Clarimonde

Chapter Five: Memory

I sat down on the couch next to Rin. Then I noticed the fire had been lit and figured Rin must have done it. Kevin was rocking back in forth in the corner while covering his ears.

"No. No. No." Kevin said over and over again. I looked at Rin who stared into the flames with a blank expression. Carol stared at the ground. Jay seemed to be the only one who had recovered a little bit from shock.

"What was that thing in the bedroom?" Jay finally said. I looked up at him.

"It was Clarimonde." I replied as I looked at him.

"But Clarimonde's just a character in a ghost story!" Jay said as he looked at me.

"No she's not." I said and I laughed a little.

"Why are you laughing?!" Jay yelled at me.

"You don't get it, do you?! Clarimonde is here! She's back! And she is very real." I yelled back at him

"You're insane! You don't know what you're saying!" Jay yelled. I jumped up from the couch and I don't know what made me look, but I walked over to the rug in front of the fire.

I knelt down and felt for a loose floorboard. I found it and pulled it up. Then I reached my hand as if to search for something. Like I said I don't know what made me do it. I felt something, like box or case. I grabbed it and took it out.

It was a medium sized, green box. I lifted the lid and it revealed old photographs, a necklace, and a small figurine of a ballerina. I grabbed a picture and looked at it. The picture was of two little girls. The one girl which I saw was Rose had her arm around the other girl. The other girl had the same features as Rose it was like they could be twins, except for the fact that Rose was older than the other girl. But then I noticed something and my mouth dropped open a little bit.

The other little girl was wearing a very familiar necklace. I touched the necklace around my neck; they were the same. The necklace was in the shape of a heart and had an "S" engraved in it. Rose was wearing the same necklace but it had an "R" engraved in it instead. I turned the picture over and read the writing on the back:

"Rose and Sora

May 5th, 1999"

I gasped. Then I put that picture down and grabbed another one. I saw Rose and me again. But there was also a man and Clarimonde in the picture. I turned that picture over and read the writing on the back:

"Marcus, Clarimonde, Rose, and Sora

May 10th, 1999"

I grabbed a third picture this time it was Rose and me, and a different man and woman in the picture. Again I read the writing on the back:

"Dean, Kara, Sora, and Rose

June 4th, 1999"

I threw the picture on the floor beside me. I frantically grabbed another picture. This one was of Rose and me only. We were wearing matching dresses. The tops of the dresses were blue, and the skirt parts had red and white stripes. We had our arms around each other's shoulders and we were laughing. I read the back:

"Rose and Sora

Uncle Dean's party

4th of July 1999"

I was about to put down that picture as well, but I noticed something in the background. I looked closely and saw Marcus looking fondly at Rose and Clarimonde who was next to him; she looked at Rose with resentment and hate in her eyes. I put the picture down and picked up the little ballerina. Then a memory hit me like cold ice.

"Is...that...you?" Jay said as he pointed to the picture of Rose and me, at my father's Fourth of July party. I looked up at him.

"Yes." I said softly as I looked at the tiny ballerina in my hand.

"What the hell!" Jay shouted at me.

"Let me explain. I remember something from my past, and I need to tell all of you." I said as I looked at all of my friends. Carol looked up from the floor and at me. Rin looked away from the dying flames and set his attention on me. Kevin stopped rocking back and forth, uncovered his ears and looked at me.

"What do you need to tell us?" Rin asked gently as he came over and sat by me.

I began my story:

"My parents were Dean and Kara Reed. My mother, Kara's, maiden name was Wallace. She had a brother named Marcus who married and had a little girl named Rose Katharine Wallace. Rose's mother's name was....Clarimonde. I was two years younger than Rose. But everyone always said that we were just like twins. I used to go over Rose's house and we played together. I knew her mother did not like Rose or me very much. For we had gained the 'beauty' and people no longer paid attention to Clarimonde.

"When Rose was twelve and I was ten, Clarimonde tried to kill her as you know. But she failed horribly. Instead she died. I was at the funeral. It was weird because I remember hearing Clarimonde's voice. She said 'I'll get you Rose! Everyone will be sorry!' I remember that Rose heard it too. But no one else did. Rose confided in me. She told me how she had been hearing her mother's voice and how she heard her mother threaten her numerous times. I told her that I had been hearing things too. I heard laughter and Clarimonde's voice a lot after she died.

"I remember after the funeral we drove home. I remember looking out of the windshield while sitting in the back seat of the car. Then out of nowhere, I saw Clarimonde in the middle of the road. But it wasn't exactly her, it was her spirit. Then my father hit a bump causing him to lose control of the car and drive off the road. He slammed on the brakes and I went flying out of the windshield. I was thrown onto the ground in front of the car, and I hit my head on the hard dirt. After that everything went black and my memories were locked away.

"Next thing I knew a year had passed and Rose had been killed. But because of the terrible accident I had been in, I didn't remember that I ever had a cousin named Rose, nor how tight we had been. I didn't remember my uncle or aunt, or all that had happened before the accident. But I still heard voices, for a few years after Rose's death.

"When I went into the forest earlier today, I saw Rose's ghost. She told me everything. We have to get out of here. If we don't more of us will die. And eventually it will get to me and all hope will be lost, for the living and the dead, whoever they may be. I'm the one she wants." I finished. I looked at all my friends. Carol looked at me with shock; Jay looked at me, shocked as well. Kevin looked at me with betrayal. Then Rin looked at me with concern.

"So this is happening because of you?!" Kevin said as he stood up and walked towards me.

"Yes. But only because she wants me dead. But more than anything Clarimonde wants to be the one to kill me." I said as I looked at everyone.

"Then if she kills you......everything would go back to normal." Kevin said as he looked at me.

"What do you mean by that, Kevin?" I asked timidly as I looked at him.

"What I mean is we'll give you to her! Then everything will be okay!" Kevin said.