Maria's Curse

By Jezabel González

Maria's curse is inspired in La Zokorra legend, a witch who lived two centuries ago in a town in Alava region. It's believed that she cursed the town's residents after they had humiliated and sent her off the town. According to written testimonials of that time, that lady really existed and even her address was known. However, weather the legend is read or unreal, today, while you are reading this novel, the consequences of that damnation are still being fulfilled: since then, every resident dies, two others die as well... Prepare yourself to feel the fear. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Oct 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393335818

Book preview

JEZABEL González

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MARIA’s curse

Translated by

ACHRAF TRIBAK

1

The Visit

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The alarm clock rang at half past six like every morning, but that day I felt something strange. I felt heaviness in the head and pain in the eyes as if I had been drinking until the evening the previous day. It was so strange since I barely drink. I went to the bathroom and I saw myself in the mirror, but I saw nothing strange on my face despite feeling that weird pain in the head and in the eyes. After I brushed my teeth and washed my face with cold water, I continued to feel that odd pressure in the head and the eyes. I went to the kitchen, and after I put my coffee cup in the microwave, I prepared some toasts with butter and jam, waiting for the pain to vanish after finishing breakfast. However, it did not help. So, I took a shower.

After having the shower, put on my clothes, and got ready, I left home to go to work. I got in the car, and when I put the key in the ignition, I realised that the pain had vanished. It made me happy.

I came into work at eight o’clock like the other days. After I greeted my colleagues and left my jacket and my bag at the box office, I set out to place all the newly articles which had arrived at the beauty section which I was taking care of. The day passed smoothly. When I finished my journey, I picked up my bag and my jacket, and I went back home. It was half past four when I arrived home. I went to the kitchen, I put the chicken which I had cooked the day before in the oven. Then, I went to the living room and I sat in the armchair to watch TV for some time while waiting for the chicken to get heated. The microwave´s bell alerted me that the chicken is ready. So, I went to the kitchen to bring all what I need to eat in the living room. I was really hungry, so it was great for me to eat that chicken with roasted potatoes which were left over from the day before. After having my dinner and washed the dishes, I prepared the coffee machine and I served a coffee to be drunk in the living room as I smoked a cigarette and relaxed for a while in the armchair.

My phone started to ring and when I saw the incoming call, I found out that it was my friend Ana. She was funny and kind. She was always ready to help me, and I count on her in anything which seemed interesting. I liked to spend time with her, and we liked sharing both good and bad moments. I immediately answered the phone. We started to talk about how our day was, and we made plans for the weekend. We agreed to meet on Saturday to go somewhere, have something to drink and enjoy the moment. There was nothing special; it was what were used to do when the week was over.

When I hanged the phone up, I continued to drink my coffee. After some minutes, I started to feel again the same pain in the head and in the eyes which I had had when I woke up that morning. Hence, I went to the bathroom to take a pill which would relieve me from that annoying pain. I searched in the locker over the sink till I found one. When I was walking in the hallway to the kitchen to fill the glass with water to drink the pill, I started to feel something strange in the place. The air seemed very heavy, just like when you enter a place which was not vented in many days. So, I went to the kitchen and I opened the windows, doing the same for the living room later. Then, I returned to the kitchen and took the pill with a bit of cold water. I left the glass in the sink and I returned to the living room waiting for the pain to vanish, but that did not happen. After sitting there for some time, I did not notice the change in the atmosphere which had been reigning in the place. Everything was so strange. I had no idea about what was causing that, and I started to worry. When I was sitting there wondering what was happening, I could clearly hear a female’s voice saying: Hello. I stood up and went towards the window to see who that was but there was no one outside. So, I returned to the living room and I sat in the armchair again. A couple of minutes later, I heard the same voice saying the same thing, but this time it was behind me. That made me jump out of the armchair and I turned around scarily but once again there was no one.

I started to get nervous. I toured the whole house checking if a lady had managed to come in without noticing that. However, there was absolutely no one at home. I thought it was only a hallucination. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a movie and picking up the house a bit. When the night fell, I prepared dinner. When I finished, I went to my bedroom after closing all the windows. Nothing had changed.

I continued to feel the heavy air and it seemed like I had never opened the windows. I put on the nightgown, brushed my teeth, and went to close the front door with the key to sleep. When I returned to the bedroom, right when I reached the door, I could see a lady with a ghostly look next to the bedside table. I was totally frozen. I could neither move nor say a word. I was so frightened. That lady was staring at me. She had big grey eyes and a long grey hair down. Her skin was so white, nearly bluish, that her veins could be clearly seen. She was wearing an old worn out black cape which was clear that it wasn’t bought recently. It gave the impression that it belonged to another era. As I was watching her, I still could not move. However, both the pain in the head and the eyes, and the heavy air inexplicably disappeared. Then her bluish lips moved as I heard:

− Hello!

At that very moment, I realised that it was the same voice which I had heard twice at home a couple of hours before. Paralysed and not knowing very well what to do, I plucked up courage and asked her:

− Who are you?

Seconds later, she answered:

− I’m Maria.

As soon as I heard that name, I was seized by the panic and my legs started to tremble. I knew who she was. During all the years I had been living in this town, I heard of her. During hundreds of years, and from a generation to another, local residents were speaking of a legend. It was always the same one: Maria’s Curse.

2

Maria’s story

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People say that so many years ago in this small town lived an indigent lady named Maria, who did not mess with the residents. She used to live in the street surviving thanks to the alms she received from good people who walked past her. And like this she spent her days. She used to spend the night in a house which had been abandoned so many years before and its owner was not known. The town was so small that only few families lived in it. It is said that those families, more than having a good relationship with themselves, dedicated their time in search of conflicts between the neighbours and making life impossible to each other by inventing false facts and rumours in order to confront each other. By doing so, they found reasons to provoke each other day after day without caring the least about the consequences spreading hoaxes and rumours left and right may lead to. Not all the residents were happy at Maria’s presence among them. She used to wish a good day to those who walked past her, and a happy trip to the visitors of the town, in her way to who knows where. She neither had trouble with someone nor looked for them. Her principle can be described as live and let live. She did not own great things, but she was happy. She always had a smile on her face and good words to those who dedicated some of their time to have a chat with her.

Her happiness, though she was poor, was causing envy in most people who lived here. One of them, one day, decided to spread a rumour about her. Who knows whether it was due to jealousy or boredom, but he thought it was a something funny. That person told one of his friends that someone had told him that Maria, actually, was a witch and it became a cat so that she could get into the houses and orchards to steal at will without being discovered. That friend told the issue to another person and so on. We all know how fast a rumour can be spread everywhere, especially if it is in a small town.

As days passed by, Maria started to realise that local residents walked past her mumbling over and looking at her in a strange way. But of course, she was beyond what was said at her back. She did not understand why people´s behaviour had changed. They no longer greeted her, and they did not worry about how she was doing. They stopped talking to her. Something odd was happening, but she did not know what it was, let alone what might have caused it. Days passed by and people´s attitude towards her did not change. She was watching them and wondering: What’s happening? What are the reasons behind their hostility towards me? However, as she was going over recent events, she could not find an answer to her questions. She used to repeat them in her mind every time someone walked past her, but she never found the answers. This issue started to make her worried.

Few days later, one of the neighbours went to the church very early. He found some women there. He told them:

− While I was sleeping last night, some noises coming from the orchard woke me up. I got up, took the gun and went there quietly to discover what caused them. When I walked up the door to the orchard, I could see a black cat which was eating leaves of some spinach plants. I shot and hit one of his legs, but it managed to escape, and I couldn’t hunt it even though I run after it. So, I returned to my house and I got into bed.

The women told him that he would not die of hunger just because a cat had eaten some of his spinach leaves, and that he was exaggerating a bit. He went off from there angrily and he went on telling his story to everyone he met in his way home.

Few hours later, one of the neighbours who was told the story the night before, saw Maria coming down one of the streets hobbling helping herself with a big stick to keep her body balance and avoid falling to the floor. He started running up the street with fear appearing in his face. He stumbled over her till she was about to fell down. She watched him how he was running looking at his back observing her as he was running away up the street terrifyingly. She was leaned on the wall to avoid falling down while she was wondering what had happened to that man, especially that his face looked troubled showing a grimace of fright. As she was watching how he disappeared up the street running madly, she thought: Go! I’ll find out. Stories here don’t take a long time to be told, and I will surely hear someone talking about the issue. And went on her way.

Looking upset, the man went to the parish house. When he arrived being nervous and panting, the priest told him:

− Sit down my son. Relax and tell me what’s making you be in this state?

The man asked him:

− Father, do you know what is said about Maria, the vagabond?

And the priest answered him:

− Sure, how can I ignore it! Every gossip in here spreads like a gunpowder.

The man looked at him with opened eyes and shocked face. Then he told him:

− It is true!

Surprised, the priest looked at him and asked:

− How come? Let’s see, explain to me what made you read this conclusion?

Then the man said:

− Last night, the blacksmith heard the noise coming from his orchard. He went to check what was that holding his gun. In the middle of the shadow, he could see a black cat eating the leaves of his spinaches. So, he shot it and hurt one of his legs, but it managed to escape.

− Is that making you so scared? And what does this have to do with Maria?

The man stared at the priest and stood up saying:

− Maria is crippled. I have just seen her down the street hobbling and helping herself with a stick as she walked.

Glum, worried, and thoughtful, the priest sat down. Seconds later, after a total silence, he walked towards the man and told him:

− Inform the neighbours. Tell them all to go to the church at five o’clock this afternoon. Be discreet! I don’t want Maria to know – grabbing him from the shoulders and pressed him – Let’s go, run, don’t waste more time!

The man went running immediately. He began to inform everyone he found in the street about the priest’s message. When he finished informing everyone, except Maria, he went home to eat and wait for the time of the meeting which was scheduled for 5 p.m. in the church.

At five o’clock, the meeting started. There were all the residents. No one was missing. They hardly ever met due to the clashed between each other. But that day no one missed the meeting. They were all sitting in the church benches in front of the priest. However, they were divided by families, the one after the other without they greet or