All Chapters of The Curse Runs In Our Blood: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10
12 chapters
The Beginning
"Mr Staton, look what I brought you!" Candace entered the room, almost singing. Mr. Staton was a resident of the Rest and Care Asylum long before her arrival. Apparently, he was one of the oldest in the institution. Candace had been working there for at least 5 months. Working with the elderly was something she enjoyed and was already used to. After all, she was practically raised by her maternal grandmother, as her mother worked too much and her father was not a very reliable person. When her grandmother began to show signs of dementia, Candace was the one who took care of her. Candace opened the door and poked her head into room 647. The bed was empty, so she went in and placed the tray of food on top of the dresser. "Mr. Staton?" She called and, as she there was no answer, she continued to look for him. She headed to the bathroom. The door was open ajar and he was sitting on the toilet, still wearing his pajama pants. Candace took a step back, looking away to give himsome privac
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Going Mad?
Candace decided not to retort about the man's lack of kindness, just paid for her ticket and headed for the available seat closest to the exit door. Looking out the bus window, she didn't see anyone nearby. She really was exhausted. She must have been impressed by what happened in Room 647, to continue hearing the phrase Mr. Staton had spoken. The drive to her house was smooth. After about half an hour, she arrived at her destination and motioned for the bus to stop. She saw the smirk still on the driver's face as he glanced in the rearview mirror. She shook her head, disapproving of his behavior and got out of the vehicle. She lived in an apartment two blocks from the bus stop. The day had been reasonably hot, but it had cooled off at night. All she wanted was to get home, take a nice shower and get something to eat. The grocery store around the corner was open, so she went in, bought some sausages, macaroni and cheese. She was definitely in no condition to cook anything fancy. Sh
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Hello, stranger!
With that thought circling her mind, Candace more than quickly looked around for something she could use as a weapon. She picked up the umbrella lying next to the wall and held it like an axe. She went to the kitchen, shivering. She looked under the small bench she used as a table and there was no one there. The bathroom. On tiptoe, she made her way over to it, facing the door and breathing hard, plucking up the courage to step inside. She gripped the doorknob, sucked in a deep breath, and yanked it open, ending with a kick. There was no one there, but the tub was full and she hadn't used it to bathe after getting home from work. She showered, instead. She dropped the umbrella on the floor and opened the bathtub drain to let the water out. She sat on the toilet with the lid down and let out a sigh. In the stillness of the morning, the phone rang, causing Candace to jump, scared. Was it from work? It was too early for anyone to call if it wasn't an emergency. She ran into the living
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The Breakfast
Malcolm opted for a nice chocolate pancake, with caramel syrup and chocolate chips on top. Candace, on the other hand, stayed with the traditional dough and cookie syrup. "You have chosen very well. I've never seen this syrup, and although I love cookies, I was afraid I wouldn't like it. I hate choosing the wrong food." He commented, which made Candace's eyes light up, as this was something she herself used to talk about all the time. "So you did well. Even so it tastes special, it is a bit too sweet. I may think it's wonderful and you, sir, don't. If you want to try it..." She said. "Please, 'sir', no! I'm past thirty, but I still don't look that old. Do I?" Candace's mouth dropped open. She didn't mean to be rude! "I swore you were younger." She commented. "For real? I'm thirty-one years old now. And you must be kidding me. You even called me 'sir'." He said, lifting his chin and pretending to be offended. "Why, si-" she stopped and corrected herself, "you, even at thirty, are
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Our time
After shopping, Malcoln took Candace back to her apartment. There, they bump into Karen, who greeted them. Karen didn't like Malcoln very much. Something about him seemed a bit false. She was hardly wrong when she had these hunches, and that's why she was worried about Candace. Back at the apartment, Candace looked around herself, scanning everything she could find there to see if there was anything odd. But apparently, everything was in its place. She took the bag with the new phone and went to plug it in. As soon as she was done, she went to the bathroom. On her way out, while drying her hair, she heard the phone ringing. She took a deep breath and took the phone off the hook. "Hello?" She said, with some trepidation. "Candace? Thank God! We've been calling you for at least two hours!" Mildred Summers. The reception and administration nurse. "Oh, it's just that I didn't have a phone. I got a little sick and ended up just going out to buy another one in the afternoon." Candace exp
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Is it a dream?
Candace dropped the tray of medications on the floor, scattering the pills across the everywhere. She opened her mouth to scream, but no matter how hard she tried, no sound came out. Joseph continued to stare at her with only one eye in place, and a lunatic laugh escaped his mouth, getting louder and louder. When her legs finally came back to life, she rushed to the door and desperately opened it. "Help! Help!" She screamed and, quickly, Scott appeared there, startled. She was running, looking back, towards Staton's room and ended up being hugged by Scott, after she bumped into him, who stopped and toke her by the shoulders. "What happened??" He asked and, seeing that she didn't say anything coherent, he shook her and she finally mumbled something. "His eye is no longer there. B-bleeding." Scott let go of Candace and ran to Room 647. He saw both the tray and the medicine on the floor, but Joseph Staton was in bed, sleeping peacefuly. How the old man didn't wake up to all that scream
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The past - part 1
Candace went to the patient's room and found him lying down, peacefully sleeping. She met with Scott before entering and asked him to allow her in, to which he very reluctantly agreed. She watched the old man sleep for a few minutes. What happened to her to have such a hallucination? Could it be that she had a problem at her house, with fungi? But, she started having strange sensations inside work that night, so the fungus wouldn't be in her house, exactly. With these thoughts, she didn't notice when Joseph woke up, until he called out her name. "Miss Adams?" He was lying still, just looking at her. "Huh?" She looked around, waking up from her reverie. She stared at him. He motioned with his finger for her to approach him. She did so. "I need your help." He said softly, looking around, still lying down. "With what, Mr Staton? Want me to call Scott?" Joseph made a frump. He didn't like that nurse guy because he was too rough. And he knew the guy had bad intentions towards Candace. H
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The past - part 2
Joseph bent down and picked up the small box, about the size of a hand and about three fingers wide. He went to the old chair and sat down, listening to the poor furniture creak. Before opening it, Joseph noticed how it had some symbols carved into the lid as well as on the sides. Joseph's grandmother was a native, from the Pine Ridge Reservation, and though she avoided talking about it much, he could make out some of those carvings. He lifted the lid and saw a few items inside, and one of them caught his eyes. The braided leather key ring his father showed him a few years ago. They were very similar, but Joseph knew they couldn't be the same, after all, how could that be possible? There was also a necklace with a pendant similar to an animal's tooth, as well as a red ribbon. Suddenly, tiredness sets in and Joseph feels heavy eyes again, as when he was driving. He looked at the dusty bed and thought there was no other way. He dusted it off and, before going to 'bed', he observed throu
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The past - part 3
The walk to the cabin, though less tortuous than the previous night, was longer. Joseph noticed some things hanging from trees, and when he looked closer, for it was day and he could see, he realized that they were small skulls. He was startled, because that was very macabre! There were many, like bunches of grapes. He kept walking, because the worst that could happen to him was to be stuck out in the open, in the blizzard.  He saw some totem poles half buried in the snow around the house. When he finally looked at the building, he realized that it looked a lot like last night's cabin. He swallowed, slowly approaching the door. He raised his hand to knock, but it froze for a few seconds. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and before he knocked, he looked down and sees the same potted plant.  "It's not possible..." His lips were trembling, not from the cold, but from fear. He gatherd courage and knocked on the d
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The past - part 4
Joseph was dizzy after realizing that this woman, the Indian, was his great aunt. She was hardly mentioned, but he knew her name was Winona. He heard about how mad she was and that they cut contact with her because of this. Now he knew she cast a curse on his parents, as well as on his uncles, and maybe that's why so many wrong things happened in their lives. Joseph's mother freaked out one fine day, while cooking and tried to kill his father. His father wanted to put his wife into a nursing home, but at the time they didn't have resources for that, so the solution was to take care of her in their own home. Unfortunately, it ended in tragedy. She set the whole house on fire one night, with everyone asleep. Fortunately, his father managed to get him out of there, but not her, who burned to death. Outside the house, while waiting for the firefighters ,they could hear her insane laughter. Before the outbreak, she couldn't stop talking about curses and talismans and poisoned blood, and i
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