Alaric's Poison

Chapter 14 - The Curse

I could feel the smooth leaves brushing against my glowing arms and hear a calming chirping of the birds as I walked ahead. I lifted my head and let the rays of sunlight warm up my face as I closed my eyes and let out a soft content sigh. I could see the blue sky peering through the tall trees, giving me a sense of comfort. The calmness of the woods immediately vanished as I heard crunching footsteps on the autumn leaves. The falling leaves flutter down, the wind carrying the fragrance of my childhood days, reminding me of my dead grandfather.

The woods quieted down, the footsteps nearing me and in a second the person was in front of me. The person paused, looking up at him, their calming almost hypnotizing eyes were fixed on my glowing form, the more I stared the more I felt drawn in and closer. The early autumn air was getting warmer and warmer, my heart pounding when I heard a familiar voice calling my name and a gentle caress on my cheek with a following "My dear sweet granddaughter, the time has come, choose your path." listening to the orders of a familiar man I looked left and right, seeing two paths but not knowing in which direction to run.

My eyes adjusted to the glowing path on my right so I chose that one but as I neared it the light had faded, everything was getting darker and darker, my feet and path melting into blackness.

I woke up to the sound of my heavy panting as if I was running for hours without stopping, with shaky hands I touched my sweaty forehead wiping it away and trying to calm down. I was met with the coolness of the air and my damp clothes. Remembering my dream I looked around and noticed I was in my room, my very own bed, there weren't any paths or signs of another person. I can't remember the face of a familiar person or even his voice.

After a few more moments of calming down and trying to remember my dream I decided to take a shower, sitting up I dragged my feet off the bed and stretched out giving out a lazy yawn. I went to rub my eyes but I noticed my palms, they were bruised and had a weird letter engraved in it, when I touched it a sudden wave of pain appeared in my chest. My legs suddenly feeling weak and shaky and somehow I managed to drag myself to the bathroom to take a shower still confused.

I stepped into the shower, my mind wandering around, the pictures of the dream still not visible, my eyes closing on their own with a feel of relaxation when a warm water trickled down my head and body. When I finished my shower I wrapped a towel around my body and padded my way to the room. I sat on my bed while detangling my still wet hair and as I was doing so I noticed a yellowish, old looking paper sitting on my nightstand.

I help up the paper which edges looked so old and ruined, the letters slightly smeared making it almost impossible to figure out what was written but I still managed. Skimming my eyes over the paper I started reading it "When a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." with a puzzled expression I read it over and over again.

What was it supposed to mean?

I heard a door open and shut, someone's footsteps nearing me and noticing I was still holding onto the paper I quickly put it in the drawer and laid on the bed.

"Hey honey, I brought you some food." I heard my grandma's voice near me and I was to see her, she hasn't visited in awhile. My grandma is a funny person with a sad and hard past which I don't know of either, every time someone would bring it up she would just turn her head almost as if she was holding back her tears. Beneath the sweet personality and jokes, there was a lot of pain and sorrow, maybe even hate. Whenever we talked the only feeling I felt was love and her gentle gaze showed me that.

"Thank you but I'm not hungry. What happened yesterday? I have this weird letter engraved in my palm." her relaxed, almost smiling face immediately vanished, my face falling already thinking the worst has happened.