Two hours and two journals later, we had nothing. My parents had come home, dropped off food, and left again to go shopping. More house improvements. I didn’t care in the least. It made my mom happy and maybe she would choose to stay if the house was to her liking.
“Let’s go for a walk,” I suggested as I put the journal back in the box.
“Want to go to the woods?”
“Sure, let me get a coat and gloves.” I went upstairs and grabbed my things. The weather was changing, fall was turning into winter. I didn’t care for it too much but at least it gave me a reason to wear Ephraim’s jacket more often.
We walked into the woods and stretched our legs. It felt good to be outside and to breathe the fresh air. I was freezing, but the walking was helping. We walked until we reached the small stream. The very stream that had once been so full that it killed Kayla. I sat down and looked across the beautiful forest. There was such beauty in nature. Something I never thought I would ever enjoy. Being from California, I was used to the way things were there. Now from New Jersey, I was happy to start getting used to my small town.
“You know, I still feel like I haven’t properly seen my new state. I mean I haven’t really been anywhere. What do you do for fun here?” Ephraim laughed out loud and sat next to me.
“There’s plenty to do. When it snows we can go skiing in the Pocono Mountains. Then in the spring Lynley starts a garden. She is really good at it.” He stared out at the stream. “We can go to the beach in the summer and we can walk the boardwalk. They have the best pizza and taffy on the boards. Maybe even see a concert in Atlantic City.” He had all these plans for us. I was excited for a moment before I remembered he might not be around for all of these things. I might be mourning another lost boyfriend.
“Last night you said Ethan is still contacting you. Do you think he is like Kayla?” he asked me. I didn’t know what to say at first.
“Maybe, I don’t know. He might be stuck, but I don’t see why he would be.”
“Brylee, if anything happens to me I would not leave. I will stay here with you.” He gently turned my face toward him. We were so close now I could feel his breath on my cheeks. “I love you too,” he admitted and I crushed his lips with mine and we fell into the leaves underneath us. I was tangled up in his arms and I never wanted to leave.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The weeks that followed seemed to run all together. The schoolwork load that I had made it extremely hard to get in any reading of the journals. They mostly consisted of Everett’s tireless rants about how he hated being the youngest son. His father constantly made him feel irrelevant. It was just like any teen I supposed. I wondered how far into the journals we would have to go until we started finding any real answers. Ephraim got a job at the country club as a waiter so he didn’t have a lot of time to read them either, so I took on sole responsibility of the job.
Lyn met with the lady in town who did, in fact, draw up the family trees. Her name was Elda Harper, she was a very old and frail lady who in her spare time helps people with their genealogy. She told Lyn that she did remember the Brown family but she didn’t know why the family tree stopped when it did. In her words, “They fled the town I suppose. Due to that terrible curse.” That was as far as we got. Elda was a dead end. We never really found out why finding the family tree was so important to Pearl. With her not around any longer the house seemed a little quieter.
Lyn felt like she failed us, but I didn’t agree. I was just sad she didn’t have anything to keep her mind busy. She did have Miles, but it wasn’t like she could tell him about everything. I could see the strain on her face and it got worse as each day passed.
Winter had officially arrived and the first snowfall was beautiful. I sat at the living room window and watched it slowly drop. My dad was outside salting the sidewalk so we wouldn’t slip. Mom curled up on the couch watching old movies.
“Go outside and play in the snow,” she suggested.
“Yeah right, Mom, it’s freezing out there.”
“Come on Brylee it’s the first snow you have ever seen. Go on!” I got up and pulled on my boots and jacket and went out. The snow was so white it burned my eyes. It was the most serene sight I had ever seen. I heard a crunching noise coming up the driveway. It was Ephraim, camera in hand. He had on full snow gear and it was camouflage. I laughed.
“Are you laughing at my attire?” he asked half-jokingly. “I shot my first deer of the season this morning. Wanna come over and see it?”
“No way! I think I’ll pass.” I didn’t want to see a dead deer. It would make me cry no matter how tasty they were. He pulled out his camera and took pictures of me as I stood in the snow. “What are you doing?”
“Taking pictures of my girl. You look so pretty in the snow.” I blushed at his words. He was the sweetest guy I had ever met. We had definitely gotten closer these past few weeks because we spent as much time as we could together. When he wasn’t working he was usually in my room. Once he fell asleep with me while we were trying to read a journal. When I woke up he was gone, but it was the best night’s sleep I had had in a long time.
“Come on, let’s do snow angels,” I said. I laid down and spread my arms above my head. He lay with me and did the same. He helped me up when we were done and then took pictures of our handiwork.
“These will look so neat once I process them.” Ephraim’s photos now surrounded my room. They took up most of one wall. They mostly consisted of photos of trees, the lake, and a few of the two of us together. We had been on several dates and he took me to see more of the town. We also went to the Pocono’s and ate lunch last week. A lot of our conversation was based on our future; school, work, me going to college. We tried our hardest to not speak about the curse. When the subject turned toward it, the Ephraim I know turned angry and bitter. We were not giving up at all. Our determination was stronger than ever now, especially since we were in love. There was nothing we wouldn’t do to stay together and ensure a happy future.
His mom loved her new job; she was in charge of the golf course now. She was home every night and on weekends. Mom and Carole made fast friends, much like Lynley and I. They shopped and went to church together on Sunday mornings. My mom hadn’t spoken about the events that occurred in the house. It was as if she pretended they had not happened at all. But, I could not forget. I played the night of the dance in my head over and over again. I had nightmares about it almost every night. My face showed my lack of sleep now as Ephraim stared at me.
“Still not sleeping?” He touched my cheek and the warmth of his hand made me smile.
“Not really. I sleep better with you in my room,” I admitted. Some nights he would stay with me until I fell asleep. Once he knew I was in deep R.E.M. he would leave.
“I’ll come over after work tonight and stay with you. I’ll stay all night and set the alarm really early.” My heart stopped. We had not actually done anything except sleep in my bed. I wanted to do more at times, but he always put an end to it. He said he didn’t want me to regret it, even though there was no way would I regret being with him.
It was a good plan. My parents got up after I left the house for school so they would never know he was there at all. “Okay, so I guess I’ll see you tonight.” I reached up and kissed him, the way you kiss a boy and you leave him wanting more. As I pulled away he sighed and I waved good-bye.
I snuggled up in my bed as I waited for Ephraim to get off work. My room was cold tonight from the snowfall, and it didn’t help that the windows had no insulation and they let all the heat out and the cold air in. I pulled out another journal and flipped the pages. This journal seemed different, his writing had improved. I wondered if he was maybe older when he wrote in this one. I started reading and found that I was right. He dated it July 4, 1955 which made him twenty-one. His father had killed himself on the same date only five years earlier. He had written that he found it to be the saddest day of his life. While others celebrated America’s ind
ependence, he mourned his father. I kept reading, finding that Everett would have done anything to save his father. I felt we had something in common in that respect. I kept reading, hoping to find some answers, when my phone vibrated. I put the journal down and checked the screen, a text from Ethan. It had been so long since we had spoken, probably three weeks.
Hey New Jersey!
I laughed. It was funny that he would call me that when everyone at school refers to me as California. It is a term I find endearing because they say it in a nice way now. Ephraim and John are getting along like cousins should. John is dating a new girl, Melissa. She sits with us at the table at lunch, and she is quiet but super sweet. I responded to Ethan’s new name for me.
Hey Cali boy!
How are things?
Fine I suppose.
I miss you Brylee. I am doing fine. Keep your head up.
I didn’t know how to respond to that so I shut the phone off and went back to my reading. At about a third of the way through I come across an entry that made me sit up and think I struck gold. Everett is now becoming suspicious of his father’s death. He thought it might not have been an accident. I realized he is getting closer to finding out the truth, but I still have a lot left to read. I could just skim through them or skip ahead, but Ephraim and I decided not to risk it. What if we miss something important? I continued to read and on August 12, 1955 Everett’s sister Vivien killed herself in the corner room.
My beautiful sister has done the unimaginable. We had just arrived back home to meet mother for dinner when I noticed Vivien’s strange behavior. She had been acting strange for months now. She lost her job, and moved back in with mother. She would talk and mumble to herself constantly. Sometimes while talking to her she would stare of into space. While mother set the table for us, Clyde and Edwin joked with each other. Mary and Rose sat together and talked about their pregnancies. My sister in-laws were both having babies at the same time. The whole family seemed too preoccupied about it that they didn’t seem to notice Vivien’s strange behavior. But I noticed. It seemed I was the only one to also take note that Vivien wasn’t in the room with us. I walked up the stairs and saw the door was open to the room. The very room where father had killed himself. I call it the ‘corner room.’ I rushed up the stairs and my beautiful sister was hanging from the center beam. She had killed herself, just as father had. I was too late to save her. Why are these tragic things happening to my family? I have learned that my Grandmother did the same thing in the same room. I will not stand by and do nothing! Something strange is happening and I will not stop until I find out what it is.
After I read it chills spread over my already freezing body. He was catching on now. Sadly, he found his sisters body in the room. I prayed that I didn’t have to have the same fate. A mist started to form at the foot of my bed. I hadn’t seen any of the family since the night Pearl left. It was forming into a man this time, not Violet like I expected. I pulled the covers over myself and braced myself for the worst. His face was kind and sorrowful. He was an older gentleman but he didn’t dress like Pearl or Violet did. His clothes seemed newer, yet not like our time period. He stared at me and I stared back. I wasn’t going to greet him since he came to see me.
“You are the girl then?” he asked. I nodded, even though I had no idea what he meant. “You are the one that freed my little sister Pearl?” His little sister was Pearl so that made him Homer Brown. He was the eldest son of Violet and the first to take his life after his mother. His son was Everett. I wondered if he knew I was reading his son’s journals. I wondered if he would be mad about it.
“Are you Homer?” I asked, just in case.
“I am, yes. Do you know why I am here?”
“Why you’re in my bedroom, or why you’re in this house?” I wanted to make sure what he was asking before I answered.
“Both I suppose. I came here to talk to you about the curse and the effects it had on me and my family. I learned that your friends are now the new targets for it. Am I correct?” I nodded and he went on. “When my mother died I didn’t think I could move on but I did. I met my wife Opal and we were more than happy when my father gave us this house to raise our children. My sister Edith moved away with her husband, and my father only asked that he was able to stay with us. Of course we obliged.” His misty form moved to my small reading chair in the corner. He took a seat and folded his hands. “There were plenty of rooms in this house and he took the one on this floor, the one you stayed in on your first night here.” My eyes went wide. Could that be the reason the door opened and shut like it did that night? I didn’t dare ask I just listened intently.
“Back then times were very hard. We were going through the Great Depression. I was out of work and Opal grew ill with worry. Thankfully, my family had money and we were able to keep our home. My father died peacefully in his sleep and upon his death granted me sole heir of this estate and all of the funds. We had our children Clyde, Edwin, Vivien, and Everett. This made my wife’s days much happier.”
He looked down at the floor and paused. “It is very hard to think of the days of my living life. I feel regretful at times that I was not the man I should have been. I watched my children grown into adults. I even saw my eldest son’s wedding. I soon became strangely ill. Though I was not ill, I was cursed. My mother had made a deal with the devil, in this case two devils. I don’t blame her any longer; if it were my children I may have done the same.”
I drew up some courage and spoke, “Why are you here telling me all of this?”
“I think you should know about this curse and what it does to the one who is struck.” Ephraim and Lynley is who he meant. He wanted me to know what would happen to them if the time came, if I failed them. “We all are in this house stuck here for an eternity. We pass from our life to yours, we see what is going on within the walls. We know what has happened to your friends. No matter their last name they are children and we want you to succeed.”
“Who are the ‘we’?” It was time I became familiar with my houseguests.
“My entire family is trapped here. The cursed and the non-cursed, it does not matter. In death the curse effects the whole family.”
Every single Brown that was dead was trapped here. That meant that Everett was here! I didn’t need to read these journals if I could just talk to him. This was wonderful news, strange but wonderful. “So Everett, your son, he is here?” I asked with excitement.
“No, I am sorry he is not here.” My eagerness died and my head hung. “When my son stopped the curse he saved his soul. The curse stopped at Beth and Eve but even the more current of members still end up here. All but Everett, he is the only one who is not here.”
My head swam with the load of information that it was being fed. So far I learned that every member of this family was imprisoned in this house whether or not they were cursed. The curse didn’t care who it took. It dawned on me then and I didn’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.
“After Everett locked the curse here it didn’t stop taking souls did it?” He shook his head. “So that means when he thought he was helping he wasn’t, was he? He may have helped himself and he may have hidden the other family from the witches, but in death they always found them.” All of Everett’s work, work I hadn’t yet to learn about, failed. He thought he was saving them and in the end it didn’t matter. In the end they all ended up in this house. The house was the source of the curse. “Will Ephraim and Lyn end up here, too?”
“Unfortunately, yes they will. It doesn’t matter who is stricken, they will end up here. They caught the curse here and they will be trapped here just like us.” He stood and reached my bed faster than I could even see. He was swift for a ghost.
“You must know the warning signs. Once you start to see them you must move fast. For all of us it was the same. No one suffered differently we all went crazy slowly. The curse causes one to become distracted by things you cannot see. Then you hear the voices.” He stopped, listening and looki
ng around. “Someone is coming so I will hurry.” I pulled off my covers and peered out to see Ephraim climbing the tree. I wanted to hear what he had to say.
“Go on,” I pressed him.
“He will start to hear the voices of the dead. The voices of us are who he will hear. He will start to anger easily but he will not harm you. Then before the end, before it’s too late, he will seem to be depressed. You will not be able to make him happy in anyway no matter what you do. He will sit still for hours lifeless and blank. If you do not save him before this, then it will be too late.”
My stomach dropped and I felt like I could be sick. I couldn’t imagine time running out for my friends. I couldn’t imagine them turning into soulless beings.
“You must find them. I do not know how my son did it. When you find them do not make any deals with them. Do not be foolish and get wrapped in their lies. They spin tall tales that can promise one anything they desire. They promised my son they would stop the curse, they would contain it in the room. But what they didn’t tell him was that in death the curse would still remain. Do not try to be a hero and sacrifice your own life. If you can, my dear, please free us.” He started to fade and a tear escaped my eyes.
“I will,” I said to thin air.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“You will what?” Ephraim asked, as he came inside the window.
“Oh, nothing,” He gave me a strange look. I couldn’t fool him and tell him lies. “Just talking to old ghosts.” It was the honest truth. He didn’t need to know who I was talking to. I could never tell him what I had just learned. I couldn’t tell him what he would go through if it came down to it, if he was in fact going to die. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I wanted to cry in his arms and make him stay with me forever. I had never loved anyone as much as I loved him. He seemed to know I was upset and he held me in his arms. I tried to smell him and memorize it. Just in case I did lose him I would know his smell; pine and oak with a bit of freesia. He was beautiful and good and he didn’t deserve this fate.
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