9
488words
“Jessie,Claire,the villa’s nearly finished.Tonight,the four of us go see our new home.”
Mrs.Harper’s tone was light-hearted.
Who’d guess she planned a murder?
Mr.Harper,calmer,checked three times the array’s compliance and cleared out workers.
Night fell.Mr.Harper drove us to the villa,in silence.
Mrs.Harper,being overly attentive,offered drinks and snacks.
Holding a drink spiked with drugs,under her eager gaze,I waited until we parked to chug it.
The drug was slow.Before it hit,I walked beside Jessica.
Spotting Ethan’s hidden,sharpened rebar by the path,I pretended to stumble from the drug’s effects,crashing into her.
She fell,her leg pierced by the rebar’s angled edge,blood gushed out.
The sedative kicked in,and I blacked out.
Mrs.Harper showed concern for Jessica’s wound.
“How unlucky,hitting rebar.I’ll grab bandages from the car.”
Mr.Harper eyed my limp body.“You’re about to die,yet you hurt my daughter again.Before we bury you,I’ll vent for her!”
He raised a prepared shovel to smash my head.
Suddenly,a shout came from behind the villa.
The Harpers froze,fearing witnesses.Ignoring Jessica’s injury,they split to investigate.
After a while,Mr.Harper said,“Just a stray dog.Thought it was a person—scared me.”
He tossed the dead dog aside,relaxing,then noticed Jessica and I were gone.
“Where’s our daughter and that wretch Claire?”
Mrs.Harper’s phone pinged with a text from Jessica:Mom,I wasn’t sure when you’d be back.Worried the sedative would wear off,I carried Claire to the coffin and sealed it.My leg hurts bad—I’m in the car treating it.
Mr.Harper sighed.“That girl is hurt,yet still handling this.We owe her.Once Claire has been sealed,we’ll let her live freely.”
They reached the prepared coffin,its lid securely nailed.
…
Jessica awoke meters underground,suffocating.
She tried pounding the coffin’s walls,but the tight space trapped her arms.She clawed with her nails,fingers soon bloody and mangled.
Mr.and Mrs.Harper shoveled dirt,sweating,filling the pit.
“Deep enough.Tomorrow,we’ll have rollers come to flatten it and plant trees.”
They cleaned the site and returned to the car for Jessica.
Opening the door,they froze,chills ran up their spines.
“Claire!Ethan!Why are you here?Where’s Jessica?”
Ethan clutched a ceramic urn,sneering,“I’m taking my mom home.”
His voice was ice.
Mrs.Harper screamed,“Claire!How are you alive?Where’s my daughter?”
I looked at them calmly,enunciating,“Your daughter was just buried by your own actions.”
They crawled back to the pit.
Jessica had stopped breathing.
…
Decades ago,as the Harpers rose,they experienced with black magic from Southeast Asian.
They used curses to eliminate business competitors,amassing wealth.
By Mr.Harper’s generation,they kidnapped rivals’kin and spouses,sacrificing them in brutal ways.
Ethan’s mother was one of the victims.
Their sins brought retribution.
Childbirth became near-impossible.Jessica,born under a curse and frail,couldn’t survive…
So they found me to extend her life.
…
I left the aftermath to Ethan.
With almost two million dollars in allowance saved from the Harpers,I moved to a new city,re-enrolled in senior year.
Having starting school early,I was only as old as my peers despite a two-year delay.
Later,I too entered the nation’s top university in the capital.
