Cursefell Read Free

stopping short as I felt post drowning sea water drool leaking from the corners of my mouth.  It must have been there all along.  He wasn't grinning at me.  He was laughing.  Too weak to wipe it away and glare at him I had a decision to make.
     I settled for the glare.

CURSEFELL
     
    CHAPTER TWO
         "Your veins are very small, Nathera," the nurse said after her second attempt to draw blood.  "Skin is a little tough too.  It makes it hard to get a good straight puncture.  You should use some moisturizer after bathing."
     It wasn't a surprise to me.  I heard this every time I had to have blood drawn.  Well, not the part about my skin.  That was just rude.  At least I was conditioned not to pass out after the first two times they jabbed me with the syringe anymore.
     "There we go," she proclaimed when the needle slid into the vein on the third attempt.  The middle aged woman pushed back her greasy dark nest of hair as if she were the one having to endure the sharp prick over and over.  "I thought we would have to call the doctor back in for a second there."
     "You did great." I told her.  I had already talked with the doctor and had no desire to see him again.
     "Your mother is here.  Once we get the vial all done you can go," she said, picking out a long glass tube with a purple tipped top.  "I bet you can't wait to get home."
     Actually I could.  Although it did beat staying at the hospital.  The smell of sanitized walls and its rubbing alcohol and beeping monitors brought back memories I would just as soon forget.
     "You bet." I mumbled without a trace of enthusiasm.
     My clothes couldn't be thrown on fast enough when the nurse had finished.  I practically sprinted past my mother in my haste to leave.  She called out, but I didn't stop, only slowing for the automatic door to open enough for me to squeeze past.
     The hospital parking lot was nearly empty at the early evening hour I was released, so it wasn't hard to spot my mother's not nearly new car close to the visitor entrance.  My mother's steps clapped off the pavement as she hurried to catch up to me, but I refused to break stride before reaching the escape the car promised.  Its lights flashed twice, just as I reached the passenger door.  She must have pressed the unlock button on the key while power walking to keep pace.  I yanked the door open to flop into a seat, slamming the door closed so hard that I felt a small sting run up my arm.
     Diana, my mother, sat down behind the wheel.  She reached across the distance to hug me, asking if I was okay.  I assured her I was.
     "Good," she responded, starting the car and cranking up the heat.  She knew I easily felt the chill, despite what the nurse had said about my skin.  In that regard we were similar.  The engine purred as we pulled out and started down the road toward home.  I hoped we would make it there before the last weak rays of light faded and the sun closed its eye under the lid of night.
     Driving down the highway from the hospital towards home, my mother asked robotic questions about the incident aboard the boat and how I was feeling.  My answers were short and succinct.  This was how all our conversations had been lately.  Neither of us was very good at making small talk with each other anymore.
     As we drove down the twisting road night had crept up on us.  The big sand dollar coastal moon cast eerie shadows through the tops of the towering trees standing their lonely vigil along the road side.  I imagined that unnatural form peeking out from behind the dark trunks, leering at me, following me back home.  I wanted to tell my mother to drive faster and leave any hiding places for the creature far behind us in the rearview mirror.  But we were almost to the outskirts of town and I had other things I wanted to say while we were confined together in the car.  Nowhere