Welcome to Anchor Group’s Halloween Funhouse!! The amazing Katherine Polillo, author of
Destine, has written a story just for you guys!
If you get scared, please feel free to kick, scream, cry, or just run
away. No judgments here. Now, we hope you enjoy and please feel free
to leave a comment for Katherine below!! Happy Halloween!
Welcome
to Madame Zola’s
The cool, crisp October air caresses your skin. The scent of hot dogs and popcorn hangs heavy
on the air. A chill climbs your spin as
you wonder into the darkness. The
carnival music fades behind you. The incessant
buzzing of games, music of rides and the screams from cheap thrills slowly
fades away into the background as you approach a tent placed on the outskirts
of the fair grounds. Again the breeze
kicks up, reminding you that winter hangs like an ominous cloud over the
October night. The smells of the
carnival are replaced as the thick, rich scent of incense reaches your
nose. The rich burgundies and golds of
the tent lure you towards it, away from your companions and reality. The smooth texture of the tent slips along
your fingers as you pull the curtain back and prepare to enter.
“Come in, let me tell you a story,” a woman calls from inside the
tent. She is hard to see amongst the
candle light and incense’s smoke. You
feel uneasy, but your feet more of their own fruition, and you find yourself
seated in front of this woman. A large
crystal ball lays on the table in front of you, candles are lit and flicker in
the breeze that has followed you into the tent, her gold hoop earrings twinkle
in the fire light, and a large all seeing eye graces the wall of the tent. “I have much to tell you,” the woman replies
as she leans towards you and over her crystal ball. The ball begins to glow and you are
transfixed by the images that begin to appear and the story that is about to be
told.
Blessed Curse
Rebecca Cross stared into the vibrant green eyes of her ten-year-old
daughter and felt like the luckiest women in the world. She had a wonderful, happy child that filled
her days with laughter and light. Her
husband was back to work and the financial restraints that had burdened them
the last few years, appeared to be ending.
Michelle erupted in a fit of giggles as she snuck a taste of the
chocolate chip cookie batter, Rebecca was currently stirring. Michelle’s auburn hair looked like spun
copper as the afternoon sun from the kitchen window reflected off her long wavy
locks. Michelle’s closest friend, Cami,
scrunched up her face in disgust as Michelle popped the raw cookie dough into
her mouth.
“You’re gonna get worms,” Cami warned in equal parts fear and
disgust. “My Mom says that eating raw
eggs will give you worms!” Rebecca
stared at her daughter’s best friend with affection. The little blond was adorable, seriously Shirley
Temple cute, with her spiraled ringlets of blonde hair but Rebecca could not
stand her parents. Cami’s parents seemed
completely oblivious to the fact that they had a daughter, constantly working
long hours and taking weekend trips whilst dumping their only child with The
Crosses, not that Rebecca minded. It
would figure one of the only things Cecilia Clark would tell her daughter would
be rooted in fear and hypochondria.
“Well, I’ve been doing it my whole life and I’ve yet to get worms,”
Rebecca joked as she scooped a small clump of cookie dough out of the bowl and
popped it into her mouth. Michelle
immediately erupted into more giggles, clapping happily at her Mother’s bravery. Cami arched one eyebrow and stared intently
at Rebecca, waiting to see if the scary raw cookie dough would claim another
victim. Finally, when nothing happened
Cami returned her attention to the bowl in front of them. She hesitantly scraped a small morsel of
cookie dough from the side of the bowl, and with a look of determination oddly
out of place on the petite, ten year olds face she popped the cookie dough into
her mouth. Michelle squealed and clapped
again to honor her friend’s bravery. The
look of apprehension and determination quickly melted off Cami’s face as she
realized what she had been missing, within moments Cami’s giggles matched
Michelle’s.
Rebecca reached down and lifted the bowl off the counter, ‘All right
girls, we actually have to cook some of these.”
Both girls gave simultaneous pouty faces. “What will Dad think if he comes home, and
there aren’t any cookies? We promised
him we were baking cookies today,” Rebecca reminded the girls.
“And chocolate chip cookies are Daddy’s favorite,” Michelle rejoiced
bouncing around the kitchen.
“Alright outside with the both of you, I’m turning on the oven and I
don’t want anyone getting burnt. Go
play, I’ll call you for dinner.” Both
girls scurried outside and into the back yard.
Rebecca glanced to the neighbors yard, “Stay out of Mr. Wright’s yard!”
she yelled to the girls. “The grass is
tall enough we may lose you in there.”
Rebecca shook her head. She knew
Mr. Wright worked long hours, but he seriously had to start keeping better care
of his lawn. A sharp, shrill scream cut
through her thoughts as Cami came flying like a bat out of hell across the
lawn, hiding her face behind Rebecca’s legs.
“Mama Cross, make her stop,” Cami whined pathetically. Rebecca glanced up to see Michelle rolling
with laughter as she clutched a small garden snake in her left hand. A chill rose of Rebecca’s spine and she had
to physically shake it off. She had
always hated snakes, too many years of Catholic school had taught her to draw
the correlation between serpents and Satan, at least that’s how she
rationalized her fear.
“Michelle Faith Cross! You put that snake down this instant and stop
torturing your friend.” Michelle did as
she was told, but continued to smile the whole while, pleased with her little
joke. Rebecca shook her head, that child
had no fear. Not sure if that was a good
thing or a bad thing, she scooted Cami out from behind her encouraging her to
go off and play, and turned to go back into the house and finish the cookies
and dinner.
Later that evening Rebecca lay in bed listening to the deep
breathing of her husband beside her, and reflected back on her day. Isaac had come home in time for dinner and
they had all sat down to a pleasant dinner, complete with chocolate chip cookies
for dessert. Isaac had spoiled the girls
with complements about how delicious the cookies were, and what good cooks they
were. He had arched his eyebrow when
Cami had interjected, “and we didn’t even get worms either,” but bless his
heart he had kept right on chewing.
Cecilia had come to pick Cami up at 10 o’clock, far too late in
Rebecca’s opinion, she had actually had to go in and wake the child from where
she slept next to Michelle. Rebecca
gritted her teeth and kept her opinions about Cecilia’s parenting to
herself. She would like to tell the
woman that Cami was a living, breathing human being not some possession to
dress up and show off when it suited her.
Thank God, Cami had been born adorable, she would hate to think how much
less attention The Clarks would pay their child is she had been born awkward
and gangly.
Rebecca rolled to her side, pulling the covers up to her chin, with
a feeling of contentment and peace she slowly dozed off to sleep.
Suddenly Rebecca woke with a jolt.
She was standing in a white room, with no visible doors or windows, the
white so bright it actually hurt her eyes.
She couldn’t be awake; this must still be a dream! A feeling of claustrophobia began to set in
and panic rose in the back of her throat.
What sick nightmare had her subconscious created for her? She really needed to stop reading those
murder mysterious before bed.
Rebecca was one heartbeat away from letting loose a blood curdling
scream when she felt a presence behind her.
She spun around with such force, that she almost lost her balance. Before her stood a man, he was tall with
thick curly, black hair. He wore armor
across his chest, forearms, and shins.
He looked the part of an ancient warrior; only instead of a sword he
carried a trumpet. Rebecca gasped when
her gaze fell on his eyes. They were so
clear, so absent of color that she thought he must be blind, but they were not
the cloudy color of a blind man but clear.
Those eyes held an emotion that Rebecca could not place, but she knew
she did not want to be under their intense scrutiny. His gaze made her uneasy, like bugs ran along
her skin; she wanted him to stop looking at her. It was then as her gazed skirted away from
his face that the enormous gray wings registered. He had them folded to his back, but they were
still clearly huge, rising above his shoulders and their tips sweeping the
floor.
“Are you an angel?” Rebecca
managed to squeak out in shock.
“I am the Archangel Gabriel, the messenger of God himself,” the man
replied.
“Why am I here?” Rebecca questioned with a calmness that shocked
even her own ears.
“I have broken My Father’s laws for he does not know that I speak
with you. I have come to warn you. He cannot track my presence, for your dreams
are the only area out of his control.
Many of my kind and those gone beyond can communicate with those on your
plan through dreams.”
Rebecca’s head was spinning.
Did he just say he was the Archangel Gabriel? The Messenger of God? Here to speak with her? If he really was an angel she needed to
utilize this opportunity and ask an important question. How do we achieve world peace? What is the meaning of life? What happens when we die? What came out of her mouth was a very
ineloquent, “Huh?”
“I have invested myself fully in the human cause. I cannot leave his future to chance, and I am
not ashamed to tip the scales in humanity’s favor,” he continued with little
regard for Rebecca’s confused expression.
“What are you talking about?” Rebecca snapped, finally finding her
voice. She began backing away from the
crazy man with wings. Her hands held out
in front of her in an “I mean you no harm” type of way. She had no place to go though, the bright
room was absent of any doors or windows and seemed to glow from within. Rebecca pinched the bridge of her nose and
squeezed her eyes shut, the brilliance of the white room was starting to make
her head hurt. “I don’t understand what
you’re talking about. What does any of
this have to do with me?”
“You are the caregiver for hope.
Without your protection humanity may have no chance. I need to you to protect him,” the angel
claiming to be Gabriel stared expectantly back at Rebecca.
“Oh, good that cleared it all up, thanks,” Rebecca retorted sarcastically.
“Good, I am glad you understand.”
Clearly angels were not fluent in sarcasm. Rebecca attempted to explain herself, to make
the angel understand that he had the wrong gal, but as she opened her mouth to
explain Gabriel began to advance on her.
Panic filled her chest. He was an
angel, a messenger for God, why was she so terrified? But her gut instincts told her to get away,
to run. Rebecca continued to retreat
away from the angel who was slowly moving her way, but her back hit the wall
behind her. There was not where to go
and no place to hide. As Gabriel neared,
Rebecca saw fog role across his amazingly clear eyes, darkening them into a
slate gray. She braced herself,
squeezing her eyes shut, and waiting for the worst.
Gabriel reached out and laid his hand on the side of her face, his
fingers pressed against her temple. He
leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “I am sorry, you must protect
him.”
Clarity filled Rebecca’s brain, she knew what he was talking about,
she understood. She shot her eyes open
with the words, “He is a She,” on her lips, but when she opened her eyes she
was back in her bed. She sat up with a
gasp, throwing the tangled blankets off of her.
Surely there was some mistake, this couldn’t be accurate, the angel had
to be mistaken. Rebecca let out a
strangled sob as her new knowledge set in.
Isaac sat up in bed, and reached for his wife. “What’s the matter Rebecca? Was it a bad dream?”
Rebecca turned and stared into her husband’s eyes with his calm
resolve, his loving demeanor. There was
no reason that they both should carrying this burden, and in that moment she
decided to keep it all a secrete. He was
a good man and a good Father, why place this burden on his shoulders as
well? “Yes, a bad dream,” Rebecca
replied her voice still quivering from the now rescinding adrenalin rush.
“Sshhh, shhh it’s alright, I’m here.
Everything is fine and nothing will hurt you,” he cooed soothingly into
her ear. Rebecca felt herself melt into
his embrace, feeling safe and secure, but the evil that was looming and the
destiny that had been set in motion was larger than them both. Rebecca felt as if a large boulder had been
pushed from a hill and was gaining speed as it rolled in their direction. Sooner or later they would both be crushed by
the weight of it, but until then it was her job to protect both Isaac and
Michelle. She would protect Isaac by
keeping him blissfully unaware, and she would protect Michelle from all that
would threaten her. With this
conviction, Rebecca took a deep breath and attempted to calm her shacking
nerves. She would carry this burden, and
she would do all in her power to protect those she loved.
Rebecca smiled reassuringly at Isaac, although she was sure the
smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m okay,
I’m fine. Go back to sleep you have to
get up early for work,” she reassured.
Isaac hesitated for a moment unsure of whether or not to believe his
wife. Rebecca smiled again in his
direction. Reaching over and placing a
kiss on her check he rolled over and closed his eyes, within five minutes
Rebecca heard the deep rhythmic breathing that reassured her that he was again
asleep. As quietly as she could she
crept from the bedroom and slowly made her way down the hall. Pushing gently on her daughter’s door she
slipped through and stood at the foot of her bed. Michelle lay amongst her stuffed animals, her
auburn hair tussled from sleep, look as angelic as a child could. Rebecca longed to touch her, but didn’t for
fear she would wake her. Without really
thinking about what she was doing Rebecca kneeled by her daughter’s bed and
began to pray. She prayed for her to be
strong, she prayed for her to be able to handle the enormous task set before
her, and she prayed that she would be able to protect her daughter from all the
evils that now hunted her. Her daughter
was the key to stopping the apocalypse.
Her daughter was humanity’s key to surviving the antichrist.
Sun streamed through the window as Michelle awoke to the sound of
birds chirping outside her window.
Rolling over she saw her Mother sitting in the old rocking chair in the
corner of her room. “Mom, were you
watching me sleep?” she giggled.
Rebecca snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her daughter’s
voice. She smiled lovingly at her
daughters groggy, sleep filled expression.
“Yes baby, I was,” she admitted.
“Why?” Michelle questioned
with a look of confusion on her face.
Rebecca racked her brain for a reason that would make sense to the
ten year old. “I was so excited to go to
the park today, that I couldn’t wait for you to wake up,” she smiled.
Michelle’s face lit up with happiness. “Yeah!” she cheered leaping from bed.
After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, Rebecca and Michelle made their
way to the park. It was a beautiful
Saturday morning, sun shining and a cool breeze keeping the day comfortable in
the bright sunshine. Rebecca’s mood
lightened with the rising of the sun, leaving her feeling much more confident than
she did the night before. It was amazing
how even the biggest problems looked less in the light of day.
Rebecca sat down on a bench in the sunshine as Michelle hurriedly
ran off to claim a swing. Rebecca looked
around at the other people enjoying the park in the beautiful sunshine. She recognized many of the faces and smiled
warmly at her neighbors and acquaintances.
Rebecca’s eyes fell on the landscaper pulling weeds from a decorative
garden on the outskirts of the play ground.
At first Rebecca noticed nothing remarkable able the man, but just as
she was about to glance away the man turned and glanced at Michelle. In profile Rebecca noticed that the man’s
skin looked as if it was melting from his bones, in place of his eyes were to
large gaping black holes, as if someone had scooped them out. His lips had disappeared leaving a crooked
and horrify exposure of teeth like a macabre smile.
Rebecca’s heart slammed in her chest and a scream rose in her
throat. She shot to her feet and ran
across the playground, pulling Michelle from the swings and shoving her behind
her. Michelle stumbled behind her mother
in confusion, peering out from behind her in equal parts fear and curiosity. “Stop looking at my daughter!” Rebecca screamed
at the landscaper in terror. “I know
what you are!”
People began to stop and stare, parents began pulling their children
from the playground equipment and moving them away from the confrontation. Rebecca wrapped her hand around Michelle’s
hand and began pulling her as they back pedaled away from the demon
landscaper. Finally reaching the
sidewalk Rebecca turned to her daughter, “Ready for a game, baby?” she
questioned. Michelle still shaken from
what had just occurred looked at her mother in confusion. The little girl nodded her head in an
apprehensive way, looking more than a little unsure of her Mother’s words. “We are going to race all the way home,
okay? I don’t want you to stop, or slow
down at all. Can you do that for
me?” Rebecca quizzed her daughter
squeezing her hand reassuringly. Again
the little girl nodded, with slightly more resolve this time. “On your mark, get set, go!” Rebecca called and off they went. Rebecca never let go of Michelle’s hand as
they ran the three blocks back to home.
Along the way Rebecca saw more people like the landscaper, their skin
hanging from their faces, deep gaping black holes where their eyes should have
been. She also noticed one of her
neighbors casting an odd shadow upon his lawn.
As he checked the mail, Rebecca noticed large wings extending off of the
man’s shadow as if he wore a set of wings, but his physical body showed no
signs as to what was casting this shadow.
Crashing through the back door, Rebecca slammed the door behind her
and Michelle, locking it with a frantic sliding of the dead bolt. She quickly hurried around to the windows and
other doors to ensure they were all locked, closing the blinds and curtains
attempting to protect the evil from seeing in.
Once that task was finished she let out a shaking breath. That would be the last time they went
out. If that was the evil that lurked
around every corner, those demons spying on her daughter’s every move, waiting
till the time they would pounce. Never
again! Rebecca’s thoughts wondered to
the neighbor with the strange shadow.
Where the angels stalking her daughter as well? What was their role in this?
The images begin to fade in the crystal ball, you are drawn to the
face of the little girl, to Michelle.
Her auburn hair is slipping loose from its ponytail and beginning to
curl around her face. She stares with
large, emerald eyes at her Mother, a look of panic and fear on her face. As the images fade from sight, you can see
the creases of worry lines on the little girl’s forehead, the shine of unshed
tears in her eyes. Life would never be
the same again, and somewhere in the ten year olds mind she understood
this. The crystal ball clears and you are
left staring at nothing.
You glance up at the gypsy woman seated across from you, only there
is no one. You have been so transfixed
by the images she displays that you were unaware of her absences. You glance around the empty tent, the candles
have burned down, and some sputter out in pools of their own wax. You slowly rise from your seat, pulling your
sweater tighter around you, attempting to fight the chill that has suddenly
began to climb your spine. You slowly
make your way out of the tent and back out into the October night. The images you have just seen still clouding
your mind. The carnival is silent, the
rides shut down, the lights turned off and all the customers gone home. You glance around in a panic as the smell of
incense again wafts by your nose; you turn and run to the parking lot. Towards the lights and the cars, and
hopefully someone you know. As you flee
you barely hear the soft whine of the violin and flute, as traditional Romani
music floats along the breeze, you quicken your pace.
Fortune Telling Fun For All
Great
game for kids!
Fun
website that will provide yes and no answers to proposed questions.
Android
Fortune telling App
iPhone
Fortune telling App
As a
reminder, the super fun Jaimie Hope will have games, off and on, all day on
Oct. 31st, so please make sure you join the event and have some fun
with an amazing group of authors!! Join HERE!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa,What happens next? Enjoyed the images posted for the story. Creepy,good job!!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it!
DeleteThis is definitely a story that needs to be finished. Thank you
ReplyDeleteCheck out Destine!
DeleteIt does get finished. Read Katherine book Destine!!! This is like the prequel I guess. So good. That's for all the background info!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Justine! Glad you enjoyed it!
Delete