*
My Dearest Delilah,
If you are reading this letter let me be the first to say I am sorry the world is so fucking unfair, you should not have to learn any of this the way you are about to and I am so sorry I have kept it from you. I am also sorry I used the word Fuck, but in this case it’s warranted. I hope that you met your Aunts and Grandmother in a good way Honey. You are an adult now, and not just because I am gone either, I should have told you all of this but I didn’t want to spend what little time we had left digging up the past. We needed to stay in the present.
Back to the family, I have two sisters both older who each have a daughter I hope you get to meet. Your Grandmother is a little crazy and she will be the first to tell you that, she will also be the first to tell you about the curse. Our family was cursed by your great, great Grandmother Emma who was a witch, like your Grandmother, your Aunts, your mother, and yes even you.
*
I put the letter down and looked up at Ally.
“I can’t handle this Ally, what am I supposed to believe I am a witch?” Ally put her arm around me and I rested my head on her shoulder and listened to her voice.
“Ella, remember when we were in fourth grade and Steve told you that you were ugly because you have red hair?” I laughed thinking about how fast he fell from the top of the monkey bars. “And then in sixth grade when Joe said that you looked like a boy because you weren’t getting boobs like the other girls?” I laughed harder remembering the foul ball that smashed him in the stands at the softball game. His nose still isn’t right. “I could go on and on all day about the weird things that have happened to people as soon as they have been mean to you Ella.” I sat up and wiped a tear away.
“Are you telling me you believe this, this isn’t a fairytale for Christ Sake. It’s real life and in real life there are no witches or vampires and mothers die.” She shrugged her shoulders and picked up the letter.
“I am not saying this is a fairytale, I don’t know what it is but I am saying I think it’s a definite possibility Ella.” I took the letter and put it back in the envelope to read later
*
Ally and I sat on Mom’s bed for hours listening to the chatter downstairs; I held the book and the letter from Mom tightly before finally putting it away.
“You know what Ella? This is pretty awesome, maybe this is a gift from your Mom so you won’t be alone without family.” I smiled and hugged my best friend; she always knew the right things to say to make me feel better. I jumped off the bed and straightened out my long black dress with a smile.
“You’re right Ally, Mom wouldn’t want me to be alone, and I have so many questions for them.” A knock at the door stopped me, I looked at Ally and she jumped up to answer the door. As the door opened my heart seemed to stop mid beat, a woman looking just like my Mom stood on the other side, and as she walked in it was like my Mom was coming to give me a hug like she did every day. I felt my knees get weak again, and she saw my fear right away and backed up.
“Delilah I am not trying to make this harder for you Hun, I can leave if that is what you want.” I shook my head and sat back on the bed. Ally went downstairs and the beautiful woman sat next to me. She stared at my hair, and my eyes very curious about me, as I was about her. “I should introduce myself shouldn’t I?” I laughed, and it broke the ice, she smiled at me and ran her hand through my hair, letting the red strands flow through her fingers. “Delilah, I am your Aunt Carna, I am one of your Moms older sisters and the other two women with me are your cousins, Selene, and Eris. Your Aunt Kali stayed home with your Grandmother so we didn’t overwhelm you too much. I don’t think it mattered how many of us came though, you really had no idea we existed did you?” I shook my head and started playing with my spinner ring I kept on my thumb, I spun it so much most of the time I didn’t notice anymore, but today I was spinning to keep from crying, to keep from collapsing. It was all so much to take in, the saddest day of my life was also the first day I felt like a normal woman, from a family.
“I have a whole family?” Carna smiled at me and a tear ran down her cheek as she put her hand in mine.
“We are forever your family my dear Delilah, forever.” I reached in for a hug and she grabbed me so tight like my Mom used to do, and wouldn’t let me go. I pulled away and my head started filling with questions, I didn’t know where to start. “I know where you can start Hun.” Carna winked at me and I felt my mouth open as wide as my eyes had. She had heard me, but I hadn’t said anything at least I didn’t think I had said anything. “You don’t have to say anything around me now Honey, once I was able to embrace you I was able to pick up on your energy. It only lasts a few minutes, it’s not like I can always read your mind, but it’s a skill I possess.” I should have been afraid but I felt myself getting excited, would I be able to do that, does everyone have that? “You can be excited Hun, yes you could and no everyone can’t do it.” My heart raced and I started laughing. Carna sat on the bed smiling at me.
“Carna, the other women with you are my cousins but you don’t look much older than they do, although my mom never really looked much older than me I guess. The red hair made us look different enough, but how is that possible?” Carna thought for a minute and then smiled at me again.
“Eris is my daughter and she just had her twenty-third birthday. Selene turned twenty-two the week before and I believe you will be eighteen in a few days. You’re Mother, Kali and I are all a year apart, and just wait till you see Freya, your Grandmother. She looks about ten years older than me. It’s something that has been passed along the generations a long with the reason we all look so much alike and possess certain qualities, but I don’t want to push all of that on you at once Hun.” I thought about the letter that Mom had written and the curse for a moment, maybe I should tell Carna I know about the curse.
“You’re Mom told you about the curse?” I started to wonder how long this mind reading trick would last before nodding. “That’s great, takes a lot off my shoulders. I thought I would have to tell you everything.” She stood up, the commotion downstairs had quieted and I realized I had managed to stay away from them the whole time, thank heaven for Wyn taking over for me. Carna and I walked out of the bedroom into the hall. It was so quiet in the house, and then I heard laughter. I had not heard laughter in my house in months; it was such a nice sound.
“I think that sound means it is time for you to meet some more of your family Delilah.” We walked down the stairs and I saw three beautiful dark haired women on my couch. I knew Ally was in the middle, but found myself trying to guess who was Selene and who was Eris, they were all talking and laughing together, Ally was a hard person to get to relax, if they were not using magic they had my vote already. I sat on the love seat on the other side of the living room, looking at the room full of women that looked so much alike, even Ally had more of a Grace look than I had.
“Carna, why do you think I don’t look like everyone else?” The room went silent and Carna sat down next to me, putting her hand on my knee.
“I think it’s because you are special, more special than any of us Delilah.” I watched as one of the women rolled her eyes at me. Carna flashed a very evil look and the woman. I had to stop calling them women, they were five seconds older than I was and I didn’t think I would like someone to call me a woman yet.
“Selene, that’s enough from you.” Well now I knew the girl on the left with the attitude was Selene. I looked at the girl on the right; she must be Eris, she seemed to have softness about her that I liked. She saw me looking and smiled back at me, realizing that we had not been introduced yet she lifted her hand and pointed out each of the girls. “Your cousin Selene is my niece, and Eris is my daughter.” Serene rolled her eyes and Eris stood from the couch, with a big smile she came over to hug me, I put my arms around her and started to cry. She squeezed me tighter and whispered in my ear.
“Serene is just jealous because she isn’t the perfect one anymore, I am
glad we found you Ella.” She kissed my cheek and walked back to the couch, sticking her tongue out at Serene as she sat down. I laughed a little inside and then I heard dishes crash in the kitchen and remembered that Ally and I had forgotten about Wyn. Jumping off the back of the love seat I made a dash to the kitchen and found her leaning against the counter, crying.
“Wyn, what can I do?” I walked over and put my arms around her, holding this amazing woman while she sobbed. After a few moments she stood up and wiped her face, forcing a smile as she looked at me.
“Ella, they aren’t that bad Hu?” I shrugged my shoulders and turned my head as laughter filled the room again.
“I guess not, I mean they are different but I guess I am too.” Wyn put her arm around me and squeezed me tight.
“I have known that you and your Mom were different since you were a little girl honey, you were just a toddler when your Mom told me everything and it never changed my love for you. I know that your mom was scared you would get sucked into the bad side of it if you knew, but we all have that in us and I don’t think you need to worry about that.” I was confused why she was so upset then.
“Why are you crying over that then?” Wyn put her head down and tears fell down her face as she told me.
“I am crying because I know you are going to leave with them, and your Mom would be mad at me right now but I think you should even if it’s just for the summer. You have a right to know about your family, so when they ask and they will I think you should go with them.” I had just said my last goodbye to my Mom hours earlier, I certainly wasn’t thinking about leaving our home.
“No, I am not going anywhere Wyn, I won’t go.” I heard a noise and turned to see Carna standing in the doorway.
“Ella, you certainly don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I am not here to Force anything on you, we can make this work and get closer no matter where you are.” Selene came up from behind her and smiled at me when she heard the news I may not be returning with them, I tried to ignore her as Carna kept talking. “We are going to stay at the bed and breakfast for a few days and hope to have more time with you Ella, but we should go now so you have time with Wendy and Ally.” She walked closer to hug me as Wyn poked me in the ribs, I turned to her and she motioned for me to invite them to stay, and she wasn’t subtle about it either, Carna saw her and laughed. “We can stay at the B&B Hun I am sure you would be more comfortable with that.” We hugged and I said nothing at first, but then I felt warm and a sense of comfort in her arms I had not felt from anyone but my mom till now. I slowly stepped back and shook my head.
“No way, you are staying here. It’s what I want, and it would make me happy please stay.” Carna smiled and Selene stomped off like a three year old. I heard squeals from the living room and Eris came running in the kitchen to hug me. Carna smiled and we all laughed a little.
“If that’s what you want we would love to stay Ella, thank you.” I glanced over her shoulder and saw Selene glaring at me; she mouthed the word ‘Bitch’, my face became hot to the touch and my eyes burned, she was going to learn quickly that this is no ordinary bitch. This bitch is also a witch.
*
Two hours into trying to sleep and my mind was full of images, women on brooms with warts, kissing frogs, cauldrons and of course being burned alive wouldn’t leave my thoughts. I found myself suddenly falling to sleep with these images in my mind. The darkness felt cold on my skin, almost too thick to breathe as I walked through a field of tall grass I had to move as I walked, I thought I was in a jungle until I saw a light ahead guiding my way. I walked faster and came to a clearing. I could see the light ahead of me and as I wiped the dew from my arms, I could see it had color. The blades of grass had cut not only my arms as I looked down at myself, I was bleeding from everywhere. My hands shook as I lifted them to my face, the birds above me had begun to swarm and I could hear the calls to others, they were signaling that I was fresh and I started to run to the light. The faster I ran, the thicker the air became in my lungs. I couldn’t run fast enough and fell to the ground. The light was moving toward me, someone was coming to save me. I picked myself up from the grass as the bird calls grew louder and closer to my head, they were making their way to me and I screamed as the light came into view. A large black bird, at least eight feet tall with the face of a beautiful woman, and the wingspan of a city block stood before me, smiling as I scrambled to get away her wing pushed down on my legs and she bent down till I could feel her breath and beak on my ear.
“I have been waiting for you Delilah.” I woke screaming from the first nightmare of my life. The days with my Aunt and cousins in Nebraska were full of shopping and sightseeing, lots of laughs and no mention of witches, fables or nightmares. Since they had arrived I had been plagued with them every night, my questions were mounting, but my fear wouldn’t allow me to ask. The last day of the visit I still hadn’t made up my mind if I would go with them or not. I sat on my bed and looked at pictures of my mother, her beauty was so deep inside her it radiated, that couldn’t have been by chance since I saw it in Carna as well. I looked around my room, knowing what I had to do. A tear pooled in my eyes as I thought about leaving, and then I saw the letter from my mother. I crawled under my bed and pulled out my suitcase, I needed to start taking chances if I were ever going to find myself.
One
Three hours into this cross country trip and I was already finding myself looking for a soft spot to land if I just happened to open the door and jump from the van. I agreed to spend the summer getting to know my new family, and we were all going back to the family home in Maine. Carna said the home had been vacant off and on for almost a hundred years, so it sounded like a lot of hard work but I loved the idea of learning about my roots, until about a half hour ago when Eris and Selene began fighting and my Aunt started screaming at them. I stared out the window wondering if they had a spell to make the princesses grow up and I tried to block out the yelling with some Paula Cole, Feelin Love on my IPod. As I listened to it I closed my eyes and saw a dark haired man with big arms pushing me against a wall while he looked in my eyes, with a halfcocked smile he grabbed my ass and pushed his body against mine. I could see his face looking at me; he was so intense he almost scared me, if it didn’t turn me on so much I would have run as his hand reached up for my face to hold me with fierce intensity. I was quickly taken from my fantasy as I heard a shriek from beside me. I felt incredibly annoyed that the girl fighting would ruin the greatest fantasy of my life, I took out my ear buds and wished I could go back to my very bad, dark man.
“You stupid fucking dyke you wouldn’t know a blow job from a dye job don’t talk to me about being a lazy screw!” I lowered the music just enough to hear everything without being too obvious. Selene called Eris a dyke, why would she call her that?
“I get fucked better by girls than you ever will by those little boys you like bitch!” I dropped my jaw. Eris was a lesbian? And here I thought I wouldn’t learn anything on this trip. The van started to go over the rumble strip on the side of the road and then came to a violent stop. Carna turned in her seat, the van had gone silent and she looked pissed.
“Do either of you girls have anything nice to say? Because if you don’t I suggest you shut the hell up before I drop you on the side of the road, do I make myself clear?” Both girls nodded and though I didn’t know what it was like to have siblings; my first dose was turning into a hard one to swallow. “Delilah, come sit up here with me so you don’t have to listen to the children.” I jumped from my seat and climbed over Selene grumbling under her breath at me as I put my seatbelt on and we were back on the road again.
“Carna, can I ask you something?” I put my IPod in my bag and began to fidget with my ring; it was a sterling spinner with a Celtic knot pattern that spun when I was fidgety or scared. It had been a gift from my Mother so I would stop biting my nails; I had gone through four of these rings since and smiled as I felt myself relax just by knowing it was ther
e.
“Delilah honey, you can ask me anything please don’t be so nervous.” I looked up and she was smiling, the backseat had gotten a little too quiet as I started talking.
“I am confused; you told me the family has a lot of money.” She nodded in agreement. “You also dumped it on me that we are all witches.” She nodded again, and for the first time in two minutes I heard a snarky voice in the back.
“Well, we don’t know if you are a witch yet but the rest of us are.” Carna put her hand up in a fist, Selene silenced herself, and Carna smiled at me again.
“I guess I am just curious, why are we in a van instead of a fancy car, or why didn’t we just fly to Maine?” Selene started laughing from the backseat and I heard her whispering to Eris. Carna just looked at me with a slight grin as she answered.
“Now I am confused Delilah, are you asking me why we didn’t mount our brooms and head to the North East.” I laughed as I took a sip of my soda, spraying sugar out of my nose.
“No, not brooms I meant planes not brooms.” I couldn’t stop laughing, and Carna laughed too.
“We can’t take a plane back because Selene caused a bit of a stir on our way here and the Air Marshals asked us not to fly the friendly skies anytime soon as we were escorted off the plane.” I had to laugh as Selene rolled her eyes and kicked my seat. I decided it best to ignore her and took out the letter from my mother to read and ask more questions.
Precious Anathema Page 2
