watch you get raped?”

  Her face was wet with tears, “He isn’t raping me. He’s not making me do anything. It’s all me and I don’t want it to be. I don’t want to be with him.”

  “Then why are you?”

  Jenniffer was quiet. She’d had many days to think and plan when she wasn’t trying to catch up on sleep. She looked down at her coffee table where there laid her make-up mirror, fresh clean towel, a paring knife, and a big spoon. The trash can was waiting next to the table to receive her eyeballs if she could ever muster up the guts to do it. She wanted to so bad but every time Jenniffer got ready to pluck out her eyes, knife in hand, she froze in a panic the fear of pain
was too great. Todd hadn’t even noticed her make-shift surgery table, it was all perfectly normal for their little messed-up family to have knives lying around.

  In all her planning though, she’d been riddled with emotional shock and stress, unable to think properly, and hadn’t considered going to Todd for help. He’d never been her first choice for help because she knew he was close to Annette. Annette, the bitch, oh how she hated that woman.

  Annette was continuously on her mind throughout her bizarre but regular day, every day she would wake at Bill’s mid-morning, drive home, bath, sleep some more, sit on the couch, then at sundown Annette caused her to go sell her body for a while until she drove out to Bill’s to finish the night. The days were running together to the point where she was nearly a zombie and the calendar date no longer mattered.

  She wondered if she could trust Todd now, she knew he didn’t know about her possession and she wondered what he would think about it if he did. She remembered the dandelion puff curse, she hadn’t tried to write it down because she didn’t want her fingers to break, and she knew she couldn’t talk about it either. What would Todd do if he found out? Jenniffer wondered what Todd was doing now without Annette around and guessed that he was still as loyal as ever to their step-mom.

  “Let me think”, she was trying to clear her thoughts and begin a new plan, but what seemed logical to her was skewed by her irrational thinking.

  “Alright.” Todd waited.

  An idea came to mind. Jenniffer reached out and took the knife in her hand and held her breath.

  “Jenniffer.... what are you doing?” Todd was apprehensively inching backwards, he didn’t know whether to flee or grab her.

  She would do a test and she knew that one possible outcome of the test would be that she would finally dig her eyes out of her skull. It all depended on what her brother’s reaction was. Maybe he really knew about her already and was just being mean to her. It could all be over so quick, the possession curse would end. She could be free, he could watch her do it.

  As Todd watched, Jenniffer reached up and delicately placed the point of the blade to the corner of her eye.