The Curse
Chapter Three

The first few papers were about older witch hunts, that had happened in the late 15’ hundreds, it took me a good two hours to get to the ones that happened around the time Alica was executed. I read through the papers, hoping to spot Lianna’s name. “Cal just give up, it’s been two hours already. There is nothing about Lianna Paine in those papers.” Adeline sounds irritated, but I ignore her. Finally, I struck gold, “I found her name!” I yell, someone in the library shushes me. I apologize quietly and pull Adeline over to my side. I point at Lianna’s name and grin smugly, “I told you she’d be in here somewhere.” I whisper.

Adeline reads the notes about Lianna, she scoffs softly. “Cal, this is only talking about her involvement in the murder. That’s it.” She says in a matter of fact tone. I roll my eyes and read the first note.

Judge Calter’s Notes October 3rd, 1685

Due to the reverend’s constant pushing, I’ve decided to look further into the case of young Gideon Gravedon’s murder. An old housemaid by the name of Gale Velmer has stepped forward, in the reverend’s letter he says that the maid had seen the deceased’s mother in the kitchen producing the wicked items for the witchcraft. I’ve decided to question her myself, it boggles my old mind on why she did not step forward sooner, for if she had then maybe an innocent life would have been spared.

I hum in thought and place the note back into the folder, “It’s about this maid, Gale Velmer. The judge and the reverend both stated that she had come forward admitting that she had seen Lianna at the scene of the murder.” I say as I chance a look over to my friend. For once she is actually paying attention to me, “The judge said that he was going to question her himself. So there has to be another note in here from him.” I finish as I search through the papers. With luck I replace the note, this one seems longer than the others.

Judge Calter’s Notes October 5th, 1685

The maid had stated that on the night of young Gideon’s murder, she had overheard the conversation between the deceased and her mother. She stated that the mother, Lianna Paine, told her daughter, the deceased to retrieve the child from his mother. Miss Velmer said that she hid in the shadows when the deceased had left the kitchen. She had sat there and waited for the girl to return, but as she waited Lianna Paine had sought her out. Miss Velmer stated that the cunning woman had threatened her, saying that she could easily cast a spell so gruesome that she would wish she was dead.

The poor woman looked terrified as she repeated the words of the horrible witch, I had asked if she had stayed to watch the rest of the Satanic ritual. She said she had, but she had left when the witch began to cut on the poor child. She said that the last thing she had seen was the deceased staring at her mother in fear. I am conflicted on what to do with this new evidence, I cannot reopen the case of Alica Paine, but I can start a new one for her mother. I will not be able to convict her as a witch, but I shall be able to convict her as a murderer. I will write the warrant for her arrest first thing tomorrow morning, as of now all I can do is beg for forgiveness for being so foolish.

I place the note back into the folder, so they did have a warrant to look for her, but that doesn’t tell me if they found her. I look through the papers again and replace a letter from the Marshall.

A Letter From the Marshall

Dear Edmund Calter,

The search for Lianna Paine has been tiring your greatness, each time we get a lead, she has vanished. We’ve brought Carrington Gravedon along with us, he insisted on joining the hunt for the witch. He says that the reasoning for her horrible deeds is his fault, but he refuses to speak further on the matters. I do believe that he and Miss Paine had an affair, but it is not my place to accuse a fairly wealthy man of such a crime with no physical evidence. We now have a lead on the whereabouts of the witch, but I am not sure how long it will last. I shall keep you updated on the hunt my liege.

Sincerely, Peter Bartley

I frown as I read the letter again, “I feel like there is something missing.” I mumble. From the corner of my eye, I notice Adeline has leaned closer to get a better look at the letter, “I agree, something is definitely not adding up.” She says as she sits back in her chair. I look through the papers once more, my eyes widen momentarily. There’s a letter from Lianna herself!

A Letter From Lianna Paine

My dearest Carrington,

Word has gone around that you are trying to replace me, now I must ask the question, why is that? Do you feel guilty for our daughter’s wrongful death? You’re the cause of her death, you killed her by abandoning her. You say she isn’t daughter, but she is. I just know she is, she had your laugh, your very beautiful laugh. She needed you Carrington, but you weren’t there for her. She hanged because of you, I do hope you wallow in your despair. I also hope your precious wife is happy with her new child, she’ll love the wretched thing for awhile, I’ll wait. I will wait until you both get close to the child, and then I will snatch it away, just like how I snatched your precious Gideon away.

You will pay for what you did to me, and for what you did to our daughter. You’ll rue the day you crossed me Gravedon, YOU WILL RUE IT!

Sincerely, Your one true love Lianna

I blink and read the letter again, Adeline lets out a low whistle. “Wow, this chick puts a capital C in crazy.” She says as she looks over the letter. I just nod my head, I chew on my lip and look over the letter once more. “What if she managed to get to Katherine and her child?” I ask to no one in particular. Adeline cocks her eyebrow in question, I sift through the papers and groan. There isn’t anything else in here, “Do you think the internet will help us?” I ask as I look at my friend curiously. She hums in thought and shrugs, “Possibly, I mean we were the witch hunt capital of the U.S.” She replies. I put the papers back in the file and return them back to the filing cabinet, when I come back Adeline has already logged onto one of the computers. I peek over her shoulder and read some of the articles she has pulled up.

Salem Mass. The Real Truth By Eddy Burke

The witch hunts of Salem have been huge since the 15’ hundreds, many say they were un-needed, while others would disagree. In my opinion, there is something we are all missing in this whole witch hunt. What if there were bigger things? What if these women were actual witches? In our great history, we all know about the witch Alica Paine, the one we celebrate on our great Witch’s Day. Now you all know the reasoning for us celebrating her death, it was said that she was wrongly accused and her soul still lingered in the air causing terrible mischief. We celebrate her death in hopes of appeasing her vengeful spirit.

The real question is, is it really Alica? Or is it another wrongly accused soul? Now you all know that if anyone was accused of being a witch, there was nothing they could do about it. So, what if the spirit we are trying to make happy isn’t Alica at all? What if it is some other unfortunate soul that was wrongfully murdered? Or perhaps it is Alica’s mother? The true witch of 16’ hundreds Salem. It was said that when the marshall at the time Peter Bartley, had found the body of Lianna Paine at the same sight of her daughter’s execution. He had stated that there were signs of magic in the air, could it be possible that the big bad witch placed a curse upon the town of Salem? Or could it just be superstitions playing with our minds?

“Oh, that is a load of bull! Addie replace something that will actually help us, not some crap article.” I say irritably. Adeline huffs out an annoyed sigh and exits out of the web page, I watch as she types in something new. She just simply typed in Lianna’s name, “Click the first link.” I say. She moves the mouse over to the link and clicks it, the website consists of black witches hats, and brooms. I roll my eyes, so cliche of the web artist. I read the first story.

The Salem Witch By Katie Malvrick

From the research I have gathered, the real witch of Salem was Lianna Paine, the original witches mother. I have an inside source that works for the local Salem witch museum, I will not say his name for the time being. He had revealed to me, that when the witches corpse was found by the tree that her daughter had hung from, she had just completed a spell. My source confirms that the spell came from the devil himself, for he has a copy of the spell itself. The late Marshall, Peter Bartley had written a letter to the then judge, Edmund Calter about the book that was found by the corpse.

In the corpse’s hand, the marshall had found a single red amulet hanging loosely from her cold dead fingers. My source confirmed that the witch had placed a curse on the amulet, for whatever reason he hadn’t known.

I stop reading the story and grip onto my pendant, “Adeline, go to the Salem witch museum web page.” I say softly. She exits out of the page and types in the URL for the museum’s website, she lets out a low whistle when a picture of a brown leather book comes into view. I lean in closer and squint, I can barely make out the words written on the page of the book. “Make the picture bigger please,” I mumble, Adeline clicks on the picture to make it bigger. I felt the color drain from my face, “A-Addie, what’s a blood curse?” I ask hoarsely. She looks at me with concern, “A blood curse is when someone curses an item or another person using their blood.” She replies hesitantly. I point at the screen with a shaky finger.

“T-The page of the book says Blood Curse: To Destroy an Enemy. If...i-if Lianna cursed something, then what did she put a curse o-...my necklace.” My voice falls. I grip my pendant tighter, “S-She cursed the necklace.” I whisper. Adeline logs off the computer and stands up, “Cal, you’re being ridiculous. This stuff isn’t real! You’re just being paranoid.” She says as she drags me away by my shirt. I ignore her, the past two days play in my mind. The voices were real, I know they were, the dream of her execution was real. I am not being paranoid, she is just being a skeptic and a jerk. “Addie, I’m serious. I honestly think this is real, in my dream last night, I heard Lianna say she would make Carrington pay. She even said Ilooked like him, what if...w-what if she is coming after me?” I ask. Adeline ignores me and drags me out of the library.

“That’s ridiculous Cal, it’s just a lame story. Besides even if it was true, the curse would have been broken when Carrington died.” She finally replied after she released my shirt. I straighten my shirt back and glares. “What if she thinks I’m him!Haven’t you thought of that! Why aren’t you believing me!?” I yell as I throw my hands up. Adeline looks at me as if I just slapped her in the face, “Because, you were the one that said all of this witch stuff was stupid!” She yells back angrily. She got me there, I sigh and rub my neck. “I know I did, and I am sorry for that, but Addie, please...I can’t do this alone.” I reply softly, all the fight leaving me. Adeline’s face softens, she sighs and crosses her arms. “First thing tomorrow morning, meet me at the museum. We will try to get some answers from one of the workers alright?” I smile and nod my head.

Don’t think it will be that easy to get rid of my Carrington, I will finish what I started, even if it means taking drastic measures. ​​​​​​​