Page 27 of Sinister Hearts
“Jax, I’m late,” I replied, deadpan.
“It’s nine p.m., your curfew isn’t until midnight?” He stood there staring at me, bewildered.
“No, Jax. My period!” I replied, both of our eyes going wide.
Iused to love that smell. But now it just replayed a painful memory that shattered me in that stupid Ferris wheel. Just merry-go-rounding while I stood there like an idiot, reliving the past. It seemed like everything had kept going, except for me. This was why I hated this small town. Too many painful memories. Too many I couldn’t ignore. It was easier two hours away, but now that I was here, I was drowning in them. I also couldn’t help but look at that damn Ferris wheel, like somehowit knew all my deepest, darkest secrets. Walking back to Ma and Birdie, I forced myself to forget the tragedies that still haunted me. “I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll be back, and then we will get you on the Ferris wheel, okay?” Birdie nodded at me, excited, with her caramel apple. Ma led Birdie to the end of the line as I walked, brushing past people in their Halloween costumes.
I had a blood-curdling feeling that someone, or something, was watching me. It crept into my veins while chills bombarded my skin, making me shiver. I paced to the restroom and stopped at the sink, trying to catch my breath. The restroom suddenly became tranquil, the fair’s clangor in the background silenced. Violently, the old metal door slammed shut, locking itself.What the fuck?The light fuses began to burn out one by one, the glass pieces falling to the cement floor. I shielded myself from the blows with my arms, a shard of glass slicing my skin as crimson blood began to rush through the wound.Ouch, fuck!I turned to my pocket for my phone light frantically.It better not be any of these damn teens messing with me!A gust of wind knocked me over, and my untamed hair fell in front of my face. As I stood from the pile of glass, I shrugged off pointy, broken shards, and stood before the bathroom mirror, trying to gather myself and wiping the blood off my arms with paper towels.
A chilling reflection in the mirror frightened me—a dark bone-chilling apparition hovered over me, its hollow black mouth opening as it screeched. My breath was taken from me at the sight of pure wickedness. Fear crept into my bones, yet all I could muster was a single tear. I was frozen… petrified. The dark apparition zoomed in on me with its hollow black eyes. Its long, black slender fingers hovered over me, nearing closer and closer. It caught a glimpse of the black tourmaline crystal wrapped in Spanish gold. “La Sibilaaaa,” it screeched at me, causing intense pain to my ear drums, a sound only hell could know. Then, it evaporated in thin air.
I lay there shaking, the lights flickering back on. I held my shaky hands over my ears, petrified and panting, as panic stirred inside my chest.
The door unlocked and opened, the fair noises suddenly in the background yet again. A flood of girls dressed up as Dracula’s vampire wives came barging in, laughing and reeking of alcohol and marijuana. I stood at the sink, processing in silence. I gazed at myself in the mirror, convincing myself I wasn’t going crazy. My fear was too real, everything was too real.What was happening to me?
The only person I could think to call in these types of situations was Raquel. As much as I hated to admit it, this was far beyond my expertise. Any time I would attempt to talk to Ma about the town’s old myths and legends, she would just laugh and casually brush the topic off. There was no mistake that something far more sinister was going on, and what the hell did it have to do with me? I saw the way it looked at my crystal hanging around my neck. It looked almost… frightened of me?
I dialed Raquel. It was midnight, but the girl took care of the dead for a living. Midnight to her was the day just getting started for her. She was probably already in her laboratory jamming out to Bad Omens while embalming bodies. I don’t know how she did it, honestly.
“Bueno, puta? (Hey, bitch)” Rocky answered, like I knew she would. “What's up, night owl, what keeps you awake at this lovely hour, while the veil begins to thin,” she asked me, in her over exaggerated Victorian accent.
“Well, I guess we could start with the apparition that nearly attacked me at the fair.” I stood in Ma’s vintage farmhouse kitchen, looking to every dark corner, making sure that fucking thing didn’t come for me again.
The phone went silent.
“I’ll be there in twenty,” Rocky replied, before quickly hanging up.
Raquel pulled up in her black Impala fifteen minutes later. She walked into Ma’s living room in her black scrubs and her huge black medical bag. The same one she used for everything. We stood in the kitchen as I boiled some chamomile and lavender tea, being careful not to wake Ma and Birdie.
“Tell me every single detail, prima,” she said, sipping her tea as she began to take out candles, palo santo, crystals, and some herbs.
“It was a pit of darkness, and it screeched at me. Something I can’t remember, but it sounded like Latin. Rocky, it saw my crystal and dissipated into thin fucking air!” I explained, my throat hoarse. Rocky grabbed my necklace. “This is the necklace you gave to me,” I said, scanning the crystal necklace. “I think it saved me, Rocky, I don’t know how or why.” Nothing coming out of my mouth made sense.
“I told you, it was blessed by my mother, she was a powerful medicine woman and shaman. It’s a protective crystal. It wards off any negative energy,” Rocky replied, placing everything out, drawing a pentacle in the black salt, and placing another onyx crystal wired in gold, with a small feather, and another object that symbolized protection. The question was, what was she trying to protect me from?
Rocky finished setting up and pulled out her tarot cards. I sat there and watched in disbelief that I was doing this, again, like we were teens, except I thought the boogeyman was fake back then, and now I know it’s real.What kind of ass-backwardsbullshit was this?I needed something strong to drink. I poured myself a small whiskey shot, letting it burn my throat and sinuses, feeling the liquor hit my warm belly, before making my way back to the table.
Rocky grabbed my hands, chanting some weird shit to herself in a language I couldn’t comprehend. Yup, I definitely should have made it with two shots of whiskey. She shuffled her tarot card stack, that looked old and vintage, with morbid occult illustrations that would keep anyone up at night. The windows suddenly blew open with a chilling gust of wind. Ma’s porch bells dangled in the wind in response. Whispers of Latin embedded in my ears as the voices chanted in unison all around, circulating us, the gust of chilling wind whipping through our dark locks.There was a presence and it was making itself known.
Rocky showcased the cards to me, as I carefully picked three. Rocky laid them down, one by one in front of me, as we sat down at the kitchen table.
“The first card is the message from your spirit guides, the second is current energies, and the final, the main focus, is the lesson,” she explained. “The first card you pulled is the six of swords. A change is coming, a new beginning. The second, the death card, means the death of something. But the spirit guides are warning, there is a price to be paid,” she said, as the candles began to flicker violently. “The final card, the devil. Do not be deceived by salt, it also looks like sugar,” she said, as I pulled my hand back.
“What does this all mean, Rocky?” I asked her in uncertainty.
“There is a new beginning awaiting you, cousin, but it will come at the price of death. Whether it be a person, or an ending to a situation, I can not tell you. But whatever it is, Faye, you must be careful, and whatever you do don’t take that necklace off,” she said, eyeing my necklace, and gathering all her things. Before stepping out, she stopped. “That apparition was of olddark magic. Only the darkest of binders can wield something as evil as that. They don’tjustappear, someone sent that to you. If I were you, I’d start asking questions.”
Her words sank into me like sharp teeth. Rocky walked out and the moonlight crept in. I knew she was right, but I was still processing today. I couldn’t even think about tomorrow, or even having this conversation with my mother. If this thing was after me, then did it mean it was after Birdie too? And why?
The saloon became my second home. Where I could get my body moving and my mind off all the bullshit that I still couldn’t fully grasp. It had been a week since that peculiar incident and there was no sign of anything else, thank the gods. Things were moving along, but it felt like a lifetime. I wished I could snap my fingers and it would be over, but life wasn’t always kind. Vadon was fighting me on absolutely everything, from custody to child support, which he still hadn’t paid onedime of. I didn’t want anything from him but to see our child and to help out. The judge had asked me if I wanted spousal maintenance, but I refused. Sure, I could have requested it as afuckyou to him. But I never wanted to give that wicked man the benefit of saying I wouldn’t have anything if it weren't for him. I’d do this on my own if I had to, ten toes down and my knuckles bleeding.
As difficult as it was, Birdie was taking to Grimstone well. I just didn’t know how long our stay would be. As soon as I could make it out of this small town, that’s exactly what I would set out to do. Away from the memories that cut me deep, and this haunted damn town.
My shift was over and I was ready to get home and lay in bed. My feet and my back were aching with a pain that would have me in the bath tonight.A salt bath sounded damn good right now. I closed down the bar and headed to my car, realizing my windows were bashed in, the shards of glass plastered all over the street and my back seats. Someone had spray painted “BRUJA” on my car in big red letters. “Oh, these motherfuckers!” The hazing and the witch rumors always resurfaced this time of year. It’s gotten better throughout the years, but once in a while there would be a bible-thumping asshole who did some weird shit like this, and then hid behind their god.
The fucks even slashed my tires. I noticed a small symbol engraved into my white paint.What the fuck is this?I took a picture of it with my phone. I felt like I spoke too soon. This was a rune, a sigil. I knew one when I saw one, refusing to be ignorant to what my own eyes were witnessing. This wasn’t done by a town local, or was it? Fear was getting the best of me. I needed to make it back home, and fast.
The drive was about twenty minutes to Ma’s house, and the saloon was in the middle of nowhere on a dark, long dirt road. “Great!” I screamed, kicking my grille in with my boots.
