The Cursed Village

The Second Girl (3)

Ann's parents had been incredibly accepting of the situation, and while at least her father was mildly annoyed that she hadn't called, they both agreed that it was best if she didn't go home for a while; this foreigner stalking her was terrifying.

As the three of them sat down with tea, Ann realised she hadn't called her boyfriend. He would be worried, no doubt. She voiced this to her parents, and they let her call him.

Of course he wasn't at home, but she left a message on the answering machine, saying that she would most likely not be at home for a while, and telling him not to worry about it. It'd be fine after a few days, she thought.

'It won't be fine,' her father grumbled from the living room. As Ann ended the message and returned to the living room she asked why he thought it wouldn't.

'Don't listen to him,' her mother said, 'he's in one of those moods. Nothing's good enough.'

'I'm not in one of those moods. Do you think we should keep it a secret?'

'We never told you why we moved to this city, right?' Ann's father asked.

Ann shrugged: 'I thought it had to do with your career.'

'I didn't have a job here for months after we moved,' her father said, 'we moved for something else.'

'I still think we shouldn't tell her,' Ann's mom interjected but at this point neither Ann nor her father were still listening to her.

'We lived in a town, called Senna, on the west coast. The place has a tradition... every twenty years or so a young girl is sacrificed to the witch who lives under the temple.'

Ann started laughing; 'Please tell me that's a joke. A witch under the temple? And people believe in that?'

Her father frowned: 'When you visit Senna it becomes easy to believe it, trust me. There's a legend of a witch, and there's rumours... I'm trailing off. As I said, to appease the witch and ensure the town won't go to ruin, a woman is sacrificed to her. The last sacrifice was about twenty-three years ago, and about half a year later you were born. The high priest had decided you would be the next sacrifice. For a while we listened to the priest but then'

'We didn't want you to die,' Ann's mother said, 'So in the middle of the night we left Senna and came here. These foreigners are most likely from Senna, wanting to, well, kill you.'

Later, as she was lying in bed, Ann's mind kept returning to the things her parents had told her. She was supposed to die. No, she corrected herself, she was supposed to have died a few years ago. But it was only now that they were coming for her, for no reason other than some ancient tradition.

It seemed to ridiculous for her to take seriously. Yet somehow her parents' story, combined with the phonecalls and the people showing up at her home, made it seem sensible enough. Her parents had told her that they wouldn't let her die, though. For now, she was safe.

The following day her father had to work. Ann's mother had stayed at home, although eventually she had to go shopping and had a very important meeting with her lokal knitting group, where they were all working on shirts. Ann had seen the shirt her mother was working on, and, while it was still lacking sleeves she really liked it.

As she was all alone at her parents' home she took out a book and started reading it. She'd heard the story before; it was over a hundred years old, widely considered a classic, but she had never read it herself.

The phone rang. Ann walked towards it, wondering if it was one of her parents' friends. She took the horn and answered it.

'When will you stop running. People will die because of you.' The familiar metallic voice said, but this time the call didn't end immediately.

'Who are you?' Ann asked, 'Are you from Senna?'

'Perhaps you need more convincing.' Then, from the other side of the line, came shouts from a voice Ann recognised only too well.

'Thomas! What are you doing to him?'

The call was ended. Ann clenched her fists. They'd kidnapped her boyfriend, she realised. All in an attempt to get to her.

She put on her coat, and realised she wouldn't stand for this. All of her fear had changed into anger now that she knew her boyfriend was in danger because of her. It was possible to scare her, to intimidate her, but nobody, nobody, kidnapped her friends.

She opened the door and ran outside. At the same time, two people took her arms, and a third person held some sort of towel in front of her mouth and nose. She tried to fight back, but the men were stronger than her. She started feeling faint, and soon realised what was going on. At the same time Ann realised it had been a big mistake of her to go out. But at this time she knew it was too late to change anything.