matter how many times she slammed the rock into the watch there was never a scratch.
“Karen sweetheart what’s going on?”
Her father rushed to her side grabbing her arm preventing her from smashing the rock against the watch again.
“What are you doing?”
He picked up the watch from the ground.
“No, don’t touch that? It’s evil”
“Honestly Karen it’s a beautiful watch. Was this Marks? Did the two of you break up? Is that why you’re trying to destroy it?”
“No, we’re still together but we have to destroy this watch”
“Nonsense, come on lets get cleaned up for dinner, you know how your mother gets when we’re late”
He stood pulling Karen to her feet.
“But what about destroying that watch”
“Karen we are not destroying it and that’s final!”
Karen hadn’t heard his voice this stern in a long time. Not since the time she ruined his favorite model car.
“If you don’t want it then I’ll use it.”
“NO!”
Her father’s brow rose at her sudden outburst
“It’s broken. The clock inside it moves backwards”
Her voice much quieter, barely audible over the sounds around them
With a sideways glance at her, Karen’s father clicked the watch open to see if his daughter was lying.
“Hmm you’re right. I will see if I can get it fixed tomorrow”
“But…”
She protested again but her father turned his back on her and briskly walked towards the house signaling the end of the conversation. Karen stared after him as he disappeared through the kitchen door.
“UGH” her fists clenched she stalked towards the house. The scent of chicken and potatoes greeted her the moment she entered. The anger faded only to be replaced with frustration.
All through dinner Karen was distracted trying to think of a way to get the watch from her father but she couldn’t come up with a single believable plan.
“Karen are you alright?” asked her mother pulling Karen from her thoughts.
“Oh Yeah”
“I put your shopping bag on your bed. It’s a gift for Mark right? I think he will really like it”
“Yeah me too. May I be excused?”
“Sure sweetheart,”
Her mother stole a worried glance at her husband then looked at Karen’s barely touched plate.
“I think her and Mark may be having a rough patch. I saw her outside trying to break a pocket watch with a rock”
He leaned in to speak to his wife not aware that Karen could still hear the conversation. Karen rolled her eyes as she placed her plate on the counter before heading to her room.
“Oh. I see”
Karen’s mother looked in the direction her daughter had disappeared. Once upstairs Karen flopped on her bed nearly knocking the gift for Mark onto the floor.
“Whoa”
She grabbed the bag by the handle gently setting it on the floor.
Karen contemplated sneaking into her parent’s room to see if her father had taken the watch there before dinner but decided against it since they usually watched T.V. in there after dinner.
She reached for the T.V. remote. Sound instantly filled the once silent void. It was a show she had never seen before. The actors were talking about a ruined vacation soon Karen tuned them out as she was lost in her own thoughts of how she was going to destroy the watch before the curse killed her. Slowly Karen slid into a deep dreamless sleep.
“Turn off the light”
She shielded her eyes from the brightness around her. When the light didn’t subside she forced her eyelids open still using her hands to filter out as much light as possible until her eyes got used to it. Karen looked up at the ceiling and gasped the light bulb was still dark, but the room was as bright as day.
Where is this light coming from?
She swiveled her head until the source of the light was found; on her nightstand the golden watch had bright white light radiating out from it. She sat petrified on the bed staring at the now hovering watch. The light was getting too intense for Karen to continue watching, she was forced to shield her eyes but only for a few moments before the light died down and her room came back into focus.
Before her stood a monster whose razor sharp horns reached for the sky scraping the bottom of her ceiling fan. Its long tail swayed back and forth like a dog’s tail does when it’s happy. Only this tail was sharp enough to leave a huge gash in the side of her desk. Its body looked as if it was made from some type of rubber material but its eyes were the most frightening; glowing red staring at her as if seeing through to her very soul.
“S…so you’re the curse?”
She didn’t really expect an answer but needed to hear another sound beside the monster’s rasping breath. It took a step toward her the entire house shook as if caught in an earthquake.
Fear enveloped her as the monster took another step closer. Her entire body was shaking but the one thing she knew was she didn’t want to die here.
Frantically, Karen looked around for a way out. The monster was blocking her path to the door but if she could only distract it she could make it to the window and her freedom. She glanced around for something she could use as a weapon. She spotted her backpack leaning up against the wall. With renewed hope and strength She slowly backed up against the wall until it was within reach.
The monster got closer; Karen couldn’t believe her parents didn’t wake up with the thunderous sound of the monster walking towards her. Its putrid smelling breath found it’s way up her nose; Karen nearly gagged at the smell covering her mouth with one hand she clutched her fist around her backpack with the other.
The monster, now only a foot away stopped, raised a sharp claw. Karen’s fingers tightened around the strap before swinging upward with all her might. The backpack struck the beast in the side of the head with a loud crack.
A strange sound escaped the monster throat as it raised its hands to its head.
Karen ducked under the monster’s raised arm and headed for the window.
“AAAHHHH”
Something strong grabbed her ankle sending her falling to the ground. She hit with a loud thud, the air was forced out of her lungs in a whoosh causing her to gasp as she drew in a new breath. In seconds the monster was on her.
“No, I don’t want to die”
Tears once again drizzled down her cheek she kicked with both legs hoping to connect with something, but the monster remained unfazed. Once again Karen was staring at the razor sharp claws pointing at her face. She closed her eyes waiting for the pain of the claw to slice through her flesh. She could hear the monster snarling as it prepared to attack.
At first it was nothing more than a whisper soon the high-pitched growl grew louder. Slowly, Karen opened her eyes there were now two monsters in her room. Between the two they nearly took up every free space in her room. She started back and forth between the two their features were identical. The only difference Karen could see was the eyes. The second monsters eyes were a bright blue, the color of a beautiful summer sky.
Karen slowly slid out from under the red-eyed monster, pushing her body under the desk as the two monsters faced off. The blue-eyed monster was the first one to make a move it lunged at the other, tackling it. They smashed into the window, shattering the glass into a million. Luckily for Karen the desk provided excellent cover as the pieces of glass rained down all around her. On shaky legs she crawled out from under the desk being careful of the glass shards now covering the floor. She glanced out the window hoping it was all a dream but the two monsters were wrestling on the ground below each slashing at the other.
Screams of pain filled the once silent night as each clawed hand tore through it’s enemy sending splashes of blood in all directions. I
Karen gasped i
n awe watching the red-eyed monster rip a small sapling from its roots like it was picking up a baseball bat from the ground. Raising it high above its head the monster swung the sapling at its enemy’s head. It connected sending the blue-eyed monster sprawling to the ground causing the entire house to shake.
With a snarling grin the red-eyed monster put its foot on the chest of its enemy to holding it to the ground. It raised its now crimson claws for one final blow.
Karen frantically looked around her war torn room for something she could use to get the red-eyed monster’s attention. The one with blue eyes saved her now it was her duty to return the favor.
“Leave it alone”
She threw a book, which had fallen off the shelf, as hard as she could, hitting the red-eyed monster in the shoulder.
Claw still raised the monster snarled at her as if giving the warning she was next; swallowing the lump in her throat Karen took a step away from the window.
This tiny distraction was just what the blue-eyed monster needed. One clawed hand wrapped around the ankle of its attacker pulling it downward while the other pierced directly through the chest of the red-eyed monster.
Shrieks of pain and agony filled the night. Karen covered her ears to drown out the horrible sound but it wouldn’t leave her.
When the blue-eyed monster pulled its hand back out it was holding something; Karen covered her mouth to prevent from throwing up. The blue-eyed monster was holding the still beating heart of its enemy.
With one final flex of the hand the blue-eyed monster crushed the heart; sending its opponent crashing to the ground dead.
Slowly, starting with the feet
The Gold Watch Page 5