The wind rattled the door, forcing me back into the corner. I’d slammed it only minutes before after running two blocks home from the corner store. No one had followed me, I was sure of it, but you never can tell.
The song was right, paranoia may destroy you. I laughed at my silliness and strode over to the front door, unlocking it and screaming at the wind. “I’m not afraid anymore.”
There, I’d done it, announced to my new neighbors that I was officially insane. Well, they never really said I was insane, but I knew the cops in Pinewood called me crazy behind my back.
I peaked out the blinds and saw my neighbor across the street standing in her doorway shaking her head. Yes, they knew I was crazy now. I couldn’t stand the fear the followed me everywhere. Christmas music may not be right for the season, but I put on my favorite Christmas CD and blasted the noise through my small house. The sound could probably be heard at my neighbor’s kitchen tables but I didn’t care. I needed happy and light.
At two in the morning I finally turned down the music and fell asleep on the couch. Eventually I would have the courage to sleep in my room, just not yet.
***
The next morning as I left my house for work, my neighbor called out to me.
“Hey, wait up.”
I paused, unsure if I should start building relationships here, I doubted I would stay for more than a few months.
“I’m Nate Summers, your neighbor. I was wondering if you’d like to get together for dinner tonight. Antonio’s is right down the road. We could walk over there together after work.”
“I don’t know. I’m...”
“What, not going to eat. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Okay, but I’ve told you my name. It’s not fair if you don’t tell me yours.”
“Makita Reyand.”
“It’s just dinner Makita. I promise you won’t be disappointed with Antonio’s food.”
“Sure. I’ll go to dinner with you. I do need to eat.”
Nate said goodbye to me at the library. I watched as he walked on. He seemed nice and his butt was well formed. Great, just what I needed, another distraction to keep me from fighting off the enemy. They were out there and would attack once they found my new home. I had six months tops, less if they figured out my patterns for moving.
***
Nate range my doorbell at two minutes till six. He got points for punctuality. I liked him already.
I smiled up at him. Tonight, fear wouldn’t be my companion. They couldn’t have found me yet. I was still safe.
That feeling of wellbeing lasted for one block. Then a car careened out of control and hopped the curb. Nate grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way. We rolled onto the leaf covered grass, coming to a stop with me on top. His arms held me tight, his legs intertwined with mine. This position would have been perfect if we wouldn’t have just almost been killed.
“Are you alright?” Nate’s brow bunched together. I smiled down at him. I was used to this kind of thing but it was nice to see his concern.
“I’m fine. Just a few bumps and bruises from the fall.”
“I guess we should get up.”
“Do you think anyone noticed what happened,” I asked.
“Only those fifteen people running this way.”
“Great.”
“It could be worse.”
“Yeah, we could have landed apart and I wouldn’t be on top of you.”
Nate cocked an eyebrow and I laughed. “I’m only joking, although you do have a nice body.”
“Thanks. You do know that this position is not something I planed for us to be sharing on our first date.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I rolled off of Nate and stood with the help of one of the crowd gathered around us. They asked questions, wanted to know if they should call an ambulance and were an overall helpful group, not at all like the last few weeks in Pineview.
Nate held my hand the rest of the way to the restaurant. I guess being prone and plastered to each other had helped us get over that first leap of intimacy.
We dined on pasta and meatballs. I laughed at Nate’s jokes, he was a funny one. The night was perfect until a high wind blew through town and a tree crashed through the front window.
I had felt it coming at me. I guess they found me. The car hadn’t been a coincident. I should have known that this close to Halloween would I would have been easy to find.
“Oh my God! That was crazy. Makita, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. No problems, no injuries.”
“That is so weird. I guess we’re done with dinner.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
My mood had plummeted. Not only had they found me, they were really playing dirty. Yes, Halloween was tomorrow, but I didn’t have any prospects. Okay, so I was out with Nate, but this wasn’t even a real date. He wouldn’t propose to me by tomorrow evening and break the curse. The Remington family had nothing to worry about. No man would even think of loving me after they got the ‘treatment’ my enemies put them through.
“Come on, let me walk you home.”
“I don’t know. I think I should walk by my self.”
Nate’s face fell. She hated it when they got that dejected look.
“Oh God, I should have told you.” Nate said. “I’m like a magnet for this kind of stuff. It happens all the time to me. I understand if you don’t to see me again.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean this type of stuff happens to you all the time?”
“I really don’t want to get into this.”
Sirens wailed outside of the restaurant and two cops stepped through the broken window.
“Everyone okay in here? Oh, Nate. Funny to find you here,” the first cop said.
“We should go. It won’t get much better after this.”
I followed Nate out of the wrecked building and into the crowd outside. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Nate thought all of this was his fault and that cop had treated Nate the same way the cops in Pineview had treated me.
I grabbed Nate’s arm and forced him to look at me. My heart broke at his look. “Listen Nate, maybe we should--“
“I know what you’re going to say. I understand if you don’t want to see me again.”
“No, that’s not at all what I was going to say. I think we should go out tomorrow night. Like maybe we should get some dinner separately, like I’ll pick up a salad and you can get some pizza and we can sit in the park and eat.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There’s not time to explain it now. We need to go our separate ways before something else happens. Meet me at six at the big pavilion at Celebration Park.”
“Makita, I don’t understand.”
“Just be there.”
***
I rushed home and started researching curses. There weren’t many that were activated the way mine was. My enemy had set it up so I could never enjoy a date with someone I was really interested in. Disaster followed me everywhere I went if I was in a serious relationship. The last guy I had dated almost died because of the curse. Of course I couldn’t be harmed which meant I had to suffer with the loss of a loved one if something catastrophic happened. The only way to break the curse was to have a man declared his undying love to me on Halloween night before midnight. Of course once I hit thirty, all bets were off. The protection charm was gone and I could be killed at any moment. I wondered how old Nate was, probably twenty nine.
Oh man, he could possibly be in his last year of protection. If he didn’t have someone confess their love for him tomorrow then he was dead man walking.
It couldn’t be faked either. If I told him I loved him and I was lying, then the curse master would know.
Normally I would never Google a man I was dating, but this was a desperate circumstance. Two hours later and one hundred dollars poorer, I couldn’t find anything horribly wrong with Nate Summers. He seemed like a perfectly nice man. The kind of guy who wasn’t a homicidal maniac. But could I love him and could I make him love me.
Dinner had been perfect until the tree had taken out the front half of the restaurant. His body had felt nice underneath mine. I could not believe I was even contemplating falling in love with him.
***
The next morning came too quickly. I hurried my morning routine, hoping to make it out of the house to walk with Nate. No such luck, he wasn’t anywhere in sight.
Every library patron that crossed my path received a question about Nate. Most people thought him to be nice but disaster prone. Just like me.
At five-thirty I shut down my computer and headed over to the restaurant across the street from Antonio’s. I felt bad about the front window, but I might be able to stop the curse that haunted Nate and if I had any amount of luck left in my life, I might be rid of my curse too.
Nate was a no show at the park. I was five minutes early so I thought I would cut him some slack. Ten minutes later I knew I’d been stood up. Going home held no appeal, so I opened my salad and bowed my head to pray. I heard someone running behind me and I swiveled around to see Nate with a big smile on his face. My heart sped up and I wanted to cry. He’d come. I jumped to my feet as he placed the pizza on the table. His arms were wrapped around my waist before I could say anything. His lips sought out mine. I moaned when his tongue licked at my lips, enticing me to take the kiss deeper. After a passionate kiss that blew my socks off, Nate pulled away and searched my face. I smiled, wanting to reassure him about my intentions.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine.”
“I had to pick up something.”
“Really, it’s fine. I’m glad you made it.”
“I don’t want you to think that I’m some scum bucket.”
“I don’t.” To prove my point, I reached up and kissed him.
I sat next to him as we ate. Talking about our pasts and what we wanted from the future. I think Nate knew how important this date was. No attacks had happened tonight. It was Halloween and we were given that one night each year to win the love of another. Of course Halloween wasn’t the most romantic night of the year and few people stuck around after having trees tossed at them. I knew from experience that almost no one wanted to be saddled with a destruction magnet on Halloween night. There were already too many weird things that happened, who wanted to worry about the chaos that followed those love cursed few.
The night had stayed warm, and I lost track of time and was surprised to look down and see that it was one minute until midnight. I had to say it now. Nate couldn’t ask me to declare it. But did I really love him? My head ached and sweat poured off of my forehead.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
“Yes.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to go home.”
“No Nate. I have something to say. Oh God, I hope I don’t mess this up, but I love you.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I love you.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Even with the tree and the car?”
“Yes, I love you.”
“Makita, I love you.”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me like he wasn’t going to ravish me on the table top. I pulled back a little bit and concern masked his face.
“You really did mean it?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You know what this means?”
“We’re both free from our curses.”
“Both?”
“Both.”
Nate led me back home, and kissed me on the cheek. He pulled me into a great bear hug and smoothed my hair away from my face.
“We can go out on a real date tomorrow.”
“You mean without being shot at, or having someone throw a knife at us during dinner?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
The curse was broken, my paranoia gone. I locked the door behind me and stripped on my way to the bedroom. I pulled on a comfy pair of shorts and a t-shirt. My eyes were closed before my head hit the pillow. I could sleep without interruption tonight.
Someone pounded on the front door and I jumped. Oh no, the curse hadn’t been broken. The pounding kept going and I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t’. The trek to my front door seemed to take an eternity. I peeked outside the blinds and saw Nate standing on the porch. I swung open the door, afraid of what he was going to say.
“I had to come over again and see if it was true. You really do love me?”
“Yes, Nate.”
I pulled him into my house and locked the door behind him. I understood how he felt. The curse was finally broken for both of us. We’d found someone to love. Now, I just had to prove it to Nate.
