Mayan's curse15:20 Jan 03 2012
Times Read: 470
It all started on the last day of second grade. All the classes had a party, our party went well until Chester Price, the class bully, took my plate and threw it against the wall that is.
“I was eating that!” I yelled.
“Leave him alone,” said Diane Torna, a spunky and impulsive girl who also happened to be my best friend.
“Who’s going to make me, small fry you?” Price said laughing. Then he grabbed Diane and slung her to the wall with my plate. I ran over to her and saw that her lip was bleeding. I don’t know what came over me, but I ran towards Chester and slapped him round the head. Then nothing but screaming; my nails were sharp enough to rip a three lined gash into Price’s cheek. Everyone including me was transfixed on the bleeding Chester.
Then the teacher came in, as response to the screaming, she saw Price and took him to the nurse. When she got back no one had moved in the slightest. When she asked what happened no one answered, but nobody had to. I could feel the sting of all of the eyes in the room move to me. I looked down at my blood covered fingers, and that was confession enough. I was taken to the principle’s office to tell them what happened. When I got done they asked Diane to tell the story from her view. Then they called in Chester, when he passed me I saw him finch which made the bandage on his cheek shine a dark maroon color.
I was glad to find that Chester’s story matched mine and Diane’s. I wasn’t glad of my punishment though, I had to apologize and write a “What I Did for summer” paper. The principle also told me that Chester didn’t get a punishment because I gave it to him.
“I am, so glad that school is over,” I said to Diane after school, “by the why, what time do I have to be at your house tomorrow?”
“Eight o’clock and we will be expecting you. It took a lot of begging for you to come with us,” she answered in a demanding tone. That night I got the last of my stuff packed, and set my alarm clock to seven a.m. I think I ate something bad because I had a really strange dream. I had a sword and I was in a fight with a statue. Then I remembered no more; when I woke up I looked at the alarm clock but it was off. I dashed to get everything together and got on my bike and rode to Diane’s house. On the way I remembered my watch. When I looked at it I saw 7:45 on it. When I could see Diane’s house, I looked at my watch again, 7:58 it read.
“I was hoping he would make it,” Diane said to herself as I raced down the road. I saw her get in the car and thought I was too late, but I pedaled as fast as I could anyway, and ran into a large stump. I flipped off my bike and landed on the hood of the car thirty feet away. I looked through the windshield and saw their faces. Mr. Torna looked highly amused, Mrs. Torna looked mad, I guessed for me not being on time, and Diane looked relived and on the verge of breaking into laughter.
“A little late aren’t you?” Mr. Torna said as I got in the car.
“Better late then never,” I said back, and we were off to a temple somewhere in New Mexico. I don’t know how many hours it was, but it felt endless. When we finally got to the site it was 2:00 a.m. so we went to bed. We got up at six the next day, Diane’s parents went to work on their archeology studies, and Diane and I went exploring. We went to the old ruins and searched, but all we found was dust and mold until Diane found the door.
“Matthew, come look at this,” I looked at the door and saw a tiny keyhole that looked strangely familiar. I pointed this out to my friend; she nodded and we looked for the key. We looked all around the ruins but found nothing. Then I looked at the door again and saw a picture of a tiny key engraved within the stone. I picked up a rock and started to chip away at the door around the key. “What are you doing?”
I did not replay but continued hacking at the rock. After, a couple of hours Diane left and came back half an hour later with some water and sandwiches. She was about to hand me some food when I struck the back of the hole I had chipped around the key and it came out. I then gladly accepted the sandwich and water proud of my accomplishment. I showed Diane the key and the door. We put the key in the hole and turned it, but the second I did this, a beam of light shot from the keyhole. The door then slid into the ground and a corridor was revealed.
“What was that?” Diane asked while rubbing her eyes.
“I don’t know;” I said calmly, “let’s go.” We went in to the door; it was very dark and cold inside.
“Matthew, I’m scared,” Diane said after a few minutes of walking.
“I know, but we can’t turn back now, and I can see light down that way,” I finished. She looked at me, and I could since a feeling of great terror in her eyes, so I held her, just held her in my arms. We continued forward to the light; when we got there we found ourselves in a large stone chamber. In the middle of the room there was a pedestal. On it was an amulet of a bat with eyes of a blood red ruby. When I looked at its eyes they felt alive some how. On the far side of the room there was a large statue of a warrior sitting. While I was studying the warrior’s face Diane was looking at the amulet. She then picked it up and put it on. She ran over to show me, but stopped dead in her tracks when she got next to me. We stood in that spot too scared to even breathe. When Diane picked up amulet the stone warrior awoke and stood up. It grabbed a long stone sword off the wall and stood there. Then it happened, all of a sudden I felt dizzy and the room started to spin. I fell to the ground; Diane crouched beside me.
I could not breathe, my vision blurred, and I was in pain. I felt myself growing, I was getting taller, hair was growing rapidly everywhere, down my back, I grew facial hair, my teeth were sharpening themselves, and my nails were turned into sharp claws. My shirt was ripping off my body. Diane looked horrified at me as I was changing. A holster suddenly appeared on my back, so I stood up, with the little strength I had, and draw a long, slender, sword. I ran at the statue, jumped and swung my sword remembering the dream I had two nights before.
“Diane, I need you to go to corner of the room and hide,” I said to her over the sound of metal clashing to rock. I could tell she was scared out of her wits, but she moved all the same. It took a lot of my skill to not get hit. I fought with all my heart. Our battle raged though out the room. I ducked as the statue swung at my neck; instead he hit the column behind me. Then I herd a crumbling sound. Then I realized that the place was starting to collapse inward upon us.
Diane jumped out of the corner onto the statue’s head.
“Diane!” I tried to grab her but the place was falling apart around me. Then I blacked out; the next thing I remember was waking in a pile of ruble. I forced my way out and started to dig. There was one thing on my mind, Diane I had to find her. I searched for hours on end with no luck. I could only presume the worst, so I dug up and out of the fallen temple.
“Matthew! Your okay!” yelled Mrs. Torna when she saw me break ground, “I am so glad your safe, but where is Diane?” once again I felt the horrible sting of eyes. I could not speak it was too painful. All I could do was look away. Everyone could see I was crying and I didn’t try to hide it. There was a dead silence that not even the crickets chirping in the night could pierce. Mr. Torna was frozen to the spot he stood and was as pale as death and Mrs. Torna broke down crying and did not stop for hours.
I was put on a plane home with only bad memories as my reward. When I got home my parents greeted me warmly, but I was still so cold. It took me a couple of weeks for the pain to go away, but I still would not talk to anyone. I felt alone in the world.
I had to go to a karate tournament to watch my sister. I went by myself because my parents were still at work. On the way back to my house I thought I herd something in the bushes. I assumed it was a stray dog and keep walking up the hill with my bike. Then I herd it again. It scared me, so I started to run.
It jumped from the bushes and bite deep into my wrist. When it did this it bit my watch as well; I could feel the acid burn my skin. Then something bit my head trying to get to my brain, but it bit the metal plate in my head. I was in pain. I kicked and screamed, but it did not help. I kept kicking then I felt something price the flesh just above my ankle. I can only describe the pain as that of death, I then passed out.
“I think he is coming too,” said a girl’s voice. It was calming and soothed my pain. Then I saw my three attackers. It was two boys and a girl all of them my age. “I’m surprised you’re not dead.”
“What?” I replied groggily. I tried to get up, but the guys were holding me down. I didn’t resist.
“I’m surprised you’re not dead, but I’m glad you’re ok,” she said while looking at my bites, “by the way my name is Reta.” I could not stop staring at Reta. She had jet black hair to her waist and eyes of a blood red rose. At that moment I looked in her eyes I remembered Diane and started to cry. “Are you ok? What is your name?”
“I’m fine, and my name is Matthew,” I said wiping the tears from my eyes. I looked at my arm and leg and saw that my shirt had been ripped and was covering the wounds. I then looked at the guys holding me down. One of them had shoulder length brown hair, one eye, and five teeth. The other looked like me when I had transformed in temple, except for a few small things. “Why did you bite me?”
“My friends and I haven’t eaten for days and then we saw you. We could not find any animals and we were running out of options,” she said regretfully.
“Talking like that makes you sound like some sort of vampire,” I joked.
“I am a vampire for your information!” she said this as if I had insulted her.
“That would explain your looks, but if you bit me how come I’m not?” I replied wondering whether this was true or not.
“Well Alberto bit you, so how come you’re not a werewolf?” she said annoyed pointing to the wolf man.
“If any of this is true, it might be because he bit my watch,” I told Reta back holding up my arm.
“Word of advice, never bite a watch,” Alberto said.
“What are you talking about, Al?” said the other boy who I made out to be a zombie.
“When, Alberto bit my watch, he busted the battery and acid flew out of it. Some must have gotten into his mouth,” I said answering his question. “What time is it, Reta?”
“One o’clock I think. Why?” Reta asked.
“I have to get home,” I tried to get up, but Reta and her friends were holding me down.
“You’re still hurt. You shouldn’t even be alive, besides I doubt you could get home anyway,” she sounded like Diane before we got to the chamber scared and worried. At that moment I got up and hugged Reta. Then I realized what I was doing and let go.
“Sorry, you reminded me of a friend I had, but she disappeared while exploring a temple. Now, if you will excuse me I have to get home,” I got up and picked up my things, got my bike, and walked the rest of the way to my house. When I got there the porch light was still on. I put my bike in the garage and went inside.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?!” my mom had been waiting for me since she got home. Then she saw my shirt or what was left of it anyway and gasped, “What happened?” I did not answer, so mom took me to the bathroom, cleaned my bites, and I went to bed. I snuck out of the house every night for the next month to talk to my friends. We learned a lot about each other. I found out the zombie’s name was Barfalamew. I also learned stuff about, vampires, werewolves, and zombies no one could tell you but them.
“Matthew,” I turned to Reta to show I was listening, “when we meet you hugged me and said I reminded you of a friend. How do I remind you of her?”
“At the end of second grade last year a bully in my class hurt, Diane. That was her name. I got mad and slapped him up side the head. When I did this it ripped a gash into the side of his face. I got out of school and went with Diane and her parents to an archeological dig site for the summer. The day after we got there we found a temple. We went inside and found a chamber with a statue of a warrior and an amulet of a bat with rubies for eyes. That is why I cried when we meet, your eyes reminded me of the rubies. Diane put the amulet on and the stone warrior stood up and got a sword off the wall. I started to feel dizzy and fell to the ground and grew. My nails turned to claws, my hair grew rapidly, and my teeth sharpened themselves. Then a holster appeared on my back from it I drew a sword. I attacked the statue; our battle raged though the room. It swung its sword at me, I ducked and the sword hit the pillar behind me. The place started to come down. Diane jumped on the statue’s head. I tried to grab her, but the place came down. I dug in the rubble for hours with no luck. I went up and broke ground. Everyone was happy to see me, but when they asked me about Diane I…” I realized I was crying and stopped my story and rubbed my eyes. My friends were horrified by my story, Reta was crying.
Through a horrified look Alberto asked, “If you turned into that beast then how come you didn’t fight back when we bit you?”
“I don’t know how I did it; it just happened,” I finished.
“I know it’s not the best time, but we have to go,” said Barfalamew, “it is almost the end of summer and we have to get home.”
“I understand,” I replied, “I also have something to tell. I have been doing lots of research of all different types of monsters and demons, and I have decided I am going to become a monster hunter.” There was silence, three looked shocked. Reta was shocked enough to stop crying.
Alberto jumped on me. “Have you gone mad?! I thought we were your friends. If you become a monster hunter I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself!” Alberto was choking me. I grabbed and tossed him off me.
“I’m not going to hunt you! I am going to hunt down monsters that have gone insane and attack people for sport. I understand attacking if there is no food or self-protection. I would not hurt anyone living or dead unless I had a good reason, and I’ll just knock them out. If that doesn’t work only then will I kill,” my friends still looked shocked. Al looked ready to kill me. Reta looked calm though.
“There is a lot of stuff you won’t find in books you know. You will have to have experience in the field as well. Your mind has to be well trained in case a vampire tries to hypnotize you,” she started to look at me funny I think she was trying to hypnotize me. “Well that is not working. Have you trained your mind?”
“No, I figured out that when you bit me venom still was injected in my body, but the other bite’s venom countered it and I stayed human. I still have some likeness to you three. In other words I’m part vampire, so I can’t be hypnotized. I’m also part werewolf; zombie I have no clue because Barfalamew bite the metal plate in my head,” I said hitting my head over the spot with the metal plate. Reta looked happy to hear all of this. Al still looked ready to kill me. Barfalamew looked surprised and dumfounded.
“We need to get going guys,” said Barfalamew. They got up and started to walk away. Reta stopped turned around and kissed my cheek.
“Promise to be a good monster hunter, bye, and good luck,” she looked happy, and the weirdest thing though was she actually blushed, and they left.
“I will, Reta,” I yelled at their backs as they left. Then I went home and went to bed.
The next day I began my “What I Did for summer” paper. I wrote everything that happened over the summer and mean everything, even what happened the previous night. The next month was incredibly boring without my friends. When I wasn’t adding to my paper I was researching monsters and demons. I had also begun to design and build a crossbow to shoot the “insane ones” as I called them.
In the last few days of summer there were twelve reports of murder on young boys around my age. They all had strange marks on their faces which I couldn’t make out. The first day of school everyone, not including me, had to write a paragraph summery of their summer. Then we had to read them. When it got to be my turn to read I told everyone why I had to write mine during the summer and started to read it. After I was finished most people went pale, some girls started to cry, and the teacher had a look on her face that can only be described as pure terror.
“Can I go to the bathroom?” said a girl behind me as I sat down. She went to the bathroom and came back a few minutes later during which some red headed boy was reading how he had a good time in the Bahamas. After this another girl asked to use the bathroom. When she got out of the door and…
She had screamed at the top of her lungs. I ran out the door to see what was wrong, and the girl was bent over a body of a nine year old boy with the same marking on his face as the murder victims. I looked more closely at the marks and saw they were made by a siren, a water demon that eats fish, but feasts on blood of mortal men when they can get it. I went back to the classroom and saw the girl that had used the bathroom before, but there was something different. I now saw she had sharp teeth and fins that matched that of the siren. I ran to her and pinned her to the wall.
“Why have you been attacking people, siren!” everyone came in as response to my yelling and saw me pinning the girl to the wall. I let go of her so she could catch her breath. “What is your name? Why have you been attacking people?”
“My name is Autumn. I am a siren, but I haven’t attacked anyone!” she said after she caught her breath. I could tell she wasn’t lying.
“I can tell when someone is lying. You are indeed telling the truth, but if it is not you then there is another siren in the school,” I told her, “I also believe the same siren is behind the murders. Will you help me stop it, Autumn?”
“If you will not do that again, then yes I will help you. How did you know I was a siren?” she asked getting up.
“If you were paying attention when I read my paper you would know I kept my promise.”
“I thought you were making it all up. I didn’t believe you were a monster hunter.”
“Well it’s all true, I even have the bite mark Alberto gave me,” I showed her my arm. We were headed to the door, but the teacher had stopped us.
“I don’t care whether any of this is true or not, but you two aren’t leavening,” she seemed very scared and worried. “The police will deal with the murders.”
A voice I recognized spoke behind me. I turned around, and it was Chester Price, “You might want to let them go. I believe what happened over the summer for Matthew, and if it’s true he is the only one who can stop the attacks,” I could not help having a deep respect for Chester at that moment. Then I saw the scar on his cheek where I sliced it open. “I wish you luck, Matthew.”
“Thank you, Chester, and I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” we shuck hands and I left with Autumn. We examined the body and found out that the siren was at least sixteen, so I thought it had to be a kid at the high school. We left the school for the day and waited for the high school to get out.
“What happened when you got that?” Autumn asked pointing at the bite on my wrist.
“I was walking home from a karate tournament after watching my sister. Then I herd something in the bushes. I thought it was a dog, so I kept walking. I herd it again, got scared, and ran. Alberto jumped out and bit hard into my wrist and my watch. His teeth broke the metal plating of the watch and acid flowed of it. The acid covered half the lower part of my arm. It also went into the bite I had received, and it went into his mouth as well. The burning of the acid and the bites was a sensation that I could only comprehend as death. I passed out and woke with them standing over me,” as I finished my story the bell for the high school rang and everybody came out. Thanks to my research I could tell which kids were mortal or not. I got seven kids in all. “You are all monsters. I am investigating the murders that have happened lately. I have determined that the attacker is a siren. Which one of you is a siren,” I didn’t think anyone would answer me, but one girl about the age of sixteen was crying. I went over to her and sat down. I looked straight into her eyes as I spoke. “You know by looking into someone’s eyes you can tell a lot about them. Like, I can tell you’re a siren; I can also tell that your mortal boyfriend found out how to kill sirens, and if you don’t do what he says he’ll kill you,” she just cried harder to this. “Don’t worry I’m going to help you.”
“Don’t hurt him, please?” she said though her crying.
“I won’t, I promise,” I asked her to come with us. She gladly said yes.
“How did some third grader know we were monsters?” said a fawn who looked very confused.
“If you must know I’m a monster hunter,” there was utter silence to this, “relax the only reason I would shoot is if a monster went insane and attacked for sport. I understand attacking if there is not enough food or in self-defense, and now we need to stop these attacks. Come on, Autumn and I do not believe I caught your name.”
“It’s Joanne. What’s yours?” my new friend asked.
“My name is Matthew. It is a pleasure to make your aquatints,” Joanne led us to her boyfriend’s house. It was a nice house in the city near the library. Joanne went and knocked on the door while Autumn and I hid behind a bush. A man answered and they went inside and left the door unlocked.
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