Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles)

Copyright © 2012 L. D. Hutchinson

All rights reserved

Published by Midnight Hour Publishing.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Midnight Hour Publishing

Lowellville, OH 44436

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Cover design by L. D. Hutchinson

Chapter 1

_______________________

I looked around slowly. My eyes took in every aspect of the place where I stood. It almost sent my body into a confused shock with how gorgeous it all was.  It was an open field full of vibrantly colored flowers of every possible variety. The sun hung high in the clear blue sky, only one or two clouds were visible.

I could hear bird's chirping cheerfully, singing their happy songs against the gentle breeze of the wind that carried the scent of fresh air, grass, flowers and water making me take a deep breath. Listening hard enough my ears picked up the soothing, rushing sound of water
nearby
and the sound of leaves beginning to rustle in the wind.

I began to move my heavy legs, forcing my body forward at a slow pace. My arms stretching forward to let my fingers gingerly pass over the soft, delicate flower petals to feeling their cool smooth surfaces. My lips pulled up into a small smile. Truly, this place was beautiful and peaceful - no; it was magical, and I loved it more than anything I had ever seen.

Then, my peace was abruptly disrupted by a noise behind me. I jumped a little in shock and slight fear, turning around as quickly as I could. Almost as if I was on fast forward. The eerie part about all of this was that there was nothing there. It became still and quiet all around me, like the calm before a storm. The sky grew clouded and dark, the only thing I could think to do was keep still and alert for the slightest sound, or any movement my eyes may catch.

"Hello?", I called out into the silence, listening as my shaking voice echoed all around me, bouncing off of the trees, hills and rocks making me feel even more alone and confused. The fear heightened, and I could hear my heart beating louder and louder in my ears; my throat had become thick, and it was hard to swallow.

"Raine,
” My
entire body tensed up and froze from that one small voice. My heart stilled in fear, and I looked around as fast as I could trying to find where it was coming from but only saw the trees and flowers. "Come to us Raine, we're waiting..."

"Yes Raine, come," I spun around on my heel looking closely at every little thing. I even looked at my feet at one point as I listened to the voice. Then it dawned on me; this one was new. It was a woman's voice and sounded seductive and velvety, like she was trying to seduce anything that was listening to her. "Don't you want to come and play? We want you to play with us."

"What's wrong Raine? Cat got your tongue?" The newest voice echoed around me; it almost sounded like three men talking at once and created an oddly demonic sounding voice, and he was snickering at me. There was a sinister tone to everything it said. I only wanted this to end and was hoping it was just a bad dream. I'd wake up soon.

"Or maybe, we've got your tongue!" Just then it  flew out from the trees in a blurred, quick movement. It grabbed my arms and pulled me to the ground. I could only shriek as I fell.

It had three heads sitting upon its body; the one in the middle was human, but had vibrant yellow eyes, and it's skin seemed to be barely attached and hung grotesquely. The second one - on its left shoulder - was a horse, a light-brown  chestnut with black eyes that were staring straight at me. The one on the other shoulder was a wolf, a blood-soaked snarling wolf, with bright yellow eyes like the man in the middle; it looked ready to shred me.

I fell back onto my arms and tried to crawl backwards, away from it, as fast as I could.
I w
himpe
red
a little as he leaned down and smiled in my face. The overwhelming
stench of rotting flesh and blood was
the first thing I noticed about it.

"Let me have that tongue mortal." He growled loudly at me. I stayed frozen as he came closer, reaching his
armor coated hand up towards me
he pulled the glove off and revealed a disgusting sight. Decaying flesh and bones were sticking out, with maggots crawling over it. He started to chuckle, reaching closer and closer towards my face.

Then, I woke up.

***
**

I sat up in my bed and pulled my knees up to my body. I was breathing heavily and felt sweat starting to roll down my face and onto my shoulders. My alarm clock was going off loudly next to me, and I could feel the scream that was caught in the back of my throat begging to be let out. I looked down at my hand and slowly let the fist ease up, and stretched my fingers. 

Some dream...

Leaning over towards my alarm clock I reached my hand out and shut it off, then turned my iPod on listening as Breaking Benjamin started to fill the room and let my mind wander away from the nightmare I had just faced. My nerves began to calm down some and by the second verse of Evil Angel, I was feeling better and
could make
myself get ready to bear the cruelness of early mornings.

I flipped my soft red comforter off of my body and let the cold morning air chill my small body, shivering as
goose bumps
started to spread over my arms and legs. Without missing a beat I turned, put my feet on the chilled wood flooring and made myself stand up as fast as I possibly could.

Pulling down the oversized plain black cotton shirt I had worn to bed, I bounced on my heels a few times before I looked back at my clock and iPod. I realized how late I had slept and started wondering why I hadn't been woken up, then figured Tom and I weren't going to school.

Inhaling deeply, I flew across the cold wooden surface towards my new walk-in closet and opened it up. Shivering one last time I jumped onto the small rug I remembered to throw down before I slept, saving my feet from anymore abuse. I pulled out a pair
of light
grey jeans and a shirt at random, then taking another deep breath I ran across the floor towards the tiny bathroom that was attached to my bedroom.

The steady beats from the bass coming out of my speakers forewarning me of the 3oh!3 song that was starting to play. It didn't take me long to get dressed as I listened to the music that flowed into the bathroom, putting me in a somewhat cheery mood. I pulled on my tight skinny jeans, smoothing them down out of habit before I pulled on my shirt. I looked at it and smiled, there was no way in hell I was passing up on a day wearing my Darth Vader T-shirt.

I pulled the chain out from under my shirt and looked at the end of it, smiling at the shining griever that hung at the bottom and then looked into the mirror. Sue me, I was  a nerd, and I could not care less. I pulled out my hair brush and started running it through my dark hair until each tangle was pulled out smoothly.