His oppression

Unusual Place

Chapter Twenty-One: UNUSUAL PLACE

My right leg is in substantial pain as soon as I wake up from a dreamless slumber. This time, I had remembered every bit of what happened before I passed out-- it literally gives me the chills. There was a distant sound of water droplets and an occasional, which I’m assuming is a rat running around with its squeaky noise. The place stunk of bad odor that I could only describe as sewer smell. Not that I know what it smells like or have I ever been in one but that's just how I assume it smells like.

Of garbage and other stinky smells I can only imagine exist underground.

Now that I've actually processed what was going on, I tried to stand up and supported my weight on the sides which were brick walls. My right foot was bent up so I couldn't put any pressure to it and I had to actually limp in order not to make my situation worse than it already is. 

I wanted to gag but I had to hold the vomit in because I don’t want to be stepping on it as I walk by.

When everything wasn't too overbearing and the effect had died down, I thought of my grandma once more. How she could have possibly hidden something like this from me for years. Or if my grandpa knew. Or even if she was the one behind all of these or my grandpa was holding her hostage, threatening her not to tell anyone. There were a lot of possibilities I could look into and I’m impartial whether or not I want to begin exploring them.

It just seems impossible from my point of view but who was I to even come up with excuses when I failed being observant all this time. But be that as it may, they’re kind of badass if you really think about it. Having a tunnel underneath their house but for what?

I just hope it’s nothing illegal.

The voices from before came back when I was walking-- perhaps, I’m getting closer to something they’ve been wanting me to see. These voices, instead of ignoring them, I’ll just have to really deal with them for the reason that they’re never going to leave me alone if I don’t do what they want. 

They’ve been bugging me recently. It’s not just this one time but I know they’re the same voices mixed in with the background noise, they’re subtle yet I hear them. The thing is- I don’t know when it started, they just exist and it’s this time that they were louder. They want to be heard.

But what do they want from me? I’m not going to be some princess out here finding out who I am just because of some whispers, not like someone else who didn’t even think it’d be weird to follow voices. However, I don’t have much of an option right now. In reality, I’m stuck down here and will be until I find some sort of exit.

I fell from the hall that I was walking in which in particular I suppose wasn’t the way in. If it was, why the hell do you think it’s worth it to fall a couple of feet high then break one of your legs? That’s just not the way how things go.

During which, there was a faint light coming from the end of this somewhat tunnel of some sort. The pain in my leg was slowly reducing so I forced myself to walk faster so I could get there in time. Because my brain just happens to make up creepy monsters following me and just waiting for a time to strike. So knowing myself, I believe it.

After getting there, I took a rest and leaned my back against the wall whilst I was surveying the area. Massive bookshelves were all over the place. It’s like I’ve just visited an ancient peculiar land, a fantasy one at that. There was one movie I watched and the setting was just like this and it amazes me. There was even a table that was filled with papers-- scrolled parchments if that’s what they call it. Even with modern times, this place seemed really old.

A chamber, that’s it! Is it what’s this called? A chamber of secrets.

Tiredness paid a visit so I had to sit down on one of the stools. It didn’t feel right that I was touching most of these things but since my grandma had passed, I presume this is the thing she wants me to take care of. If it was this big, she should have told me about it earlier. I would have been cool with it.

In spite of everything, the only problem that plays significantly in this situation is that what is this?

It is amazing to discover this but if I have no idea what it holds for me then I’m going to have doubts continuing. But I really can’t ignore the fact that everything is suspicious. From the basement key to wherever I was right now, it’s all damn suspicious and I’m here to investigate as I’m going to be here for a little longer than I intend.

What did my grandma do?

“Spell for healing… ritual for negative-- what is this??” my eyebrows furrowed as I scanned the notebook that was there with my grandma’s handwriting before flipping the pages to see if there’s a context to this.

‘I had a vision way back and it will be devastating. As much as I don’t want my granddaughter to go through what I’ve seen, there’s no telling what will happen if I meddle with time. Time is a very complex thing to understand and I do not wish to stand in its way even though I do love my granddaughter dearly. I hope she can understand this in the future.’

That entry-- that journal entry from my grandmother had caused the hair all over my body to stand up in worry. I'm worried because I have absolutely no clue what she’s going on about and this vision thing is a little hard to understand with my level of apprehension. And with all the things that had been happening since Radcliff, my mind is boggled and refuses to accept these terms.

I was scared to see the other entries but I had to. For the sake of knowing what’s going on, I just did even though nothing was making any sense right now.

‘I am in a quandary. I want to tell my dear Aria about the family background but at the same time, I feel it would still be no use to her fate. The vision is strong and I won’t tell her to change it. I do not want her to grow up worrying about when her time will come. She doesn’t need getting caught up in witchcraft and the magic we practise. Her mother is the first to break the cycle because she thought it was eccentric and did not want to do anything regarding this. It was justifiable and what I went through with my mother before, I wouldn’t want them to experience it. Aria is turning 18 soon and we have to be careful not to let her powers show.’

No wonder grandma was really acting strange that day. If my grandpa had not pulled her out of her thoughts, she could have burnt herself severely because of how distracted she was. She was cooking meat that day on the grill outside.

But what are these powers she speaks of?

Witchcraft?

How could Radcliff possibly know about that? He knows something that I don’t and I’m going to question him the next time I see him, if I ever get to get out of here alive.

The next thing that caught my attention was another book.

The Dalton Family

I have no idea of my family background. My grandparents wouldn’t tell me stories about it but it’s not like I’m really interested to find out. If I knew, then great, but what will I do with that information? Brag about how my great great grandfather discovered a lost island or something? That my cousins were pirates?

I came from a lineage of witches? I kind of get how my mother would think that was eccentric and wouldn’t want to do anything with it because as far as I know about witchcraft, it’s dangerous. And if what my grandma is saying about the vision she has, that just proves my point, doesn’t it? No clue as to why I would be in such an unfortunate circumstance but I can guess someone f****d up and I’m taking the consequences for their actions. If! If what they’re saying is true. But I still need to know more.

The family lineage dates back to a few centuries before and the surname Dalton isn’t the main one yet as I go further through the pages and contents of the book. I take back not wanting to know the generations before mine. It’s really fascinating to be aware of their lives.

My mother’s side of the family is really something else… and I mean that literally. They’re all witches. They claim they’re good ones, they help people as much as their powers can handle which I surprisingly don’t doubt. But people in the past have wronged them and they cast a curse on them to condemn them for the rest of their life or even their family.

The recent one being Janice from the 1940’s where another woman accused Janice of doing the crime she didn’t even commit in the first place. It’s not about the powers, it’s about people taking advantage of their weaknesses and that’s just sad.

I hope the woman learned her lesson well.

But from there, there wasn’t any curse cast upon someone else additionally. It’s my grandma’s time, then my mother.

If I can be honest right now, I feel no excitement whatsoever even though I’m delving into my family and relatives’ lives before, and knowing I had this sort of power within me, it’s not. I don’t want it. Grandma could be right about not letting me know and I’ll probably choose not to know for the rest of my life too. Because I’m given the wrong impression of witches. I have mixed feelings about it.

Well, there are libraries of books here. I can learn more about what I am. It’s too bad I’m not going to have a definite closure after when my own mother doesn’t even acknowledge this side and perhaps know less than what I know now. In that aspect, my mother and I are alike.

I probably got that from her. The indifference toward situations.

My eyes widened when the book suddenly fell off my grip. God knows there was no sufficient air in here but the pages were turning on its own. My eyebrows furrowed when I tried to lean in to see where it had stopped.

Genevieve, 1554.

When a man tells you he loves you, do not believe him. Instead, let him prove that he is worthy of your love and affection. And if things go forward greatly from there forth, it is pure bliss. He will make you like you are the only woman that seems to exist in his world. But if later comes and he has sinned against you, still hesitate. Learn his side of the narrative and from there you can come up to a conclusion. And I never did. Rather than explaining what he has done, I seek out to find him only to find out he was with another woman and they were conversing about me, laughing and mocking my existence. I, therefore, cursed Radcliff Abram to spend eternity alone and his soul trapped in a doll for he had used me and my powers to gain what he wanted. I am ashamed to have fallen under his trap and my dear children, do not stop the legacy here.

Keep the doll intact and never let Radcliff Abram out.

Radcliff? What did he do?