BREAKING CURSED BONDS

by Elisabeth Zguta

  Pierre went to Rachael, moving through space and time by sheer will. Emilie soared with him, feeling the sense of wind blowing through her very soul, and knew when her father had finally found her. Pierre raised his arms up in protest, and laid hands on the evil veil that possessed Rachael. He pushed back against the wickedness, commanding it to leave her. Emilie pushed and wielded her strength as well. A vague image appeared through the mist, and she could see her father’s determined expression, with clenched teeth and raised brow. She felt his fortitude; no resolve had ever been so pure.

  However, the malevolence was strong, and possessed deep-seated power. Pierre couldn’t push it away from the girl, its hold was too tight, even with Emilie’s most fervent attempt to help. Pierre knew what had to be done. He cried out with his essence to all the family members in this veiled space and summoned them to gather. Emilie became aware of many spirits—her father, grandfather, great grandfather, and many more. All of the spirits throughout the centuries, belonging to the de Gourgues lineage were now there, united as one strong force of nature. It was an intense sensation, and Emilie surged with inner strength from the reinforcement.

  In her heart, Emilie acknowledged that this moment was Pierre’s destiny. All along, it had been his role to free his family from the curse. He opened his soul and with his life force appealed to the other spirits. He led the way, knowing that together they could defeat the evil, breaking the cursed bonds with one united will.

  A heavy fog appeared; Emilie’s breathing became labored, somehow hampered by the humid air. She heard water splashing, as if someone was trudging through a swamp, forcing their way through murky waters. She saw a figure emerge, Captain Dominique de Gourgues, the strongest of them all. When he materialized into the light, standing by his side was the tall and brave Chief Saturiwa. His ebony hair and dark eyes no longer seemed menacing like in her dream. His stare was fixed, determined, as he matched the Captain’s dignified stance. Both ghosts conveyed a sense that a mutual mission was about to happen, and that they were on the same side and at peace with each other.

  Using Pierre’s soul as a guide for moral strength, and the Captain’s and Chief’s spirits as the compass, together the ancestors joined their forces and banished the evil power away from the girl-child named Rachael.

  Emilie sensed Rachael’s release. Freed from that realm, she returned to the earthly space. Rachael’s spirit fell, racing rapidly back down the path of the veil, in a blur. She swirled down the tunnel back to her shell, filling her body once again. Rachael’s spiritual being melded with her physical, and Emilie envisioned herself falling too, to the point of nausea, yet she felt so liberated.

  The lineage was emancipated, and their souls set free.

  Pierre’s spirit soar, feeling light as air, in a euphoric high, his burden of earthly beliefs gone. He was one with the spirit world, and he knew this was where he wanted to remain. He would not return to Earth. She watched his spirit fly by in bliss.

  Emilie was heartbroken, even though she understood her father’s experience of total happiness, his nirvana. Pierre was finally at peace, but she knew this was the last time she would sense him. Her father had chosen to die, and now she’d be without him.

  She turned, detecting someone powerful close by. It was her mother. Bethany slowly revealed herself, and Emilie could see her mother’s delicate face, heart-shaped like her own, with her freckles and soft pink lips. Bethany joined her father, and together they filled each other with deep love and peace. Emilie sensed their happiness.

  They forgot Earth. Her parents’ suffering was erased and replaced with love. This was their eternity, their forever after. Together, Bethany and Pierre melded their spirits, appearing as a single bright light in the vast universe. Emilie was alone, her parents’ spirits gone from her, forever.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Seconds went by in the physical world, after Pierre’s body went limp on the floor. Only a moment passed as everyone stared at his lifeless form.

  Emilie was in a tailspin, filled with her own anxiety and processing her father’s last experiences as well. Somehow, she’d connected with him in a way she had never done before. She had seen and felt everything in the other dimension, and she was confused by the bizarre wonder of it all.

  Emilie heard Rachael, gasping and wheezing for air, like she had just escaped from drowning. She watched as Michelle rushed to her side. Rachael sat up, her face glowing, her beauty restored. She looked healthy, her cheeks filled with color and her hair lustrous. She had been saved.

  “She’s okay. It worked!” Michelle called out to the others.

  The lights came back on. Emilie turned her attention back to her father on the floor, unresponsive. Jeremy was at his side, trying to resuscitate him, pounding on his chest and counting. He pumped her father’s chest in even thrusts, fiercely trying to save him. Jeremy refused to give up, until Father Eddie edged him aside minutes later.

  “It’s over. Now he needs his last rites,” the priest said.

  Kneeling near her father’s body, Father Eddie took out a purple cloth and wrapped it around his neck. He held a bottle of holy water and some blessed oils and made the sign of the cross over her father’s eyes, ears and mouth, mumbling prayers and absolving Pierre of his sins.

  She wondered if it mattered whether her father received the sacrament before or after he died. She knew her father was gone before anyone else realized it, and she couldn’t feel any hint of his lingering presence. Even though his last emotion was jubilance, she still mourned.

  The fire in the hearth had died down to coals. The room smelled smoky, and Michelle was spraying air freshener at Rachael’s request. She stole a look at their father lying on the floor and Michelle almost buckled. Emilie watched as her sister drew in a deep breath and then returned to Rachael’s side. Father Eddie continued to sprinkle holy water over Pierre’s body and kept reciting prayer after prayer for his friend.

  Dazed, Emilie sat on the floor next to her father’s body, with tears sliding down her cheeks. She tasted the saltiness and wiped her face with the back of her hand. Emilie felt drained and unable to speak, which didn’t matter because she had no clue how to explain her experience on the other side of the veil. They wouldn’t believe her anyway, especially Michelle.

  The emotions in the room were erratic. Emilie attempted to sort them out, weaving her way through, but they were layered too thickly. Echoes of the spirits from the other side lingered in her mind, too. She was afraid things had gotten beyond her control. Jeremy placed his hand on her back. It helped to know she wasn’t alone, but his confusion only added to the burden.

  Rachael appeared grateful to be alive and well, smiling and looking gorgeous as ever. However, she also seemed confused, as she searched the room for Robert.

  “Emilie, call the doctor, please,” Father Eddie said.

  She mindlessly pulled out her phone and dialed Doc Hannigan’s number. She heard Eddie ordering the others in the room as she waited for the doctor to pick up.

  “Quickly, let’s get these things out of here. Dump what’s left and wash everything thoroughly. Jeremy, take the knife and all the ingredients and dump them in my bag. That’s right. Here are my keys, lock them in my car,” Father Eddie said. “No one can know about the potion. There can’t be implications of foul play.”

  A voice answered the call. “Hello this is Doc—“

  “Doc Hannigan, this is Emilie de Gourgues. Come to the house now. My father… he’s dead.”

  “I understand. I’m on my way.” The Doc hung up, not sounding surprised to hear the news. Meanwhile, the others were straightening the room. Jeremy grabbed the keys and did as instructed. Father Eddie wrapped a bandage over the knife wound on her father’s arm and rolled down his shirtsleeve. Michelle had grabbed a vacuum from the closet in the hallway and swept up the sand on the floor. Emilie had never seen her sister clean house before, and for a bizarre brief second she was amused. The only thing that remained from the
ceremony was Pierre lying there, dead on the floor.

  The doorbell rang. Michelle escorted Doc Hannigan up the stairs to the front bedroom. He nodded at Rachael when he walked into the room, then went to Pierre’s body.

  Doc Hannigan was an older gentleman, and took his time bending down to be close to the body. He pulled a stethoscope out of his bag and inspected her father, checking his vitals for heartbeat and pulse, then opened his eyes and shined a light into the orbs. When finished, he pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and called for a transport to the morgue. He smiled, but the smile seemed foreign on his soft and humbled face. “I’m sorry for your loss, girls. I know how much your father loved you both. It looks like he went painlessly; look, he has a smile on his face. It’s better this way.”

  “What does that mean?” Michelle snapped.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive. It’s just that going fast like this is often a better alternative than having your father drag things out and suffer through chemo and all.”

  “Chemo! Em, did you know about this?” Michelle spun around, outraged.

  “No, of course not.” Emilie leaned toward Father Eddie. He shook his head, obviously also unaware of Pierre’s true state of health. “I wonder why didn’t he tell us?”

  “Maybe this was all done to spare us?” Michelle said.

  “Let’s not worry anymore. He’s with Mother now.” Emilie was uncertain about a lot that had happened, but her parents’ happy ending was the one truth she felt confident about.

  A few minutes later, Jeremy led the paramedics into the room. They recorded the time and particulars on a paper form snapped onto a clipboard. Doc Hannigan signed the paperwork for the death certificate, and the two men prepped the body to be carried out.

  “I tried CPR, but unsuccessfully,” Jeremy said.

  Doc Hannigan nodded. “It’s a shame. He was just in my office the other day, too. He wasn’t much for appointments, so I knew he wasn’t feeling well. Almost like he sensed it was about to happen.”

  “Well, at least I was able to give him his last rites,” Father Eddie said.

  Eddie said more prayers, asking God’s blessing on the family in this time of sorrow. The attendants did a side-glance each time Eddie made the sign of the cross in the air, as if the priest was a crazy man. Many in the South were suspicious of Catholics. If only they knew how wayward this priest had gone. Emilie watched as the scene played out, remaining distant, like it was all an old movie and she was in the back row.

  “Emilie, are you all right?” Doc Hannigan looked concerned, as if he had asked the question a few times already. He stared at her, checking the pupils of her eyes.

  “Yes, Doc, I’m fine.” Everyone in the room knew it was a lie.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Emilie sat in the corner chair and watched the others. The transport men were just leaving, along with the Doc Hannigan, when she heard a car roar up the driveway, then the car door slammed. She was sure it was Robert. There was a commotion downstairs before he dashed up the stairs, racing toward the front bedroom.

  Robert burst into the room, and immediately looked at Rachael. He jerked his head back a second and looked confused when he saw her sitting up in bed, looking healthier than ever. “Oh my God, Rachael. I had such a fright. I thought that something was wrong. Why is there an ambulance in the driveway? What’s going on?”

  Rachael shifted her gaze and Robert followed. He saw everyone crowded around their father, who appeared dead on the gurney. Men were strapping the last belt, and preparing to leave.

  “What happened here?” Robert said.

  “Sorry, Robert,” Doc Hannigan said as he held out his hand. “Your father has passed away. Sorry for your loss, son.”

  “How did this happen? What did he die from, heart attack?”

  “Yes, it looks like his heart gave out, but the fact is that he was riddled with cancer. Looks like he was spared a painful and long road of suffering. Someone was looking out for him.” Doc raised his eyes.

  “Yes, indeed.” Robert looked around the room, taking in every detail. He froze, staring as the men passed by him, wheeling out the body.

  “Robert, Father had a heart attack, he was gone before we could help him. Jeremy tried to resuscitate him, but it was hopeless.” Michelle choked the words out between sobs. It seemed as if the reality of the situation was beginning to take hold for her.

  Emilie watched as Robert scanned the room. Everyone else was sending out many emotions, mostly dark. A jumbled mix of sadness, remorse, confusion. But the negative vibrations unleashed from her brother shouted more loudly than all the others. Robert glared as if he was angry, and she figured it had nothing to do with Father’s death. Something else was eating away at him.

  He recovered his poise in an instant, pulling himself together like a true performer. He moved to sit at Rachael’s bedside. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

  “Robert, it’s as if a weird miracle happened in this room.”

  Emilie overheard Rachael and wondered if she’d spill something about the ceremony.

  “Your poor father died, right there on the floor, but I feel perfectly well. It’s as if he gave me his life.” She averted her eyes. “I am so sorry about your father.”

  Robert pressed his lips together tight, and inhaled short breaths. After a moment, he leaned over, gave Rachael a kiss on her forehead, and absently began playing with her thick hair. “You look wonderful, Rachael. It’s as if you were never ill.”

  Emilie noticed he had something in his other hand, which he covertly slipped into his pocket, and then he held Rachael’s hand in his.

  What was he hiding? She was vaguely aware of more commotion as people began to file out of the bedroom. Emilie got up from the chair, not able to remember how she’d gotten there in the first place. Jeremy offered his arm, and as they left the room she heard Michelle suggest that Robert and Rachael sleep in Robert’s room, since Father had died here.

  Robert followed them out and then turned down the hall toward his own room. He pulled out his cell phone as he opened his bedroom door.

  Emilie tugged on Jeremy’s sleeve and mouthed, ”Wait a minute.”

  They stopped and she listened. Her brother was on the phone with someone, and she wanted to know what he was up to. Emilie turned around and walked closer to his room in order to eavesdrop.

  “Do you freaking believe that! Right there on the floor. It blows… Yes, I can still get the money but things will be shut down for a few days now… Yes, it’s in the charter. But… Let me check… Okay, we’ll meet up in a couple of days.” There was a rustle, as if Robert was pacing the floor. “What? Oh, she’s fine. Like a miracle, I just don’t get it. I didn’t even have to use a dose… Yes, well I guess it all worked its way out of her system on its own… Uh huh, you too.” He stopped talking.

  Emilie turned and ran away from Robert’s door, pulling Jeremy along as they fled down the hall toward her own room. Once there, she listened and waited until Robert walked out of his room. He went into Rachael’s room for a moment and came back out saying, “Yes, let me get a bite to eat first. I’m famished. I’ll be right back and help you to our room.”

  Robert blew Rachael a kiss.

  Emilie scooted back into her room and closed the door quickly.

  “What was that all about?” Jeremy asked.

  “Didn’t you hear him? Robert was talking to someone on the phone and I bet it was Tom Bennett, or maybe Laura, my father’s secretary. Hmmm.”

  She went back to the door and peeked. “He’s gone downstairs. Hurry before he comes back up.”

  “Hurry and what?”

  “I need to check something. Come on.” Emilie pulled Jeremy back into the hall, and led the way to Robert’s door. She went in and looked around for his jacket. It was flung over the desk chair. She dashed over and checked the right pocket, pulling out a small bottle and a packaged syringe. She opened her hand and showed Jeremy.


  “See, look at this.” She read the label. “It’s sodium thiosulfate. Why the hell would he have a syringe and this in his pocket? Do you think he’ll notice if I take it?”

  “Hell, yes,” he replied.

  “Do you know what it’s used for?”

  “A dose of this can work to dechlorinate tap water. I’ve used it before in the field to stabilize water before is flows into rivers. It kills ringworm, and it also reverses cyanide poisoning, if caught in time.” Jeremy’s face suddenly went pale. “You don’t think that your brother…”

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said.

  The two of them went back to Emilie’s bedroom and sat a moment, taking in the new discovery.

  “They did tests on Rachael, right? They would have known if she was poisoned, wouldn’t they?” Emilie said.

  “You would think so, but the tests they performed might not pick up ataxia if it wasn’t something they were looking for. The human body already has some trace of cyanide, so maybe nothing triggered an alert in the bloodwork. Besides, it’s not a common thing here in the States, it happens more often in third-world countries where they eat staples like yuca that produce cyanide naturally. If prepared incorrectly, they can actually die. Wait, Em, yuca is also called cassava,” he said.

  “You don’t think that Robert gave Rachael cassava? As in the same plant we used in the magic drink that flipped my father into some hallucinated dream state and ended up giving him a heart attack? Oh, I can’t even imagine that my brother would do that. I mean, I think he loves her.”

  Jeremy shrugged. “Well, maybe it was innocent. Maybe what we found in his pocket was there only to help her. You know, like a last-resort kind of thing.”