A Cursed Blessing

Chapter 1

Sam

I began to panic as my air slowly ran out. Black spots danced around the edges of my vision as I futilely fought the pair of muscular hands holding my face under the water. I shrunk in defeat when they didn’t budge. It was no use. In that moment I was overcome by the startling realization that I was going to die. I fought to keep my eyes open, but the sting of the salt was too much. Soon my lungs began to fill with the icy cold water. I felt the sting of thousands of little barbs on my body. Soon my body just went numb. My eyes got heavy, and then everything faded to black as my world ended.

I shot up in bed, still feeling the heaviness of the water in my lungs. I tried to rub the sting of the salt out of my eyes as my best friend Kimberly groggily sat up in her bed in the apartment that we shared. Her eyes quickly became alert as she saw the state I was in. “Where?” She asked in an urgent tone.

I had trouble getting my voice to work, sure that all that would come out would be water.

Finally I was able to mutter “Orlando.”

Kimberly just nodded and  whipped into action. I watched her run around the room, gathering the suitcases and passports that we kept specifically for these moments. It was times like these that I’m glad that I told Kimberly about my “gift”.

She proceeded to flip open her $4,000 phone and prattled off instructions to the pilot of the private jet that she owned courtesy of her father.

I continued to sit there in a stupor while she finished preparing our bags with the supplies that we may need. Sometimes I thought that maybe everyone would be better off if she was the one who could do this weird voodoo thing. I mean most of the time she seemed to know what she was doing better than I did, and the fact that her family was worth billions didn’t hurt either. I forced myself to snap out of it, and quickly threw on my favorite pair of sweats and my faded Green Bay Packers T-Shirt. It was a good thing I wasn’t dressing to impress. I quickly ran my fingers through my wavy blonde hair. I sighed when it didn’t cooperate, and just threw on my red beanie. Kimberly waltzed in the room with her straight blonde hair looking perfect as always. It was easy to see why she was the one who had a different date every week.

She was struggling against the 5 bags that we always had to take. As I took 3 bags out of her hand and marched toward the door, she squeezed my hand and  used her uncanny ability to know exactly what I’m thinking.

“You’ll save them Sam. You always do.”

I nodded, and glanced down at my watch.

“We have no time to lose.”

Kimberly nodded and we practically ran out of the small apartment that was cluttered with climbing ropes and other useful items. As we made it outside and closed the door, I blinked my eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. We rushed past the mailbox, and as we hopped into Kimberly’s shiny blue Mustang, I couldn’t help but take one last look at the seemingly ordinary suburb in the small town that I’ve lived in all my life. I knew it would be a while until I set my eyes on Wisconsin again. I quickly loaded all of the  bags into the back as Kimberly started the car. As soon as I got the last bag in, I rushed to to the front, and just as I was about to get in, a familiar nasally voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Where are you girls going so early?”

I muttered under my breath as I turned around to see the wrinkly face of our cranky, nosy neighbor Irene. She had to be in her eighties, and she never had anything nice to say. Her gray hair was arranged meticulously so that not a hair was out of place. It was pulled into it’s usual neat ponytail. She seemed to expect everyone else to be as perfect. Her wispy hands were on her hips, and she had a disapproving look on her face.

I sighed inwardly and as she hobbled closer, I was startled to see that she was dragging two young, and admittingly attractive men with her. My curiosity got the better of me and I heard myself reply in a bright voice

“Well good morning to you too Irene! I see you have two new lovers today! Wow! I need some of whatever you got! What’s your secret?”

Irene rolled her eyes, but I swear that I saw the corners of her mouth twitch up, but I may have imagined it because when I blinked her ever-present scowl was on her face.

“Oh you’re so funny girly, but you still haven’t answered my question,”

I rolled my eyes, and racked my brains for some sort of answer. My train of thoughts was interrupted when a deep voice spoke up

“I’m glad you have  such a high opinion of me, but  she’s a bit old for me, not to mention that I’m not really into grandmothers, especially mine.”

I laughed, and searched for the source of the voice. My eyes landed on a medium height man on Irene’s left side.  He had short hair that was as black as night, and eyes as green as emeralds. When he smiled at me, the stubble on his chin stood out.

His smile widened when he heard my laugh, and he winked at me and said “But you on the other hand, now that would be okay with me.”

I felt a blush creep into my cheeks as he strode up to me, and kissed my hand and said “I’m Neil by the way, Neil Brooks.”

I was about to introduce myself when a muscular hand smacked Neil on the side of the head. I  looked up to find a slightly taller man that looked startlingly like Neil, he had the same green eyes and dark hair. The lone exception is that his hair was longer. It almost reached his shoulders. He seemed more reserved than Neil. He was a head taller than me, and I cursed my shortness when I was forced to look up to see that his lips were curled into a shy smile.

I took a sharp breath when he stuck out his hand and said “Sorry about my rude brother over there. He’s a bit of a flirt.”

I just grinned as Neil groaned in protest and tried his best to act innocent. I shook his outstretched hand.

Almost as an afterthought, he said “I’m Dustin, Dustin Reed.”

I smiled and he gave me a weird look. It took me a minute to realize that I had yet to tell him my name.  Well that’s embarrassing! I felt myself blush again. Ugh! What’s with these dang boys that  brings out my inner-tomato?!

Anyway, I said “Oh, sorry. My name’s Sam, Sam Greyson.”

Dustin smiled as he shook my hand, and said sweetly “It’s nice to meet you Sam.”

It was at that moment that Kimberly cleared her throat loudly, and walked up beside me. She gave me a pointed look, and only then did I remember the dire circumstances we were in. I sighed, knowing that it would never work out with my freaky superpower anyway.

I tried my best to fake a smile and said “Dustin, Neil, This is my friend Kimberly.”

They smiled at each other and nodded, and Kimberly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the car.