Indie Ink Challenge: The Inheritance

It was 3am when the phones shrill scream awakened us.  It was something we were expecting yet, when awakened from a fitful sleep, the shock was still unexpected. 

“Hello” my boyfriend whispered, his voice thick from sleep.  He listened for a moment to the voice on the other end before handing the phone to me. 

I knew who it was. I knew what it was about. The tears started to fall before I even got the phone to my ear. 

“When?” I asked the woman on the phone. Natalie, the nurse who had been caring for my mother for the past year, since the sickness had taken over her body; a sickness that left that doctors clueless. 

“She isn’t gone. She’s waiting for you.  She says she needs to give you something before she goes. Hurry dear, she’s struggling to hang on.”

“I’m on my way.”

I threw on my thick robe, told Steven where I was going and rushed to my mothers house, curious and terrified. 

I lived in the gatehouse of the family manor, a home passed on through four generations on the maternal side of my family.  The main house, so large, there were always new nooks and crannies to discover.  My sister and I would spend rainy days exploring, never tiring of the family treasures. The games we’d play, we would be entertained for hours, years on end. 

The third floor, some would call it an attic but it was the size of the entire estate, was off limits. The stairway dead-ended at a massive, intricately carved, mahogany door. There was no door knob, no hinges, it was mostly a blockade, keeping visitors from going any farther.  My sister and I always wondered though, if that door was there to keep something from leaving.  From the outside, no one would ever guess that a third floor even existed. But it did. 

I found the front door unlocked, expecting my arrival.  I ran up the stairs, my fingers brushing the smooth cherry wood bannister, a childhood habit that remained. Chills crept up to the nape of my neck in anticipation of what would greet me in my mothers suite. 

I walked into the room and nodded at the nurse. As she was leaving she let me know that she’d be in the sitting area, the room adjacent to mothers, should I need her.

“Mother,” I took her hand in my own, marveling in the fact they felt cool and smooth like the bannister. “Mommy, I’m here.”

“Darling Sophia.” her grip on my hand was surprisingly strong for a woman on her deathbed. “There is much to tell you and I fear there is little time. So listen closely, take note because there is no one else but you and me. And soon, there will only be you.” Her voice clear and commanding, she meant business.

“Go to the top drawer of my chest.  Under the clothes, you will find a compartment, open it and bring me the package.”

I did as I was told, found the panel in the drawer and pulled out a small purple velvet pouch. My mother sighed as I handed it to her.

“Sophia.  There are so many secrets that I’ve had to keep hidden from you.  One of them, your birthright.” she carefully opened the pouch and produced a jewel encrusted, gold oval broach.  Eyes closed, she rolled it around in her hands, as if memorizing its weight and texture.  “This talisman has been a part of our family for centuries.  Its power is not to be taken lightly.”

“Mom, I have no clue what you’re talking about. It looks like a regular, antique pendant.” I was wondering if my mom was in dementia, she was talking what sounded like jibberish to me. 

“I know what it looks like Sophia, I’ve been the guardian of it for 60 years.  I’ve still yet to realize it’s full power though.  Perhaps you’ll be able to unlock it.  You’re much smarter and more in tune than I ever was.” There was pride in her voice.  “This broach is many things.  Most of all, it is the key to unlock that door you’ve always wondered about and it is also your protector.”

I looked at this woman, my mother, and realized I had no clue who she really was.  “Go on.” I said, my attention fully on her, ready to cling to her words, knowing that secrets I had always felt inside were about to be revealed and validated.

“First, I must unburden a terrible weight I’ve been carrying for exactly 10 years this month.”

I sat rigid on the edge of her bed.  10 years ago, this month.  My sister, my best friend, at 11 years old, disappeared.  Without a trace.  The police had no leads, there were no suspects, no witnesses.  Just an 11 year old child from an extremely wealthy family…gone.  Poof.

It took me years to come to the realization that my sister was never coming back.  I never really got over it.  My mother always seemed to pretend like Amelia never existed.  We never spoke of her, it had become a forbidden topic.  Even as my father died of cancer, 3 years after my sisters disappearance, she was never brought up.  So much death.  So much sadness.  It was a miracle I grew up without many issues.

“Your sister didn’t run away.  She didn’t die.  Well, not a natural death anyway.  She is here, in this house.  Hidden away.”

I didn’t know what to say.  I didn’t know where to focus.  My sister?  Alive?  

“Don’t talk.  Don’t ask questions.  Not yet.  Let me finish.”  she demanded.  “You see this talisman I’m holding?” I nodded of course, “It is specific to whom it is held by.  Throughout our family history, this goes to the firstborn woman.  If anyone else, especially a female, were to touch it, the dark powers take over and they are lost.  For how long they are lost?  I don’t know.  I was never able to find an answer.  Perhaps someday you will.  But anyways, I’m getting off track.  It seems Amelia was playing in my room one day when you and I were out.  The Guardian, or as you knew her to be…your nanny, Ms. White, was preparing her lunch.  By the way, Ms. White is now our trusty nurse, Natalie, who will watch after you when I’m gone.  Anyways, Amelia somehow found the hidden compartment in my drawer and found this talisman.  Ms. White sensed it too late, she had been too preoccupied the nit-wit.  When Ms. White found her, she was turning.  She alerted me and I rushed home, dropping you off at a friends.  My precious Amelia…” she broke off, emotions that had been tucked away for so long, unlocked.  She brushed the delicate tears away and continued, “My precious baby daughter had been turned into.  A demon.”

“I don’t understand what you’re telling me Mommy.  I don’t understand.”  Shock and emotion overtook me.  “Mom, what are you trying to tell me.  Please…I don’t understand.”

She took my hand and held it tighter, transferring a calming warmth to me. “Shhh, darling.  Shhh.  It’s ok.  But you must listen.  You still must listen.”  She held my gaze, forcing me to look her directly into her eyes.  I had never noticed before how they were almost orange, not brown as I had always thought.  I continued to stare at her as she began to speak again.   “I came home and found your sister cowering like a wild animal, foaming at the mouth, in the corner of my room.  I locked her away, behind that door, in a special place where she could never get out.  She is here.  In this house.  A demon at the brink of the gates of hell.”  

She paused for a moment, her eyes closed and her breathing became shallow.  “Mom, not now.  Hang on, please.” I begged. “You have to finish.  You need to finish!”

With her eyes still closed, she slowly continued, “Like first born daughters of generations before you, you are a witch of white magic.  The talisman keeps you safe from the dark.  From evil.  It holds unimaginable power and in the wrong hands, unimaginable horror.  You are its protector as much as it is yours.  You must always have it hidden, only taking it out when you go beyond that door or if you feel your powers fading.  As they say, with great power comes great responsibility.  And that greatness now goes to you.  A gift passed on from all the first born women before you.”

“A gift?  How is this a gift?  It seems like a curse Mom.  I don’t want it.  I have no use for it.  I have a life, a job, a boyfriend that I’m going to marry.  I don’t need magic, my life IS magic.”  

“Oh Sophia.  Don’t you know that your life has been guided all along?  A curse?  Yes, I suppose this gift could also be a family curse, much like other families have heart disease or cancer.  We have witchcraft.  Most of us don’t die from it though.  Sadly, only I seem to be.”

“What happens if I don’t accept this?”

“I don’t know dear.  No one has ever denied their birthright before.  I can’t imagine anything good would come of it though.”

“Mom…Mommy…”  I didn’t know what to say, I just looked at her, my thoughts racing.  Do I take this “gift” and live that cursed life?  Or do I run away and deny my birthright?

“Take it.”  She held it out to me, her hands shaking.  “Just take it.  It’s your destiny, your gift.  Take it.”  She shoved it into my unwilling hands.

I held this this object in my hands with a quivering uncertainty. I felt its power, it spoke to me.  It embraced me.  It caressed my soul, sweet whispers, secrets revealed, promises made.  Its powers wrapped themselves around me, making us one.

“What’s happening?”  I asked my mother, in a daze.  She didn’t answer.

“Momma?”  I cried.  “Mommy?”

She was still, eyes closed.  Breath barely escaping her lips.  “I love you,” she struggled to say.  

And then, just like that, I was left alone holding this curse, my gift, which had been re-gifted for who knows how many generations, in my mothers room, surrounded by the richness of textures and memories.

I heard a scream and didn’t realize that it had come from me.  I watched in shock and horror as my mothers freshly deceased body levitated and swirled around the room before it burst into a flame and disappeared.

After that, things happened so fast yet in slow motion.  Natalie came running in just in time to see my mothers flame disappear.  She guided me to my childhood bedroom and tucked me in.  And then, everything went black.

I didn’t know how long I slept or even what day it was when I awakened.  I felt somehow different yet couldn’t put my finger on what had changed.  So much inside me felt like it had been rearranged, redecorated.  I felt like my normal self yet, I didn’t.  I wasn’t.  Not anymore.  Not with everything I had just learned.

I am a witch.  Born into a long line of firstborn witches.  Inside of me, all their souls resided.  I became their vessel, I carried their knowledge, their powers.  I looked around my bedroom, my childhood sanctuary that held my laughter and tears in every corner.  I could see light and dark surrounding objects.  A laugh escaped me, I had never realized that even inanimate objects had auras.

I heard a low moaning sound.  It seemed as though it was coming from everywhere, all around me.  It was a familiar noise, I had heard it many times before.  When I had brought it up to my mother, she always told me it was the way the wind wrapped itself around the house.  

I wasn’t afraid yet I felt chilled.  My senses were alert, alive.  

A realization swept over me like a tidal wave.  My sister.  Amelia.  It was her.  

Without a second thought, I grabbed my talisman and went to the forbidden door.

This week’s IndieInk Challenge came from Brad Mac, who gave me this prompt: A re-gift that backfires. I challenged Views From Nature with the prompt back to square one.

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