The Coven's Curse
by Donna L Martin
Jake pushed his sweat drenched hair out of his eyes and stopped to catch his breath. Today's run felt good. He actually felt like he was running toward something. Maybe the dark cloud hanging over him all these months was slowly beginning to dissipate? Maybe this afternoon's meeting with Mary would finally give him some answers to the questions robbing his sleep every night.
He was about to resume his run when Jake noticed something odd about the stand of trees just ahead of him. There appeared to be strange markings on each tree, a crude hexagon shape with a blackened star in the center. One after another the trees were marked as if pointing deeper into the forest to some unknown destination.
Curiosity can be a dangerous companion. It can sometimes tempt a person into doing things they wouldn't normally do, but Jake was no stranger to temptation. Stepping off the beaten path, he followed the line of trees until he came to a small clearing filled with what appeared to be headstones. Who would put a cemetery in middle of the woods?
Jake kneeled in front one of the graves. Time and the elements had washed away most of the wording but he still managed to make out a name...Bishop. Stone after stone revealed the names of the nineteen souls buried there...Wardwell, Pudeator, Wildes, Proctor, and others. But when he got to the last grave Jake felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared at the name on the roughened stone...Mary Eastey.
An unusual last name to be sure. One you wouldn't hear too often, much less see on a headstone. Maybe that was why it was so startling to Jake since that was the name of the strange lady he was supposed to be meeting later that day...
***Okay, it's your turn! Who built that graveyard? What is the connection between Jake and the strange visitor? Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph. Continue my story or start one of your own. Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***
...as he knelt trying to rub the grime from the headstone, he could not make out the dates. So worn and old was the stone. His hands trembled and he felt a cold shiver crawl up his back. As he stood back looking around he wondered, who on earth is the woman he was seeing later. She had said she had something for him, important, she said.
ReplyDeleteThe sound of a twig snapping off to his right jolted his thoughts. Rustling sound as if someone was leaving, footsteps moving away. Jake tread softly towards the sound.....
(eww.... *shivers*)
Hi Diane! I'm so happy you decided to try your hand at adding to this flash fiction piece. Now I wonder who was spying on Jake and what does Mary have for him? did you see the "secret connection" I added to this story? ;~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!
I think Jake dies, and Mary is a ghost and takes him to the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteHi Erik! Either that or he manages to get away...only to be haunted by her later on...:~)
DeleteThanks for stopping by and come back any time!