Cursed or Blessed

by A. L. Martin

  “Are you okay?” Sophie asked, flopping on the couch beside me. “You scared the shit out of us. Do you want to leave and go to my house?”

  “No. I just need a few minutes in here away from the party. I’m sorry about this.”

  “We will stay back here to make sure you are okay,” Alexina said, sitting on the left side of me.

  We started talking about some of the idiot girls making fools of themselves at the party, and I told them about the two girls in line for the bathroom. Alexina fell back on the couch laughing because she knew exactly who I was talking about. One of them was the Pastor’s daughter and her parents always bragged about what a great example their daughter set for the other girls in the church. Braedon was back a few minutes later with a cold bottle of water for me. Tyler walked in right behind him, taking Sophie’s hand to help her up off the couch so Braedon could sit down beside me. I didn’t want them fussing over me, but I couldn’t tell them the truth. After a few more minutes of sitting and talking to everyone, I got up, hoping they would know I was okay and follow me back to the party. I felt bad Tyler was in here with Sophie, away from his own party. They all sat there looking at me, puzzled, but none of them were saying a word.

  “I am going back to the party. Are you coming with me?” I asked as I made my way to the door. Braedon was right behind me by the time I was out in the hallway, everyone else following behind. Being close to Braedon seemed to make everything all right, even if I knew differently. As we walked through the kitchen, Braedon placed his hand on the small of my back, sending a tingling sensation throughout my body. I wanted time to freeze so I could enjoy this moment because I knew everything was about to change.

  “Well, I see why you haven’t returned my texts the last few days,” Blair snapped as she walked up to us, her eyes full of hatred as she stared at me. “So, is this your new conquest?”

  Blair Royal was one of the girls that Alexina and Sophie told me was crazy and warned me to stay as far away from her as possible. Her soft black hair and ice blue eyes were apparently a weakness for most of the guys around school, and they would do anything for her.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean, Blair?” Braedon asked, trying to shield me from Blair. “Besides, who invited your ass anyway?”

  “Why so mad? You weren’t like this a couple of weeks ago. Does she have something to do with this new attitude towards me?” Blair said, moving to glare at me.

  “No, she doesn’t. Did you ever think maybe you being a bitch might be the real reason?” Braedon took my hand as he stepped in front of me.

  “What’s the matter? You afraid I might do something to your new love interest?” Blair said, peeking at me over Braedon’s shoulder.

  “Blair, I think it’s time for you to leave. Now!” Tyler yelled, walking past me and standing next to Braedon. “What dumbass did you manage to sweet talk into bringing you, so I can throw his ass out the door too?”

  She stood there for a few more minutes, glaring at me before finally turning to go in the other room. Tyler excused himself to make sure Blair left the party altogether. Braedon apologized for Blair and tried to explain what all that was about. I told him he didn’t owe me an explanation, but he insisted on giving me one anyway. When he started talking, I couldn’t help but worry that this girl would be the one to give me problems about my secret. He told me that they only went out a couple of times, and then she turned into a crazy bitch. He did admit that her looks drew him in, but that he quickly learned that he needed to get away from her. “Sorry about Blair. Are you sure you are okay?”

  “Yeah. I am fine. It was nothing, really. I am sorry that you have missed most of the party.”

  “I got to be with you.” He grabbed my hand, leading me out of the kitchen while Alexina and Sophie followed behind us. As we were walking towards the front of the house, I realized that we hadn’t seen Caden at the party. I knew Alexina was hoping to see him, but she had been so busy with me. “Alexina, do you want us to help you go look for Caden?” I asked, looking over my shoulder as Braedon led me through the house.

  “No. I don’t even think he showed up.”

  “Caden showed up, and I think he’s still here,” Braedon said, not even turning around to look at us. “Next answer is…No, he didn’t come with anyone.”

  Alexina took off in search of Caden before Braedon could even tell her where he was exactly. I almost texted her, but I knew she would be texting me or Sophie soon, asking where to find him. We caught up with Tyler at the front door of his house to make sure Blair had left. Tyler told us he was making sure she wasn’t going to try and sneak back in. “I’m sorry about Blair, Karsyn,” Tyler said, turning away from the door. “She can be a bitch, to say the least. I hope she didn’t upset you.”

  She did upset me, but not about tonight. Tonight was just a jealous girl taunting the new girl. Her being jealous was the least of my problems. Her finding out about my secret could ruin my life here in Charlottesville.

  After about thirty minutes of dancing and enjoying ourselves, it dawned on me that Alexina never texted us about Caden. “Hey Sophie, did Alexina text you?” I asked her, checking my phone.

  “No. Do you think we should go look for her, in case she didn’t find him and is upset somewhere?”

  We told the guys we were going to go look for Alexina and would be back in a little bit. They insisted on coming with us to make sure we didn’t have trouble with some of Blair’s friends. We headed toward the back of the house to see if she was in the room with the piano, but instead, we found a couple back there, forcing Tyler to run them out and close off that part of the house. We headed back toward the party, thinking maybe we missed her on our way to the back.

  After a few minutes of looking around the party, Braedon suggested that maybe she was outside with Caden. Sophie and I not paying attention to one another got stuck in the doorway. She and I glanced at each other, bursting into laughter and making it even harder to get out of the doorway. After we were able to calm down long enough to get free, we walked out to the gazebo where we found Alexina crying. We decided it was time to leave the party and head back to Sophie’s house to try and cheer her up. We didn’t want to press her right away with questions about why she was crying, but we had a good idea of why.

  Chapter 2

  We drove back to Sophie’s house in awkward silence not wanting to upset Alexina anymore. After changing into our pj’s we let Alexina be alone for a few minutes while we headed down to the kitchen for snacks. We were met by Sophie’s dad, heading out of the kitchen with our hands full of snacks and drinks. He laughed as he walked past us into the kitchen. Each time one of us would drop something from our armload of chips, salsa, cookies, and carrots, we would burst out laughing, then get in trouble for being loud. Sophie’s mom came to the stairs and told Sophie she would have to deal with her brothers if we woke them up.

  “Sorry, about getting your mom mad at us, Sophie,” I said, tip-toeing up the stairs the rest of the way behind her.

  “She’s not my Mom,” she said, peeking over her shoulder back at me.

  “She’s not?”

  “Hell No! Catrina is my stepmom. Sometimes we get along, but other times she likes to ride my ass about crap. I keep reminding myself that I only have a few more months of dealing with her every day.” She tapped on the bottom of her door with her foot to let Alexina know to open the door for us. Alexina opened the door, wiping tears from her cheeks. We put the drinks on her nightstand and the food on her bed.

  “So, what happened tonight at the party?” Sophie asked, handing Alexina a bottle of water before flopping down on her bed, causing the food to jump around.

  “Well, I found Caden with some girl out in the gazebo.”

  “And?”

  “That’s it. I saw him with another girl.”

  “What do you mean that’s it? Did you see them holding hands, or kissing?”

  “No. They did leave together though.”

 
; I didn’t want to make Alexina more upset, but I had to agree with Sophie. There was no reason to be so upset. He was with a girl but didn’t do anything with her that she saw. Then again, I probably would have been upset if I had seen Braedon with another girl at the party. Sophie gazed over at me and shrugged when Alexina wasn’t paying attention. We didn’t know what to say to her, so we sat with her while she cried on and off for the next hour. Alexina was the first to fall asleep, then Sophie. I laid there watching the soft moonlight cascade around the room. I wasn’t used to it being so light in a room at night. My rooms have always been dark because of the headaches I get sometimes from my visions. I knew I was going to have a hard time sleeping, so I tried to figure out what happened at Tyler’s tonight. Would it happen again soon, and if it did, what was I going to tell everyone? I didn’t know how long I could keep up with the lies before the truth would come out. What bothered me more than anything was trying to figure out who was going to end up dead, and what to do about it. Do I let it happen, or do I try and stop it?

  Not only was I stressed out about my visions returning, but now I had a new enemy to worry about. I was about to fall asleep when my phone vibrated on the nightstand. I rolled over toward the table, debating if I wanted to see who texted me or wait and answer it in the morning. I picked up my phone and saw it was from Braedon. I didn’t want to be rude and ignore his text, but I wasn’t in a talkative mood either. I wasn’t ready to share a lot of information about myself, and I was too tired to keep the lies straight. I went against my better judgment and sent him a quick text.

  I woke up to Sophie and Alexina trying to talk quietly, but I’ve learned with them that was impossible sometimes. I laid there and listened to them talk about the party last night, and what Alexina should do about Caden. I knew she liked him, but Alexina was too pretty to wait around for him to make up his mind about her.

  “You doing okay, Karsyn? You are super quiet this morning,” Sophie said, flopping beside me on the bed.

  “Sorry. I guess I didn’t sleep good last night. I will probably go home here in a little bit and go back to bed. Do you know what time it is?” I yawned.

  I wasn’t lying about going back to bed, but I had to talk to my mom first about what happened last night. I knew my mom would be upset if I didn’t tell her that my visions were back. She would also probably lecture at me about not trying to stop it, so I don’t end up in trouble again like I did with Rylee’s death. I wished Rylee was here to help me figure out what I should do.

  “Alexina, is there anyone you could ask to see if Caden has a girlfriend or not? Do some of your other friends have any classes with him? They could find out for you,” I said, getting out of bed. I looked over at Sophie, shaking her head in agreement with what I had just said. I left Alexina and Sophie talking on the bed, while I went to Sophie’s bathroom to get ready. I envied Sophie because she had her own bathroom, and didn’t have to share it with anyone. She had the coolest shower I had ever seen. It was a walk-in shower with three shower heads, one on each of the dark tiled walls. I changed out of my pj’s and went back to talk to Sophie and Alexina for a little bit. I wanted to make sure Alexina was okay. Sophie had brought up fruit bowls and bagels for us. She didn’t want us to have to deal with her little brothers at the table.

  Sophie also told us she would end up taking care of them while Catrina went off in the other room. She also commented a lot about Catrina, and she didn’t hide how much she loathed her. I wanted to stay longer and hear more stories about her, but I needed to get home. I had to tell Mom what happened at the party, and hope she wouldn’t lecture at me about what to do.

  ****

  “You are home early,” Mom said, walking out of the living room toward the kitchen. “Did you have a good time?”

  “I had a great time at the game, and most of the party.” I sat down on the middle stool at the kitchen island directly in front of my mom. As I watched Mom rinse off dishes in the sink, I noticed I could see hints of her pretty brown hair poking through her blonde highlights. She started coloring her hair around the time of Rylee’s death.

  I couldn’t look at her in the eye for fear she would see right through me and know that something was wrong. I sat there playing with the placemat, but I could tell she already knew something was dreadfully wrong. I was trying to stall as long as possible to give myself enough time to get ready for the interrogation that would soon follow.

  “Mom, while I was at the party, something happened, but I don’t know how to tell you.” I glanced up right as she was turning around to face me, and the minute my eyes met hers I could see the worry as she stared at me.

  “Were your friends around when it happened?” she asked. I could tell she was trying to stay calm and not upset me more.

  “It was different this time. I don’t know if I passed out or blacked out. Next thing I know, I am in a field with white flowers at some crazy looking tree. I don’t know where I was, and there was no one around me either. Dead or alive. I was the only person standing alone in this meadow of white flowers.”

  Mom walked around the island, wrapping her arms around me so tight it was almost hard to breathe. She stood there holding me for a few minutes. “We will figure this out together. Are you sure you didn’t see anyone around you in this vision? Besides the strange tree, was there anything else that you can remember, like a house close by perhaps a vehicle?” she asked as she tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

  I knew she was trying to help me figure this out, but no matter how hard I tried to remember the surroundings, my mind kept going back to the funky looking tree, off by itself away from the flowers. I should have walked over to the tree in my vision, but I wasn’t ready to face more death. I knew she couldn’t fix this problem for me, and I think that bothered her more than it did me. “Mom, don’t tell Dad about this just yet. Let me make sure my visions are back for sure before we go and upset everyone. I don’t want to move again either. Running from this isn’t going to make things any easier for any of us. Hopefully, people won’t freak out when they find out.”

  She sat down on the stool to the left of me and took my hands in hers. “I won’t tell him right now.” We will eventually have to tell him, Karsyn. We can’t keep this from him for long.”

  “Thank you, Mom.” I leaned forward to hug her. “I am going to go lie down. I didn’t sleep good last night after everything that happened at the party. I also have a new enemy to worry about not too.”

  “New enemy?”

  “Yeah. She hates me because of some guy she went out with a couple of times. She could definitely make my life a living hell over my visions, but I will deal with that if and when the time comes.” I walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to lie down for a little bit. I didn’t know if I would be able to get any sleep with everything on my mind, but I had to try.

  “Karsyn, Mom wanted me to come up and tell you that it is almost four o’clock. She wants to know if you want to go out to dinner with us,” Emerson asked.

  “Yeah. Let me get a quick shower. It won’t take me long. Where are we going to eat, do you know?” I stretched, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “They aren’t sure yet but said something about Downtown Mall. I will tell Mom you want to go, and that you are getting ready. Hurry up.”

  I looked at my phone and realized I hadn’t texted Braedon today like I promised. I sent him a quick one, apologizing for not sending him a text earlier, and then went to get ready. I managed to get my hair up in a messy bun and went for a subtle look for my makeup. I picked out a pair of ripped jeans, with an off the shoulder white blouse with red flowers and lace around the bottom of the sleeves. I had to get down on my hands and knees with my head stuck in my closet, looking for the beige suede ankle boots that I tossed in there when I unpacked my shoes. I was about to open my door when Emerson walked in, asking if I was done getting ready because Mom and Dad were ready to leave for Downtown Mall. After a few more minutes I found my boots, s
lipping them on as I stumbled around my room trying to gather up my purse and phone.

  “I hope you are feeling better,” Dad asked from the bottom of the stairs as we walked out of my room.

  “What?” I asked rather confused by his question.

  “Mom told me you weren’t feeling good earlier when you got home and went upstairs to lie down.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I didn’t sleep good last night at Sophie’s. I feel better now after getting a few more hours of sleep. Where are we going to eat?”

  “Your mom and I were thinking about somewhere at Downtown Mall. Where exactly, we will figure that out when we get there.” He walked out the front door tossing his keys in his hand.

  I texted Braedon on the way to Downtown Mall and told him I would get a hold of him later after dinner with my family. I had to make the hard decision of do I keep talking to him or do I let him go, sparing him the trouble of dealing with my visions. Do I have the right to make that decision for him? I didn’t want to get close to him, only for him to decide he can’t handle my visions and leave me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of rejection again. I made myself a promise I would try to enjoy my time with Braedon, and not think about everything that could destroy my happiness. He texted me back, saying he was actually at Downtown Mall already, and wanted to know if he could see me. I replied back, telling him I didn’t know where my parents were wanting to eat, but I would ask them if he could join us.