Cursed Blood
by Amber Grosjean

She walked through the bloody town, knowing it was her fault they were all dead. Over the years, she tried to stop the curse but nothing could be done to help her or stop it. She was on her own, so she thought. Donna looked at the bodies as she stepped over them. She found a church and decided she would rest there. She opened the door and stepped in as she looked at her watch. It was five after midnight. It was over for another year. Donna found a pew close to the front and sat down. She bowed her head and began to pray.

“Why must I suffer year after year? What have I done to make you want this for me?” Tears fell from her swollen eyes. Donna heard a loud noise outside the church doors and stood up. She was prepared to run if she had to even though there really was no reason for it. The door opened and a man walked in.

“Are you Donna Summers,” the man asked as he entered the church. A few men followed him. They all held large weapons with flashlights at the ends of them. Donna began to shake as she nodded her head. She fell into the pew, exhausted from the terror that filled the day going long into the night. The man approached her. “You have no idea how long we have been looking for you.”
“Are you my death?” she asked. “Cause if you are, I’m willing. Please take me now before I hurt another person.”

“Miss. Summers, I know you have gone through a lot. That is why we are here,” he told her as he sat down.
“I don’t know who you are but there is no way you could ever know the things I’ve been through. No one could ever know the horror. This has been going on all my life. I just want it to stop,” she said. She stood up and began to walk away. Donna had to leave. There was nothing left for her in that town any more. She knew she should’ve left when she had the chance but the woman at the hotel kept talking to her. Donna was never a rude person and if she would’ve told the woman the truth, it wouldn’t have done anything except make her look crazy. Donna knew she was most definitely sane.

“Miss. Summers, please wait. I know about the curse that haunts you,” he told her real quickly. She stopped and turned around. More tears began to fall. “I think we can help you but you have to trust us.”

“How can I trust someone I don’t even know? Besides, if you wait long enough, you’ll die too. You are better off staying away from me,” she said as she backed away.
“Please, there is a cure,” he said. That was all he had to say. She looked at him and thought maybe she could give this man a chance. The worst that could happen is that the so-called cure doesn’t work and next year her curse kills again. As she stood there, her first memory came back to her.

Donna was just a little girl when she realized something was wrong with her. Every year on her birthday, people around her died. She never knew her mother and she had no memories of her father. She was afraid of what happened to them. Did she kill them like all the others? It was her first year in school. Her foster parents moved to a small town so she could make friends easier. That year, six children had died of mysterious deaths. Donna was the only one untouched while the rest of the students were extremely sick. Five doctors looked at her and couldn’t find a single thing wrong. Donna held onto the memory as if she couldn’t let it go. Her memories were part of her evil curse, haunting her everyday of her life.

The man snapped his fingers in front of her face and took her out of the trance she was in. She was glad. Seeing the look on the children’s faces terrified her. If the town had known it was her fault, she didn’t know what she would do. Moving from town to town was all she could do to protect others from herself. “Miss. Summers, we really must leave. When we get back to the base, I would like to talk to you about what happened. You need some rest, come on,” he told her. Donna climbed into the helicopter with the man. Then she saw his badge. Jack Green, F.B.I.

Jack had been following Donna for years. Every time, he got word about where she was, he would miss her by a few days. His father was the first to do this job. He had been as close that he could still smell the rotten flesh from Donna’s victims. Jack remembered hearing the stories and felt so sorry for Donna. He knew he had to help her and promised himself he would someday. He was only fifteen years old. As the years went by, he asked his father if he could join the F.B.I. like his father so he could help people. When he graduated from the academy, he asked for this case by name. He had been on it ever since, helping his father until he had retired. “I’m sorry this is happening to you,” he finally told her.

“You’re sorry? How do you know if I don’t like doing this?” she asked him.

“I don’t know. I just do. Besides, I was able to find out who your family was and I investigated them. We can talk about it once you have rested,” he told her. She pulled her hair back behind her ear and tried to show him a smile. They arrived at the base at two in the morning. Jack showed Donna where she could shower and sleep. “Take as long as you need. There will be two officers waiting outside your door if you need anything. Don’t be afraid to ask.”

Amber Grosjean