KAREN: Gerald Costlow is a multi-published author of paranormal romances. His tale will surely cast a spell on you.
****Giveaway: Two lucky readers who leave comments will win print copies of the VTP 2012 Paranormal Collection that includes the story (Magic Words) where Annabel, a character in the flash fiction, first appears.
Friends for Life By Gerald Costlow
An old woman slid onto the seat
next to Jennie as the Greyhound pulled out of the bus station.
“One thing you got to know about
curses,” the woman said, “is that curses have a life of their own. Care for a slice of apple?”
Jennie heard the juicy sound of something
succulent being sliced and smelled the apple. For the first time in months, she felt hungry. The old woman smiled and held out a slice. Jennie took it and murmured her thanks. It tasted fantastic. Too bad it wasn’t going to stay down.
“Name’s
Annabel Sherritt,” the woman said.
“Just call me Gran. What’s
your name?”
“Jennie…Smith,”
she replied, almost giving out her real name. Great. Why don’t I just say, “Hi, I’m Jennie Walker,
an escaped lunatic from a mental ward.
Maybe you’ve heard of me? I
killed my best friend.”
“Well,
Jennie,” the woman continued, “as I was saying, the first thing you need to
know is, curses have a life of their own.
Think of them as a big old invisible tick sucking the goodness out of
your life.”
And they call me crazy? Jennie stared
at the rest of the apple in the old woman’s hand. The nausea that followed an attempt to eat wasn’t showing up
yet. “I don’t believe in
curses…Gran,” she said. “Can I
have another slice?”
“Here,
take the rest. You’re nothing but
skin and bones, girl.” The woman
handed over the apple. She bit
into it and stared out the window.
The bus was on a highway out of town, taking her away from the nurses
with their forced smiles and sympathetic voices while they strapped her to the
bed and brought out the feeding tubes.
“So you know all about curses, do
you, Gran?”
“Sure
do. For instance, the second thing
you need to know is, it takes a person with a special talent to create
one. Even then, a curse can only
be created with a dying breath.
The talent runs in families.”
The woman leaned over and placed a hand on Jennie’s arm. “I have the talent, and my niece
Elizabeth had a touch of it, rest her soul. Elizabeth died several months ago. Hanged herself, poor child.”
Jennie
would have jumped up and screamed to be let off the bus, but Gran had a surprisingly
strong grip on her arm. “You’re
Liz’s aunt? She used to talk about
you. Claimed you were some sort of
witch. You’re here to take me back
to that loony bin?”
Gran
let go of her arm and patted her on the leg. “All I want is to talk. Tell me what happened.”
Jennie
looked down at the apple core in her hands. “I never thought it would go that far. It’s just, Liz was different and everybody…”
No more words came out.
“Let
me give it a shot,” Gran said. “You
two were best friends. Then you
got to high school, and she was overweight and awkward and shy, while you were
pretty and athletic and joined the cheerleading squad and had lots of new friends. She tried to fit in where she wasn’t
wanted and that’s all it took.
Once the teasing started, it became something everyone did for fun and
you got swept along.”
Jennie
continued to stare at her hands.
“I told her the other kids were making fun of her. I warned her to stay away.”
“But
she didn’t. And then one night she
called and told you that your boyfriend Mark had gotten her alone in his car and
tried to rape her, and you said she was lying and not to ever talk to you again
and she said she was going to kill herself and you said go ahead, not believing
her. But she did. She left a note, but all it said was
that it was your fault. Ever since
then, you throw up anything you eat.”
She
jerked her head up to stare at this woman. “I never told anyone else about what Mark did. I broke up with him after that.”
Gran
rummaged around in the bag and produced an orange this time. “The third thing you have to know about
curses is, they’re made of hate.
Elizabeth hated you with her dying breath and created it, but it’s the
hate you feel for yourself that keeps it alive.” She started peeling the orange. “As for how I knew… People with the talent to make curses
can also see spirits. Like to
swallowed my toothbrush when she popped up in my bathroom mirror and asked me
to help her best friend.” She held
out a piece of orange. “Here, you
need the vitamins.”
“Wish
I could believe you,” Jennie said.
“I think she wrote you a letter before she killed herself, and for some
reason you’re playing games with me.”
The smell of the orange made her gag and a familiar nausea began to arise. “I made Liz kill herself. She died hating me. You can’t change that.”
“Maybe
not. Won’t know unless we try.” Gran reached over and took her
hand. “Look at the reflection in
the window and tell me what you see.”
At
first all she saw were trees and fields zipping by, but then she focused on the
glass and saw her own reflection and Gran sitting beside her--and standing
behind Gran was Liz, good old overweight, plain, awkward Liz, smiling and
waving at her.
“Hate
comes and goes,” Gran said, “but the love of a good friend tends to hang
around. She knows you’re
sorry. She forgives you and wants
you to forgive yourself. That’s
all it takes to lift the curse.”
Several
of the other passengers eventually asked Gran if the young woman crying on her
shoulder was all right. It took some
explaining to convince them that it was the first time she’d been all right in
quite a while.
About the Book: Set in 1920s Appalachia, a man known only as Crazy Jack claims animal
spirits can take over his mind and body. Elizabeth is one of the
Sherritt witches, a young woman living in a shack far back on the ridge,
struggling to make ends meet while raising her orphaned nephew. Crazy
Jack asks her to marry him. She loves Jack, but wonders what sort of
husband such an obviously crazy man would make.
Then Crazy Jack is accused of murder. The sheriff wants him in jail if the murdered man's kin doesn't track him down and lynch him first. Elizabeth is the only person around who believes him when he denies killing anyone.
Elizabeth must depend upon the powers of her clan and a special friend named Balaam to help prove Jack's innocence and keep the entire mountain from erupting into a blood feud. Purchase a copy of at Amazon.
Gerald Costlow lives in Michigan with his wife, several kids, and three
dogs. His first two novels were published in 2011 and since then his work
has appeared in anthologies and elsewhere, including an ongoing
series of supernatural romance novels set in 1920s Appalachia. His latest
novel in this series, Crazy Jack, can be found at AMAZON and
other fine online bookstores.Then Crazy Jack is accused of murder. The sheriff wants him in jail if the murdered man's kin doesn't track him down and lynch him first. Elizabeth is the only person around who believes him when he denies killing anyone.
Elizabeth must depend upon the powers of her clan and a special friend named Balaam to help prove Jack's innocence and keep the entire mountain from erupting into a blood feud. Purchase a copy of at Amazon.
To find out more about this author and his work, visit his publisher's page at ONCE UPON A WORD or his website THE WEAVING BLOGSPOT.
21 comments:
Gerald,
Thanks so much for participating in the flash fiction bash! Love your stories!
Glad to get complements from such an accomplished writer as yourself. I'll be popping in from time to time today and hope folks enjoy my little bit of flash fiction.
Great story!! I loved it! Thanks for sharing this with us. Loved the moral. :-)
Thanks! This was an experiment I tried in seeing how much of a story I could cram into a thousand words. I discovered eliminating a lot of adverbs and focusing on one viewpoint let me do it and I think actually improved the story from the initial 1500 or so in the first version.
That was a fantastic story, nice life lesson in there.
What an elegantly written story! I just loved it. And I absolutely HAVE to download Crazy Jack tonight. That's MY KIND OF BOOK!
I'm intrigued. I'll have to check out your books. cnickol@verizon.net
Laura
Crazy Jack is a great story. You're going to enjoy it. :)
Jean,
So glad you could pop in and check out Gerald's tale!
Hi AJ!
Gerald does have a way with words. :)
Cathy,
Please do check out Gerald's books. You won't be disappointed. :)
Thanks to all of you. If you like this, and perhaps also enjoy Crazy Jack, there are also several short stories you can acquire cheap to explore the world of the Appalachia Witches.
You've drawn me in...very interesting. Thanks! :)
Such a wonderful combination of scary and tender in this story.
Mary and Theresa, thanks for taking the time to comment. I was hoping as the story unfolds, people would be pleasantly surprised as it developed into something other than the standard revenge story.
I really liked this story. It's nice to find new authors to read.
Kelley
That was interesting
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
AWESOME excerpt Gerald,
I've gotta track down VTP 2012 Paranormal Collection. I LOVE Gran's thoughts about a curse.
Crazy Jack looks great too (It's on my payday list :) )
Mindy :)
Birdsooong@comcast.net
Enjoyed the story!
katrinagillian @ verizon dot net
I loved the story. Thank you.
That was a wonderful story, I cried at the ending. Wonderful flash fic.
tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com
Post a Comment