CURSED 1

LISTEN TO ME

I made my way to a chair in the waiting room. I leaned back my head and

I couldn’t believe that this happened to me again.

Fuck this!

I got up and stumbled toward the door.

What the hell was going on? Tommy? Dead!

I pushed my way outside and looked up into the morning sun. I dropped to

my knees. My heart felt as if it was going to rip from my chest. I needed to get

out of here. I went to my truck. But I didn’t trust myself to drive, not right now.

So I started running. I ran past cars in the driveway and people walking to their

cars. I got to the sidewalk and started sprinting down the street, heading the

opposite direction of traffic. The sidewalk soon ended and I was now in the

street, running in the direction of approaching cars. I didn’t care. Let them hit

me. I didn’t care.

Fuck them. f**k everything.

I kept running as fast as I could make my body go. Cars swerved around into

the next lane. Horns honked everywhere. Tires screeched. And still I ran. Now, a

car was coming straight for me. I refused to move over. It screeched to a stop,.

smoke billowing up around its tires. But I didn’t slow or deviate. Instead, I ran

up onto its hood and ignored the shocked expression of the middle-aged driver. I

ran over the roof and down the trunk, leaving massive footprints in the sheet

metal. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything.

Eventually, I turned a corner and found myself in a dirt parking lot. Some

Cars followed me in. I dropped to my knees, sucking air, trying to breathe, trying

to die. Whatever came first, I didn’t care.

A guy in a big, black Ford truck got out of his vehicle and began yelling at

me. “What the hell were you doing, you stupid asshole!”

I ignored him, hardly saw him. He was just background noise.

Another guy jumped out of a white Mazda. A chubby Asian dude. “You

stupid piece of shit...what the hell were you trying to do?”

God, I was in so much pain. I didn’t care if these two guys wanted to kick my

ass or not? I was going to let them just have at me. I dropped my chin against my

chest. My heart was racing so fast. Finally, I just let out a long, bellowing wail.

It was shocking, the level of animalistic grief in that long wail. It was a primal

sound, one that I was freaked out A came from within me. It woke me up, in a way.

and I asked myself where I was running to. Tommy wasn’t out there. He wasn’t

anywhere. He was gone.

One of the annoyed guys asked me if I needed help, but I didn’t respond.

Eventually, they both got in their vehicles and drove off. From above, I heard the

beat of Daphne’s wings and an occasional screechy squawk. I don’t know what

It was about that bird, but she was attached to me. The morning sun beat down

on my neck. Its heat comforted me.

Eventually, I made it back to my truck and drove home. I opened the door and

went straight into Tommy’s room. He kept his room meticulous, just as he did.

everything else in his life. He still had pictures of himself and my sister on his

dresser, even though she had been dead for three years. He had pictures of them

at Disneyland and one from her senior prom.

On top of his dresser was a framed picture of Tommy and me. We had our

arms around each other after my first MMA fight. I had knocked the guy out in

one minute, so Tommy and I were sporting the number one sign. We both

seemed so happy. This picture was about a year old, which would have been two

years after my family’s accident. Tommy and I met, without ever talking about

it, that we were bonded for life, brothers not of flesh, but of hearts. Now...he was

gone. He had gone to heaven. Now I have my pops, mom, sis, and Tommy all

Looking after me. From above.

I sat on his bed and lay back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. Up there

was a movie poster of Never Back Down. Tommy had eaten, slept, and lived

mixed martial arts fighting.

“So, what am I supposed to do now, guys?” I yelled out loud. “You guys

think I can do this alone? Well, I have news for all of you...I can’t.” I rolled.

over, and I got up. I looked at myself in Tommy’s mirror above his dresser. “But

it looks as if I have no choice.”

I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to get out of here. Go

somewhere far away. I needed to talk to someone. I needed to talk to someone I

trusted. I needed to talk to Lena.

I got in my truck and drove over to her house. She answered the door.

immediately.

“Josiah,” Lena said, surprised. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not.” I said. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

“Sure.” She grabbed her coat, and we both got in my truck. I drove around the

corner and parked in a church parking lot. I suddenly found myself speaking

exceedingly difficult. I collected myself and, with her concerned eyes on me, I

blurted out, “Tommy is dead.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

Her question was completely outside of left field. “What do you mean, how do I

know? I was at the hospital when he died. A cop told me!”

“Oh, no. This can’t be happening.” Lena covered her face and looked away.

Okay, either this girl had no clue how to console someone hurting, or

something else was going on. “What can’t be happening? Lena, do you know?

Something about this?”

She looked back at me. Yeah, something was wrong. “What is it, Lena?

Please. Tell me.”

“You’re not going to believe what happened.”

“Tell me.”

“Let’s go for a ride.”

So we rode. I pulled out of the church driveway and soon we were cruising on

a mostly empty freeway, going nowhere in particular. Lena turned in her seat.

and looked at me.

“Josiah, how well did you know Tommy?”

“I knew him like a brother.”

“Then perhaps even brothers keep secrets.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Tommy had a secret, Josiah. A big secret.”

I was in no mood, and, quite frankly, she was beginning to irritate me. I

needed to be consoled, not presented with riddles. It took all my power to bite

my tongue, and simply growled, “How the hell would you know about Tommy’s

secrets? You hardly knew him.”

“Josiah, this might be hard for you to understand. This will be difficult for

you to process.” She took a deep breath, touched my hand tentatively, and then

retracted her hand.

“Just say it, Lena.”

She nodded. Tears were streaming down the side of her cheeks. Last night

was just getting weirder and weirder. “Josiah, Tommy is what’s called a Carnie.”

“What the hell is a Carnie?”

She was staring at me again. Even in my peripheral vision, I could see her

lower lip shaking.

“Please, talk to me, Lena. I’m seriously confused. What’s a Carni?”

“They’re werewolves.”

I looked at her, and she was dead serious. She didn’t even blink. Her eyes

were piercing right through me.

“Tommy’s werewolf's name is Kyro. He’s one of the most notorious

werewolves in the area.”

“Lena, listen to me. And listen to me well. You are freaking crazy. Atticai,

Yari, Wyatt, Hector, all of you idiots are stone-cold nut jobs. Tommy was as

normal as anyone I’d ever known. I was with him every day. I’ve never once

Seeing him become a...” I couldn’t even say it. This was all far too insane.

I got off the freeway and got back on, going the other direction. I wanted

Lena got out of my car. She was only making a shitty night worse. I wanted nothing

more than to dump her in her trailer park and never see her again.

“Listen to me. You never saw it, Josiah, because he can control it. Tommy is

an advanced Carnie. The only time they can’t control it is during a full moon.”

“What?”

“Think about it, Josiah. Did Tommy mysteriously leave every month for about

48 hours?”

“That’s silly. Tommy was in the reserves. Of course, he would leave. He was

on duty for the United States military. On rotation. Duty.”

“Other than his word, did you ever see proof that he was in the reserves?”

“In my world, someone’s word is pretty much enough. His was.”

“Josiah, the last thing I want to do is wreck your world. But you are going to

have to open your eyes. Everything you know to be true is upside down. There is

a whole world of Carnie and Mani all around us. And by their mercy, they don’t

kill Andrea.”

“Tandra?”

“Yes. We are the Andrea...the mortals.”

I couldn’t wrap my mind around any of this. “How do you know so much?”

“Because they let me in. I don’t know exactly why, but Attica says in my

twentieth birthday next week, everything will be clear to me.”

“So who—or what—killed Tommy? That’s even if I believe this, which I

don’t.”

Lena was quiet.

“Who killed Tommy, Lena, since you know so f*****g much?”

“Attica confronted him after the fight in the parking lot.”

“What?”

“Attica approached him, and Tommy, of course, knows exactly what Attica

is. They got into a heated discussion. Attica was defending you, saying a Carnie

had no business competing in Andrea sports. He told Tommy that if he continued

to test the Troat, it would be to his demise.”

“What the hell are you smoking, girl? What the hell is the Troat?”

“The Troat is the unbinding force that allows the Carnie and Mani to live in

peace along with the Andrea.”

“You have f*****g lost your mind, Lena. You’re making up a bad religion in

your head to explain what you don’t understand.”

“Please—”

“Tell me what they did to Tommy!” I screamed, sounding as if I had lost my

mind, as well. I pounded the dash and left a dent in it.

Lena shrank against the passenger side door. “Tommy challenged Attica.”

“Where and how?”

“They went to old Rogue Field over by Wassermann. They knew it was

isolated enough that they wouldn’t be seen by regular folks. Only Carnie and

Many were invited. ”

I heard myself breathing. I heard my heart beating loudly in my ears. What

What the f**k was going on?

“Were you there?” I asked.

“Yes, I was.”

“So what happened?”

“Attica and Tommy battled.”

“You’re lying. You’re crazy.”

She went on, ignoring me. “Your friend battled bravely, but Attica had too.

much power.”

“Attica killed him?”

Again, Lena became quiet.

“Did Attica kill him?”

“In the Carnie tradition, once a Carnie loses to a mani in a public fight, all the

observing Carni, mangles the remainder of the body.”

Honestly, how the hell was I supposed to respond to that? I decided to keep to

the facts. “Who drove him down to the hospital? He was alive when he was

dropped off at the door.”

“I don’t know who dropped him off, Josiah. He was left for dead.”

“But someone drove him to the hospital. Who?”

“I don’t know. Everyone left late in the morning. When we left, Tommy’s

The body was still out there.”

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of this. Attica killed Tommy

because he’s a crazy, delusional, Goth-crazed psychopath.”

I exited the freeway.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the Flatlands. I’m going to find Atticai.”

“Josiah, if you go there—and if you tell them that you know anything—they

will kill you. Your ignorance of them is what keeps you alive. It’s what keeps everything

Tandra alive, by decree of the Triat—”

“Please, just shut your mouth.”

“Drop me off at my house because I don’t want to be a part of this.”

“I will gladly drop you off. But you were willing to be a part of it last night.

when Tommy got killed.”

She didn’t answer that, which was just as well. The more she opened her

mouth, the more I started not to like her. After, I parked in front of her trailer

park, Lena got out and walked over to my window.

“Don’t go away angry, Josiah. Please. For me. Try to forget all of this and

just go back to your normal life.”

“What life, Lena? Tommy was the last of my family, and your family was killed.

him.”

She shook her head and stepped back away from my truck. I reversed out of

her community’s driveway, tires squealing past the 5 m.p.h. sign, and headed to

the Arrowhead Mountains. I was going to find and hurt Attica.

My mind raced as I drove. What if, on any level, any of this was true? But

how could it be? This wasn’t a freaking Groovy Googlies Saturday morning cartoon.

show where vampires and werewolves were the norm. This was real life.

My head hurts. My heart hurt. Everything hurt.

And one way or another, Attica was going to hurt, too.

Bad.

TO BE CONTINUED.....