The Curse

By Kristin Ping

Dreamcatchers can't ward off nightmares if your nightmare is your reality? 

Moving to a small town is the last thing Melanie wanted, but her entire family, even her identical twin, Emily, assures her it's the best thing for her family. But Melanie knows it's just another form of punishment, because that's all her family does to her—punishes her. 

Emily just wants her sister back, wants to recover their twin bond after she broke her sister's trust. But something evil is waiting in their new house… When Melanie falls into the clutches of an ancient darkness, Emily is the only one who can save her. Will their bond be strong enough to break the curse? Or will Emily lose her sister forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing
• Release date: May 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781947649439

Book preview

One

MEL

The vast, open desert whizzed by as the car made its way down the road. The desert spread all around us, stretching past the horizon, leaving nothing for me to focus on. A heavy weight settled on my chest and my lungs tightened. Open spaces always had a suffocating effect on me. Being alone did, too.

It all reminded me too much of Dad’s death and the turmoil that had changed our family dynamic afterward—the unbearable emptiness, the hollowness and the ache of not having him around anymore. That was what I felt now, staring out the window. After Dad’s accident, Mom sank into a deep depression, and I relived that moment every single day. At night, the gruesome images flashed through my mind as I tried to sleep, the crumpled car, the blood, Dad flung halfway through the windshield, his lifeless body on the hood of the car. Of course, perfect Emily wasn’t as affected by it as I was, and I resented my twin sister for not experiencing the pain on the same level I did.

I sighed and turned my attention back to the music blaring into my ears from my iPod, which I now realized had played through my library almost three times since we started our trek to nowhere.

King William, population 252, would be increasing by four more.

Even though I’d never been to a small town like this before, I hated them. They creeped me out, thanks to the horror movies I watched with Vee and Cass; they always seemed to play off in a creepy small town..

Leave it to Keith to take on a surgical position in a small town in Virginia to punish me. I didn’t understand why Mom had married him; I hated the guy with every ounce of my being.

He’d pushed himself into our family and they expected me to just accept him.

He was strict, and I didn’t do well with strict.

He’d been married to Mom almost three years, and he was the complete opposite of my father.

I missed Dad. A lot. He was the only one who had understood me and loved me for who I was.

Now, it seemed I was just getting in the way of Mom’s new perfect life. I couldn’t deny that Keith, with his chubby middle, huge mustache, and lack of height—he was a head shorter than Mom—loved my mother. No, what I resented most about him was that he adored Emily. They’d grown close over the past three years, but he hadn’t put in the same effort with me. At least, it didn’t feel like it. I couldn’t blame him, though. I wasn’t like my twin. Apart from looking exactly alike, we were polar opposites. We had absolutely nothing in common.

She was a straight-A student and excelled at everything she set her mind to. She was good at sports, too. Just an all-around great teenager.

I, on the other hand, earned so much detention and was flunking most of my classes. And I just wanted to be left alone. Sixteen and surly and I didn’t bother to hide it.

Em got it. Mom and Keith, not so much, which was why they irritated the hell out of me.

Em and I, we used to be the best of friends; we had an unbreakable bond. Or so I’d thought. After Dad died, everything changed, and the older we got, the more we drifted apart.

Keith didn’t make it any better. He’d become a wedge between us with his never-ending praise for everything Emily did. Eventually, she planted herself right in his corner, along with Mom, and I was all alone. Our twin-bond hadn’t been the same since.

I hated her. I hated her for betraying me to Mom and Keith, for snitching on me when I snuck out to go to that party with Vee and Cass, my best friends and the only people I could count on. So what if there was alcohol and weed? It was a party, for crying out loud! But no, my goody-two-shoes twin couldn’t let me have any fun, so she blabbed. Keith showed up and dragged me out of the party. Beyond humiliating.

After the night of the party, I had to endure punishment in various forms—I was grounded; I wasn’t allowed to see Vee and Cass; they took away my phone—but the worst punishment was Keith lecturing me on what a huge disappointment I was to him and my mother and asking me why I couldn’t be more like Emily. At first, Mom was on my side and argued with him, but then they started marriage counseling and she stopped arguing with him, and whatever Keith said was the law.

Keith didn’t get me. He never would. Sometimes I wondered if Mom ever understood me. Dad was the only one who had truly known me, and once upon a time Emily had as well, but that was over.

My friends were all I had left, but of course, Keith had found a way to change that too.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes I found Mom standing beside the open car door, her hand gently shaking my shoulder to wake me up.

I pulled out my earbuds. What? I said groggily. I stretched my arms above my head.

Are you coming? Her beautiful smile lit up her face. Her blue doe eyes resembled mine and her curly, dark blonde hair hugged her oval face. My mother was a stunning woman.

I craned my neck and looked at the creepy house we were parked in front of.

My entire body screamed at me to stay in the car.

Though Keith would probably just drag me to a room. The worst one.

Please, Melanie, just try.

I glared at my mother. She was supposed to be in my corner. Not his.

Okay, suit yourself. Mom turned and walked toward the house. She disappeared inside.

I remained in the car, staring at the old house. Great. First I get forced to move to a creepy small town, now I had to live in a creepy-ass house too.

It was my worst nightmare.

I sighed. Sitting in the car wasn’t going to make a statement; it wasn’t as if anyone in this family cared about me. So, reluctantly, I got out of the car and trudged to the house.

To my immense relief, the inside of the house didn’t seem as eerie as the outside. The first feature I noticed as I stepped inside was the magnificent wooden staircase that overwhelmed the foyer.

To my left was a room filled with furniture covered in white cloths, and on my right another that looked much the same, one large square a dead giveaway for the dining room table.

I took the first step onto the staircase and it creaked under my weight. The sound made the hair on my arms stand up and I shuddered. Okay, I was wrong. The inside was just as creepy as the outside.

I took a deep breath and rushed up the stairs, following the sound of Mom’s and Em’s voices.

I gaped at the size of the rooms and admitted a tiny rush of relief that I wouldn’t have to share a room with Emily anymore. Even so, I chose the room across from hers. Our bond might be irreparably broken, but there was still that inherent need to be close to her. It was a twin thing.

I moved through the room, trailing my fingers along the wall. My gaze drifted over the bed, the desk, the stylish carpet, and the closed curtains.

I reached the curtains and opened them. Then I tried the light switch, but the light stayed off. Great, I muttered.

Not so bad, right? Mom’s voice came from behind me.

The light doesn’t work.

She walked past me, positioned the desk chair beneath the light, and climbed onto it to wiggle the lightbulb. After a few wiggles, the light flared to life. She stepped off from the chair and squeezed my shoulder as she left, closing the door behind her.

I dropped my backpack to the floor and fell on my bed.

Day one of my shit life in this creepy town had begun.

---

EMILY

I liked the new house. The quaint town, too. I didn’t share Mel’s aversion to small towns; in fact, I’d always had a fantasy of living somewhere everyone knew each other. A part of me was certain that this move would be the best thing that could happen to Mel, though she was still sulking.

She would be okay. She had to be okay, so we could move on and fix this rift between us.

Mel still hadn’t forgiven me for telling Keith about the party, which had been two freaking years ago! But that was my sister; she could hold a grudge like no one else could.

Of course, I hadn’t planned on breaking her confidence. But then I’d heard there’d be alcohol and drugs and who knew what else. Really, I was just worried about her safety. And it wasn’t like I could have lied straight to Keith’s face. I was never a good liar at the best of times, and the worrying hadn’t helped. So when Keith had realized Mel wasn’t home and questioned me, everything had just rushed out of me. I hadn’t wanted to disappoint Keith or Mom, because I wanted a father again. I was scared that if I