The curse of the McFarland's

Short Story (Finished)

On March the 25th 1977, a man by the name of Stephen McFarland was at home with his wife Elizabeth McFarland and his five kids, Donald, Ellie, Agnes, Terry and the youngest Harold McFarland. Stephen was in his office when he heard a loud *CLAP* he rushed downstairs just to see his wife reading a story to their kids. Elizabeth asked "Are you okay Honey?". He looked at her and said "Yes I am, I just thought I heard a loud noise.". She told him to go to bed because he's been sick the past few weeks. Every night he would hear at least five claps, getting louder and louder every time.

"CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP"

The next day, Stephen past away. No one ever knew what happened, all they knew is that he didn't die of natural causes, he was murdered. There was a note that someone left behind that said D,E,A,T,H on it.

Elizabeth, still grieving over the loss of her husband went to a local diner. She would order her usual, a small black coffee. The waitress noticed that something was wrong with her. "Are you okay sweetie? I wouldn't want y'all passin out on me!" said the waitress in her deep southern accent. Elizabeth looked up then looked back down at her coffee; she took a sip then walked out the door. Two months later Elizabeth was homeless and sick with her five kids.

She would spend every night at a different relative's house. She would go to different houses every night and day because, every morning she would find their bodies just laying on their beds with the same note D,E,A,T,H. One night Elizabeth was about to fall asleep until she heard a noise.

"CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP"

She couldn't fall asleep so she went for a walk. She found a newspaper on a bench that said that was headlined « The mass death of New York ». She kept on reading until she found out that the only people that were murder were only McFarland's. They all had the same notes on their cold, dead bodies, D,E,A,T,H.

Elizabeth was a theorist, she would come up with the craziest stories and try to prove them to be real. She didn't know what to start with. She was walking back when she heard a scream come from the house of Stephen's younger sister, the house that her and her kids were staying in. Elizabeth walked slowly into the house, then up the stairs and around the corner she saw her kids dragging the body into the master bedroom. Elizabeth was in awe of what she was witnessing.

She listened in for a few more minutes then she saw them wright the first letter of their names on a paper in a certain order. Oldest to youngest.

D for Donald

E for Ellie

A for Agnes

T for Terry

H for Harold.

She figured out that the notes didn't say Death it was saying D,E,A,T,H the first initials of her kids names. She was so scared of what she was witnessing that she screamed then ran outside. Her children ran after her, but they lost her in the thick brush in the nearby forests.

She realised that every day she would wake up to a corpse after hearing;

"CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP"

the night before. She wanted to leave the city but she couldn't because those were still her kids. The next day, she went to the cemetery where her husband's body laid rest. While paying her respects she felt someone tap on her shoulder, so she turned around and there was her husband's spirit holding his hand out to her. He said to her "Return their spirits to the devil that created them". She didn't understand at first until met the local priest she told him what her husband said and the priest said to Elizabeth "His spirit is telling you to return your kids to who created them.".

Learning that her kids spirits were stained with the touch of the devil meant that she would need to either hide her kids or kill them. That night she heard;

"CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP" "CLAP"

over and over again this time it never seemed to stop. Her kids were at the foot of her bed wielding a knife to her heart. They all said in unison "ORDER MUST BE RESTORED". They jammed the knife into her heart killing her but their hearts were only tampered by the devil. When they kill Elizabeth, their mother, the last McFarland alive, they all just collapsed and their spirits where reclaimed by god.

Several years later the police never found out the mystery about what happened to the McFarland's. But historian and theorist Thomas Greene decided to dedicate his life to uncovering the curse of the McFarlands.

Legend has it that if you pass by the historic McFarland household at the crack of dawn you can still hear the screams of the entire McFarland clan.