Page 13 of Wallflower Witch

Josh cocks his head to the side. “What road?”

Patrick’s eyes light with laughter he fights to hold back. “The one that we came in on. It’s been here since the horse and buggy days. A bit overgrown and run down, but it would have been easier on foot than bushwhacking through the woods. Even easier in a car, although it still takes a while to get all the way back here.”

“No one mentioned a road,” Josh mumbles.

“Anyway…” I interrupt. “What happened next?”

Josh nods, pulling the black backpack I’d found the shovel on earlier closer and pulling out a protein bar. He takes a bite before continuing. “Mmmm…” He moans, and heat blooms low in my belly imagining other ways to get him to make that sound. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was. Anyway, it took a long time to hike up here, but eventually the woods opened up to this circle of houses. It was weird, almost like stepping out into a time capsule.”

“Isn’t it awesome!” I gush.

“I guess,” Josh answers.

“It is,” Patrick nods to me. “There are so few places you can see how life was. Anyway, what happened once you were here?”

“I pulled out my phone and started recording and taking pictures. I thought I could go viral. No one had made it this far, or at least no one had shared that they made it this far. I wanted to explore all the houses, but the closer I got to the first few, the harder it was to breathe. It was like something dark and heavy was sitting on me, trying to make sure I knew I wasn’t wanted. At least at that place. I finally was able to move closer to one of the houses.” He waves his hand in the direction of the O’Byrne manor. “When I reached the door, the knob was icy cold and wouldn’t budge.

“I thought a house that big would have to have a back door or a side door or some other way to get inside, so I kept going. If I’ve learned anything from those forums, it’s that these old buildings always have a way inside without having to break in.”

“But you didn’t,” I state. “How did you end up back here?”

“When I reached the backyard, the house didn’t seem as important. Like I knew I wanted to go inside, but that thing inside seemed to draw me farther out. As I got closer, I could have sworn I saw a green light coming from the tree and made my way toward it, but before I could reach the tree, I tripped. It was the weirdest thing. There was nothing between me and the tree when I started walking, but then there were all these vines snaking around my feet. Before I could get up, I was sliding across the ground. It was like the vines came to life. I know I sound nuts—”

“Before a few minutes ago, maybe, but now not so much,” I cut him off, sharing a look with Patrick. “We saw the vines in action,” I add.

Josh nods, then continues, “I tried to fight against them, but there was nothing to grab on to and a vine had wrapped around my middle so I couldn’t get anything out of my backpack. They pulled me over to this building and into the ground.

“It was dark in there and quiet. Well, part of the time… Other times it was like I could hear screams, moans, cries… My backpack disappeared”—he looks at it in the grass—“but I guess it got left out here.” He shrugs. “But it was almost like time stood still while I was in there.. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty. It was almost like being in stasis, but I was awake for part of it. Every time I slept, it was harder and harder to wake up. Almost like something was draining me, like it wanted to keep me there. But now you’ve found me, and I never have to go back in there again. And I can post the pictures of the houses and let everyone see it so they don’t have to come up here and get stuck.”

Reaching in his pocket, he pulls out his phone unlocking it. “What the hell?” he yells, swiping furiously.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, moving closer. My eyes land on a black screen.

“They’re gone!” Josh shouts, showing me black photo after black photo. “All the pictures I took of this place are just black! Not one of them turned out! How that could happen?!”

“It’s like this place doesn’t want to be found,” Patrick says. “The feeling of being unwelcome, the buildings stuck in time… The rumor is this place was cursed long ago. Maybe being unknown is part of the curse.” He shrugs. “That’s probably why no other explorers make it past the main road.”

“But I made it,” Josh says, snapping a new picture of the O’Byrne house, which also shows up black when he checks it. “It can’t be cursed to keep people out if it let me come here.”

“It could if you are part of this,” Patrick tells him.

“Part of what?” Josh asks.

“The curse or breaking the curse somehow,” Patrick states.

“Can a curse be that… smart?” I ask, stumbling over the last word. “Or sentient?”

Patrick snickers. “You two have a lot to learn. Curses can be a lot of things, depending on the strength of who cast them and the purpose behind them.” He looks around the dead and deserted yard. “This one would have been cast by someone of great power for the effects to still be felt hundreds of years later.” He turns to look at me. “Do you still have the grimoire you found?”

I nod, reaching around and pulling it out of my waistband. It feels heavier than when I first found it.

Quoth flies off my shoulder and onto the ground, thoroughly disgusted with all my movement. He hunts for insects while hopping around our feet, never straying too far away.

“Then I think it is time we get to work on reading it and learning what we can about this curse, but maybe not right here. We have disturbed the dead enough for one day.” Patrick sweeps his hand back toward the house.

Josh grabs his backpack as I close the door on the crypt. With each step I take, I notice the grass turning green for a moment before fading back to a dry, dead brown.

We’re back in the diner after another long and bouncy ride over the rough road. Josh kept up a constant chatter the whole way, and it was surprisingly relaxing. Usually I prefer silence, but these two men with me seem to be breaking me out of my shell somehow. Patrick’s steady, down-to-earth attitude and Josh’s energetic outlook on life fill a gap inside that I didn’t even know was there before they came along.

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