The Requiem of Misery [Standalone]

Chapter 1

"Why did the old bat keep this around if she said it was cursed?" Maisie Summerton mumbled to herself, picking up the small, rectangular box. "She should have just thrown it in a river or something."

Pinching the corner of its wooden lid with her thumb and forefinger, she would have been tempted to open it if she hadn't heard the stories surrounding it. Compared to the old, grandfather clock that now sat in the living room, the heirloom sitting in her palm didn't seem sinister at all. In her hands, the object, whatever it was, must be light. How could something as tiny as this be dangerous? Maisie didn't see any shadows or weird energy radiating from it, but according to her late grandmother, the object in the box was cursed and should never be touched.

She set it back down again. Her mom had placed it on top of a kitchen cabinet to keep it away from her younger siblings. Kara had already tried opening it once yesterday, which had freaked their mom out, which caused them to panic in return. Despite her mom ensuring them that it was safe to keep in the house, she sure did act funny about it.

While none of the Summerton family believed in cursed objects, they weren't taking any chances. Their Dad had already made it clear that he would get rid of the box after work today, and the three siblings promised their parents they would stay away from it in the meantime.

But Maisie had to pick it up just once. Just once to see what the big deal was about.

"Of course, it was nothing. Just a scary story," she told herself as she hopped off of the counter. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she cursed under hear breath as she looked at the time. "Crap, I'm going to be late!" Maisie ran out the backdoor and hopped inside her old green car before sticking the key in the ignition.

Not that she cared about being tardy. There were only a few weeks left of school, and Maisie was a senior. All of her exams had come and gone. In fact, if she wasn't so close to being flunked for poor attendance, she would have ditched altogether. After all, she had a good excuse to miss anyways. Grief was always a good excuse to be absent. Unfortunately, her grandfather's funeral was scheduled for the weekend. Not to mention that her family had been estranged from him. According to her mom, there was no reason for Maisie to miss school to grieve over someone she had only seen twice.

She mulled it all over as she made her way down the Arkansas backroads. The other day, they had made the short drive to Harpfield for the reading of the old man's will, which was completely unnecessary considering that her family consisted of the attendees. It was in the lawyer's office that her mom was handed the mahogany box, and she had never seen the woman's face pale so quickly.

Her grandmother really had struck fear into her poor mom 's heart. Not that Maisie could blame her mom for being so scared. The story of the curse, one only brings death, wasn't for the faint of heart. Even she had shivered when she first heard it, but that was when she was ten. An eighteen-year-old like herself wasn't so afraid of dumb stories like that. Most likely, her grandmother didn't want her mom breaking the valuable in the box. To go that far to protect the item, the old lady must have greatly cherished it.

Maisie walked through the glass doors, and the biting, familiar scent of floor cleaner hit her nose. Considering how fresh it was, there must have been a fight... and it was most likely a bloody one. Calvorn High School didn't have enough staff to constantly monitor the halls, and with graduation day nearing, everyone was going stir crazy. So, it was no surprise that some of the senior boys were taking their frustrations out on the lower classmen. Larson seemed to be going through a list of them. Just yesterday, Maisie had caught a glimpse of him pummeling one of the sophomores.

She stopped at a vending machine before making her way to homeroom. In her rush, she had forgotten to grab a bottle of water. So, she pushed the metal coins in the slot, which landed inside with a clunk noise, before pressing the button for water. Just as she reached down to grab the drink, she was slammed into the machine.