A Witch's Curse

A Witches Curse

Darkness fell on Eloise as she grasped her throat in agony. Mary Beth smiled upon the dying woman, the woman who had the attention of her lover and companion. Kirt belonged to her and only her. The love potion must be wearing off.  Mary Beth kicked Eloise when she walked by her. Her eyes were closed and she stopped moaning and moving. Kirt was waiting for her in front of the book store. Mary Beth lured Eloise to the back alley behind the store. Eloise was unaware that there was a hex bag in the pocket of her sweater, slipped in when she was standing next to Mary Beth ordering coffee. Mary Beth pretended to be her friend and invited her to join her while she had a cup of coffee. They discussed the books and magazines they were purchasing.  Mary Beth convinced Eloise to come with her to the back of the store to look at some flowers. Eloise was curious so she followed Mary Beth. They left their books and magazines on the table they were sharing. Mary Beth started chanting a spell as soon as they were outside. Eloise fell to the ground and started choking. Eloise felt as if her chest and throat were on fire. She died shortly afterwards.

            Eloise was a stunning woman with red hair.  A few freckles lined her nose and cheeks. She had a slender body and long legs.  She was athletic, played sports such as basketball and ran several days a week.  Eloise had a friendly demeanor and had many friends and she was close to her family.  Mary Beth did not care about how many people were going to miss her. She only cared about ridding herself of the burden of Kirt paying attention to her.

Mary Beth entered the store and acted as if nothing happened after disposing of Eloise’s body in the dumpster.  She paid for her books and met Kirt, who was sitting on a bench in front of the store enjoying his ice cream cone. Mary Beth told him she was full and did not have room for any ice cream. The ice cream shop was very busy and it took Kirt a while to get his ice cream and return to the book store to wait for Mary Beth.  It didn’t take much to convince Kirt to go for ice cream after she saw Eloise enter the book store. Things played out nicely and Mary Beth was rid of the nuisance.

            Mary Beth was often a somewhat somber person who had long black hair and she was only 5’ 2” in height. She often wished she was taller because she felt tall women got more attention. She was somewhat pretty if she spent a lot of time with her hair and make up. She was not a natural beauty like Eloise or other women she envied.  She was slender but never felt she was slender enough, always on a diet.  Kirt told her she was perfect but she didn’t know if that was the love potion talking.

            Kirt asked, “What books did you buy?”

            Mary Beth took the books and magazines out of the bag. She proudly showed Kirt what she purchased. She purchased cook books, a People magazine, and a Yoga magazine.  Mary Beth wanted to pretend that cooking and taking care of herself were important to her. 

            “Do you plan on trying new dishes? I already think you are a good cook,” said Kirt.

            “I want to try new dishes,” said Mary Beth. She grabbed his arm and put her head on his shoulder.

            He squeezed her hand and smiled at her.

            A day later when Eloise did not show up at her parents’ home the night before, they called the police and reported her missing. Her parents and siblings spent last evening and the day looking for her frantically.

            “Somebody is not considered missing until they are missing for at least 48 hours,” said Officer Riley.

            “You don’t know our Eloise. She would never stand up her family. She is never late. We need help finding her. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” said Ramona Bikel. Eloise’s mother. Ronald, Eloise’s father, was standing next to her when she made the call. Eloise’s brother, Randy, and her sister Ursula were standing next to Ronald.

            “Let’s get our friends together to help us look for her,” said Randy.

            “I will make some calls to see if they will help us,” said Ronald.

            A group of approximately 30 people joined them in their search. They checked thoroughly the trails Eloise hiked on and anywhere else she may have frequented to no avail.

            The garbage men were dumping the dumpster behind the book store the following Monday when they noticed a human arm amongst the trash and stopped. They called the police.

            The coroner looked up missing persons in the area and discovered that Eloise Bikel was missing. Her family identified Eloise. They were heart broken and hired a local detective agency to locate the killer. They didn’t trust that the police would do a thorough job.

            Mary Beth put some more of the love potion in the food and drink she prepared for Kirt. She wanted to make sure he ingested the potion.  She tried a difficult soufflé and added Crème Brule for dessert.  The potion was added to Kirt’s wine and his dessert.  Kirt finished his wine and the Crème Brule and looked longingly at Mary Beth. They spent the rest of the evening cuddling and making love. Mary Beth did not want the evening to end. She thought to herself, if I was a cat I would be purring right now. She petted Percy, her black cat. He was purring loudly.

            Mary Beth joined a witches’ coven a few years ago so she didn’t have to practice her craft alone.  They met in an old abandoned barn off Highway 90.  A table was placed in the middle of a smaller room off the main part of the barn. The room was used to store tools when the barn was in use to board horses and milking cows. The table was used as their alter.  The bones of cats, bat wings, and various herbs were strewn in a pile near the center of the alter. The coven wore long black robes. They circled the alter and started chanting. They discussed earlier that a mayor needed to be removed from his role because he was going to condemn their meeting place and they wanted to be left alone. They were working on a deadly curse to rid themselves of Henry, the mayor. They had a person in mind to replace him. Her name was Selina and she was a part of their coven.

            Selina prepared a hex bag to stick in Henry’s pocket.  The plan involved Mary Beth meeting with Henry to discuss the addition of a statue to city park, a statue of Jonathan Shuttlemeyer, the last mayor, who was well liked.  He died in a horrible car accident involving a semi. Jonathan’s tire blew and he swerved in the path of a semi. He died instantly.  Mary Beth was going to tell Henry that she would hire a sculptor to construct the marble statue. She had someone in mind. They would discuss a large community fundraiser that Mary Beth would offer to run to earn the money for the statue.  She would never be suspected of her role in carrying out the coven’s plot.  The plan seemed flawless.

            The meeting was set up between Mary Beth and Henry. They met at her flower shop.

She served cookies and coffee at a table in the breakroom at the back of the shop. She claimed that she gave her staff the day off to celebrate a family event, someone graduating.  She greeted Henry with a warm smile and invited him to sit down. The side of her apron got stuck on the chair Henry was sitting on and she almost fell into Henry’s lap. She slipped the hex bag in his pants pocket when she was trying to right herself. 

            “I am so sorry. My apron got caught on your chair,” said Mary Beth.

            “It’s alright. Are you okay?” asked Henry.

            “Just my pride,” said Mary Beth. She acted embarrassed.  She knew Henry had a crush on her some time ago.  She used her attractiveness to get his attention.

            He smiled and touched her hand to reassure her. She smiled back at him.

            “Let’s talk about the statue. I want the marble statue to be at the entryway to the park so everyone sees it when they enter the park,” said Mary Beth.

            “That’s sounds nice. You have someone in mind to do the work?” asked Henry.

            “My sister knows of a sculptor that is looking for work. She went to school with him.  I would check to see what the going rate would be for his services so we don’t get charged too much,” said Mary Beth.  She handed Henry a catalog containing large pieces of marble for them to purchase. He was impressed that she did her homework and he started flipping through the calendar.

            “Marble is expensive,” said Henry.

            “I know it is. That is why we need to hold a fundraiser,” said Mary Beth.

            “What do you have in mind?” asked Henry.

            “I thought we could host a fancy dinner and dance and ask the ones with more money than the rest of us to come to the event,” said Mary Beth.

            “Why don’t we keep the costs down for the event so that many people could attend?” suggested Henry.

            “That could work, too. The amount that could attend could offset the cost of the event.  I was looking to get as much donated as possible,” said Mary Beth.

            “I think that sounds like a very good idea,” said Henry.

            “I will work on more of the details and then we can meet again,” said Mary Beth.

            “I look forward to carrying this out. It would be nice to honor Jonathan. He did a lot for our community.”

            Henry left. Mary Beth called Selina to let her know about Henry’s departure.

            The coven was meeting at Selina’s home. They started chanting and calling out a death spell for Henry’s demise. It didn’t take long before Henry had a massive heart attack at the age of 39. He died immediately while he was walking back to the court house.  He left two small children and a wife behind.

            “How was your day?” asked Kirt when Mary Beth walked through the door of her apartment.

            “I had a wonderful day. The shop was busy. I sold a lot of flowers for some of the graduation ceremonies and a wedding. Henry, the mayor, met with me to discuss the possibility of creating a statue in honor of Jonathan. He is on board with the idea,” said Mary Beth. She acted like she didn’t know about Henry’s death.

            Kirt had dinner made for Mary Beth, shrimp skewers cooked on the grill with roasted corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. She was really hungry so she ate rather quickly. They sat down to watch the local news after dinner and learned about Henry’s death.

            “I just met with him today and he seemed fine,” said Mary Beth.  She wiped a tear from her eye.

            “I am so sorry.”

           

            The detective agency that was working on the death of Eloise found about some interesting things concerning Eloise’s death. A hex bag was discovered in the pocket of her sweater. She was seen having coffee with Mary Beth at the book store. They were also seen leaving out the back door and only Mary Beth returned.

            There was a knock at  Mary Beth’s apartment door. Two police officers were on the other side of the door.

            “We have to take you downtown for questioning concerning the death of Eloise Bikel,” said one of the officers.

            Mary Beth did not have time to seek help from the coven. She was forced to follow the officers to their police car. Kirt tried to get in the police car with her and they ordered him to go back to the apartment.

            Mary Beth was stewing in the back seat. This is a first time any one of us have been linked to any crime. I should have been more careful. I needed to do things more discreetly. I needed to not do anything in a public place. I had one thing in mind and that was to get rid of her. I hope I can get out of this.

            Mary Beth acted sweet when they arrived at the police station. They led her to an interrogation room.

            “Tell us about your meeting with Eloise Bikel. We were told that you met with her to have coffee at the book store. Then the two of you went outside and only one of you came back inside. She did not. What happened?” asked Sam, a city police officer.

            “Sam, you know me well enough. I don’t have a mean bone in my body,” said Mary Beth meekly.

            “You were seen going out the back door with Eloise and only you returned. What happened to Eloise?” asked Sam sternly.

            “I had a question about some flowers and I wanted to know if she could name the flowers,” replied Mary Beth.

            “Why didn’t she return with you?” asked Sam.

            “She decided to go for a walk. She did that a lot,” said Mary Beth.

            “She was found dead in the dumpster. How did she get in there? She didn’t end up going for a walk,” said Sam.

            “Look at me. Does it look like I could lift Eloise and put her in the dumpster,” said Mary Beth.

            “No, it doesn’t look like you could do that,” said Sam. He scratched his head and looked at Mary Beth in a scrutinizing manner.

            “Was there somebody else behind the book store with the two of you?” asked Sam.

            “I saw a man that stood at end of the alley and stared at us. But I didn’t think anything of it,” Mary Beth said.

            “What did the man look like?” asked Sam.

            “He was tall and had broad shoulders. He had dark hair and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I don’t think I could pick him out of a line up because I really didn’t see his face. He was wearing sun glasses. I do remember that,” said Mary Beth.

            “Did he stand there for a long time?” asked Sam.

            “No, he didn’t.”

            “We are going to bring you home. You need to stay in town in case we have more questions,” said Sam.

            She was led back to the police car and taken home.

            Kirt was anxiously waiting for her.

            “What happened? Why did they haul you away?” asked Kirt.

            “They were wondering what happened to Eloise Bikel. She was found dead in the dumpster behind the book store,” said Mary Beth.

            “And they thought you would know how that happened. That’s ridiculous.”

            “That’s two deaths, the mayor and Eloise. What is happening in this town,” said Mary Beth. She looked like she was upset.

           

            “This is strange. There was a hex bag found in the mayor’s pocket. Witches are involved in the deaths of Eloise and Henry? We need to look into this further,” said Rick, a crime investigator.

            “I do think it is strange that both deaths involved hex bags and they both died mysteriously. Henry was quite young to have a heart attack. His doctor reported that he was in perfect health. It looked like only Eloise’s hand prints were found on her neck. There no other finger prints found. It almost looks like she strangled herself and we both know that is not the case,” said Derek, another crime investigator.

            “What was Henry working on that may have made somebody upset. Upset enough to kill him,” inquired Rick.

            “I will look into that and get back with you,” replied Derek.

           

            The next day Rick and Derek met to discuss the case.

            “I discovered that Henry was working on condemning some of the properties in the area to make the area safe,” said Derek.

            “Let’s go together to check out these locations,” said Rick.

            Derek had the places that were being condemned logged in his GPS unit in his phone. First, they visited an abandoned warehouse. They could not find anything out of the ordinary.

            They went to the barn next which they were unaware that it was being used by the coven.  A small clearing and a wooded area was located behind the barn.  The woods were thick and dark.

            They walked around the barn and the property and then went inside. Rick and Derek discovered very worn stalls that haven’t been used in years. Then they walked into a small room. They had to use their flash lights. They discovered a table with herbs, small bones and bat wings on it.

            “These items were found in the hex bags. I think we found a witch’s place, where they hold their strange meetings,” said Derek.

            “I think you’re right. What’s on the wall over there?” asked Rick.

            They shined a light on the wall and saw black robes hanging on hooks.

            “Let’s get out of here and set up a hidden watch over this place especially at night to see if we can catch them in the act and discover who is behind the deaths,” said Derek.

            An owl hooted and then they heard what they thought were coyotes howling.

            Rick turned to Derek and said, “That sounds like a plan.”  He walked quickly to the police cruiser.

            They went back to the police station and set up stake outs with at least three to four police officers for that evening.

            The first watch revealed nothing.

            The second night, five women showed up. The police officers recognized all the women. They were upstanding women from the community.  They had video recorders set up and recorded what happened in the small room connected to the barn.  The women’s names were taken down and they were going to be followed for awhile to see if they could catch them in the act.

           

            “We are being watched,” said Mary Beth.

            The coven was privately meeting in the woods near the park. Little did they know that their homes were bugged along with their phones, and the businesses they owned.  They were also followed and watched at the meeting they were attending. 

            “I am getting creeped out. I feel like there are eyes on me wherever I go,” said Selina.

            “I am being followed, also,” said Mary Beth.

            “What are we going to do about these intrusions?” asked Jane, another member of the coven.

            “I don’t know,” said Selina.

            “The hex bags are the only way we can carry out the spells we put on people. I wish we could have retrieved the one from Henry’s pocket and I should have thought of removing the one I placed on Eloise,” said Mary Beth.

            “Yes, we got sloppy,” said Jane. She glared at Mary Beth.

            Weeks went by and the coven laid low and did not place any spells on any of their perceived enemies. The police lightened up on their surveillance of the women they thought were witches.

            Mary Beth talked with the coven to see if they could rid themselves of Sam and some of the other police officers who were trailing them for such a long time.

            “What can we do to get new blood at the police station? Perhaps get rid of Sam, who was leading the watch over us,” said Mary Beth.

            “I could meet with him,” said Selina.

            “How would you pull that off?” asked Mary Beth.

            “I would alter my appearance and pretend I am a new residence. I would go to the police station and report a possible stalker,” said Selina.

            “What address would you use?” asked Mary Beth.

            “I would use a school teacher’s address and mention that I moved to town to live with my brother or sister,” said Selina.

            “He won’t be given a chance to corroborate the information before he is killed,” said Mary Beth.

            “Why don’t we try another approach?” asked Jane.

            “What do you have in mind?” asked Selina.

            “Why don’t we have someone become crazy and enter the police station and open fire making sure to kill Sam,” said Jane.

            “That’s sounds like a better plan and it would be more difficult to link us to him,” said Mary Beth.

            Jane said, “I am ready to call off my relationship with Stewart. Perhaps I can plant a hex bag on him and we can use him.”

            “You wouldn’t mind,” said Mary Beth.

            “No, I am ready to move onto someone else.”

            Mary Beth prepared the hex bag for an unsuspecting Stewart.

           

            Jane invited Stewart over to her apartment. She slept with him one last time and then planted the hex bag in his back pocket of his jeans without him being aware of it. She decided to have the coven put the spell on him after he left her apartment. She called as soon as he left.

            Stewart entered the police station. He had two guns in his hands loaded and ready. He headed to the area the police officers were located and started shooting. He shot Sam first in the chest and started shooting at the other officers.  Sam died immediately because the bullet lodged in his heart. He managed to shoot two more officers before Derek shot him in the heart. He fell heavily, banging his head on one of the desks before landing on the floor.

            The coroner called some of the remaining police officers to his office.

            “Look what I found in his back pocket,” said the coroner.

            “Looks like another hex bag,” said Derek.

            “Those witches got one over on us, again,” said John, another police officer.

            “We were watching them for quite a while. We lightened up concerning our watch because they did not seem to be up to anything and then this happens. They had Sam killed. I think it was because he was the lead for the investigation concerning them,” said Derek. Derek had seniority so he was given the temporary role as the police chief to take Sam’s place.  He did not like having to deal with unscrupulous witches. It was beyond his pay grade.

            “What are we going to do about the witches?” asked John.

            “I don’t know. I really don’t know,” replied Derek.  He looked frustrated and looked like he was ready to give up. Then he placed his finger on his chin and told them he had a plan.