Chapter Eleven: An Unexpected Guide

I scream. It's a haunting sound that makes everyone clasp their ears and flinch at the sound of it. I scream until I fall into a dark void of hell, the shocking realization of once again being alive within me.

"Samara!" Aiden yells, running to me and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Shut up! Just shut up!"

I fall to the ground on my knees. After being dead for so many years... I'm alive again... I start crying, tears running down my cheeks. This sensation is new to me. I bury my head into Aiden's chest, needing comfort.

"No," Daddy says softly. His cold eyes stare at me, shock and contempt written on them.

I turn to him, and Aiden holds me protectively. "Daddy..." I say.

"You're not alive," Daddy sighs heavily. "Feel your heart again, Samara."

I tentavily put a hand up to my heart. I feel something that feels like a heartbeat, yet... it's not quite. It's more of a strange vibration.

"That's your mother's power," Daddy says. "She's given you the ability to be seen and heard by normal people."

I stare at him in shock.

"It was her last wish," Daddy turns around so I can't look into his face. "Now this battle is set in motion."

"What?!" I stare at him.

I can hear Daddy sigh. Finally, he walks over to a drawer and pulls out a video tape and a familiar looking velvet bag.

"These are yours," he says. "You'll need them."

"Daddy, what are you talking about?" I ask.

He sighs again, and motions toward the kitchen. "Sit."

We all sit around the table. I can see the hate in his eyes, and I know it's never going to change. I caused him pain, utter pain. I hurt him.

He folds his hands together, and begins. "I am but a mortal man, devoid of any powers. Samara..." he turns to me. "Your mother had special, well, gifts I guess you could say. Strange powers. You know how your mother and I tried having children, but many of them failed. Finally we went up to the mountains, to see a gypsy woman who had been said could make anything happen.

"So we saw her. She told us that we were going to indeed get a child. But since we used her charms to have a child, she told us we would be burdened with a curse, and that one day she would have to participate in a battle that would mean the world's fate. She said that one day, when we were least expecting it, we would recieve a phone call that would change our lives forever.

"We thought nothing of it. Well, Anna gave birth you, and all was well. Except for all those fiascos. The visions. The hallucinations. The whispers. The horses..."

I blink and look away. Guilt trudges through my body like wildfire. I had been a curse child after all.

"I was outside when your mother recieved the call. From what I know, the caller took all of Anna's powers and gave them to you, save for one: the ability to die but stay on earth, and be seen by normal people. She wanted to give that power to you, too, so it could make this battle easier. It was her last wish. But you died too soon, before Anna could summon up the energy to do so." Daddy looked toward the mirror. "She left a mark in the mirror, so if you would ever look into it, she'd finally be able to give it to you. She asked me to look for you and make you stand in front of the mirror. But how was I supposed to know where you were? I don't have powers to see you. So I waited for forty five years, hoping one day you'd return home and I could finally stop worrying that Anna's last wish would never come true."

We all sit there in a shocked silence. All of this was so hard to believe, yet I knew it was true. I couldn't look Daddy in the eye.

"You lived a cursed life, Samara," Daddy says softly. "And you died a cursed death. But that doesn't make you a curse."

I sit there quietly. I am regretting everything, all the pain I had caused. When I was alive, I wanted to make everyone suffer. Now, I'm trying to make everyone survive. Death can do wonders.

Daddy looks at his watch. "My time is up. More work needs to be done..." he stands up from the table. "This never ends."

Aiden, Sarah, and I slowly stand up, still in some sort of amazed stupor. Our thoughts are all heavily guarded.

I grab the velvet bag and videotape. "Daddy, you never explained to me why I need these."

Daddy stops dead. I can hear the house creak. Shadows stir around.

Finally, he says, "Samara... you know I never loved you."

I nod.

"This is your battle. I've done what I can. And frankly, I don't care whether you come out victorious or in defeat. Your outcome is your outcome."

Then he turns around and points to Sarah. "But I can tell you that this young lady certainly knows why you need them."

"Sarah?" Aiden laughs nervously. "Sarah is just as clueless as we are."

Daddy shakes his head. "Of course not. I knew it the moment I set eyes on you, Miss Referres. You're the caller's daughter."