I couldn't trust him. If what he said was true, that means he's seen every important event, he's older than our written history, older than man as a specie itself. Where has he been? Why has been so silent in history.... Or has he? He might have written our known history, shaped countries, destroyed true evidence of the past. Slowly my mind sank into paranoia. An entity older than man who has been watching us throughout our evolution, if that isn't scary I don't know what is.
" Well? "
His questions snapped me back from my mind.
" What? "
" My question. It's yet to be answered "
Oh that's right, he asked if I remember why I was cursed. How would I know that, not like she ever told me.
" Like hell I would know. How'd you expect me to know what a half sentient, barely functioning, bitch of a demon's reason was for cursing me "
" So you've forgotten. Or is it that you don't want to remember " he said in a deep and simple tone. He wasn't asking.
" Huh? "
" Humans have this strange ability. Anytime a memory or a situation is unpleasant or painful, their brain automatically remove it from memory "
What's the hell is he talking about. It's been about four hundred years, how does he expect me to remember what she said.
Now that he mentioned it why did she curse me. I mean she might have had a good reason. More importantly, why is he so adamant on me remembering why? What does he have to do with the witch.
" I guess I can't remember. Do you know? "
" The only good words to come out of your mouth today "
He urged me to sit down and so did he.
" A while back she approached me. She called me to the first layer and spoke of someone who caught her eye, in a bad way "
" The first layer? " I asked confused
" Hmmm. Let me...okay, listen. All of existence, both concieved and unseen is split into three layers, the one we're on currently is the second. "
I had a feeling this bit of information was important, but not to me. I didn't need to know what the first, second or third layer was, so I listened as he continued.
" She told me to help her. She knew nothing about curses and such, after all how could she. So I followed her "
" What happened after that? "
" Well your story begins "
A long time ago. Three hundred and ninety five years prior today, a boy was born. His mother struggled. There was a chance neither would survive, but she pushed on, at the end she bore a child, a male child, her only offspring. You were born. The eighteen years following, she dies leaving you as a young adult. In time you found wealth and power. You go on to marry a beautiful woman named Ella, her blonde hair and blue eyes captivated you, with her you birthed two children, both girls. Sadly she passes away on your eleventh anniversary. In order to honour her you adopt a two girls that look similar to her, the same blonde hair, the same blue eyes. You start up a charity and an orphanage and save hundreds of thousands of lives, while being one of the fastest rising entrepreneur. Then on your thirty fifth birthday you vanished.
" I remember, that was the day I was cursed, it had to be then, because I remember, I was throwing a party when I met the witch "
" Yes you would be right, that was the day you were cursed "
" But... What's wrong, what could possibly be the reason I was cursed. None of what you said are valid enough a reason to curse me. So was the witch was just crazy? "
" Let me ask you a question. Why did you vanish after gaining immortality. It's not like it would have affected who you were, so what caused you to vanish? "
" I don't know, I can't remember, we've been through this, regardless of why I vanished, based on what you said, I still didn't deserve to be cursed "
He looked at me with eyes filled with disdain and smiled.
" Everything I just said, is directly quoted, from the publication on the world monthly, from a personal interview. This story went on to become the most popular news interview of it's time.... In short what I just said, was how the world viewed you. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU REALLY WERE "
Without waiting for my response he continued. You were honestly a good kid. Till your mother died. After gaining money, status and power, you became a prideful and arrogant man. You developed terrible habits. You gambled, used illicit substances, you became hopelessly addicted to alcohol, but all those are forgivable crimes, these are crimes that honestly do not matter, but you fell further, only becoming worse and worse as a person. You committed several acts of extreme violence to women and children, you raped women, and drugged kids for your amusement, you were bored. Once you gained the world you realized you could do anything without consequences. You covered up all your misconducts and bribed the news to paint you as a hero. You were a bomb moving ever so closer to detonation. Then you met Emily. Sweet Emily. She was adored by LIFE, she was kind to everything, plants, animals and humans, I watched her grow as a lovely lady who had her future, a future so bright it could have changed the world. THEN. THEN YOU HAPPENED ON BY. You promised her money and status, you said your give her the world, but she refused. She was childish and nieve, hoping and waiting for someone who would love her. All she wanted was love and respect. You took her hand in marriage by force. You purchased her from her family and stole her home away. Slowly I watch her smile wither away. A flame slowly fading out. You ruined her, destroyed her happiness, you abused her. You convinced her she was worthless and no one could help her.
She prayed, but no god answered, she begged but no one looked, they didn't dare oppose you. She had enough. She waited, watching you, knew when you slept and woke. At three in the morning, that cold Wednesday night, she quietly strolled to the kitchen. A knife. This was it, she would make her decision now. Was she hopeless enough to try it. YES. She picked up the knife and stabbed herself...five times, digging it deeper every time, she couldn't risk living, she couldn't risk surviving. This had to be it.
Blood dripping from her hand. The floor was a mess of blood and chunks of her intestines. Slowly she falls to the ground. You didn't find her body until late into noon, yet, she lived. SHE had interviened despite my warning. You called surgeons over, the finest in the land. You didn't care about her all you cared about was your reputation. There was nothing they could do, but she miraculously survived.
I was there when he gave the news. Your wife was pregnant. A month gone. Her eyes lit up, he face tilting a bit, and she smiled...the bruises as bold as ever and her body in pain, she smiled for the first time in two years.
As the days went on, your behavior towards her softened. Something about becoming a father and gaining an heir made you want to keep her safe for as long as needed. You held her gently, gave her peace, during her period of pregnancy you treated her like a human. In time she gave birth. Twins. Both girls. In your eyes this was a betrayal you couldn't stand. You gave her everything and yet she had the audacity to bear women. Anger turned to wrath, wrath to animosity and animosity to hatred. You despised both her and her daughters, they brought shame to you and dishonor to your title. In the nine years that followed she became nothing more than an animal, you didn't feed her, didn't see her, she lived as far away as possible. She was no longer your wife, and they were not your children, just rats that snuck into your home, but she didn't care, she always smiled, actual, genuine smiles because now she had something to protect, to live for. While she raised them, you went off with a new woman every night, with new companions and with new 'habits'. She didn't complain, she didn't dare. She put up with it.
On a particularly cloudy and dull night you returned extremely drunk. You had lost twenty thousand pounds in a series of multiple gambles. As you staggered by you saw them, your daughters in the stables, they had snuck in to feed some horses. They were your greatest failure. The cause of every loss in your life. You staggered towards them, hands gripped and teeth clenched. When they saw you, they bowed, their heads on the ground. They offered you a greeting, rehearsed perfectly. This was how they would interact with you at all times, their mother made sure they understood that you were not their father, just their blood. You didn't care, this was your way to get vengeance on her for giving you girls, and a guilt and consequence free way to release your anger and frustration. You cocked your leg and kicked one to the side, her frail body crashing into the walls of the horse pen, while the other remained on the ground bowing. She was petrified, tears rolling down her cheeks as she caught a glance of her sister bloody in the ground.
Bangs after bangs, the commotion caused by your rampage was extreme, eventually your wife heard it. Without thinking she ran towards the sound, she felt her children in danger. She ran and jumped as fast as she could as tears streamed down her face, it was almost as though her body began preparing her for the sight she was about to witness. Just then she saw you, you were kicking a body, one of a young child. Her eyes lit up as she realized that was her daughter. With a burst of speed she pushed you away clutching her body.
" Aoife "
She called out. This was the name she gave her. Again and again and again, she called out for her daughter. She was dead.
At her side she noticed her other daughter's lifeless body.
" Sorcha " she said in barely a whisper.
Slowly she walked towards her lifeless body still clutching onto Aoife. Her head showing a tear that oozed blood. She fell to the ground consumed by grief, she couldn't bring herself to touch her. They were both dead. Years of being treated like an animal was fine. Abuse, insults, they were all fine. You took everything away from her, stripped her of her humanity. This was all she had left, her only reason for living, the only smile left on her face. Tears streaked down her face as she muttered nonsense, her eyes looking at nothing as she clutched her daughter's body tighter. She was broken. In your eyes this was the final straw. She just touched you with her filthy hands and interrupted you. You turned your gazed to her ............
..................Words cannot describe what happened next. At twenty — nine Emily Smith died.
Your hands covered with the blood of your wife and daughter. Just like always you convinced the world it wasn't your fault. In an effort to protect her daughter she was assaulted and killed by theives and slave traders. One of her daughter died as a result. Sorcha had lived, with a scar marked on her head. You casted her away, you didn't care about her and now, she despised you. You adopted two daughter to make face, but behind the closed doors, they were destroyed, so much so, they took their own lives. You were on top of the world though. No one could touch you, you were the luckiest man alive. Your luck had finally run out. We were watching, all this time, we were watching. She had loved Emily, and so did I, watching her grow, seeing her smile, it destroyed me to take her away. At the end of her journey she was still worried about her children. So I took her to see you, with her last breath, as she gazed upon you and her daughter, she cursed you, with hatred and anger, her last words " with my dying breath and my fading will, till the future arrives and the past forgotten, I want every second of everyday of your life to be filled with torment and pain ". So SHE honoured her wish and came down to curse you, to make sure you suffer for what you've don—
Cutting him off I grabbed his shirt
" This has to be wrong. THIS IS ALL WRONG!! I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THAT! I KNOW I'M A GOOD PERSON " I said yelling clenching my fist and tightening my grip as tears fell from my eyes
" But then — why, why can I remember them! Their battered faces, their awkward smile. You lie, what kind of lie is this " I said looking up at him.
But when my eyes met his, there was none, all I saw was an indescribable form of pure horror, no clothes, no face, no human structure. The form was completely incomprehensible.
" You will let go of me now! "
And then it occurred to me, why he look familiar, why I was sure I'd seen him before even though I had never seen this face, and how he knew everything about me. He was there that day, with the witch. That indescribable darkness... It was him. It all started making sense, why he could be everywhere at the same time, how he had watched humanity for so long. In truth he is far older than man. The entity I stood across was DEATH.