Casandra's Curse

Cassandra’s Curse

Eighteen year old Cassie Rechvik hesitated prior to stepping in to Sunny Meadows Retirement home. Young Cassie had no idea why she was asked to come here. Her namesake, Cassandra Romanov, was a permanent resident here. The old woman was one hundred eight years old. Alzheimer’s disease had long ago taken its toll on “Granny Cassie.” The nurse escorted Cassie into her great-great-grandmother’s room and closed the door. The old, shriveled woman sat up and inspected Cassie from head to foot.

 “Good morning, Cassandra. Thank you for coming.”

“Good morning, grandma.”

 The old woman said, “That would be great-great-grandmother. I bet you wonder why I called you here today.”

Young Cassie said, “To tell to you the truth, yes. You’ve never known who I was.”

“Oh, I’ve known you ever since you were born. You are Cassandra, my youngest living female relative. There’s something I need to give you before I die. It’s in that trunk over there.” She pointed a withered finger towards an ancient oaken trunk. Cassie opened the trunk, found a smaller wooden box and placed it on the bedside table.

The old woman said, “Go ahead, open it.”
 The box was lined with deep blue velvet and contained a crystal ball mounted on a silver base.

“Wow,” Cassie said, “This is really cool. Is it real?”

“This crystal ball has been in our family for a hundred generations. Forgive me for giving it 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 closed her eyes and fell back on to the bed. She was dead.

A month later, Cassie was showing her best friends, Amanda and Debby, the crystal ball.

Amanda asked, “You don’t really believe it, do you?”

Cassie said, “Of course not. But you have to admit, it looks really cool sitting on the table.”

Debbie joked, “Hey, Cassie, tell me my fortune.” The girls giggled at the thought.

When Cassie looked, flames erupted inside the ball. Horrified, Cassie looked closer.

She said, “I see a yellow house on fire. Debbie, it’s your house. I see your house on fire.”

Debbie laughed, “Hey, you’re pretty good. You act like you really saw 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 next morning, the newspaper headline read, “Three Dead in House Fire.”  Cassie shrieked as she read about Debbie and her mother and father.  She stuffed the crystal ball back in the box and shoved it to the back of the top closet shelf.

Amanda dropped in for dinner three weeks later. Both girls were still grieving for Debbie, but Amanda was nervous about something else.

Amanda said, “I met this new college boy in town. He’s invited me to a fraternity party tonight. Before I go, I want to ask you a favor.”

Cassie said, “You’re my best friend. I’ll do anything you want.”

“I’m not sure about him. He seems nice enough, but I want you to look into your crystal ball.”

“No way!” Cassie shouted. “I don’t ever want to look at that stupid thing again.”

“I know you have a gift. Debbie would still be alive if she believed you. Please look into the ball.” Against her better judgment, Cassie retrieved the crystal ball and placed it on her table. She couldn’t resist peering into the glass to see images that only she could see.

“I see a nice looking boy, with brown eyes, long brown hair, a nice tan, wearing an Ohio State Jersey.”

Amanda said, “That’s Gerry.”

Cassie uttered, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

Amanda asked, “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Cassie replied. “I see you and him and many other people. Everyone is drinking beer and laughing and joking. Wait, Gerry is putting something in an empty glass. Now he’s putting 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…”

Amanda suddenly snapped, “Get out of here! You’re lying. Gerry would never do a thing like that. You sound just like my mother. You never like any of my boyfriends!” Amanda stormed out of the room and out of the house.

Cassie kept staring at the ball, trembling at the vision enfolding before her eyes. Her best friend wasn’t going to survive her worst nightmare. She wondered why Amanda didn’t believe her. Why was she so mad at hearing the truth? Why did Cassie say “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts?” Where did I hear that before? Suddenly, the answer hit her like a bolt of lightning. Another Cassandra, a long time ago, during the Trojan War. Her ancient namesake could prophesy, but no one ever believed her. She had Cassandra’s Curse.

She peered at the ball again, desiring to know which fraternity house Gerry was taking her. The crystal ball showed her the house and then went blank. She had no idea where it was, except that the fraternity houses were on the side of town. She packed her Mace and cell phone, grabbed her car keys and rushed into the dark night.

It was past ten when she found it. Drunken revelers were carousing on the lamp lighted street and throughout the frat house. She parked her car two blocks away and ran back to the party. When she arrived at the house, she punched 911.

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 operator responded, “I don’t believe you,” and hung up. Cassie , clinging to her phone, ran through the house and searched desperately for her friend among all the partiers. She noticed a bedroom door closing, the door in the vision. She rushed through the door to catch Gerry throwing Amanda onto a bed. She immediately punched her cell phone to call back the 911 operator.

Cassie said, “You leave her alone. I’ve called the police and they’re coming.”

Gerry sneered, “I don’t believe you,” and lunged for her throat. Cassie shot a blast of Mace into his eyes and kicked him in the groin. He lashed out, knocking her to the floor.

A male voice said, “911. What is your emergency?”

She said, “Sorry, my mistake. There really is no problem at 10340 Gate St.”

The 911 operator barked, “What do you mean no problem? I heard the struggle. The riot squad’s on the way!”  Gerry stood over Cassie glaring in anger until he heard the police sirens. The drunken thug cursed at Cassie and bolted through the door.

Cassie placed a blanket over Amanda and nonchalantly left the party. Amanda will be okay until the police find her, passed out with a date rape drug. The entire frat house will become a crime scene and angry detectives will find Amanda’s, and her assailant’s, fingerprints on the quarter full beer glass.

Cassie will have nothing to say to the police. After all, they won’t believe anything she says.