When someone dies
In the grip of a powerful rage
A curse is born
The curse gathers in that place of death
And those who encounter it
Will be consumed by its fury...
It was lonely in the well. I was just floating there, looking up at the ring of light staring down at me. It got very boring.
One (day? night? afternoon?) I made up my own world where I could go off and play for hours and hours. Sometimes I would pretend that I was inside my TV back home, playing in the snow-or flies?-that buzzed and floated inside it. But when I opened my eyes, I would be back in the well…alone…
One (day? night? afternoon?) I could see Mommy in my head-and feel her close to me. She was standing next to My Well, staring at it…feeling me. I called to her.
!Moooooooooooooooomy!
A tear fell from her eye. In my imaginary place, I brushed it away. I could feel the softness and warmth of her skin. She looked at me and whispered, "I'm sorry, Samara."
I watched her run through the woods, crying. She came to the edge of a cliff and fell off. I felt her hit the water. It hurt. The pain was good. Now she could know how I felt…
In my imaginary place I thought that maybe I had somehow brought Mommy to me. She was on my side now, and she would come to me soon. I wouldn't be alone anymore.
But Mommy never came…
Then one (day? night? afternoon?) I decided that I could try to bring other people to me. Then I wouldn't be alone anymore. In my imaginary place, I creeped back to my room in the barn and sat in my chair in front of my little TV. My blank tape was still inside the VCR. I played it, closing my eyes and listening to the static.
Images flashed in my mind. I thought of the flies on my TV. I thought of the centipedes crawling around inside my room at Eola, the wires I was hooked up to, the images I'd seen on my X-rays. I saw my doctor's glass of water that he drank while he was talking to me. I saw West's eye when we shared the same thought. I saw myself back at Eola when I'd gotten sick and thrown up my medicine. I saw Mommy brushing her hair in the mirror. Myself backing away from it when I didn't like my reflection. I saw the teeth of Mommy's brush sweeping through my hair.
! MOMMY !
I saw the tree that looked like it was on fire. I saw my nails being torn off inside the well. I saw my blood in the water of the well from when I'd fallen. I saw the inside of the plastic bag that Mommy had wrapped around my head. I remembered when I was younger and had cut myself with an exacto-kinfe just to see what blood looked like. I remembered the magic trick daddy had taught me with the box of fingers. I thought of all of the people who would be with me. I thought of all this…
.And then I saw the ring.
The tape was funny. The images flashing on the screen were vivid and scary-looking, but I was happy. Now I could let people know what had happened to me, and then they would come to be with me.
But then I thought, I didn't want them to just get off so easily. I wanted them to understand what had happened to me, so that they could know me before they came to live with me. I would let them have seven days to be by themselves. That was how long I could feel, and bleed, and breathe in the well. Yes…it was good.
I decided to leave the tape for Daddy first. He had never understood me, and now he would. Now he would finally understand.
I got up from the chair I had been sitting in and looked down at the floor. There was a big puddle surrounding the chair. It was dark, cold water. I could see my reflection. I didn't like my reflection. I looked sick. I was pale, grimy, dirty…I just looked sick. I turned and looked in the tiny mirror I had in my room. My hair was wet, but my face was uncovered. I wish it hadn't been. My face was swollen and blue.
I started to feel sick. I sat down on my bed, but it only soaked it. I touched my skin with my stiff, swollen finger. My skin felt ice cold.
I had to find someone to play with, or I would go crazy by myself.
Daddy found the tape in the middle of the living room floor. I had written "To Daddy" on it. As soon as he read that, he ripped off the label, burned it, and took off with the tape. I don't know what he did with it. I think he might have put it in a movie store, or just left it on the side of the road to get destroyed by rain. Either way, Daddy had denied my offer. This made me very angry.
For a few days, I haunted Daddy. He saw me in my room inside the barn often. I haunted him with images, mostly of a bathtub, or the TV. When he turned the TV on, I would start singing, so it sounded like it was coming from the TV.
Hell-o, Daddy
Let's go play
Let us play
Ev-ery day.
It's sunny outside,
And the rain has stopped,
So daddy won't you
Take me out to play?
Daddy tried not to listen to me. He would turn off the TV, but I would keep singing. He didn't realize then that I was never going to leave. What neither he or I realized then was that I had given birth to a curse. The curse gathered in the minds and souls of the people who knew me, loved me, or had anything to do with me. And they who were affected by it would soon be swallowed by its fury.
Author's note: yeah, I realize she didn't have a mirror in her room, but oh well—its still creepy right!