Death and a Curse

Kera Conway had butterflies in her stomach, the feeling of thousands of little wings made her smile. She sat in her room at her vanity feeling inadequate as she stared into the large mirror with her curling iron in hand correcting a few locks of hair that didn’t seem to fall just right. It wasn’t that it had to take an hour to get dressed, but to be picture perfect it took Kera just that or more. She hadn’t perfected the art of looking like the girls in her magazine, but if she looked just right, for only a moment she was almost there. The time it took her to curl her golden blond hair, perfect her makeup and pick out her clothes didn’t matter if the final product would open doors for her like she expected it to.

Kera loved to sit in front of the mirror and accent her emerald green eyes with just the right amount of charcoal eyeliner. Her eyes were her absolute favorite thing about her. As it stood, they were the only thing that she was glad to inherit from her mother.

It had only been a few months since Kera had turned sixteen, a milestone she expected. When her junior year had started she had vowed to herself that this year would be great.

Kera looked down at the box that held her birthday present from her mother. She rolled her eyes at it. It was a cruel joke her mother had played on her. Every sixteen year old would want to get a key on their birthday. Her mother must have thought it to be funny to give Kera the oldest, ugliest, and most useless key possible. 

Even more odd was what her mother had said about the disgusting old key, I know it is not what you were hoping for Kera, but this is much more valuable than a car. Keep it safe and it will do the same for you.

Kera sighed and looked back into the mirror to examine herself. She poured more pink gloss on her lips to make sure they looked slick before she was satisfied. As she walked out of her room she smiled thinking of what the day had in store for her. Kera pictured herself sitting by the lake in her new bikini. She had it on under her tank top and short denim skirt so her mother wouldn’t see.

He would be there, Austin. He was seventeen and the oldest boy in the junior class. As far as standards go, Austin had it all, quarter back on the football team, strong, hansom, and he had a truck. She smiled as she remembered walking out of Spanish class on Friday to see Austin passing by. Kera couldn’t concentrate on anything but his lips moving as he talked with his friends about going to the lake over the weekend. Kera had to be there. She knew that if she was there at the lake too, he would notice her this time.

Kera was brought out of her day dream when she heard her parents, Laura and Sam Conway, talking quietly in the kitchen. She walked softly through the living room to the wall opposite the kitchen and flattened herself against it.

“Laura she doesn’t have to come.” Sam argued half heartedly on his daughter’s side. Sam was just about the strongest man that Kera could imagine. He was like a rock and never cowered when it came to doing what was right. He was tall, clean shaven with a military hair cut although he had never served. As strong as he was, Sam did have two weaknesses, Kera and Laura, his two ladies. Sam had few passions in life. Working hard to follow his dream and start his own diner, and making sure that he made the two people he loved more than anything happy.

Laura of course, was only trying to instill boundaries, worried that Kera would get herself into trouble if she didn’t have something productive to do. “She will be fine sacrificing a few hours of her weekend for her family.” Her mother argued. Laura seemed to come from another world and Kera didn’t understand her. She shared Kera’s blond hair and emerald green eyes, but Laura was stiff. She spoke like she came from royalty which Kera didn’t understand since she was raised in an orphanage. Laura sat straight as a board or stood tall, always with her shoulders back and her nose in the air. Half of the time Kera laughed to herself and wondered if her mother was preparing for some kind of pageant.

Kera frowned from the living room. How could her mother be such a stick in the mud? She had worked at the diner all summer and now she had little time to spend time with her friends. It would not be fair if she didn’t get to go. After all, it was Saturday and she had been held in captivity all week under the umbrella of a school night.

Sam sighed, “I could use the help Laura, but…”

“Perfect.” Her mother exclaimed not waiting for the rest of Sam’s sentence. “Kera you can come in now.”

Kera’s jaw dropped just like it always did when her mother seemed to know she was there. Kera was so sure that she had been quiet. She had been working hard on her stealth mode for the past few months. Ever since her mother had changed from the helpful friend that helped her fix her hair, to someone that flinched every time Kera mentioned going out of the house.

Kera made it a point to only look at her father as she slowly made her way into the kitchen.

Sam was clutching a cup of coffee by the stove like he always did and Laura stood with a straight face to the right of him.

Kera looked as pitiful as she could; hoping that she could convince him she had better things to do. She was tired of listening to every customer talk about how grown up she looked. “But daddy I have plans today.” Kera pleaded with her father.

Laura stepped in like a tornado right between Kera and Sam. “You haven’t helped out with the diner in three weeks.” She declared. “You must go with your father. Then we can talk about spending time with your friends.” Laura had her newly found don’t mess with me expression painted across her face as she told Kera how it was going to go.

“That’s not fair. I have to be there today.” Kera looked out the window above the sink. It was the perfect day to go to the lake. October, but as everyone knew the heat lingered in Texas. Today was beautiful, on this day it would reach to the mid eighties. The trees in front of her neighbor’s houses stood still only rustling slightly every once in a while when the breeze kindly gave them a break from the heat of the sun.

“We will talk about it after you go to the diner and help your father.” Laura caught Kera’s attention with her stern voice.

Kera looked back at her mother, what did she think she was going to do? Kera didn't understand why her mother was being so protective. “Fine, then will you extend my curfew?” Kera hoped that she was in a position to negotiate. Kera glanced past her mother happy to see that it looked like her father was thinking about saying yes.

Her mother cut in before he could get a word out. “I don’t think so Kera,” Laura shot down her hopes quickly. So far since her birthday, her mother had shortened her curfew by one hour, insisted in her working at her father’s diner on the weekends, and kept tabs on her almost every hour. Kera didn’t see the point of turning sixteen and getting a cell phone if she was always home or only used the phone to verify where she was at all times.

Sam didn’t seem to get it either. He had been trying his best to get Laura to lighten up a little, but apparently for no good reason she couldn’t be swayed. After he had agreed to let Kera go to her friend’s house after school one day her mother had seemed to take over all of the decision making abilities in the house. If she asked her father anything, the answer was – go ask your mother.

“Daddy, this isn’t fair.” Kera started to get extremely frustrated. She felt that if she did well in school she should be able to spend her leisure time doing what she wanted. Kera had a hard enough time convincing her friends that she was not a nerd when the teachers handed out A’s on every one of her tests. But with her mother suddenly keeping her from every possible function that could make it easier to fit in, Kera couldn’t help but feel like it was unfair and completely pointless.

“If you don’t go with your father, then you can stay home all day and clean the house.” Her mother threatened with her eyebrows in the air as if she was daring Kera to argue.

Kera gave her mother a nasty look and turned away from her quickly to avoid her mother’s reciprocation. Kera could feel her stomach turn. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her mother, she just didn’t understand her. When she was younger she loved the quirky things her mother would do. Laura would teach her little songs or riddles that made no sense. It sounded like a secret language they didn't teach in school. Kera felt special to share this language with her mother, even if she would only smile when Kera asked what it meant. But now that she was older Kera was ready for the foolishness to stop. As she walked angrily out of the kitchen to her room she wasn’t thinking about what she would do next. It just happened. Kera let her mind stand aside and gave into her impulsive notion for once.

“You better be changing.” Her mother called after her dryly.

Kera had no intention of changing. She hated the work outfit that her mother had assigned to her. It was a knee length denim skirt and a frilly blouse that looked utterly ridiculous. She knew her mother had been trying to compromise with her when she picked it out, but Kera still despised it. As far as she could tell her mother knew nothing about fashion. What would her friends or classmates say about her if they walked into the diner and Kera was wearing that stupid outfit?

Kera grabbed her purse from her bed and slipped on her new gold flip flops that matched her bikini. She hesitated feeling a bit nervous at what she was about to do. She also wondered what her cruel punishment would be now that her mother was on this controlling tirade.

Kera took a deep breath and pulled open the window in her room, took off the screen and climbed out quietly careful not to brush her clothes against the dust on the sill. She didn’t even bother to close it when she got to the other side. Freedom, Kera thought with a smile. She walked quickly down the sidewalk looking at each house to make sure her neighbors weren’t outside. The last thing she needed was for any one of them to come out and start talking to her while she was trying to make a break for it.

Kera turned around to make sure her mother wasn’t coming after her as her heart began to race. It felt as though someone was watching her but she couldn’t see anyone. Slightly scared, Kera took off running down the street toward the lake. She could hear her new shoes clapping on the ground until one of the straps broke. Kera felt an instant sting of anger as she looked down at her new shoe and pursed her lips together. This day couldn’t go any worse, she thought as she kicked it off her foot harshly. She leaned over and picked up both shoes from the ground and slid them into her purse wishing that her mother would have just let her go. If that was the case she would have two perfectly good flip flops rather than have to walk around barefoot all day.

Kera looked back up and was shocked to find that she had arrived at the edge of the forest much quicker than she had expected. It must have been adrenaline from the argument with her mother that had given her extra energy or more than likely she just hadn’t paid attention to how long she had been jogging. Kera dismissed the strange feeling and continued on her journey to the lake. She made her way through the trees staring at the ground as she walked barefoot on the cool ground.

Out of the blue Kera felt the same nagging feeling that someone was watching her. She stopped for a moment to look around but her eyes seemed to be going out of focus. She was on the path she had traveled often, pretty much all of her life and never had she met someone within the forest. She closed her unfocused eyes tightly and felt her heart begin to beat faster as felt hot tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She didn’t feel like crying at the moment and quickly wiped them from her face in anger. Kera hated to cry, it made her feel weak. Recently as it had seemed, she couldn't control her emotions.

After opening her eyes again she could see only one thing, a fly zooming in front of her. Strangely when Kera raised her hand to shoo it away she noticed it was further away from her than she had expected, a few feet away from her to be more accurate. Confused, she closed her eyes again and rubbed them vigorously not caring about her makeup that she was probably smearing across her face. It didn’t seem to help, this time they were unfocused and blurry again. She dare not move from the spot she stood wondering if she had brushed against something poisonous when she entered the forest. Kera began to breathe short quick breaths as she felt her face flush as the pulsation in her chest soared.

Kera took a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate and control herself, but she was unsuccessful. In fact, what happened next only made things worse. The pungent odor of hot dirt, moss and a vast collection of other unknown smells made their way into her nose. Kera choked and tried to rub her eyes again feeling the tears drenching her hands. Kera started to panic. She could feel her head swim, the smell was making her nauseous and she couldn’t see anything. A million thoughts ran through her head as she felt completely crippled by what was happening to her.

Kera reacted to the sound of a branch breaking near her, “Is anyone there?” She called out hearing her voice echo through her head like she had spoken into a microphone with the speakers pointed at her ears. She instantly put her hands over her ears as the noise from the forest clouded her mind. Her eardrums began to throb and Kera dropped to the ground feeling the rocks and sticks on the floor of the forest dig into her bare knees.

Every inch of her body began to hurt; it felt like her bones were breaking one at a time and her skin was on fire. Kera put her hands out to catch herself as she fell to the cool ground and vomited at the pain. She opened her eyes for a moment seeing only a blur as she looked down.

Kera must have been hallucinating now as she saw that her hands were covered in black fur and her nails were claws digging deep into the dirt. Kera felt herself lose consciousness from the pain and topple over hard hitting her head against the base of a tree.



A loud thud made its way to Kera’s mind as she felt her body tremble in surprise. She didn't know how long she had been there on the cold ground, but her body felt like ice. She opened her eyes relieved that her vision was back to normal. Kera looked around from where she lay on the ground and touched the trunk of the tree where her head had hit. She was curious to see a few strands of short black fur entwined with the bark. She ran her fingers over them as her body shivered unnaturally for such a warm day. Kera realized that her clothes were mangled and with sudden embarrassment she adjusted herself thankful that her bikini was still intact. There was no way she would be continuing to the lake, all Kera wanted to do now was go home.

“Is anyone there?” Kera called out in a quiet voice into what seemed like total silence, “what’s happening?” she whispered to herself as she began to wonder back out of the forest.

A deafening crack unexpectedly boomed through the silence of the forest forcing Kera’s hands back over her ears. For a moment she braced herself expecting to relive the excruciating pain, but nothing happened. Kera opened her eyes and ran, not caring about her bare feet and torn clothing, looking for the source of the sound hoping to find answers.

At the road leading to the lake, Kera froze when she found her mother’s cherry red Explorer crumpled in front and turned on its side on the edge of the road. A large tree was broken at its base, spread out across the street and splintered in the middle where the front of the car had plowed into it.

“Mom,” Kera found her voice through the shock of the scene as she raced to the car. She climbed up the underside of the car to get to the door which faced the sky. “Mom, are you ok?” she asked an instant before she peered into the window.

Immediately she knew that she would never be able to remove the sight from her mind. It almost sizzled as an imprint was made in her memory. She let herself fall from the car, her body unable to avoid the jagged edges of medal on the way down. She could have laughed at any other emotion that tried to make its way into her. There was just no room as guilt filled every cell in her body. She was so consumed with it that she couldn’t speak when the paramedics arrived and asked her if she was alright. Kera was unaware that someone had called them. Time at this point was insignificant to her as she was dazed by the picture hovering over her eyes. It was all her fault. This would have never happened if Kera had just gone to the diner with her father like her mother had asked.

Sympathetically one paramedic moved her from where she sat and took her to the hospital. Yet she seemed so far removed from her body that it was more like watching from above.



“Kera,” Sam whispered in front of her.

Kera had to blink before he came into focus. Her eyes were dry from staring blankly at the wall in the hospital room.

“Honey, are you ok?” the pain in his voice washed over Kera bringing with it newly energized guilt that made all of the hairs on her skin stand up.

Kera opened her mouth uselessly and shut it again.

“She is in shock.” A middle aged soft man with glasses said from the door way. He dressed in only brown and carried a clipboard.

“Are you the doctor?” Sam inquired as he stood up.

“I am Dr. Clark,” He introduced himself to Sam, “Psychologist, I just wanted to check up on your daughter.”

“Sam Conway,” Sam shook Dr. Clarks hand and looked back at Kera. "Will she be ok?"

Dr. Clark walked into the room hovering over Kera’s bed. “Mr. Conway, we will just have to give her some time.”

Kera could hear everything they were saying, though at the time it sounded miles away. She couldn’t imagine that she would ever feel happiness again.