Cursed road

A little family takes a trip hours away from home. The path they take can change everything, or nothing at all.

Laura and John were already on the road going to their much-needed vacation rental about 7-8 hours away from their home. They were looking forward to reaching the coast and relaxing by the lake with their 5-year-old son, Michael, who was fast asleep on the backseat after restlessly singing and talking the first 3 hours of the ride.

Unbeknownst to them, they would soon reach a turning point that can either make no difference in their lives or change everything.

“Hold on, why does your GPS say we’ll get there in 5 hours? Mine says we can make it in 4.” Laura asked quietly as to not disturb the little one. She zoomed out on the car screen to show the GPS route and noticed there was a turn that made the path longer.

John sighed and zoomed it back in without taking his eyes off the road. “I programmed the best route, don’t worry about it, we’ll get there not much later after sundown.”

Laura raised an eyebrow at him. “Or, we could get there an hour earlier. Why wouldn’t you want to save transit time?” Her question was only met with silence as they continued to pass deserted brown pastures on the road. “John, come on, what’s going on?”

Knowing her, he did not want to have that conversation, but he could not stop himself when she pressed. “It’s just the safer route, ok? Feel free to get some sleep while we get there.” He attempted to avoid the main reason for taking the longer route. 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Laura whispered. “Is this about what we saw in the news the other day? You know there’s no way that’s true, right?”

She grunted when there was no response from John. The news had mentioned that there had been several accidents in a certain part of the route, and that many of the survivors claimed to have seen one or two kids on the road, but after abruptly turning to avoid hitting them, and crashing, there was no one there. It’s been deemed a cursed road, and most people now avoid it.

“This is ridiculous.” Laura continued. “You know that’s just a cheap excuse from drunk drivers, right? And we haven’t had a drop of alcohol, so it’ll be perfectly safe.”

“Even if it’s not entirely true, we can’t just ignore the number of accidents that have been happening there in the past few years. Whatever the reason, we should still take a safer route, don’t you think?” John attempted to make his case.

“Look, I hear you, but I also really appreciate my time and just want to get there already so we can relax, eat good food and have some fun family time, so I’m not willing to waste an extra hour in transit. I’m changing the route.” She proceeded to temper with the car screen and changed the route to the shorter one.

John’s grip tightened on the wheel and he pressed his lips, sighing. He really felt strongly that they should stick to the longer route, but he never knew how to counter Laura whenever she made a decision on anything, he just went with it. Something in him sank, but he took a deep breath and let it go to keep the peace. He’d be extra careful when they got to that part of the road to make sure they made it safely.

In the meantime, all he could do was go a little faster to have a chance of making it through the cursed road before sundown.

The next few hours of the trip passed in silence with Michael still snoozing in the back and Laura just on her phone and gazing at the scenery. John could not shake the sinking feeling he had, and so he kept quiet and focused on the road.

Sadly, they did not make it before sundown to the cursed road. When they got to that part, John slowed down to a more comfortable speed to make sure he had time to react if he saw anything or if there was any abrupt turn. He didn’t believe there may be ghosts, but he knew there had to be something, maybe even just a lot of animals crossing the streets. Whatever it was, he was determined to not be caught off guard by it.

“See? Perfectly safe.” Laura said with a smirk, breaking the hours long silence.

John didn’t break his focus and didn’t engage in conversation with his wife. He much rather her give him yet another I told you so, than him being right this time.

“You can pick up the pace now, you know? Or just let me drive. At this rate we’ll still spend the extra hour just driving.”

While it was unclear when the cursed part of the road ended, it seemed to John they were already far enough, and he allowed himself to relax. His body had been tensed for at least an hour and that along with his focus had left him exhausted. He agreed to let Laura drive the rest of the way.

As they stopped on the side to switch seats, he had a good glance around, but couldn’t see much as it was very dark. There was nothing strange catching his attention; no odd sounds or presence.

“Are we there yet?”

They were met by the little one’s sleepy voice as they got back in the car.

John sat leaning to the side and facing back to Michael as Laura started the car and resumed their way. “Not yet, buddy. You can sleep a little more and we’ll wake you up when we get there, alright?” John said, hoping his son would agree so he can also take a short nap before arriving.

“No! I’m not tired anymore.” The sleepy voice completely left the toddler with high energy replacing it.

As tired as he was, John smiled; he loved seeing him so full of energy. “Alright then, what do you feel like doing while we get there?” he asked, as he was too tired to get his own ideas.

“I’m hungry!”

John didn’t hesitate to get the bag with snacks from the side of the backseat, his stomach also urging him to eat something.

As he searched through the bag, he started to realize just how fast Laura was going. He barely had time to turn his head up to the road, with the intention of telling her to slow down a bit. Before he knew it, the car was screeching, abruptly turning to the right, and it crashed on a weak tree that immediately fell onto the car.

There was no pain, only momentary blackness. Both John and Laura found themselves outside the car, watching it totaled as smoke came out of it. Except it wasn’t exactly them. They felt physically nothing.

Neither of them had words as they tried to process the situation, then they realized their bodies were still in the car. Panic took over, they started screaming for Michael, but then John realized that not seeing his son’s soul was actually a good sign, it meant it was still in his living body. He was never a believer, but he started praying, asking whatever entity existed, and the universe itself, to please let him be safe. Though it was not a very transited road, so there was low chance of any other car passing by to call 911. Still, he had to have hope.

Laura continued screaming as she cried from the deepest parts of her soul. That’s all she was now, a soul. She buried the guilt feeling, knowing at that point that if they had just taken the longer road, they’d be safe, but no, she had to have it her way, like always. The thought would consume whatever was left of her, so she pushed it away.

John fell to his knees. He knew his prayers were not answered when he saw Michael also outside of the car, scared and confused, watching his mother in a hysteric episode.

“Laura,” John tried to get her attention, but his voice was barely audible. He cleared his throat and willed his mind to clear up so they could deal with whatever situation they were in. “Laura!” he repeated, almost yelling.

She turned around and faced Michael. “No.” Was all she managed to say before resuming her hysteric cry, knees on the floor and her face buried in her hands.

Michael started to cry too, but both their cries were not the only sound anymore.

John was confused, he heard voices of victory and happiness behind him. He didn’t want to, but he knew he had to turn around at some point to investigate. His son and wife were too consumed in their own suffering and cries to notice anything at that point. He wanted to comfort them, but how? We just died, but everything will be ok… no, it absolutely will not. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything to them, so he took a deep breath and turned around.

A few meters from them, deeper in a dead forest were a group of children, likely ages 5-12, at least 10 of them. They were cheering, hugging each other, with the biggest smiles on their faces; every single one had all the happiness that John and his little family had been robbed of.

They all looked dirty, with black smudges on their faces and burnt clothes with holes in them. One that seemed the oldest took a few steps forward. “There’s nothing to worry about.” He started to explain. “We’ve been waiting for a long time for this moment.” His smile grew bigger.

John shook his head and opened his mouth, but he had no words, only confusion.

“Come with us, we’ll take you home. We just wanted to have parents, but we’ll happy to have a new little brother too.”

These kids, orphans who died in a building fire a few years ago, had been souls stuck there since. Their orphanage became an abandoned building beyond the forest. They had since attempted to lure the souls of an adult couple so they could finally be a complete family with parents.

They finally succeeded, as they ended a family’s life for the sake of their own happiness.