Reaper - The Curse

|Twenty-eight|

1894

Jed slept for 24 hours straight after being returned to his body in the world of the living. When he finally left the basement, he found Catherine in tears on the couch in the living room. Her son was sleeping peacefully in the bassinet that his father crafted for him. She avoided Jed. She carried her sleeping child in his bed into her bedroom.

Jed poured water into a cup and sat at the kitchen table. He would give her time to raise her son, just enough time before he told her what he had been through. Before he told her, he was responsible for her husband's death.

***

1904

Catherine finished milking the cows and returned towards the house with the full pale. The house was quiet when she entered. Typically, Daniel, her son, was studying in his bedroom. However, today something was off. Catherine had a nervous feeling in her gut. She put the milk on the counter and crept down the hall to her son's bedroom door.

There was whispering, but it wasn't coming from Daniel's room. She took two more steps and stood outside of Jed's door to listen in on the conversation.

"... not on purpose. I'm a bad guy but... your father was a good guy... I'll tell your mother... don't let it bring you down, boy."

Catherine recognized Jed's soulless tone. She shifted her position to see her son staring up in awe at his rambling uncle.

"I think that's enough for today, get back to your studies or go clean your room, Daniel." She pushed into the room and commanded her son. Her eyes narrowed in on Jed's face.

"Yes, mother."

"Come on, Cat, there's no need to get upset. We weren't sharing secrets or talking badly about you. I promise." Jed winked at Daniel, and he skipped out of the room with a radiant smile upon his face. Jed stood from the milking bench he was using as a chair when he spoke to his nephew. "What's the problem?" He met her glare with his lips slightly raised and a crazed look in his eyes.

Catherine lunged at him and pinned him to the bedroom wall, "The problem is you. Talking to my son about all your garbage experiences. He doesn't need you polluting his brain with your takes of murder and drunkenness."

Jed wiped his face where drops of saliva had sprayed during her speech, "I'm the reason your husband is dead, Cat."

She released his shirt from her clenched fist and shook her head. Her eyes overflowed with tears; she covered her face and wiped the tears away. "That's impossible, Jed. You're just a crazy man, babbling all of your cockamamie. Are you trying to hurt me?"

Jed's lips curled up into a yellow-toothed grin, "That's just a perk, my dear Catherine." He walked to her and looked her in the eye for the half-second. She allowed it, "Honestly, I hadn't planned for it to happen."

He caressed her shoulder and felt her wriggle beneath his touch. It excited him to see her squirm now that she knew he was responsible for Daniel's death. A disgusted look was plastered across her face. Her distaste for him gave him a thrill he had never experienced before.

Jed leaned his face to her ear and spoke in a hushed tone, "The devil made me do it, sweetheart."