Prologue

How the curse fell upon my shoulders...

Thud, thud, thud.

My feet pounded on the sidewalk and I ran like I had never ran before, letting my anger drive my feet forward. The words I screamed back were incomprehensible in the whistling wind, but I had a feeling she still heard them over the slam of the door. Large, ominous storm clouds hovered threateningly in the distant night sky, but the wind was picking them up and blowing them swiftly my way. I didn’t care. For once I wished the storm would whisk me away, far - far away from my wretched family. And for once, I wished my step-mother would feel a pinch of sorrow that she was the reason for my death.

I spat on the ground next to me in disgust. Mother - my foot. Her rage-torn face popped up in my mind, making my blood boil with anger. Spiteful, nasty, heartless- Yeah. Motherly, caring, sweet- I wish.

Thunder boomed in the distance, and a sudden downpour nearly swept me off my feet. I ducked my head and picked up speed, wanting to put as much distance between her and me. I knew exactly where I was headed.

Splat, splat, splat.

The rain splattered on my dark-brown curls as I sped down the street. The flickering lamp, bare winter trees, and dark houses blurred past, and before long, I saw the entrance of where I was headed.

The looming gate of the graveyard seemingly beckoned towards me to proceed. I slowed down to catch my breath as I neared the cemetery. Stepping forward, I set my hand on the rusty metal latch slowly lifted it.

Clank.

The handle fell back, making me jump in fright. Automatically, my hand flew up to cover my mouth as I let out a frightened yelp.

Thump, thump, thump.

Blood pounded in my ears and my heart raced at a hundred miles per hour. I closed my eyes and slowly breathed in and out - in and out. I let my mind relax, trying not to focus on the bare tombstones that glistened in small area in front of me. Finally, I opened my eyes and peered around to make sure no one else was here. I carefully leaned on the gate, pleading for it to open silently and a low groan came from it’s hinges - but was promptly covered up by sound of the storm. Letting out a sigh, I walked to the familiar corner of the abandoned cemetery, where my mother lay. By the time I got there, my eyes were in tears.

“Why did you leave me mom? Why?” I sobbed uncontrollably.

A hollow whistling of the wind in the forest behind me reminded me that she wasn’t here.

“How’s life on your end? Wherever you are mom, I want to be with you. I-I wish you were he-” I broke off, my tears choking me.

Again, silence. Looking up, I let the rain wash away my tears.

“If you were still here, life would be perfect. We would go out shopping every Saturday, you would pray for me every night, and talk to me. Just like you did. We would sing in the kitchen, you would teach me how to bake, and we’d eat chocolate-chip cookie dough. Just like before,” my voice dropped to a whisper, “You would be a perfect mom. Like you always were. Mom. Please come back…please?” I closed my eyes, imagining those days with my mom, and I knew if she was here, I would have everything.

“I miss you,” I whispered, letting the ‘s’ trail off in the wind.

This time in response, I heard a moan. My eyes grew wide as I stared at my mother’s tombstone.

“M-mom?” I had scarcely whispered, when a hand shot out from the grave next to mine and grabbed my wrist.

I screamed.

“Shh. Shh,” a girl’s voice drifted towards me. I violently shook my hand, but her icy grip stayed strong.

“Please. Listen to me,” she whispered. Realizing that shaking my hand was a futile effort, I stopped. Slowly, with eyes as big as saucers, I inched closer to her grave, and stole a quick glance at her body, afraid of what I was going to see.

I was very surprised. Instead of a skeleton’s sunken face, I was shocked to see that it was a girl in her mid twenties - about a decade older than me. Her beautiful, radiant face gazed sorrowfully back at me and her pallor confirmed that her life was draining out - fast. The graceful cut of her face and a flicker of violet in her eyes hazily reminded me of my mother but I shook my head, sure that it was my mind playing tricks on me again.

She seemed just as surprised to see me.

“No,” her eyes grew wide and gasped, “No! Oh lord. Of all people, why her?”

“Who are you?” I managed to utter, still completely shocked over what was going on.

“Listen. I’m sorry I’m doing this to you, but I can’t die until-” she winced and grabbed her side, her breath coming in rasps. I gasped and my eyes grew wide as I saw thick, dark blood pour out of the side of her torso.

“Let me help you with that,” I reached over to lean on her wound to stop the blood.

“No!” she said quite sternly for someone in their last moments and pushed my arm away. “My time is up. Nothing you do can save me. It’s time for me to move on and join my mother, but I can’t so that until…” she took a deep breath, “until I pass on the curse.” As she said that, she lifted up her right hand and squeezed my hand with it - not painfully, but reassuringly. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat as a sharp pain sliced my hand. The pain took my breath away, yet I desperately tore at her hands to remove them from mine. She held on.

Minutes (or was it seconds?) passed, and finally, the pain ebbed away. Slowly, she released my hand and I gasped.

There was a mark on my right hand, a rose, right next to my thumb on my palm. It was about a centimeter in diameter, but it was as dark as the dying girl’s jet-black hair.

“Ahh, finally. I feel so much…lighter now. Free…at last,” she breathed, relaxing herself on the bed of soil beneath her, yet tears continued to flow down her face. “I’m sorry I did this to you, Kiara. I had no choice. I’m sorry.”

“I love you. Loove yoouu,” she whispered, barely audible. And then she was gone - just like that - leaving me to wonder what the curse was and how she knew my name.

Author's Note

I haven't fully developed the story idea, but this is just the beginning. This took me an awfully long time to write for some reason...
Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and please review :) Suggestions always helpful.

Reviews

[Nima M]

Wow, this is great! I usually don't read horror stories, but yours is awesome. I just love the way you described everything. The cemetary couldnt have made a better setting. And the way you started the story, with the girl being furious with her stepmother- I couldn't have done it better myself. Keep up the great work!

[Starcaller]

This sounds really cool so far XD I hope you add more.

[Amata Luna]

Nice. This is a very good start for a story like that. Now the whole story got me intrigued. A good piece of work. I hope to read more. :D

[Summer'sBreeze]

Oh my gosh!!!!!!
Sooooo sorry that I haven't reviewed this sooner. Now I wished I had.
This is amazing, and just like Sumayya said your words flow so smoothly.
You had me hanging on to every word, it had that chilling effect even.
I wish I knew how to discribe how amazing this was so I'll put it in exclamation points :P

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*100*

[SuicidePact.]

great start to this story, tell me when you've written chapter one

[The XYZ Writer]

Amrah. You are way better than me at writing. Your flow is perfect, not too fast or too slow. The plot seems cool too. The descriptions are just great! You really have a way with words. They seem to love you. Your way of narration and talking really brings the reader in. Please, please write another chapter soon!!

[AK]

It is going really well. The flow is amazing and so is the plot. No typos, no grammatical errors. Very good! Keep writing and may I have an rr when the next chapter comes please?