Short Stories

The Cursed Castle of Cassa

The sky's getting dark. I should get inside as soon as I can. I think to myself as I walk down the long driveway. The wind is picking up and the crisp autumn leaves are being blown off the trees. It's a beautiful sight, really. As I inch farther down the path, a dark metal gate becomes visible. I must be in the right place, I think as I approach the castle. The stone building is definitely old, but it still looks amazing. The front door of the castle swings open and a woman in a dark dress steps out onto the yard.

"Ma'am? Are you Cassa Wynn?" She starts to walk towards the gate, and closer to me. She looks surprisingly young. The woman I imagined would be living in this house was older, and maybe even crazy... But that isn't this woman. She looks to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She can't be much older than that. And for the crazy part, she doesn't seem crazy.. But you never know.

"Who's asking?" She replies, seeming a bit worried.

"Oh. Sorry, my name is Lilith. I work for The Gazette in town. Mr. Gale said he wanted me to come interview you about what happened here a couple years ago. It's for our Halloween paper." Complete excitement seemed to replace the worry on her face.

"Yes! Yes, of course. Come in, come in! I would love to tell you the story." Cassa lifts the latch on the gate and opens it, allowing me to go in. As I walk through the gate a splash of water hits me on the nose. "Oh dear, It's starting to rain." Cassa says with a sigh. "Come, dear Lilith, let's go inside."

I follow her up to the large red doors and when she opens them I can't believe my eyes. A grand staircase leading to the highest tower is in the middle of the room. For a castle, it seems pretty small. But compared to the homes of other people, it's huge. This isn't how I expected it to be at all. The windows are large and round at the tops, some of them are covered completely by dark red drapes, while the others have the drapes pulled to the side.

Cassa notices me staring and says quietly, "Beautiful, I know. When I first came here I thought this place was the best thing I had ever seen." She sounded slightly sad, but she shook her head and got back to what we were supposed to be doing. "Up there is the study. We can talk there." Cassa motions to the stairs. So that's what's in the tower. I think to myself. I never would have guessed that.

We head up the large staircase and finally, we reach the study. The fireplace is going, and the candles on the shelves are lit as if she had been up here before my arrival. Two brown armchairs are sitting in front of the fire. Bookshelves line the side of the room. If I lived here I would spend most of my time in this room, I immediately think. She motions for me to sit on the chair to the left of hers, so I do.

"Lilith, may I offer you a drink?" She asks politely. I didn't want to be rude, so I nod. She smiles and walks back down the stairs to the kitchen. While I wait I pull my notebook and my pen out of my bag. Right as I'm about to get up and look out the window, Cassa walks back in carrying two glasses of water.

"Thank you." I say as she hands me the glass. I'm not really thirsty, so I just set it on the little table next to me.

"Okay, are you ready to hear the story?" She sits down and smoothes out her dress. I simply nod my head, and sit up so I can write down what she says. "So, the locals like to believe that a murderer lurks around this place just waiting for someone to walk by, but I assure you that is not true. You see, this castle has a curse."

"A curse...?" I ask out of utter confusion. Surely this woman doesn't believe in curses... right?

"Yes. A curse." She clears her throat and continues. "In a way, the castle has a mind of it's own. Every ten years it traps a new woman so she can care for it. It even provides the magic dust so the woman can poison her replacement. When the replacement wakes up, she always finds that she has metal cuffs on her wrists and the plaque on the outside of the castle says her name. However, the past couple decades, the metal cuffs were switched to small metal bracelets, since cuffs are 'out of fashion.'" I pick up the glass of water and take a sip. Cassa does the same.