Life Curse: Taber Blood I

Chapter 37

No. It cannot be. 

Again, Macey woke in the library facing the hand-painted family tree.  Had Macey been in the chair all along? In an illusion created by Evalena? If so, that was one long venture into the non-existent.  Where were the others?  A painful headache throbbed against her skull with every slight move. She pushed herself up from the chair and shook off the dizzying effect. Was it all real? The curse, Evalena, Sarah, and Eddie, the beast? She examined the room. The books, desk, lamp, and the freaking vase were all in place, neat and orderly. As if everything she had just been through never happened. Sarah, Evalena, and Eddie the beast were all a part of her imagination. Was David there? 

Macey ran her fingers through her knotted hair. How had her hair become so tangled? Wait. Something did happen. Macey rushed to the tree. Jared changed the order of the names. Didn't he? At the top of the tree were her late husband Paul and his father ElijahTaber's names. They were the last to die. Spying the bottom, Macey saw Joseph and Mary Tillinghast Taber. Parents of Joseph, the man who a witch tricked. "You know now, don't you, Joseph?" It was Joseph's wife, from Scotland, who drew the original family tree. The link between a sketch and a living tree Evalena used to finalize her curse.  A life curse. Jared accomplished his task by reversing the names to break Evalena's spell. But did she burn the witch? How much of the past was true?

"Jared," Macey said as she turned and faced the door. A half step forward, Macey caught something in her peripheral vision. Stunned she wasn't alone, she looked to her right. Over by the far wall stood Paul. Her late husband. "Paul," Macey said. He smiled and faded away as a tear drizzled down Macey's cheek. He will always be here at the mansion, watching over her and Jared. She wiped the tear from her face and ran into the hall. 

"Jared!"

The hall was empty as she ran through, but not eerie like before. The sense of dread had lifted. Macey ran to the stairs. "Jared!" She took two steps at a time until she reached the top and burst through Jared's bedroom door, "Jared, sweetie," she said. Jared's bed looked as though someone made his bed, and the curtains were wide open. Marvel action figures lined the shelves. 

Macey said, "What time of day is it?" She sprinted to the other side of the hall, headed for her bedroom—the room she and Paul shared many years ago. On the way, she passed the room where Daniel, the family's loyal butler, had stepped out of, scaring her on the first day she arrived. Macey paused for a second and thought about opening the door. How she wished Daniel would be there. 

Her bedroom door was ajar, and she went running in, "Jared?" The room was empty. Underneath the glow of the lamp were Paul and Sarah's journals. Macey sighed and ran back down the stairs. She searched for Jared in the kitchen and dining room. All empty, like the ballroom, office, and living room.

Was this another illusion? Evalena survived the fire and now cursed her to live in the mansion alone with everyday reminders of her life and those she loved? What a spiteful witch. Macey ran through the foyer, headed for the front door, and stopped at Sarah's portrait. Everything was the same, except the journal Sarah held in her lap was missing. Macey stumbled toward the door but heard something from the other direction. It would benefit her to get as far as she could from the mansion. Instead, she faced her fear. It was her destiny. 

Sarah stood at the far end of the foyer, "I give you my journal, Macey," Sarah said, and like Paul faded away. Macy's heart sank. She'll remember her time with Sarah as the sister who saved her family.

Macey cried and fumbled with the door handle until she yanked it open. She shielded her eyes from the sun with a salute of her hand. Her mouth fell open. She whimpered, seeing the tree that Jared climbed was no longer standing. Macey concluded it was the same tree from all those years ago she lit on fire to break the family curse. Now that the curse is gone, the tree no longer exists, banished with a witch who traveled from England to spread her evil in the Americas.