Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 6, 2011 20:49:05 GMT -5
Chapter Eleven – Revelations
Chris stared down at the three sheets of paper Seth had dropped off. Seth had shimmered in, placed them on the table, and left without so much as a word. Chris picked up the paper at the top of the short pile. On it Seth had written “Jarod”. He looked down the words on the paper and read.
“According to anyone you could possibly ask, these are the ravings of a mad man, and they’d be right. But for once I am completely in control of my mind. Not that I’ve ever been out of control of my mind. It’s just that sometimes when fear grips you, it seems like it.
“There is something about a visit from my friends that calms me. Or perhaps I should say a visit from my friend, for while I see my wife, daughter, one of my other close friends, and on occasion even the other, it is this one that seems to leave me at ease. I think that is because when I was at my worst . . . the people here do not understand what that is . . . he was there and he was there only to help me.
“I can already feel the evil pressing in on me and soon the director here is going to notice that I broke into his office, so I cannot wait too long to post this.
“I want to go home. I want to have never heard of the Aphrodite Crystal, to never have seen that green glow. I want this all to stop. And yet, I cannot regret it, for while I have lost years of my life, Reggie is still alive.
“But why did it have to be at the stake of my own sanity?”
Chris frowned. Certainly it was about the Aphrodite Crystal, but there didn’t appear to be any useful information other than the fact that the man had survived. And he wondered where Seth had found the name, because the only name he saw was “Reggie” and the user name of JP1975 appeared to be the only clue to the man’s identity.
He picked up the second paper. The name Everett was written unnecessarily at the top, unnecessarily because it read like an Al-anon testimonial.
“My name is Everett and I am cursed.”
Chris’s frown grew deeper. Surely it didn’t mean . . . but then how many Everett’s could there be out there. Thousands he supposed, but . . .
“I can already see the eyes rolling and hear the sighs. You don’t believe me. Fine. This isn’t for you anyway. This is for those people who haven’t rolled their eyes or sighed in disbelief. This is a warning to those of you who understand and fear curses or even who don’t understand, but are willing to listen.
"My best friend, Reggie, is a collector of sorts, but then aren’t we all in one way or another. For Reggie it was gems, jewelry, rare glass works, and stuff like that.”
That cut it. There might be countless Everett’s out there, but how many had a best friend named Reggie. Of course this would be written by someone the other him had known. Of course it would.
“A rare and beautiful crystal came to Reggie’s attention, a stone said to be blessed by the Goddess Aphrodite. Of course, we didn’t believe any of that, who would? Still, something about it didn’t ring true, so together with another friend, Jarod, I began an investigation.
“The first thing I learned was that almost every owner in known history had died by their own hands within a day of acquiring it. I called and told Reggie, but he brushed this off as nonsense. Of course I’d always thought it was.
“The second thing I learned was of those who did survive the first day, they still had another six days of absolute terror where their foremost thought is ending it all and close behind that is the idea that everyone else was out to get them. That feeling never fully goes away, as I now fully know, but it lessens. After the first week they were not at suicidal, but always melancholy, always changed, except for one. That one, I learned, stated that he simply refused to let evil control him. I don’t know how he had the will to do that.
“With all this information the one thing we didn’t find was a cure. We found evidence of one, but we couldn’t find anything concrete about it no matter how hard we looked and then we simply ran out of time. We learned that Reggie had located the crystal and taken possession of it, which meant that it had already infected him. We didn’t have time for cures. We had to act.
“We found another friend who we could trust to help us and do as we said, without question. We then found Reggie and Jarod and I tied him up, while our friend, Nick, waited and attempted to give instruction on the side. No one appreciated that much. We told him to stay away. He did and asked how he was supposed to feed us if he couldn’t get near us. Smart aleck.
“He found ways though. Staying several feet from us at all times he still managed to feed us. And he kept us from killing our selves. He did not, however keep us from yelling ourselves hoarse, shouting obscenities at each other, or in general being extremely obnoxious to him and each other. But then, that’s not really that unusual.
“After one week, eight days actually (just in case), he untied us, and we learned that Jarod probably could have escaped at any point in time. At the time I thought that meant he must have had an extremely high will power . . . I was wrong.
“It took fifteen years before Jarod went completely mad with it. His wife was forced to put him in an insane asylum. I saw the look of betrayal in his teenage daughter’s eyes as he was taken away.
“It’s been ten years since then. Reggie is doing well for himself, though I have twice found him contemplating suicide for the constant barrage of depression and to escape the feel of evil. I nearly tried it once myself. Then, my daughter ran into the room and asked if she could have the rope for one of her brother’s experiments. I never once thought of it, again. I do not believe my children ever knew what I was thinking that day.
“You would not know what I was going through if you met me on the street. You would not realize the terror I go through every day, or understand quite how much I dearly hold to those closest to me, my lifeline. My own son goes blithely around, working on his experiments, not understanding why sometimes I don’t want to talk, sometimes I simply cannot share his enthusiasm, and sometimes I seem angry when no one has done anything to anger me. My darling daughter has a happy go lucky personality that I miss, for once I had one like it.
“I have never found the cure. I will never quit looking, because if there is a way to get rid of this evil that haunts me, this depression that fills me, I will take it in a minute . . . so long as it does not involve the death that would surely hurt my wife and kids more than my depression ever could. And if I can find a way to aid Reggie or save Jarod, I will.
“Nick told me that the closest he ever found to a cure were words written in an old book saying only “Ijah took the potion from the witch and drank it. Before she had even finished it she felt a change and she saw a green glow emanate from her body. It gathered in a cloud in front of her and dissipated. A feeling replaced it, one she nearly didn’t recognize for the ten long years she had been without it. Ijah felt happy.”
“Sadly it is fiction, but the description is close enough that I wonder if perhaps it is based on a situation similar to ours. Only it has been twenty-five years and still we have found no cure.
“You may not believe me. You probably don’t believe me, but every word I wrote is the truth as I know it. I write this for two reasons. The first is to warn. If anyone out there is thinking of finding the Aphrodite Crystal . . . don’t. It is far too dangerous. And secondly, if you do know the cure, please find me. I don’t want to feel this way any longer than I can prevent it. If you truly wish to find me I have provided all the information you need here.
“Be careful.”
The last one with the name “Reggie” written on it seemed almost irrelevant, though it provided useful information. Everett Lawson had told Chris everything he needed to know. Or at least everything except for how to cure the curse.
It was funny, Mr. Lawson hadn’t seemed cursed when Chris had known him in the other time line and yet he must have been. It had been at least twenty-five years since this happened, so it had been at least three years before Chris was even born.
Then, another thought hit him. If Everett was Everett Lawson, and he surely was, then Reggie was Reginald Hollis, which meant that his former boss, who he had seen nearly every day for over a year, was also cursed, and Chris had never noticed.
But then if someone had been cursed for over twenty-five years they either went crazy or they learned to control their outer reactions.
A knock on the apartment door brought Chris out of his thoughts. He flipped over the papers, just in case whoever there came in. He didn’t want to explain why he had them.
There was another knock as Chris reached the door. He pulled it open and looked into the face of his landlord, Mr. Logan. Surprised he stepped out of the way. “Hi, Mr. Logan, what brings you here?” Mr. Logan had to be ninety, but he got around better than some people half his age and he still did some of the work on his apartments.
“Hello, Christopher.” For whatever reason, Mr. Logan liked to call him by his full name rather than his nickname. He stepped in and walked toward the bathroom. “There have been complaints from the apartment below yours.”
Chris blinked in surprise. “Really?”
Mr. Logan nodded and turned to look at him. “There’s water damage along the wall.”
“Oh,” Chris replied dumbly.
“I’m just trying to see if I can find the source before I call the plumber.”
“I see.”
Mr. Logan looked at a picture on the wall of Chris and Wyatt with their parents. There was an odd look on his face as he turned to look back at Chris. “Who are these with you and your brother?”
“That’s our parents,” Chris informed him.
“Their names?”
“Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt,” Chris informed him, pointed unnecessarily at each in turn.
Mr. Logan gulped. “I see.” There was an odd silence, before he spoke again. “Well, I’d better check for that leak.”
“Can you check later?” Chris requested. “I’m kind of in the middle of something and I don’t need plumbers in and out of the apartment.”
“Not really,” Mr. Logan replied. “No, it’s gone too long as is. They took their time letting me know. If you had seen the apartment below you, you wouldn’t ask. Maybe it will be the apartment above you.”
“I doubt it,” Chris retorted. “No, I haven’t seen any evidence of this, so I doubt it’s above me.”
Mr. Logan nodded. “It will only take me a minute to check that. I suggest you find somewhere else to go for the day if you need peace and quiet. Sorry, Christopher.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Chris sighed. “I’m just going to grab a few things and I’ll let you see yourself out. Have a good day, Mr. Logan.”
Mr. Logan smiled and nodded.
As Mr. Logan headed into the bathroom, Chris headed back into the living room and grabbed the papers Seth had brought along with his laptop. He needed to head over to the manor and check the book anyway. He closed his eyes, ready to orb out.
Except nothing happened.