The Love Curse

by Rebecca Sky

  ‘I know that man, he ain’t been prone to no seizures afore,’ the toothless waitress says.

  The groggy biker starts pushing off the ground. Marissa’s getting better at releasing her gift – his turning was only minutes long this time.

  I sigh. ‘Look, he’s fine now.’

  The man blinks at Marissa, opening his mouth to speak but she cuts in, ‘Come sit with us.’ It’s firm, a command, and the man nods.

  The waitress shrugs and continues with her work, and the other men wander back to their table.

  We take his elbows and guide him to our booth in the far corner, but before we can get him seated he starts to cry.

  ‘My love, I’ve found you.’

  Marissa turns to the boys. ‘See.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Kyle replies, with cynicism.

  ‘Fine.’ She crosses her arms and turns to the man. ‘I want you to stand on the table and do the funky-chicken dance.’

  Kyle snorts. ‘I doubt that man will do any dance.’

  ‘Just wait.’ Ben groans.

  Sure enough, the man gets on the table, kicking utensils and spilling coffee as he starts to dance. I grab my plate of fries before he kicks it too.

  ‘And sing,’ Marissa adds.

  The large biker dances and sings, flapping his arms and knobbing his knees. Everyone in the diner is pointing and laughing. Some pull out their phones.

  ‘I think he dun drunk his fill tonight!’ the waitress yells from behind the bar.

  I hide my face and flop next to Marissa. ‘Get him off now. You’re drawing too much attention.’

  Marissa motions to the large man. ‘Get down.’ Instantly he stumbles off the table. I raise my eyebrows. ‘And?’

  Marissa sighs. ‘And I want you to forget all about me and go on with your life. If anyone asks what just happened, tell them you’re drunk.’

  The man’s face changes instantly and he looks at the group with confusion. ‘What are you looking at?’ He glares and walks away.

  Kyle whistles. ‘If I had that power, I sure as heck wouldn’t be single.’

  I giggle, I can’t help it. It’s the most bizarre response to what he saw. A large part of me is thankful that his humour can distract me from worrying about my parents. I’m not ready for this feeling to end so I tease back, ‘I thought you didn’t want to date.’

  ‘Girls,’ he says, winking at Ben. ‘I don’t want to date girls. Ben’s much more my flavour.’

  Ben chokes on his mouthful of coffee. ‘Sorry man, you surprised me.’ He grins and wipes his mouth. ‘You’re cute, but not my type.’

  Everyone but Marissa laughs. ‘Of course he isn’t your type,’ she says, lashes fluttering as she slides closer to Ben and leans on his shoulder. It merits a glare from Kyle.

  Ben clears his throat and moves away from her. ‘The priests, um, when they were shooting at us, they mentioned the Committee. Who are they?’ It’s an obvious attempt to change the subject.

  ‘I’m not really sure,’ I say. ‘All I know is, they govern us, and make sure we don’t let the Hedonesses’ secret out or cause other problems.’

  ‘They wouldn’t be too happy about this conversation,’ Marissa says.

  Ben sits back in his seat. ‘We need to come up with a plan.’

  ‘Just like that?’ I say.

  ‘Just like that. We need a plan.’

  ‘You believe us? No more questions?’

  ‘I have some questions.’ Kyle raises his hand. ‘How do guy Hedonesses happen?’

  ‘That’s your only question?’ I ask, shaking my head. ‘After everything you’ve seen and heard?’

  Kyle shrugs.

  ‘They don’t, is the simple answer,’ Marissa says. ‘Male embryos aren’t strong enough to take the gift and they die.’

  ‘Maybe they just know better,’ Kyle says.

  I ignore him and keep my eyes on Ben. Marissa returns to twirling her hair and flicking looks in his direction, but he seems oblivious.

  He takes a sip of coffee. ‘I’ve heard, and seen, all I’m capable of.’ He glances at Kyle before settling his gaze on me. ‘I’ve made my choice. Now we need a plan.’ His shaky hand grips the mug, attempting another swig.

  I don’t understand. Ben’s risked everything so far, and this is the point of no return. He’s smart. He must realize that. ‘You’re still willing to help us? What about what you said in the truck?’

  His eyes flicker between hard and soft.

  ‘You can still go back,’ I say. ‘You can still be a cop. It’s not too late.’

  ‘This is so much bigger than that.’ His eyes are only hard now. ‘Besides, I can’t go back. Aiding and abetting criminals – sound familiar?’

  Kyle smiles. ‘You’re a badass.’

  ‘Stop flirting with my boyfriend,’ Marissa interrupts.

  Ben spits out his coffee. ‘What …?’ Ben takes a deep breath and turns to Marissa. ‘Let’s settle some things here. We,’ he says, releasing the mug and pointing between them, ‘are not dating. Got it?’

  Marissa doesn’t answer, and I struggle to suppress my smile. Ben keeps his attention locked on her, eyebrow raised. Finally, she crosses her arms over her chest and glares. ‘Got it.’ Despite her confidence, her lips tremble.

  I’m thankful when the waitress comes by with a fresh pot of coffee – we could use the distraction – but Ben waves her off. Kyle holds up his empty mug and frowns.

  ‘We should get going,’ Ben says.

  I slide my plate to the end of the table. ‘I’m gonna try Paisley again. See if they have any new info. Can I use your cell? Mine’s dead and my charger’s back at Kyle’s.’

  ‘Here,’ Marissa says, pulling out her phone. She glances at the screen and frowns. ‘Never mind, I’m at two per cent and I don’t have a charger with me.’

  For everything she carries in that gold bag, you’d think she’d remember a phone charger.

  ‘We’ll have to find a payphone or internet café,’ Ben says. ‘But first, we need to get off the road. They’re probably looking up Kyle’s info as we speak. It’s only a matter of time before they have the make, model and licence flagged in the system.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Kyle turns over his empty mug and starts a pyramid tower out of the creamers on top.

  ‘Every traffic and highway cam could be tracking our movements. Do you know anyone we can swap vehicles with?’

  Kyle thinks. ‘My pastor. He might be able to help us find somewhere they won’t look. He’s kinda like a dad to me – he’s the one that brought me over from the Philippines.’

  Ben finishes the last of his coffee and stands. ‘We don’t have any other leads. It’s worth a try.’

  ‘Uh, after what just happened, shouldn’t we be avoiding church people?’ Marissa says.

  Kyle reaches across the table for another bowl of creamers. ‘Don’t you trust me?’

  ‘No,’ she says.

  ‘I do.’ And I mean it, and not just because he’s my cousin – anyone who cares that much about their family has to be good.

  He flashes me one of his charming smiles. ‘We can sleep in the church parking lot. It’s sheltered by trees and a big rock wall. It should be safe. Pastor Ron usually gets in first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Ben says. ‘We can take turns keeping watch at the wheel. If anyone suspicious comes around, we’ll drive away.’

  ‘Oh please, I’m not driving.’ Marissa slides out of the booth. ‘Do I look like a chauffeur?’

  Kyle nudges me. ‘Hey, Rach?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Can you use your power thing to turn Marissa and make her nice?’

  ‘Ha.’ I smile, diverting my eyes from Marissa’s glare.

  ‘No seriously, you should.’

  ‘I’m standing right here.’ Marissa crosses her arms.

  ‘I can’t.’ I shrug and stand, following them to the till. ‘It doesn’t work the same on … others like me.’

  Marissa
shakes her head. ‘Hedonesses are immune to the gift. Women in general aren’t affected like men cause we’re the genetically superior gender. If we turned a woman, all it would do is make her pass out.’

  ‘Oh yeah? That’ll do,’ Kyle says. ‘Rach, can you turn her now, please?’

  Kyle nudges me until I open my eyes. ‘Yeah?’ I mumble.

  ‘Your turn to take watch.’

  I nod and clamber into the driver’s seat, rubbing out the crick in my neck. A couple hours of sleep isn’t enough. I’m running on fumes. I could use some of Ma’s strong tea right about now. Or better, my ma.

  My leg starts to tingle. I stretch it as best as I can behind the wheel. When that doesn’t work, I resort to punching it, trying to get the blood flowing. Ben shifts in the passenger seat and I realize he’s awake. He nods to my leg assault in question.

  ‘It’s asleep,’ I whisper.

  He grabs the keys, his sweatshirt and the blanket Kyle gave him, and hops out, waving me after. Careful not to wake Marissa or disturb Kyle, who’s trying to fall asleep, I slip out of the truck, slowly putting weight on my leg, and close the door behind me.

  Ben tosses the blanket and sweatshirt on to the hood. ‘Stargazing? We can stretch out.’

  Sounds perfect. I nod.

  I’m about to climb up when a car approaches, its headlights illuminating the entrance to the church lot. I hobble back to the door as fast as my leg will let me. I’m ready to dive in, start the truck and race to safety, but the car continues past us, its engine fading into a gentle purr.

  ‘Phew,’ I say.

  Ben holds up the keys. ‘We’ll keep these close.’ He hops on to the hood and spreads out the blanket. I steal the moment to properly stretch my leg. When he’s done, he turns and offers me his hand. I’m hesitant to take it, feeling the swirling electricity waiting on the surface of my skin.

  ‘I got it, thanks,’ I say, stepping on the bumper and using the wiper to pull myself up. It’s less graceful then if I’d let him help, but at least there’s no accidental shock incidents. We sit propped on the windshield, the blanket wrapped over our legs, the keys in the small space between us. The night air is cool and I hug my cardigan tight, though the chill doesn’t bother me – it’s the nerves being next to Ben that make me shiver.

  ‘You don’t need to wait up with me. I got it from here.’

  ‘I can’t sleep anyway,’ he says. ‘Too much on my mind.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  He turns and even in the dim moonlight his blue eyes pop. ‘I thought Officer Ammon was crazy for thinking aliens abducted those boys,’ he says, his tone becoming more serious. ‘Still, a small part of me hoped he was right. That there was something more than us out there. Now I know it’s true – just not what I expected.’ He pauses and smiles. ‘It’s probably why I didn’t put up a fight when you guys forced me to come with you.’

  ‘Not just gathering bonus points for police academy, huh?’

  ‘Yes … No … I don’t know.’ He chuckles and rolls on to his back, staring up at the stars. ‘So there are gods and stuff. Does that mean there’s heaven and hell?’

  ‘There are many different versions of those, yes.’

  He glances over, puzzled by my words. ‘Will I ever be able to see the people I’ve lost again?’ The sadness is back, but this time there’s something far more dangerous than grief in his eyes – this time there’s hope.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I confess. ‘But we’re taught about a utopia called Elysium. Anyone good who is remembered by the living spends eternity there. I like to believe that’s true, and that one day I’ll go there too.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he says quietly.

  His sadness is becoming more than frayed cuffs and lonely eyes – it’s thick and tangible and hangs off every part of him. Whoever it is he lost, he loved them dearly.

  ‘Assuming someone remembers me,’ I add.

  He looks at me again, holding me in his stare. ‘I’ll remember you.’

  I break eye contact and turn on to my back, hoping he doesn’t notice how fast I’m breathing or how loud my heart races, because the beat is filling my ears. I lose control around him. And I can’t risk that.

  The hard glass hurts my head. I try finding a comfortable position using my arm as a pillow.

  ‘Here,’ Ben says, rolling his sweatshirt and sticking it under my head. Where his fingers touch, my skin burns.

  ‘Thanks.’ I take it without argument and slide away, giving myself some much needed space. His foot brushes mine and my body fills with fire. This is going to be a long night.

  Another car approaches. We jolt alert. Dive for the keys. Our heads bonking before we make contact. When it continues by, I giggle and rub my forehead. Our faces are only inches apart. Ben’s eyes lock on mine. At that moment, I don’t feel the sting of a newly rising bump – I feel a fire from my soul. All of me heats and I’m afraid I’ll explode. I pull away, hop off the truck, pacing and rubbing my arms.

  ‘Your gift?’ Ben asks, catching me off-guard and making me stop.

  ‘I think so.’ I turn back to him, feeling the burn of his stare. ‘Or my arms could be asleep. Kinda feels the same.’

  ‘Why does it do that?’

  Because of you. ‘I don’t know.’

  Once the surge calms, I return to the hood. We sit in silence, sharing the odd glance and smile, and watching the sun rise, painting the sky with the most beautiful pinks and oranges. For those brief quiet moments, everything is perfect.

  A minivan pulls into the lot, and Kyle hops out of the truck and stretches. Ben and I sit up, on alert.

  ‘That’s Pastor Ron,’ he says.

  I flick a look at Ben and we catch eyes for a second, both realizing our stolen time together is over. As if on cue, we get down and set to folding the blanket. The lights in the church come on, and the three of us stand around the truck for a moment, waiting for Marissa.

  Kyle stretches. ‘What I would kill for a coffee.’

  ‘Same,’ I say, still tired from the last watch. Ben must be exhausted – he hasn’t slept at all.

  Finally, Marissa hops out. Somehow she looks refreshed, her clothes not even wrinkled.

  ‘Shall we?’ Kyle waves us after him and we follow to a side door. I stop in my tracks when I see the name on the glass – Arrow Heights Pentecostal Church.

  ‘Everything all right?’ Ben asks.

  ‘Yeah, no, I’m fine,’ I say, forcing a smile.

  Maybe Ma’s right – maybe the gods do give us signs?

  We follow Kyle through the door and down the hall and right into the pastor’s office, without knocking.

  It looks like a mini library with packed shelves lining the walls and two small armchairs in the far corner. Pastor Ron sits behind a desk covered in stapled-on crayon drawings.

  ‘Kyle? I thought that might be you in the parking lot.’ The pastor lifts his head from a yellowed PC, an old relic. There’s a big Sprite sticker on the back and as we get closer I realize it says ‘Spirit’ but in the same font as the soda.

  ‘Hey, Pastor Ron.’ Kyle whisks around the desk and gives the man a huge hug, lifting him from his chair. The pair stay embraced, patting each other’s backs and laughing.

  ‘It’s been too long.’ Pastor Ron grins, holding Kyle back to look at him. It’s then that he glances past Kyle to the three of us standing wearily in the back of his office. ‘Who do we have here?’

  ‘That’s my cousin and her two friends. We came because we need your help.’

  ‘Cousin?’ Pastor Ron smiles as he walks over and hugs me with the same fervour. My entire body tingles with the excitement of being introduced as Kyle’s family. Pastor Ron lets go and extends his hand out to the others. ‘Any friend of Kyle’s is a friend of mine. Call me Ron.’ After the greeting, he turns back to Kyle. ‘So, what can I do for you all?

  ‘Like I said, we need your help.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘The police are after the girls.’

&
nbsp; ‘The police?’ Ron stiffens.

  ‘It gets worse,’ Kyle says.

  ‘I don’t know how you can get much worse than the police.’

  Kyle kicks at the old carpet. ‘I think they have my mom.’

  ‘Joyce?’ Worry floods Ron’s face. ‘Why?’

  Kyle glances at me. ‘That’s not important right now. The important part is – can you help us?’

  We grab everything useful from Kyle’s truck as we prepare to swap vehicles with Pastor Ron.

  ‘Kyle, could you come here?’ Ron calls, lifting his head out of the trunk.

  I watch as Kyle jogs over with an armful of blankets, and leans on the pastor’s van.

  ‘Tell me, did they do anything to merit the police’s attention?’ Ron glances at us, and I bend down, pretending to tie my shoe so he doesn’t know I’m listening.

  ‘Wrong place at the wrong time,’ Kyle says.

  I hate that he has to lie for us. The only person in the wrong place at the wrong time was Ben. Though, if I’m being honest, I’m kinda glad he was.

  ‘I don’t like this, not one bit,’ Ron says. ‘But I know you wouldn’t ask me if it wasn’t important. Help these girls and make sure your mom’s OK, all right?’ Kyle nods and Ron reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. ‘Here,’ he says, holding a wad of bills. ‘It’s not much, but it should buy you gas and food for the next few days.’

  Kyle smiles and once again hugs his pastor. It’s all I can do to keep from crying. If he knew what we are he wouldn’t be helping us.

  ‘OK, OK.’ The pastor pats Kyle’s shoulder. ‘And take these,’ he says as he removes two keys from the cluster on his chain. ‘This one’s for my van,’ he says, holding up the larger key. ‘And this one’s for the river house. If you don’t remember the way, I gave Ben directions. It’s about a day’s drive from here, but you should be safe there for a while.’

  ‘The river house?’ Kyle beams. ‘I’ve been waiting for this day.’

  Pastor Ron looks over his nose at Kyle. ‘I trust you’ll be respectful?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Kyle smiles. ‘Thank you, sir.’

  Ron grins. ‘Besides, driving that truck is going to do wonders for my ol’ ego. I may even take the missus out tonight.’