The Curse

Dick had always had bad luck with the opposite sex. So much in fact that on more than one occasion he had wondered if he had been cursed at birth to never have a fruitful relationship.

Even though his marriage with Jane had been the longest relationship that he had ever had. The thought had crossed his mind once or twice that his curse had finally been broken. The love of a good woman had shattered that chain and freed him at last. Those first five years with her had been the happiest time he could remember.

She gave him Little Nell, his daughter, and he would always be thankful for that no matter what his wife had done to him. Her golden locks of hair and sweet smile could light even that darkest night. It was for her that he was thankful that the bad times where now finally over.

He looked in the rearview mirror and watched his precious angel as she gazed out the window. She hummed in perfect tune with the song that played on the radio as her eyes moved from passing buildings to moving cars back to passing buildings. Nell held on to a small brightly wrapped package, had fingers idly drumming the side of it.

Her mother, he thought, had not been the perfect woman after all. Oh sure Jane and his relationship had started off great, but isn’t that how it always starts. Showering each other with kisses upon waking every morning. Only to fall asleep in one another’s arms that same night.

The years passed and, like most other couples, we teased each other about having secret admirers. There was that coworker that would look her up and down when she walked by and had his own pet name for her.

Then there was the secretary that worked in his office. You know the type; they always seemed to wear some short skirt or dress that showed off her long legs and would wear tight blouse or sweat that hugged her large breasts. She also wore a necklace with a golden-heart pendant that always rested so perfectly in the cleavage. Jane commented that she noticed her looking at him with hungry eyes.

It was fine and fun at times, but when Dick got that long awaited promotion and that secretary was no longer just a secretary in his office but now his secretary is when things changed. His new position had him working long hours late into the evening.

At first when he called to tell her that he would be working late and she inquired about Ms. Legs, her name was Helen but that was the nickname the guys in the office had given his secretary. “Was she working late as well,” she asked on more than a few occasions? Sometimes the reply was yes, although most times it was no.

Dick knew then that something was wrong, instinct most likely, but didn’t think anything of it. Like a fool he made a playful remark or two about what Helen, Ms. Legs, wore to work and how he caught her watching him when she thought he wasn’t looking.

That is when Jane started showing up the office unannounced. Reflecting on it now, he realized that she was checking up on him under the guise of ‘bringing him something to ‘eat’ or ‘just in the neighborhood and thought I would stop and say hi.’

He cursed himself for not seeing it sooner; maybe if he had things would not have ended the way they had. Jane slipped into a depression.

She would not eat and had trouble sleeping at night. Dick, in return, saw what was happening to his beloved wife and took some time off from work to help her through it. After a few days she seemed to get better, even had a smile on her face some of the time. He even thought about counseling, but when he mentioned the possibility she rejected it with such fierceness the only thing he could do was stare at her in wonder.

This woman that he loved beyond words was now a mystery to him. Later she apologized assuring him that nothing was wrong. He now wished that she had gone, but like they say hind sight is always more clear.

The following Monday he returned to work to find the office in chaos and his late nights started again. When he called to explain why he was staying late Jane hit the roof. She accused him of cheating on her with Ms. Legs.

“I see how she looks at you!” she charged. “And I know you look at her.”

He tried reasoning with her on the phone even though his anger was growing by the minute. She threw harsh words at him and then his own words that he had said before, but she twisted them. They were no longer the playful teasing in which he had intended, but cruel lies that in her eyes where proof of his adultery.

Angry he hung up the phone and felt that old feeling creep back in like a cold chill sweeping up his spine. He felt the curse’s return tickling the back of his neck and he froze. Afraid that if he turned he would see it perched, the fat hairless imp, on the back of his leather chair, grinning a many-toothed smile from pointed ear to pointed ear.

He could hear its shrill voice in his head, “Nope,” it said, “I’m still here.”

It took him more than a hour to get the thought from his head and two before he would look back to make sure the creature was in fact not there. The rest of the evening was spent on how to convince his wife that he wasn’t cheating on her.

Dick pulled into his sister’s driveway and put car in park. “Do you have everything?” he asked Nell as he glanced back. He hoped that she hadn’t seen how lost in thought he had been on the drive here.

“Yes daddy,” came the reply as her tiny hands gathered the present and a small card. They got out of the car and walked hand-in-hand up to the front door. “Do you think Margaret is going to be here?”

Dick glanced down at her smiling face, “I’m sure she already is. Tell Timothy happy birthday from me.” He kneeled and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“I will.”

He rang the doorbell as he stood, “And have fun. I’ll be back in a later to pick you up.”

The door opened and, with a wave and a smile, she was gone.

He could have stayed for the party, but he needed this time to think and be alone. Besides she needed to forget, if only for a short time, about what had happened.

Dick was sure that Nell knew what had happened. After that night Jane and he said very little. He tried to talk with her, but every time he brought up the subject she would say nothing and storm off upstairs to their room. He thought about following her and would have but Nell’s room was next to their room and he was sure that an argument would wake her. He hoped that time would ease the tension enough so they could talk the following day, but it didn’t.

Over the next few weeks her paranoia grew with each passing day, as did their fights. He even thought that he saw her watching for him from across the street as he worked. He felt eyes on him as he drove to nearby restaurant for lunch. Her accusations increased until finally he couldn’t take it anymore, he gathered some things and left.

He drove around for an hour contemplating on getting a motel room for the night, but he knew needed to talk to someone or he would drive himself into madness. He went to his sister’s finally hoping that she was still up.

Confiding to her of the problems they were having and he found himself staring down into his cup of green tea watching the reflection of the light in the rippling surface. She sat across from him at her kitchen table listening as he repeatedly told her that he was doing nothing wrong.

They weeks of blame wearing him down to the point where he thought that he may have done something or at least had the thought cross his mind. Which to him was just as bad if not worse than committing the adulterous deed.

His sister urged him to see a counselor. To see someone that could help them with their problem. Dick listened intently and remembered how she had changed when he had mentioned it last time. He pushed his cup aside, crossed his arms on the tabletop, and buried his head as he began to weep; all the while he could feel the weight of the curse more and more.

The next day at work he found himself picking up the phone and calling her father, Jimmy. Dick didn’t know why but he felt that her father might be of some help; she is after all his daughter. He spent the next few hours recanting the events that occurred.

Jimmy muttered a prayer, “Dear merciful God not again.” There was an uncomfortable silence before he started speaking again. “There is something that you need to know about Janie.”

Janie was the name her family called her and now for some reason that name echoed in Dick’s mind.

Her father told him of a time in Jane’s life when she was just thirteen years old, “She was still a child when it happened,” he was saying. The pain in his voice could be heard and Dick’s heart sunk. She had become infatuated with her math teacher, Mr. Grissom, and spent every moment that she could in his presence.

She had sent him love letters and other teachers found her drawing hearts around the pictures of him in the school annual. He called her parents and scheduled a meeting so they could talk about it.

The meeting seemed to go well, Mr. Grissom told her that he was flattered but he was married. He explained that she was too young and that it was just a phase that would pass. He gave her a hug after the meeting and told he that he would always be her friend, and Jimmy didn’t hear anything more about it.

A few weeks passed and Jimmy had forgotten about it until the police showed up on his doorstep wanting to speak with Jane. They explained that someone had broken into Mr. Grissom’s home. Pictures of Mrs. Grissom had been broken and pencils stabbed through her head. Her clothes were torn and scattered about the house. Personal things of the victim were missing and they hoped to find nothing.

Jimmy was silent for a moment. They had found something. In her room, in the closet, were pictures and things that had been taken from his home. Jimmy and his wife were shocked at the sight of the policeman pulling these items from his daughter’s closet. One by one he pulled them out and put them into small plastic bags that he labeled with a marker.

“They arrested her Dick,” he explained. “My little Janie was taken away in the back of a cop-car.”

They took her to a juvenile detention center and the next day she was given a full psychological evaluation. Upon completing the evaluation they committed her to a place where she could get the help that she needed.

Jimmy didn’t go into great detail and Dick in turn was afraid to ask.

“When she was released a year later she was changed.” There seemed to be relief in his voice. “She was the little girl that I remembered. There was no hint of the girl that had broken into that poor man’s home.”

That was the secret that her father had hidden away for so long, refusing to believe that it had happened.

When Dick hung up the phone he sat back in his chair in disbelief. It was like he was outside himself watching himself breaking down. Tears streamed down his face.

“That was rich,” the impish voice amused. The words invading his head like a swarm reaching out to the limits of his mind.

He pounded his fists on the temples of his head trying to beat out the thoughts. He cried out, “You’re not real!”

The imp howled in laughter causing its jellyrolls of fat to wave intensely. “You should know better than that.”

The room was spinning and it was all Dick could do to keep from puking. Then there was a knock on his door. Dick snapped back to his senses. Wiping the tears away with the back of his sleeve and taking a deep breath before standing and walking to the door.

There stood Ms. Legs, her smile fading when she saw the redness of his cheeks. “Is everything alright Dick?” she asked softly.

He flashed a fake smile, “Yeah, everything is fine. You needed something?” Changing the subject as quickly as he could. He avoided looking her in the eyes, fearful that she would press the matter but she didn’t.

“Yes, you had a call while you were on the phone. It was the daycare they need you to call ASAP.” She watched him intently, her gaze sympathetic.

“Thank you,” he said silently. “I’ll be leaving early today.” He closed the door slowly as he glanced up and smiled.

He called the daycare where Nell spent the afternoon at until Jane picked her up after work. They were calling because Jane had failed to show and someone needed to come and get Nell.

Dick called his sister and asked her if she would mind picking up Nell for the daycare. He told her he would call Jane and have her pickup Nell as soon as possible. He assured her that everything was fine; Jane was probably working late and forgot to call to let him know.

He called her work and she was not there, they told him, and had not made it in today. Puzzled, he called home knowing, that the daycare would have tried there first and if they did not get an answer then he would not either.

Leaving work early he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The curse began to laugh that impish cackle in his head and the closer he got to home the louder it got. There was a man standing at the door when he drove into the drive.

His uniform identified him as a police officer and he walked up the car as Dick stepped from his vehicle. He told Dick that his wife had been in an accident and that she was critically injured and had been rushed to the hospital.

He escorted Dick to the hospital as fast as they could drive. Dick’s thoughts and emotions were jumbled and swayed from guilt and regret to sorrow and fear. He prayed that everything to be all right, but the voice in his head laughed with each prayer.

It was horrible, much worse than he had imagined. She had slammed into a truck and was thrown through the windshield. She was unrecognizable, her face lacerated to the point that the skin was just resting on the face. She had lost most of her teeth and portions of her skull had gapping holes.

Dick saw the ring on her finger, recognized it, and then everything went dark. When awoke several minutes later everything was moving in slow motion. The police were asking him was that her and the ring was unmistakable. His eyes glued to the gurney were she, now covered, lay motionless.

He didn’t remember puking but knew that he had from the sour slimy film that coated the inside of his mouth. He rushed to the restroom and splashed cold water on his face. Taking in a mouthful, swishing it around with his tongue, and then spitting it into the sink.

The funeral was held a few days later. It was cloudy and threatening to rain as the precession drove into the cemetery. No one grieved more than Nell that day and Dick hated himself for that. The last memories of her mother that she would remember was those of them arguing and fighting.

He knew that she would eventually resent him for that, if she didn’t already. Dick tried to be the good father and speak with Nell about it, but she would only breakdown crying. He could hear her at night calling out to her mother in her sleep and the sound hurt more than anything.

The house was unusually warm when he stepped though the front door. The house felt strange, something pricked at the back of his neck, but Dick shrugged. He always expected Jane to come running down stairs, arms wide, to give him a hug.

“I’ll never get used to it,” he told himself. He walked into the kitchen and put a teapot of water on the stove. He turned on the television, the noise of the tube chasing away the demons that lingered in the house.

The voice of the new reporter echoed in the background as Dick pulled a picture off the entertainment center and gazed at it in puzzlement. Hadn’t he put this picture in Nell’s room, he wondered? It was of Jane and Nell hugging cheek to cheek with bright smiles on their faces.

‘A woman was found brutally murdered today in her downtown apartment,’ the reporter informed. “The young woman worked as a secretary. Her name has yet to be released, pending the murder investigation. Investigators stating that there was evidence of a struggle and that it looked like a crime of passion.”

Dick froze, afraid to even take a breath. There was no name given, but he somehow knew that it was Helen. The teapot slowly began to wail as Dick realized there was a faint sweet smell in the air. He knew before he heard the footfalls on the stairs that someone was in the house.

Laughter thundered in his head from the imp, the curse, and he should have seen it coming. The sound of the teapot slowly being drown out by the laughter until it could be heard no more. There was the unmistakable smell of Jane’s perfume, now strong enough to choke him, should have warned him-did warn him that something was amiss. He could see the imp in his mind’s eye taking the form of his late wife.

He knew it was not the wife he remembered but a mass of twisted and torn flesh. Even as he turned and lay eyes on her, his muscles stiffened and he found himself unable to move.

Jane stood before him like an angel, wearing a white flowery dress, hands behind her back, and head cocked slightly to the side. Her eyes looking upon him full of sorrow and sadness as she stepped toward him.

“I’m sorry it has to end this way,” she spoke softly. “But you brought it on to yourself.”

His mouth was dry and his voice horse as he tried to speak., “H-ho-how,” he stammered. “I-it c-can’t be.”

“But it is. And now I am free or soon will be.”

Dick glanced down to see that familiar golden-heart pendant resting in the cleavage of her breasts. His eyes stayed fixed on that pendant as she took his hand and pulled him to her. His eyes watered as he felt a sharp pain across his wrist and then again across the other wrist. He raised a hand to see blood flowing from a deep cut on his wrist.

His hand fell forward onto her chest and he involuntary grasped the pendant. He pulled it from her neck and stumbled backwards.

“You killed her?” he asked oblivious to his bleeding wrists.

“No,” she whispered. She motioned to a paper on a side table, “You killed her.”

He staggered over to the table and tried to focus on the letter. His vision blurred and his head spinning as he read. It was a confession. Not just a confession but also a suicide note and it was signed Dick.

“Then you killed yourself.”

The imp perched on the back of the couch and giggled uncontrollably. “She fooled you. Fooled you. Fooled you.”