Breaking the Curse

Chapter 12

Inside Sabastian's house, things start to get messy all around. His mom had been staring at her son's missing poster for hours. Mumbling like an old person who is about to go crazy sometime in the future.

"Okay, Mom. Breakfast is ready." Said Simon while carrying the food over to the dining table.

"What? No, don't touch the poster." His mom says.

"Yeah, okay. Fine, but you need to eat something mom" Simon has been trying to get his mom to eat something since yesterday evening, but she always rejects the offer, making her body start shaking like a drug addict.

"I can't eat, I just...can't," she says with a weak voice,

"Please, Mom, you have to eat, you can't keep going like this without eating," Simon says to his mother while putting his hand on top of hers and rubbing it gently.

" (sniffles) Listen. Listen, the Printer place opens in, like, 30 minutes, right"

"Yeah, but mom the breakfast is getting cold now."

"I'll eat the breakfast after you and I go down to the printing shop together, I don't want you to go alone..."

"No, I know. I told you, I got it, you stay here mom, rest"

" ... so I'm gonna have Mrs.Sivan take you then."

"Okay, that sounds great"

" We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies? How much is a copy?

"Yeah, okay. Okay, Mom. Mom, slow down, you can't keep doing this, you need energy, you need rest."

" 50 Reils? (stammering) if we... Ten Reils–"

"Mom. Mom. Mom! (stutters) You have to calm down, okay?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just miss your brother, I miss him so much"

"No, it's okay, I know Mom, I miss him too, but we'll find him, okay, don't worry, we'll find him soon."

Margaret jumps up from the couch as a loud knock on the front door startles her. She runs to open it, hoping to see her son's face.

But instead, she sees the Captain and his two deputies, looking weary and grim.

She lets them in, but not without a glare.

"We've been waiting six hours, Captain," she snaps at him. "Where have you been?"

The Captain sighs and rubs his eyes. "I know, Margaret. I'm sorry. We've been searching all night. We went all the way to Krolanh district."

"And?" Margaret presses, her voice tense.

"Nothing," the Captain says, shaking his head. "No sign of Sebastian. No clues. No leads."

Margaret feels a surge of anger and frustration. She clenches her fists and raises her voice.

"God, I should have been out there with you guys," she says. "Maybe I could have found him. Maybe I could have saved him."

The Captain looks at her with pity and tries to calm her down.

"Margaret, you know that's not possible. You know what happened to him. He's gone, Margaret. He's gone."

Margaret shakes her head in denial. She can't accept it. She won't accept it.

"No, he's not gone. He's alive. He called me. He came back to me."

The Captain frowns and looks at Simon, who is standing behind his mother, holding her hand.

"Davey told me you got a phone call, and a portal opened in the middle of your living room with your son in it," he says, incredulously.