Cassandra’s Curse
Cassie Rechvik smiled as her
friends and family sang Happy Birthday. Her best friends, Debbie and Margot,
had joined her parents and Grandma Sandy to celebrate her seventeenth birthday.
Her first present, from Grandma
Sandy, was a small box wrapped in ruby red foil. Her gift was a small, hot pink,
cylinder.
Debbie asked, “What is it?”
Cassie said, “It’s a can of pepper
spray.”
Grandma Sandy said, “I hope you
never use it, but if you ever need it, you got it.”
“Thanks, Grandma,” Cassie said
politely. She was a bit disappointed, but not surprised. As long as she could
remember, her Grandmother was always trying to protect her.
Her second birthday present was
just a little smaller and in green paper. Expecting a new watch, she was
surprised to find a heart shaped key ring, with a set of car keys attached. When
she realized her parents were giving her the car, she jumped for joy.
Her father said, “The Ford is yours
to drive, as long as you keep to the deal. No drinking and driving.”
“Thanks Dad,” she said while giving
him a big hug. “I promise.”
Cassie placed the pepper spray and
keys into her purse. She then noticed another unopened envelope on the dining
room table.
“Another card?” she wondered aloud.
The envelope was postmarked “Cassandra Romanov, Sunny Meadows Retirement Home.”
Granny Cass, as she was called, was Grandma Sandy’s grandmother. The remarkable
woman was a hundred and seven years old. Cassie only visited her once, ten
years ago, and found her namesake in the grips of Alzheimer’s.
“Wow. It’s from Granny Cass,” she
said as she opened the envelope.
Her mother said, “What? You can’t
be serious.”
Grandma Sandy said, “Don’t open
that envelope. Throw it away, now!”
“Why? It’s just a card from Granny,”
Cassie said, “She wrote me a note. ‘My Dear Cassandra, Please come visit me
tomorrow afternoon. Love, Granny Cass.”
Grandma Sandy shouted, “Don’t go
near that demented old hag! Burn that card and forget about it. She’s going to
die any day now anyhow.”
Everyone stared at Grandma Sandy in
disbelief. She had always treated the old woman with reverence. Something was
scaring her half to death.
“Uh, OK, Grandma, if you insist.”
“Yes, I insist. Trust me. It’s for
your own good.”
After school, Cassie drove Margot
and Debbie to Debbie’s big yellow house.
Debbie asked, “Are you coming in?”
“No, I’m going over to the retirement
home.”
Margot said, “But you told your
Grandmother you wouldn’t go.”
“Yeah, I know, but I feel compelled
to go. Grandma went home this morning. She’ll never know. I’ll see you guys
tomorrow.”
She hesitated at the door to Sunny
Meadows Retirement Home. Young Cassie had no idea why her namesake summoned her
here, or why her own grandmother was so upset. Finally, she took a deep breath
and walked in. A nurse escorted Cassie down the hall to a private room and
closed the door behind her. To the girl’s
surprise, the ancient woman stood up with a walker and inspected her from head
to foot.
“Good afternoon, Cassandra. Thank you for
coming.” Cassie was further impressed by the old woman’s alertness.
“Good afternoon, Grandma.”
The old woman said, “That would be great-great-grandma.
Do you wonder why I called you here?”
Young Cassie said, “To tell to you
the truth, yes. Every other time I’ve been here, you never knew who I was.”
“Oh, I’ve known you ever since you
were born. You are Cassandra, my youngest living female relative. You are the
latest in a long line of Cassandras. My grandmother was a Cassandra. Your
grandmother is a Cassandra.”
“She is? I thought her name was
Sandy.”
“Her given name is Cassandra, and your
granddaughter shall have the same name.”
“I do like the name, but…”
“There’s something I need to give
you before I die. It’s over there.” She pointed a withered finger towards an ancient
oaken chest. Cassie opened the chest, found a smaller wooden box and placed it
on the bedside table. This box was framed in ivory and adorned with gold leaf.
Lettering was etched into the wood, in a language Cassie didn’t recognize.
The old woman said, “Open it.” Granny
Cass sat down on her bed as Cassie removed the lid. The box was lined with deep
blue velvet and contained a crystal ball mounted on a silver base. The younger
woman inspected her gift with admiration.
“Wow,” Cassie said, “This is really
cool. Thank you.”
“This seer stone has been in our
family for a hundred generations. Forgive me for passing it on to you, but I
must.”
“Why should I have to forgive you?”
“Because there is a curse…” the old
woman started to say, but she gasped, stared straight ahead and clutched her
chest. She collapsed back on to the bed and died.
The small church was filled by Granny
Cass’s descendants. Young Cassie could not help but notice she was the youngest
female at the funeral. For some unknown reason, this made her uncomfortable.
Her dread increased when Grandma Sandy approached her.
“Tell me you stayed away.”
“I went over to my friend’s house
after school.” It was a lie, but technically, it was the truth. Besides, Cassie
told herself, it was none of her grandmother’s business.
“For your sake, I hope you’re
telling me the truth.”
A week later, Cassie showed her
best friends the silver and glass gift from Granny Cass.
Margot asked, “You don’t really
believe it has a curse, do you?”
Cassie said, “Of course not. But
you have to admit, it looks really cool sitting on my bedroom table.”
Debbie said, “Hey, Cassie, tell me
my fortune.” The girls giggled while Cassie gazed into her new toy.
Flames erupted inside the ball. Cassie
stared closer, eyes wide in horror. She screamed.
“I see a yellow house on fire. Debbie,
it’s your house. I see your house on fire.”
Debbie laughed and said, “Hey,
you’re pretty good. You act like you really see something.”
Cassie said, “I’m serious, your
house is going to burn down, tonight.”
“Yeah, right, and I have homework
to do. See you tomorrow.” When her friends left, Cassie looked at the ball
again. The yellow house was engulfed in flames.
The morning newspaper headline
read, “Three Dead in House Fire.” Cassie
shrieked as she read about Debbie and her parents. Her mother rushed to the
dining room and gasped as she read the horrible news.
Cassie said, “Debbie’s dead. It’s
my fault.”
“Oh, no, dear, it wasn’t anybody’s
fault. Bad things happen, even to good people.”
Cassie refused to be consoled. She ran
upstairs to her room, stuffed the crystal ball into the box and shoved it to
the back of her top closet shelf.
Margot dropped in for dinner three
weeks later. Both girls were still grieving for Debbie, but her friend was
nervous about another matter.
Margot said, “I met this new
college boy in town. He’s invited me to a fraternity party tonight. Before I
go, I have a favor to ask.”
Cassie said, “What’s that?”
“I’m not sure about him. He seems
nice enough, but I want you to look into your crystal ball.”
“No way!” Cassie shouted. “Debbie
died after I looked at that creepy thing.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“I don’t ever want to look at it
again.”
“Cassie, you have a gift. Debbie
would still be alive if she believed you. Please look into the ball. I’ll
believe anything you say. I promise.” Against her better judgment, Cassie retrieved
the crystal ball and placed it on her table. Her eyes were drawn to the mysterious
orb to view images only she could see. She was not enjoying her clairvoyance.
“I see a nice looking boy, with
brown eyes, long brown hair, a nice tan, wearing a Chi Beta Kappa jersey.”
Margot said, “That’s Jerry.”
Cassie uttered, “Beware of Greeks
bearing gifts.”
Margot asked, “What does that
mean?”
“I don’t know why I said that,” Cassie
replied, even more baffled than her friend. “I see you and him and many other
people. Everyone is drinking beer and laughing and joking. Wait, Jerry is sneaking
something in an empty glass. Now he’s poring beer in the glass. He’s handing it
to you and you’re drinking it. You put the glass down. It’s still a quarter
full. You have a blank look on your face.
He’s leading you out of the room, to a back bedroom…”
Margot suddenly snapped, “Get out
of here! You’re lying. Jerry would never do a thing like that. You sound just
like my mother. You never like any of my boyfriends!” Margot stormed out of the
room.
Cassie stared at the ball,
trembling at the nightmare enfolding before her eyes. She saw her best friend
wasn’t going to survive the night. Why
didn’t Margot believe her? Why was she angry at hearing the truth? Where is
that monster taking Margot? Cassie ran downstairs to the living room.
“Mom, Dad, I need your help.
Margot’s in danger.”
Her mother said, “Calm down dear,
Margot is a big girl, she can take care of herself.”
“No, you don’t understand, her
boyfriend is going to drug her and…”
“Cassie,” her father said, “You’ve
been under a lot of stress since the fire. You’re paranoid. I’ve met her
boyfriend and he’s a fine man. You have no need to worry.”
“But they’re going to a frat party,
with lots of drinking…” Her parents just chuckled.
“Mom, Dad, don’t you care?”
“Now dear,” her mother said, “Let
her have her fun.”
Her father said, “You’re seventeen.
Why don’t you join them?”
“What! Have you flipped?”
Cassie rushed back to her room. The
globe showed her a large brick house, with ivy clinging to the sides. She had
no idea where it was, except the frat houses were on the other side of town. She
packed her pepper spray into her purse, grabbed her car keys and rushed into
the night.
It was past ten when she found the
party. Drunken revelers were carousing on the lamp lighted streets and
throughout the frat house. She parked her car two blocks away and ran back to
the party. She called 911 from outside the house.
A female voice said, “911, what is
your emergency?”
“There’s a large noisy party at
10340 Gate St. Lot’s of underage drinking. My friend is in there and she’s
going to get hurt.”
The 911 dispatcher said, “I don’t
believe you,” and hung up.
Cassie was astounded. Why doesn’t anyone believe me? Why did I say
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?”Where did I hear that from? The revelation
hit her like a bolt of lightning. There was another Cassandra, a long time ago,
during the Trojan War. Her ancient namesake could prophesy, but no one ever
believed her. Cassie had Cassandra’s Curse.
Cassie, clinging to her phone, ran through
the house and searched desperately for her friend among the partiers. She saw
the quarter full beer mug and then spied a bedroom door closing, the door in
the vision. She rushed into the room to witness Jerry throwing Margot onto a
bed. She immediately punched her cell phone to redial 911.
Cassie said, “You leave her alone.
I’ve called the police and they’re coming.”
Jerry growled, “I don’t believe you,”
and lunged for her throat. Cassie shot a blast of pepper spray towards his face
and kicked him in the groin, twice. He blindly lashed out, landing a blow to
Cassie’s cheek, knocking her to the floor.
A male voice asked, “Ma’am, are you
hurt?”
Hoping that no one would believe
her, she said, “Sorry, my mistake. There really is no problem at 10340 Gate
St.”
The 911 dispatcher barked, “That’s
a lie. I hear the struggle. The riot squad’s on the way!” Jerry stood over Cassie, rubbing his eyes and
glaring in anger, until police sirens pierced the air. The drunken thug cursed
and bolted through the door.
Cassie placed a blanket over Margot
and nonchalantly left the party. Somehow, she knew Margot will be okay until
the police find her, passed out with a date rape drug. They will declare the
entire frat house a crime scene. Determined detectives will find Margot’s, and
her assailant’s, fingerprints on the quarter full beer glass. The judge and
jury will not be amused. Cassie will have nothing to say to the police. After
all, they won’t believe anything she says.
If only it was that simple. For one
thing, she did not notice that the quarter full beer glass was gone.
Cassie was awakened the next
morning by her frantic mother.
“Cassie, get up. A policeman is
here. He wants to talk to you about last night.”
“Oh, no, tell him to go away.”
“I can’t tell him that. What
happened last night? You have a bruise on your cheek.”
“I’ll explain later, Mom.”
While getting dressed, she wondered
what exactly she was going to say. At all costs, she can not mention the crystal
ball. The police will think she is crazy. She was still pondering her response
as she descended the stairway. A uniformed police officer arose.
“Good morning, young lady, I’m
Lieutenant Hahn. I need to talk to you
about your 911 calls last night and your struggle with the suspect.”
“Good morning sir,” she said
nervously, “I’m Cassandra Rechvik.”
“Relax Miss. You’re not in any
trouble. By the way, your friend will be fine. But I need to ask you some
questions.” Cassie nodded her head.
Lieutenant Hahn continued, “First
of all, I want to apologize for the 911 dispatcher who hung up on you last
night. She might be fired for that gross violation of policies.” A pang of
guilt swept through every fiber of Cassie’s body.
“Please, don’t let her be fired.
She didn’t know.” Cassie immediately regretted saying that, fearing he would
ask “didn’t know what?”
He said, “She had specific policies
to follow. It doesn’t matter what she knew or didn’t know.”
“Okay, let’s take it from the top.
Did your friend, Margot Fontaine, tell you she was attending a frat party?”
“Yes, she said she was going on a
date with a college student she had just met.”
“Did she say who he was?”
“She said her name is Jerry. I
never met him before.”
“So you felt that your friend was putting
herself in danger?”
“Yes, sir, I did.”
“Good for you.” Lieutenant Hahn
placed twelve mug shots on the table in front of Cassie. She recognized one and
only one.
“Is one of these men the man you
confronted in the bedroom?”
“Yes,” she said, pointing to the seventh
picture.
“This is Gerald Jones. We’ll get a
warrant for his arrest.” He retrieved the photos from the table and said, “You
are a true friend. Miss Fontaine would certainly have been raped if not for
your protective attitude.”
“Is that all?” Cassie asked. Please, please, don’t ask me anything else.
“That will be all for now. However,
the suspect’s lawyer will also need to talk to you. It’s called Discovery and its
part of the process. Just tell him what you told me. Have a good day.” With that,
the police lieutenant walked out the front door.
Cassie crumpled to the floor, pale
and shaking uncontrollably, with tears streaming down her bruised cheek. Her
mother rushed to her side.
“Cassie, are you all right?” She
shook her head. “What’s going on? We do not keep secrets in this house.”
“Mom, you won’t believe me.”
“Tell me anyway. I’m your mother.”
Her mother listened dumbfounded as Cassie told her everything, from her visit
to Granny Cass to the events of the previous night.
“Cassie, I want to believe you, but
I can’t. But I believe that you believe it.”
“Thank you, mom.” Her mother gave
her a badly needed hug.
Margot was not at school the
following Monday, which was okay. Cassie
was afraid of meeting her again. Would she be angry? Would she be sorry? Would
she even remember? She was struggling to pay attention to her fourth period
Spanish class when a school secretary entered the classroom. She handed the
teacher a note. He looked at the note and handed it to Cassie. It was a summons
to a lawyer’s office. She was to leave school immediately and proceed to the
offices of Kimball and Burke. Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting in an
uncomfortable chair in front of a large desk. A tall, gray haired man sat in a
plush chair behind the desk.
“I’ll get right to the point, young
lady. I’m John Kimball and I’m representing Gerald Jones. He is being charged
with attempted rape and you are his primary accuser. I will ask you questions
and you must answer truthfully. Otherwise, you could be charged with perjury.
Do you understand?”
Cassie gulped, and nodded her head.
I will lie anyway. I will not tell you
about my crystal ball.
“Why did you crash the party last
Friday night?
“I was trying to protect my
friend.”
“Miss Margot Fontaine?”
“Yes sir.”
“Did you see my client place an
unknown substance into a drink and offer it to Miss Fontaine?”
Cassie hesitated. If she said no,
the crook will be off the hook. If she said yes, she would be lying. Or would
she? Cassie was torn down the middle.
The lawyer said, “Answer my
question. I don’t have all day.”
“No…YES!” Cassie heard herself shout.
“I saw everything. I saw him drug that beer and give it to Margot. I saw him
drag her to the back bedroom.”
“Impossible. I have witnesses that
say you didn’t barge into the party until after my client was assisting your
friend to a safe place. How could you have seen this?”
“He was going to rape her and then
invite his drunken buddies to do the same.” Control
yourself.
“How could you possibly know that?”
Cassie heard her voice say, “I saw
it in my crystal ball.” She was horrified.
“Crystal ball?” the lawyer
exclaimed. “Girl, you’re crazy. Wait
till the DA hears this cockamamie story. Do you have anything else to say?”
Cassie shook her head. “Then that’s all I need. Go away.”
Cassie trembled all the way home. Why did I tell him about the crystal ball?
Why? My life is over. She desperately sought refuge in her house. However,
Grandma Sandy was there. She was the last person Cassie wanted to see.
“Young lady,” she said, “We need to
talk. Your mother told me everything.”
“I’m sorry, Grandma, I had to go to
her. Please believe me.”
“So you have the ball?”
“Yes. You can have it. I don’t want
it.”
“If I could take it from you, I
would. But I can’t. When I was ten years old, my grandmother was very sick. She
thought she was going to die. She told me all about the long line of
Cassandra’s and the curse on the crystal ball. I didn’t want to believe her,
but I just knew it was true. Now tell
me, what exactly did my grandmother tell you before she died?”
“Not much. Just that she was sorry
to give it to me. I thought it looked cool. Then she tried to tell me there was
a curse involved. That was the moment she died.”
“So now you know it’s real. But you
have no idea how powerful that thing is.”
“Nobody believes me when I tell
them what I see.”
“Yes, that’s part of the curse.”
“I also can’t lie about it. I just
confessed to a lawyer that I saw everything in the crystal ball.”
“Ouch,” her grandmother said.
“He’ll get the charges dropped.”
Cassie asked, “Is there anything
else I need to know?”
“You may have noticed, it only
predicts bad things.”
“Grandma, what do I do now?”
“I don’t know. But I have something
in my trunk that might help.”
“Really, what is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s a wooden chest
that I have never opened. But I do have the key.” She held up an ancient key. As
the two Cassandras maneuvered the chest from Grandma Sandy’s car to the dining
room table, the older woman explained that Granny Cass had given her this, to
be opened after her death. The box was identical to the old oaken chest at the
retirement home. Inside, there was another ivory and wooden box and several old
books. The old books were written in the same unknown language. The smaller box
was nearly identical to the one that housed the crystal ball. Sure enough, it
contained another crystal ball. At first glance, it was identical to the first.
Cassie compared the two objects and noticed that the base of first orb was
decorated with stars. The second orb was adorned with crescent moons.
Cassie stared at the second ball.
She saw nothing. It was a beautiful sight.
“Grandma, I get it now. This one is
a fake. If a friend asks me to tell them their fortune, I look at this one. I
can make up stuff. Nothing bad will happen.”
Grandma Sandy said, “Of course, I
remember now, Granny let me play with this when I was a little girl.”
Cassie felt as if a large weight
had been lifted from her shoulders. However, her relief was premature.
Tuesday night Cassie answered a
knock on her door. Margot stood on the front porch, looking very grim. Gerald
Jones was standing to the side of her, his face contorted by an angry sneer.
Margot said, “I didn’t want to
bring this creep here. He forced me. You better listen to what he says.” With
that, Margot and Gerald entered the house.
Cassie said, “Okay, jerk, what do
you want?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. How rude,” he said.
“Now listen up. My lawyer told me about your crystal ball. Here’s the deal.
Either I press charges against you for assault and battery, and tell the world
about your crystal ball, or…” He paused to let his message sink in.
“Or what?” Cassie stammered.
“Or you use that crystal ball of
yours to tell me the winning lottery numbers. If I win the lottery, I drop all
charges.”
Margot asked, “Do you mean to tell
us you believe in the ball?”
“Yeah, I know it’s unbelievable.
But my buddies and I really were going to gang rape you. Now, do I get the
winning lottery numbers or do I go back to the police?”
Cassie said, “I’ll be right back.”
She returned with the crystal ball, the one decorated with stars, and placed it
on the dining room table. She stared at the visions within the glass.
“The winning numbers for the
lottery will be 1, 17, 23, 32, 49 and 55. You will win the jackpot of two
hundred million dollars. Do you believe me?”
“I’ll take your word for it. The
drawing is tomorrow. If I lose, you go to jail.”
“There’s more. You will celebrate
by going skydiving. There will be an accident.”
“Hah! Don’t try to scare me. I know
how to skydive. See you later, suckers.”
END
