Breaking the Curse

Chapter 11

A strolling bike sound and kids screaming to find their missing friend echo through the neighborhood.

The kids scan the trees, hoping to spot their friend among the branches.

"Sabastian! Sabastian, where are you?" Ellis yells, but no answer.

"Sabastian! Where are you?" Miles joins in, looking for his best friend too, but still no reply.

They bike on an empty street in silence for a while. Ellis grows impatient. "Why are we even here? Mom says there's a whole search party --" He says.

"But they don't know Sabastian, and he doesn't know them. He knows us." Alice says, her face showing worry and fear.

"So," Ellis says, wanting to go back home.

"So what if he's hiding and --" Alice says.

A DARK SHAPE SUDDENLY DARTS ACROSS THE ROAD RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM

Ellis gasps – he swerves to the right --.

Too late, he loses balance, skids.

Alice and Miles crash into him too–

They all tumble – and – BAM! HIT THE GROUND. They roll to a stop. Dust flies.

"What, what was that? Teng?" Miles says.

Ellis doesn't answer. He gets up, turns around, and looks back at the road behind them.

The DARK SHAPE is standing there. Staring right at him.

Ellis is wide-eyed. Scared. Slowly, very slowly, he raises his flashlight and shines it at the shape. The light reveals:

Nothing but an empty road. "Where did it go? Where did it go?" Ellis panics, saying he saw something, but his friends are confused and doubtful.

"Where did what go, Ellis?" Alice says, trying to calm him down.

"I swear I saw something right there," Ellis points at the road.

"There is nothing there, Ellis," she says.

Alice and Ellis argue with each other. And then –

A LOW GROWL RUMBLES. Miles hears it too

"You guys hear that?" Ellis says, hearing the strange noise.

"Yeah I heard it, what was that?"

"A dog, maybe," she guesses.

"Lakewood never had dogs before, Alice," Miles says, knowing something is wrong.

They all look up at the night sky, wondering where that sound comes from.

"Come on guys let's go home," Miles says, covering his eyes with his hand.

"What about Sabastian?" Alice says, not wanting to give up on him.

"We can't stay here with this storm coming. We'll look for him tomorrow, first thing after school, okay?" Miles says, trying to persuade his friends to leave.

"Okay, let's go then." All the kids agree and head back home but Alice still feels uneasy and guilty.

Meanwhile, Captain Jack is still searching for Sabastian. His radio suddenly crackles to life.

"You hear that Capt?" Deputy Thomas says over the radio.

Captain Jack doesn't reply. His eyes are fixed on the sky instead.

Looking up, trying to make sense of what he just saw?

RISING UP –

Over his head –

AND UP – Over THE DARK THICK FOREST----

AND UP –

Over the shadowed trees –

AND UP –

To the dark cloudy sky above.

A LOW GROWL RUMBLES, louder than before. The same sound that haunted the town a few days ago. But this time, it means something else. It means that the creature is ready to hunt again.

A RED light flashes behind the clouds.

And the storm is not coming anymore.

It's already here.

Looming over the town like a curse.

Rain starts to fall. Lightning strikes the nearby trees, setting them on fire."

*___*

The Crown Prince of the abolished Cambodian Monarch, Prince Monarak, walks into an ancient stone temple in the middle of the forbidden forest. He is wearing a royal robe and a golden crown, but his face is grim and his eyes are cold.

He enters the temple, which is dark and damp. He sees candles and skulls lining the walls, and strange symbols and drawings on the floor. He smells blood and herbs in the air.

He walks over to a man in a black and green cloak, who is standing in front of a large cauldron. The man is stirring the cauldron with a wooden spoon while muttering some words under his breath.

The man is the Witch, a powerful sorcerer who works for the Prince. He is in the process of creating a monster out of pure Angkorian blood kids, so the Prince can take his promised monster army and take back the country from the current republic government.

The Prince hands him a small pouch with a coin sound coming out of it. The Witch takes it and opens it, counting the money inside.

"Is this enough?" The Witch asks, sounding pleased.

"It's more than enough," The Prince says, confidently. "How is the project going?"

"It's going well, Your Highness," The Witch says, truthfully. "The monster is almost ready. It just needs one more thing."

"What thing?" The Prince asks, eagerly.

"The final touch," The Witch says, smiling. "Come, I'll show you."

The Witch leads the Prince to a dark corner of the temple, where two cages are hidden. Inside one cage, there is a boy, tied up and gagged. He is bruised and bleeding. He is terrified.

He is Sabastian.

The Prince recognizes him as one of the kids who went missing from the town a few days ago. He also recognizes him as a descendant of the ancient Angkorian kings, who ruled over Cambodia before the French colonized it.

He is a pure-blood kid.

Inside the other cage, there is another boy, who looks similar to Sabastian. He also has the same blood as him. He also went missing from the town a few days ago.

He is another pure-blood kid.

"This is them," The Witch says, pointing at the boys. "The last ingredients for my creation. Their blood will give the monster the power and the spirit of the Angkorian empire."

The Prince nods, understanding. He knows that their blood is rare and valuable. He knows that it will make his monster army unstoppable.

He also knows that he has to sacrifice them for his cause.

"Do it," The Prince says, coldly.

The Witch nods, obediently. He takes out a knife and cuts the other boy's throat, letting his blood drip into a bowl. He then pours it into the cauldron, where it mixes with the other ingredients.

Sabastian watches in horror as his fellow pure-blood kid dies in front of him. He tries to scream, but no one hears him.

The cauldron bubbles and boils, emitting a foul smell. A loud roar echoes from inside.