Chapter 13
I took a breath with my hand on the handle of the door. Now that I was closer it was impossible to ignore the blood embedded in the wood where the scratch marks were. The same symbols on the boundary were carved into the wood here.
The scratches looked like desperate attempts to get rid of the symbols. My fingers ran over a couple. They were familiar in a distant way that was hard to pin down.
Not like the memories I kept locked away, but like they were on the edge of remembrance. They gave me enough bravery to open the door to the cabin.
When I opened it, the stuffy smell of moisture and mold hit my nose. The floorboards beneath my feet were soft. I’d be lucky not to fall through. Now that I was inside I could see how the place sagged, on the verge of collapsing.
If I couldn’t get a plan together, I’d be better off in the water.
I was still going to check the place for supplies, though. I tested every step to make sure it was mostly stable before moving.
It was an open floor style with two doors on the right. The kitchen directly beside me had cabinet doors open and falling off the hinges. The space was filled with glass jars of what I assumed were herbs and spices. Nothing that would help me.
There wasn’t even a junk drawer with duct tape and paperclips. How long had this place been here?
The small intimate table had a single, leather bound book resting on it. The book was swollen from the moisture and was probably a health hazard. Still, I gingerly flipped it open, hoping it would give me some clarity on who lived here last.
Once it was open, I realized it was a journal and flipped to the last entry.
July 1891
To my sisters, avenge me.
For any Rinah witches who find me, my death is directly caused by Defect #3: Rot.
My breath caught at the name; Rinah.
I’d never met another person with that last name before.
My eyes grew painfully wide as I stared at that one word on the fragile page and my hand shook hard enough to make the edge crumble.
He has trapped me in this forsaken cabin and guards the door. Even if he wasn’t, without him, I couldn’t leave the oasis. All attempts to reason with the beast have been in vain. Dehydration will probably kill me first.
I’ve spent the last fifteen years trying to save our family, but Rot will be my ultimate failure.
Forgive me.
And put down my failed experiment with a clear conscience.
Levicy Rinah
A family member. I was from North Carolina, that was only one state away. But a bad feeling ran through me, that I wasn’t going to be happy with what I found out about them.
I flipped to the front of the book, against my better judgement. Years of wondering why no one ever claimed me won out over the sinking pit telling me that this would end badly.
May 1876
I made a mistake in 1830. When me and my sisters were banished from Virginia, brandished as witches, we fled west to the Allegany Mountains.
Modern day Appalachia.
What was she doing here then?
The strongest monster we’d ever fought before had already settled into the lands. My idiot fiance, Carl Falin, killed the monster’s brother and unleashed a war that we would never win. I sacrificed Carl in repentance to the peace and made a deal with the devil to stay on the land.
I’ve trapped him there, but my family’s blood still spills all because of my greatest shame.
I set out five years ago to search for other members of our family, hoping to gather information on how to get rid of him. I was successful, so now I have travelled to the Carolinas to create the solution to the monster plaguing my family.
It will require sacrifice and time, but I am dedicated to giving both.
If nature will not provide a solution to our plight, I’ll create one. Something powerful enough to destroy the mimic that spills my children and grandchildren’s blood.
Day 1:
To begin, I must start by finding test subjects. I’ve been told by my extended family it’s best to turn young boys, because they are easier to control. So I will start there.
My stomach flipped, and I fought to keep the contents down.
She stole children to turn into monsters. Tears pricked my eyes. That was what I came from?
Was the monster I was facing this Defect #3, Rot, that was mentioned in the last entry?
Then it hit me: there were fifteen years worth of entries.
She did these ‘experiments’ for a decade and a half. No one stopped her, not even her conscious.
I ran to the washbasin, unable to hold my stomach down that time. My foot went through the floor as my lunch evacuated.
Maybe it was for the best that no one came for me, if that was the stock I was born from. Was it too much to hope she was the black sheep of the family? Why did I have the feeling that she wasn’t? That she was the norm.
My stomach was raw and empty by the time I wiped my mouth. My reflection peered back to me, showing how pale my face was, and the circles around my eyes. My black hair was a mess at the top of my head, making me look like a drowned rat.
But the bright blue of my eyes pulled my attention away from that.
“Our eyes call evil to us, my sweet Talia. We must always remember that we are magnets meant to ensnare the worst men and monsters.” My mother’s voice echoed in my head. “It’s our punishment.”
Was this why?
My hands shook as I packed the book inside a waterproof bag in my backpack, against my better judgement.
But I had too many questions that I would need answers for, and I was willing to bet there were details about how to deal with the monster in there.
Scientists don’t create things without having an antidote for it.
My mind wandered to the symbols on the cabin as my eyes went to the vials in the cabinet. It was also very likely this woman didn’t follow scientific rules at all, but either way this was knowledge I couldn’t abandon simply because it made me uncomfortable .
Like what kind of ‘magic’ made the monster who would ruin me inside and out.
I opened the door to one of the side rooms and found a closet that reeked of shit and piss. I gagged from the smell that was somehow preserved in this wet, contained space. Snapping the door shut, I covered my nose, happy there was nothing left for me to puke.
Well, she’d been locked in right? I guess there was nowhere else for her to go if the outhouse was behind the cabin or something.
My hand hesitated on the doorknob for the next room, unsure if I really needed to go in there or not. Keeping my hand tight to my face, I opened the door.
The smell was worse in a way. The decay of flesh was pungent. The half decayed woman on the bed was an ugly reminder of what would happen to me if I stayed.
I tried to scrounge up some pity for the woman. I even tried being angry at the monster that did this to her. But I couldn’t.
She deserved this fate.
Maybe that thought made me evil too. I didn’t really care.
I did a cursory search of the room, but didn’t find anything useful. No surprise, I guess. If he wanted her to die, he couldn’t let her keep any tools to escape.
Well I wouldn’t lay down and die, hoping a way-ward monster would grow a conscious and save me. I also didn’t think his intent was to kill me. It was to cage me.
So he could attack the other members of the expedition without my interference.
They always wanted to contain me. Keep me in their box to take care of myself. Seen and not heard.
I was half tempted to eat a poisonous frog I saw hopping around, just to spite him.
But not today.
I wouldn’t slowly decay in this place.
I wouldn’t die like her.