His oppression

Expected Turn of Events

Chapter Twenty-Five: UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS

“I’ve read about this, it can work. I think.” I told Radcliff whilst I was preparing all the ingredients the old woman had given me a couple of weeks back, him really just standing there watching me like a hawk.

Good thing was there was never anything that was going to spoil or something like that. I made sure, and I mean that, to preserve them as best that I could which thankfully worked so I don’t have to buy them again even though it wouldn’t be my money spent to begin with.

Full moon was a weekday and since I’m too much of a perfectionist and was really hoping everything would end soon, I filed for a day off however that would be the first and last time I’ll ever do. It made me quite conscious for a bit because I don’t get paid when I don’t go to work and there was a high chance I was going to be replaced despite not having an absence the whole time I was working there. But the boss reassured me it was fine when she noticed the state I was in-- both physically and emotionally. Apparently she, too, noticed how pale I was becoming.

I have to remind myself to get a lipstick or something so they wouldn’t have to be looking at my lips whenever they see me. It makes me really uncomfortable. That’s just how they know I’m pale or something?

“You didn’t discover anything about yourself when you were younger?” Radcliff suddenly asked out of nowhere.

I looked at him a bit confused. “Except that I’m a really unlikeable person before, I still think now, because I’m just not good at being a decent person, there’s nothing else.”

“I mean your powers. Don’t you get that at a certain age? Your relatives did when they were predominantly the age of sixteen, some even earlier, some later but they do get their powers. When they reach that point, their powers are overwhelming so when they continue to cast the spell on me, it keeps getting harder to escape.” he said with a sigh.

“I wasn’t aware that I could have powers, considering the family I have. My mom knew but she took it as a joke and grandma never forced her to learn magic or whatever they do.” I just said, “I guess she never told me too because apparently, she was scared for me.”

“Why would she?”

“Because she had a vision that something was going to happen to me and she can’t change my fate. Something like that.” I looked at him. “Should I be worried? Because I’m not though I’ve been contemplating what it could be.”

“Perhaps it’s you and I. It’s going to be one damn of a tragedy once we do find a way that really works.” 

“Huh?” I asked, wanting to hear him right because that did not just come out of this mouth.

It’s rather comical too because I kind of already anticipate the things he will say, based on what he has been vocal about or how he voices his feelings out, but he just completely went above my expectations of him. If it was just this petty of a vision, grandma wouldn’t be so secretive with me, would she?

If it was that bad, I would think she would keep such a huge thing from me because she wants to protect me, that’s just what she does and I appreciate that. I would never doubt her decisions for me. On condition to that, she thought that it would have been the best for me then that goes to show how much she cared for me.

“No, I don’t think that’s it. If she wanted a normal life for me growing up, then I think it’s worse than you know, star crossed lovers per se. Why would she be selfish about wanting me to meet a match? She badly wanted me to date and had been setting me up with every guy she thought I’ll like. It isn’t that.” I pointed out the flaw with his suggestion.

Which could be possible, too, yes I don’t have any reason to go against the likelihood, that’s what he thinks. I’m not really what you call frustrated with him anymore as the days go by. I would spare myself the tension between the two of us because I can’t handle everything at once. Instead of garnering this hatred towards him, might as well put that much effort into coming up with resolutions to solve the dilemma we’re currently managing right now.

“Then, what else could it be?” he asked even after a few minutes of silence. “Would it come a later time?”

“Probably,” I shrugged. “Because this isn’t like, inherently bad. At least for me, for you I could feel it being hell. But for me, it’s just mere disturbance when I just accept it as it is. Though I got to know what my family was like before so to say, it isn't as bad as grandma portraying the vision to be. Then I met you, I still think it’s not a bad encounter despite what went wrong afterwards.”

“You think it’s not bad that you met me? You were nearly going to kill me,” he laughed nervously. “Which I utterly accept because you were raging.”

“Not that I’m going to do it, you think I can do it? You saw me saving a spider, letting out bugs out of my home instead of killing them. I can’t hurt anyone physically but I’ll probably leave you disappointed or upset or whatever because I would say a few hurtful words here and there.”

“Why do you think I’m still here?” he asked, finally having the urge to come and help me prepare. “If I believe you were really going to do something to me?”

“Because you’re an i***t?” I looked at him before laughing lightly. “Or because you’re just still hoping to be done.”

“I really was hoping so. I don’t mind a sudden death right now even if it will seem tormenting. It goes both ways anyways. And you’re the last one in the lineage, I just want it to stop, what they were doing before. This is good enough. You don’t have powers. You don’t have the capacity and strength to further enforce your family beliefs.” he explained with a small smile. “You and your mother, grandmother… are different from your past generations. I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me and go ahead with the plan all along.”

“My grandma was different?” I just asked, under the impression that she’d continue the curse because she kept Radcliff here.

He nodded his head. “She was. Though I’m still locked in here, I was treated differently than before. And your mother, your mother was something else. She was the one who actually auctioned me off like you were planning to. She got me out of the place.”

“And you were haunting me, aren’t you just dumb?” I laughed, trying to enjoy these kinds of moments. “You’ve just gone back to where you were before.”

“Not entirely,” he pointed out. “But it did give me a lot of things to ponder on following. Mistakes were made and points are realised. It’s not too late now for that matter, is it?”

“It’s good we’re both learning from this,” I told him, patting his back.  “But you’re still a stupid i***t. It’s redundant ‘cause that’s what you really are. Stupid idiot.”

“Then what are you for still helping me? A foolish fool?”

I looked at him before bursting a laugh out loud

“Come on, it’s almost time to start the ritual.” I walked away, grabbing the pot with boiling water in it before looking at my reflection.

Boy do I look disgusting. I haven’t even taken a bath yet because lowkey, I got traumatised by drowning myself in the bathtub. That’s why I prefer showers.

It was so sudden but I saw a face that wasn’t mine in the water. After blinking a few times, it never came back. And I found it very odd but I’ve just come to terms that I was probably still stressed about everything that has been happening and was just seeing things. Though I might probably regret that later on, I would never know.

I have been reading over the instructions carefully, what to put first, what to do whilst waiting and the last one to be put in the pot. Still, I got a feeling that it’s not going to work but it’s still worth a try from the first time I thought about it. If they could feel Radcliff the moment I entered their shop, they might be legit witches or some paranormal folk, I don’t know what you call them.

The pot is now brewing and we were just waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Curtains were off, just to make sure they don’t cast shadows when the moon is at its peak, and we were doing it with the lights turned off. I also made sure we were hit by the moon’s light especially the pot because that was a crucial step according to the instructions. It wouldn’t work if I were somewhere else without the moon in sight.

Witches get their powers from the moon, I’m told. I don’t know if it’s a small coincidence but the moon does serve as a good comfort for me as a child because often, grandma would tell me stories about it before bedtime. Now that I recall, she would tell me stories about witches and how their magic was powerful. Of course, I didn’t believe it but it was fun to listen to her.

My eyes wandered to the moon this time when the alarm clock finally rang indicating that it was midnight. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary and I just snapped out of it when I remembered that I had to chant something.

I was carrying the rosemary in the hand before reading what was on the piece of paper.

“I am here in good spirits and with the intention of lifting the curse accompanied and witnessed by the moon… visualise that you are breaking the spell--Oh I’m not supposed to say.. Oof.” 

I cleared my throat and tried again for a second time, focusing on the atmosphere around me. Then the visualisation came into place where I closed my eyes imagining a thread that was binding Radcliff to the doll. Then I cut that thread carefully as I imagined sharp scissors, releasing both ends after. After a few moments as I felt a different vibe, I opened my eyes but I was met with silence.

Looking behind me, I saw that Radcliff was still there just waiting for something to happen, anything, and I was kind of disappointed because I was picturing some kind of boom, you know? But what can I expect from just buying from a witchcraft store? I got my hopes up just for disappointment but anyway, it wasn’t bad. I just hope there weren't any consequences that along with it if I really cast a spell like that.

The last step was to bury all the materials that I’ve used in the session. It was a few minutes into the new day and I don’t think something’s going to happen soon. Standing up and fixing my shirt, I grabbed everything with a frown on my face before looking back at Radcliff to tell him we could explore more ways.

He just had an unsatisfied smile written all over his face and I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling right now. It was a pity too, the moon was convincing enough but we were just left hopeless.

“My grandma was stacked on books on how to break curses and whatnot. We can go from there starting from now.” I just told him, putting all the objects on a cloth. “And we’ll go digging tomorrow, we'll have to bury these and pay a little visit to the people who sold us these. They said to come back, right?”