Chapter 7
Savannah's POV
I was still not convinced that it was just a dream. It felt so real and surreal at the same time. The desperation in the woman’s voice, the curse seemed so real. I knew it couldn’t have been real. Hell, I didn’t even believe in the supernatural world 48 hours ago. I shook my head to get rid of these thoughts and concentrated on our trip. After breakfast the receptionist suggested visiting the Salem Witch Museum. She said we can learn something new from the exhibits.
“Are you excited?”
“Of course I’m excited, Maddie. Maybe somebody else shares my opinions.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
Looking closer I noticed that Maddie was a bit nervous. Maybe I scared her when I was dreaming, but she seemed okay. I wanted to ask her, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to ruin our day. We reached the museum soon. After we paid for the tickets we went inside. I was in awe. So many pictures and documents. Our tour guide was really sweet and she knew what she was doing. She answered every single one of our questions. At the end of the tour she asked what our thoughts were about the witch trials. She seemed genuinely curious. Nobody answered at first, but I decided to share my opinion.
“I think it’s not true.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because of the church and politics. There’s no way that those people were witches. They just wanted to prove a point so desperately that they didn’t care about anything else. I mean, witches were associated with the Devil. The biggest sin and opposite of God.”
“Hmm…interesting. I see where you’re coming from. Forget about the church and beliefs. What if someone saw something that cannot be explained rationally?”
“I don’t know. Fortune-telling has been practiced way before that and most of those predictions weren’t true. Apart from that I can’t imagine anything else.”
“What about curses?”
“That’s something I cannot decide. There are events in history where people were cursed and sometimes we do it nowadays, but I don’t think they actually become true. It’d mean that everybody on this planet was cursed by someone else.”
“You don’t really believe in the supernatural, do you?”
“Honestly, not really. Recently something changed my mind, but I still don’t believe in witches, vampires and whatnot.”
“I think you should be more open-minded, child.” - a woman said as she came towards us.
“I’m Dorothea Collins, but call me Dorothea, please.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Savannah. What do you mean by being open-minded?”
“There are things that cannot be explained. Sometimes the explanation is simple, we just have to believe. I’ve been living in Salem for 86 years. I was born here and I saw some things that cannot be explained without sounding insane.”
“What kinds of things?”
“I can show you if you come with me.”
“Okay. I’ll come, that’s why we’re here today.”
“Excellent! Let’s meet after lunch in front of the museum. I need to take care of something here first.”
“Sure. We’ll meet you there.”
Dorothea seemed like a sweet woman. She said she’s 86, but she looks like she’s in her early 70s. I was curious about what she wanted to show so I agreed. I have nothing to lose by going with her. After we left the museum I took a glance at Maddie. She didn’t look so good. She was too pale for my liking and she was sweating.
“What’s wrong? You look so pale.”
“I don’t know. I’m not feeling well. I think I’ll go back and try to sleep this off.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No need for that. Dorothea wants to show you something.”
“I can cancel.”
“Don’t! This is your day and I don’t want to ruin it.”
“Fine, but I’m dropping you off and I’ll ask the receptionist to check on you while I’m gone.”
After I dropped Maddie off and talked to the receptionist I went back to the museum and while I was waiting for Dorothea I ate a sandwich. After about fifteen minutes she came outside.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“We’re visiting one of the families who’ve been living here since the witch trials.”
“What can they show me?”
“You’ll see. I can tell you if you want, but I don’t think you’ll believe me.”
“Please tell me, maybe I’ll believe it.”
“That family is cursed. The men never live past 35 no matter what they do. They tried to end their bloodline a long time ago, but somehow the women always ended up pregnant. The cause of death is always suffocation. Another thing is that they cannot leave Salem without getting extremely sick. Once they came back the sickness disappeared. Every single time.”
“This sounds like something psychological.”
“See child? I told you that you won’t believe it unless you see it with your own eyes.”
“Studies have shown that sometimes people just make themselves believe in things, until their bodies start believing it too and the symptoms surface.”
“I know, but this is not the case here. They have a journal from the time of the witch trials. They’ll show you if I ask them to. That journal is one of their most prized possessions.”
“I don’t know Dorothea. This sounds surreal.”
“I know child, but you have to have faith and an open mind. Once you start believing from the bottom of your heart the world will expand. You have a bright future ahead of you. I might not see it, but your ancestors will be proud of you.”
I had no idea what she meant by that. I think she just wanted to encourage me, but I had a gut feeling she meant more than just a simple encouragement. I was thinking about what she said until we arrived at a house. Dorothea knocked on the door and a man around 30 opened it.
“Mrs. Collins, how can I help?”
“We need to talk about the curse and the family journal. I have a sweet woman with me who’s hard to convince that the supernatural world exists. Showing her the journal might help.”
“Come in then. We owe you that’s why I’ll pay you back by showing her the journal.”
The man was rather hostile towards Dorothea. I was wondering what happened between them. She was such a sweet old woman.
“Why is he so mad at you?”
“Old family issues. They need my help desperately and in exchange I can ask anything from them and they have to do it.”
“So you wasted that on me?”
“Trust me child, you need this more. I have my benefit from this too, don’t worry.”
“What do you want to know?” - the man asked me rather rudely.
“I’d talk nicely Jeremy. You might thank me for this advice later.”
“You should just appreciate that I’m doing this. It’s not like I have a choice, but still.”
“I warned you and you’ll be the one that’ll have to bear the consequences.”
“Don’t threaten me Dorothea. We had a deal. You help us find the person we need and you can ask for anything. That’s all. You haven’t asked for anything in the past 70 years. You wasted that on this woman.”
“I didn’t waste it and when you realize it you’ll thank me.”
“She’s just another woman from a city or town who thinks that she knows everything.”
“Look, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. You have problems with Dorothea, not me. I’d appreciate it if you left me alone or be less hostile.”
“Whatever. Let’s get this over with. We’re going on a ride.”