Turning and tossing in bed seemed to mark her nights daily since Harmony Parker turned eighteen. When she eventually falls asleep, she was pulled down into a steep, pitch-black pit of an eerie, unfamiliar realm that called to her as though it was her home.
"Mother, the dreams would not stop." She confessed, her eyes swollen from lack of sleep, to her mother in the morning. Terry Parker is a strong-willed woman who braved the harsh reality of their world to raise her only child.
Terry wiped her wet hands on the dishtowel and walked towards Harmony, pulling the sleep-deprived girl into her bosom. Harmony held her tightly, taking comfort in her arms.
"My dear child, I am powerless against this thing that wants your attention. That's the same way it came after my sister and we lost her."
Harmony tipped back her head a little to gaze at her mother. "I won't let it take you too!" Terry vowed fiercely.
"I just wish it would stop or the images become clear so I can see what it is." Harmony said warily, looking defeated.
Terry smiled, admitting to herself that her only daughter was a brave, young lady. "I hope it does. In the meantime, I want you to cheer up! Let's go shopping at the mall. That should take your mind off this thing."
Harmony's eyes glinted in excitement. "If you promise to buy me that strapless, purple gown I showed you last week for my birthday."
"What? No way." Terry said with a look of horror. "A decent girl such as yourself should not wear such clothing."
Harmony removed herself from her mother's arms and walked away mumbling. "It's what the cool girls wear these days…"
"Still, nice try," Terry called after her, shaking her head in amusement.
Her face turned grim as she remembered her beloved elder sister, Pattie Parker, who was filled with joie de vivre before the darkness that plagued their family line 'swallowed' her up.
Terry remembered Pattie was lively and laughed easily. Before she turned 18, Pattie would wake her up sometimes and they would sneak out through their bedroom window, attend parties, tease the young boys in town and sneak back into the house without their parents' knowledge.
After her 18th birthday, Pattie would scream night after night from a series of nightmares. She withdrew into herself despite the therapy sessions and loving care of her family. Terry was always by her side and comforted her the best way she knew.
The therapist could never figure out what was wrong with Pattie. Terry was her confidant. Pattie always whispered in a gloomy voice, "It said 'you will pay for what you did to my blood'." Pattie would start to sob, rocking her pillow and say repeatedly, "But I did nothing wrong."
The night before her 19th birthday, Pattie slept all through the night without the usual screams. Terry woke up happy, ran into Pattie's room to wake her up only to see her sister, pale and cold with her eyes wide open in terror and unblinking. Pattie had passed away in the night. Terry was inconsolable.
"Mother?" Harmony shook her from her grim thoughts, a worried look on her young face. "You are not dressed yet?"
"Oh. I'm sorry, Sweety. Give me two minutes and we can be on our way."
That night, as Harmony climbed into bed and Terry kissed her good night, her heart would not stop racing. She had a sense of foreboding that it was going to be a different night.
Harmony stayed awake for as long as she could before a deep sleep pulled her in…back to the eerie, pitch-black realm that she'd become familiar with. Harmony saw she was still in bed. Then a deep hole, like a sinkhole, appeared directly under her bed.
Her eyes widened in shock and fear. Her dream had taken a different turn that night. She was unable to move from the bed nor call out for help like her larynx would not work. She peeped down the deep, dark hole. The dark depth appeared endless. Suddenly, a creature crouched on all fours as a lioness appeared.
The creature hovered in the dark space of the hole. Its head tilted slowly to one side to lock dark eyes with Harmony. In the grip of the eye contact, Harmony trembled in fear.
She instinctively knew she could talk. "Who are you? What do you want?" She asked.
The creature rose slowly through the hole and climbed into her room. Harmony realized it was a big jaguar and it took up the entire space in her room. Harmony struggled as her bed shook to free herself from the invisible hold.
The jaguar roared. "Cease to struggle, child. I have come to collect what your ancestors took from me. You will pay for what you did to my blood."
"P-Please! Please, I don't understand. I did not hurt anyone."
The jaguar laughed strangely. "Your ancestors did and so you did. Blood never lies. I was a mother once. Your mother of old cast a strange spell to raise her dead daughter. I warned her it would backfire because the dead should stay dead. But she did it anyway and my daughter was affected. My lovely Roselyn died." Its voice became mournful.
"I vowed I will haunt every of her first female daughters with witch powers in their blood until my desire is assuaged. But you are a strange one…none of your sisters before you have survived this long to look upon my form."
The jaguar growled, the sound deep and eerie, and drew its face closer to Harmony. Her bedsheet was soaked wet with sweat but she did not shut her eyes in fear.
"Please, this event happened a long time ago. I am innocent of it and so are my blood sisters before me."
The jaguar narrowed its eyes and snapped its teeth at her. "Be silent, child. What do you know about innocence? My Roselyn was innocent yet death took her away through your blood mother of old."
Harmony could not stop the tears from running down her face, not in fear but in deep mourning for what this jaguar had lost centuries ago. The jaguar sniffed her. "I scent bravery and compassion in you, child. Why do you mourn for me? Do you not fear me and what I can do?"
"Yes, I am so scared but I am also sorry for your loss. I wish you did not lose your child. Sometimes accidents happen and we have to forgive and move on."
"Hmm. Forgive and move on?"
"Yes." Harmony answered quickly, hoping she could get through to the jaguar. "For all the lives of my past blood sisters, has your Roselyn not been avenged yet? How much more lives do you want to take?"
"Such wise words from a young, pure soul. But you are mistaken. I do not take their lives. I sought to be heard before I took their lives but none were brave enough to glimpse my face!"
Harmony sniffed and nodded. "I have heard you and believe you. Would you take my life in exchange for your Roselyn's? Let this vendetta end with me, right here. Let my bloodline continue in peace."
The jaguar roared such that the house shook. Harmony watched as her mother barged into her room, fear written all over her face. The jaguar turned at the same time to look at her. At the sight of the jaguar, Terry screamed and passed out on the floor.
The jaguar rumbled and faced Harmony. "You make such a sacrifice for your bloodline and I know your mother would mourn you like I mourn my Roselyn. I will set you free if you make an oath to tell your descendants my story. I want to live on in your bloodline."
Harmony shook her head vigorously in relief, more tears pouring down her cheek. "Yes! Yes. You have my oath. It will be so."
The jaguar moved close to the deep hole but gave Harmony one last look. "Thank you, child. You have just set me free."
Then the jaguar vanished as the deep hole closed up instantly and the room reset itself back to its former state like nothing otherworldly just took place there.
Harmony climbed out of her bed, still shaking, to wake her mother.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story. It is inspired by the 13th prompt in the 50 Story Ideas which says - Something sinister is passed down through the generations in a family, and everyone is powerless to stop it.
