Lately I am beginning to think you are cursed
The thought crosses her mind one February morning. The winter sun hangs low in the sky, fresh snow glitters across the driveway.
Something's been happening, her youngest daughter's life riddled with a string of bad luck. One thing after another after another. It's been making her think.
She flashes back to that frightening night all those years ago. In the morning her husband had remarked that she looked a little tired—she didn't tell him what she'd seen, the thoughts that had entered her mind.
She said she just didn't sleep well, left it at that. And a few months later, ignored the prickle on the back of her neck as she unpacked the boxes and began life in their new house.
For years she'd waited, looking around corners, flinching at every sound. She'd suspected it might be a horrific accident, their car careening off the highway. Or a lightning strike straight through the ceiling. Perhaps a bear crashing through the window, mauling the whole family.
But all that time, the sun rose each day, and the birds chirped. Her family settled into mundane suburban routine. With time, she held her breath a little less and a little less. She allowed the busyness and normalcy of life to quell her anxious mind.
Eventually, she all but forgot about that premonition from all those years ago.
But lately, she can feel it again, something has shifted. It's becoming impossible to write off. She can only attribute it to one thing.
Dread begins to rise in her chest, first making her heart flutter, and then thud and thud and thud.
She can't believe it—her progeny, cursed? She should have never let her guard down. She should have never let any of those people near her daughter. She should have trusted her intuition, her instincts.
She closes her eyes, leans her head against the window, and whispers into the emptiness of the white winter air:
Lately I am beginning to think you are cursed
And I am sorry
So very sorry—
I am the one to blame
My mom moves despite the prophecy but always wonders in the back of her mind what will happen to fulfill it. In “19 Years Later,” she reflects upon my unfortunate circumstances pertaining to interpersonal conflict and realizes that the prophecy is finally coming to pass. Thus, I am The Cursed and go on to experience a decade-long series of conflicts that have left me with unresolved trauma and grief.