Le Desespoir: The Cursed Paradise

21 Years

"I went to a psychologist's clinic today, " Caroline began, and waved her hand to stop Jessica, whose eyes suddenly widened in alarm. "I'm talking about a parapsychologist Jessie, someone who could help the both of you understand what's going on. I told her about your rare case, and she suggested that what you're experiencing might not be the haunting of a ghost as we originally thought."

Caroline studied their faces before she continued. All four of them thought that the ghost of Johann had attached himself to the sisters when they went to the estate. In short, for weeks, they had this idea that when they came home from France, the spirit of the heir went with them.

"She said that your case might be that of someone, recalling her past life."

"You mean…" Jessica and Hannah exchanged looks and they swallowed. "You mean that we're reincarnations of people that we saw in our dreams?"

"Exactly!" Caroline nodded. "She said that the dreams that you're both having were memories of the people you were centuries ago. In studies, it's a rare occasion for people to remember who they were in their past lives. But since you went to a place where unexplainable things happened…"

Her voice trailed off as she frowned.

"She said there was a big chance that you're both strongly connected to that place and seeing it again triggered your long-buried memories."

The sisters held hands, squeezing each other for reassurance.

"So, how do we end all of these?" Jessica wanted to know.

The couple sighed. "She said you can end these by fully remembering everything that happened in the past so that you could put it behind you."

"How are we going to do that?" Hannah asked. "All we have are broken dreams— each dream different from each other every night."

"Hypnotism," Sam spoke for the first time since they talked. "By undergoing hypnotism, you will be able to unlock all the memories."

"I see…" Jessica nodded and then paused. "If you found a solution, then why do you look like that?" she asked her friend who still had a very grave expression on his face.

The couple exchanged looks and then Sam sighed again.

"Because I'm not sure if remembering the past is good after all," he said as he took some papers out of the package he had been carrying earlier. He hesitated for a moment before handing them to Jessica who immediately scanned them.

"I asked my friend from Paris to gather everything he could about Le Désespoir, and those articles are what he found," Sam said as he shook his head. "Look at them and you'll know why I don't think it's good to gain your memories."

Jessica’s heart pounded heavily as she looked at each page. The papers were all about the unexplainable deaths which happened all throughout the years to people who were somehow connected to the estate, starting from the present going back.

"All of them committed suicide by shooting themselves in the head," he said as he continued scanning.

"As you can see, they're all strangers. None of those deaths were of the owners, but people who just happened to go there— except for the first case," Sam said as Jessica stopped and stared at the last paper with a big m******e spelled in front.

The paper was a photocopy of a very old article dated 1843, and her head pounded hard as she absorbed the news. She felt dizzy suddenly that she wasn't able to continue reading, so Caroline took over.

"It says that in the midsummer night of 1843, three days after the heir, Johann de Lancret jumped into the fire with his lover, the second heir went crazy and went into a killing spree. He started shooting everyone starting with his father and then the men who worked for them. Shortly after sunrise, he killed his lover and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The only family who was spared was the youngest heir, Julian de Lancret."

When Caroline finished reading, Sam looked at Jessica’s eyes.

"Do you see now why it's best to leave it alone? Those are just articles but they were already horrifying. What more if you relive each and every horror— and that's what'll happen if you undergo hypnotism. If you're asking me, I don't want to tell you about this, but this is your life, so I'll let you decide."

He paused for a while, his expression growing more worried. "And if you're going to look carefully at those articles, if you compute the years— the intervals of the deaths, you'll get twenty-one years."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about the curse Jessie. The proof is there. Every twenty-one years after the m******e; 1864, 1885, 1906, 1927, 1948, 1969, and 1990, a young person goes to Le Désespoir, goes crazy and shoots himself on the head, the same way the second heir did. This year, 2011, is twenty-one years after the last incident. It's not safe Jessie," Sam explained.

Jessie breathed in deeply. This piece of information just sent her into confusion. She wanted to end these dreams, but now she wasn't sure if facing their nightmares was such a good idea. She was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that her friends were all looking at Hannah until Caroline called her name.

"Jessie, what's wrong with her?" she heard Caroline ask in alarm, and she quickly looked at her sister.

Hannah had turned very pale; her body trembled as she cried silent tears.

"Hannah? What's wrong?" she asked as she pulled her close, but Hannah pushed her away.

"I want to remember," she announced stiffly as tears continued to fall from her eyes which were filled with disbelief.

"But Hannah— " Caroline wanted to protest but Hannah cut her off.

"I want to remember!" she yelled as she stood up. "I need to remember everything. Please," she begged as she sobbed.

"Why?" Sam asked her, and Hannah smiled bitterly and her eyes seemed to become distant.

"Because this article is lying," she said as she ripped the 1843 news article into pieces.

"Hannah!" Everyone was really worried now. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that Jehan, the second heir could never do what this article said he did," she stated confidently. "And he would never, ever have killed me…" she whispered, and everyone's eyes widened in horror upon realizing that the murderer, Jehan de Lancret, was Hannah’s lover.