Through the Rainbow: Prologue

The soft ting of the chimes against the antique door signaled the first customer of the day. Miss Caroline wiped her soapy hands on her apron and pushed through the beaded curtain with a forced smile. Her shop was small but did good business between tourists looking for vodoun trinkets and her loyal group of regulars. During Mardi Gras, she also sold the beads that were so popular, so today she expected to be rather busy.

“Miss Caroline, now what may I ask are you doing open today?”

Grace was one of the curio shop’s regular patrons. Her interest in witchcraft had led her to the store and after a while she became close with Miss Caroline.

“Come now child,” the plump, black woman began, “I can’t be closing on the busiest day of the year, can I?”

Grace kneeled in front of a small shrine near the back of the store and lit some incense. A thin trail of smoke rose from it as she stood back up.

“I just figured you’d want some time to yourself after what happened to Jackie.”

“Jackie be in good hands, the loa will protect him now. Baron Samedi be a trickster but he’ll do his job with a little sweetener.”

Miss Caroline reached around to the back of the counter and produced a flask of amber whiskey. She poured a small amount in a shot glass and set it down in front of a smiling idol in the shrine.

“Enough of that now,” Miss Caroline stepped behind the counter looking ready for business, “What you be needing today Gracie?”

The chimes at the door sounded again as a couple walked in. One, a dark-haired girl had a brilliant cerulean mask that hung around her neck by a thin string. It sparkled in the light and was adorned with feathers of a slightly darker shade. The other was a man with fiery red hair, he looked like he had been forced into the shop by the girl and was scowling, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“Come on Alan; don’t be so grumpy, I just want to look around a little.”

“I don’t see why you couldn’t just get the free beads they threw out at the parade. This shop gives me the heebie-jeebies, who knows what kind of heathenistic things they have here.”

Grace shook her head, sighed then looked to Miss Caroline as the couple argued on the other side of the store.

“Can you believe that? He could at least have some respect when he’s in your store.”

“Don’t pay him no mind Gracie, the boy done no harm. People just naturally be afraid of what they don’t understand.”

“You’re too kind Miss Caroline.”

Grace gave Miss Caroline a big hug.

“I’ll come pick up my spell components tomorrow once the tourists have cleared out. Take care of yourself, okay?”

“Of course dearie.”

As Grace walked towards the exit she made sure to look Alan in the eyes and glare at him.

 

****

 

“Julia, I swear! She gave me a dirty look! What if she was a witch or something? She could have been putting a curse on me!”

“Alan, you’re being paranoid.”

“Whatever.”

Alan took a swig from his beer. The bar was bustling as people were going back and forth from the festivities on the streets. A group dressed as frogs ran past as Alan’s brother, Shaun, entered the bar. He had the same fiery red hair as his younger brother and looked as if he was already soused.

“Yo Alan! You don’t mind if I have a bit of that, do ya?”

Shaun hung over his brother’s shoulder, took the mug from the table and downed the rest of Alan’s beer. Julia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you ever stop and think that you might be propagating a negative stereotype about the Irish?”

“Nice to see you too, Julia. So, what’s got into Alan here?”

“Oh he’s just being paranoid; he thinks a witch put a curse on him.”

Alan slammed his palms down on the bar and pronounced in a stern voice, “I am not being paranoid! That whole store was freaky. There was pagan crap all over the place. And I could have sworn that that woman said something about spells or something.”

“Hmm,” Shaun scratched his chin.

“Oh don’t tell me you actually think she could’ve been a witch,” Julia sighed, “you two have both had too much to drink.”

“Well think about it, this city is well known for voodoo and other evil practices. I think this is something worth looking into. We can’t have some devil worshipper picking on my poor baby brother. I think I want to give this shop of yours a first-hand look.”

“See, Shaun believes me Julia.”

“That’s because neither of you have any common sense what-so-ever,” she exclaimed, taking a drink from her own beer, “At any rate you won’t be able to check it out until morning. I’m sure they’re closed by now.”

Shaun simply grinned at her.

 

****

 

Darkness crept across Tremaine Street. Far from the festivities going on in the rest of the city, the street was quiet, a lone streetlight at the end of the block the only thing illuminating it. Julia, who had been forced to come along, trailed slightly behind Alan and Shaun. All three of them had garish masks on to cover their identities.

“C’mon guys don’t do this!”

“Julia, shut up, you’re going to get us all caught!”

Miss Caroline’s shop occupied a small lot around the middle of the street. The faint light from the light post reflected off of its two wide paneled windows. Shaun knelt down by the antique door, whose white paint was weathered and starting to chip. His credit card was lodged in the crack of the door as he jiggled it back and forth and slid it up and down.

“Almost got it…”

The door clicked as he turned the knob pushing it open, just slightly, before Julia grabbed his shoulder.

“There are wind chimes when you open the door.”

“Heh, I thought you weren’t going to help us out,” Shaun whispered to her.

“I’m not… I just don’t want to get caught.”

Shaun motioned to Alan to hold the chimes as the three of them crept into the empty store. With the click of a cigarette lighter their surroundings were soon illuminated. The twisted forms of idols on the shelves appeared nightmarish in the flickering orange light. Crystal balls mirrored the trembling flame.

“Dear God, this place is even creepier at night,” Alan remarked.

Julia stuck close to Alan holding onto his arm with all her might. Shaun had wandered off and seemed to have his view fixed on something near the back of the store.

“Hey… come check this out.”

What he was looking at seemed to be some sort of shrine. Burnt out incense sticks stuck out on both sides. In the center sat a doll with a toothy grin. The doll was dressed in a shiny black top hat and tuxedo. Sunglasses adorned his eyes and a cigar stuck out between his teeth. In front of the doll was a shot of whiskey with a photograph underneath it.

“What’ya think all this is for?”

Shaun pulled the photograph out from under the shot glass and held it up to the lighter to get a better look at it. In the picture was a smiling toddler with dark skin.

“I bet they’re putting some kind of curse on this kid, or maybe he’s going to be a human sacrifice or something,” Alan jumped in with.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever—”

The floor creaked. Julia spun her head quickly to a beaded curtain in the corner of the room.

“Wh… what was that?”

“Now who’s being paranoid?” Alan answered her quickly.

“Alan, I’m serious, I heard something.”

The floorboards moaned, this time much louder.

“Okay I heard something that time—”

The beads suddenly shook and all three of them turned to look this time. Looking through them was a large black woman that Alan and Julia immediately recognized. They stood there shocked for a moment unsure what to do.

“What you kids doing in here!?” Miss Caroline demanded.

Shaun felt his fingertips burning and turned back to see what it was. The photo had caught fire.

“Oh crap!”

Shaun flicked the picture away from himself as quickly as possible and backtracked. The burning photograph dropped right on top of the shot glass and soon the entire shrine was ablaze. Shaun leapt to his feet and grabbed both his stunned companions by the shoulders pushing them to move as well.

“Let’s get out of here, now!”

One by one they bolted out the front door, the chimes banging against it as each of them ran out. They could hear Miss Caroline screaming behind them.

“My poor Jackie! What have they done!?”

Julia stopped at the corner and turned back to look towards the store. Smoke was now billowing from the top and the street was bathed in orange light. Alan and Shaun had to pull her back from the site.

“No, we have to go back!”

“Forget it Julia, she can take care of herself, we need to get out of here!”

 

****

 

“What the hell is wrong with you Alan!?”

Tears were streaming down Julia’s cheeks. Alan was looking down at his feet taking just taking Julia’s verbal battering. Shaun was puffing on a cigarette and leaning up against a brick wall.

“Calm down Julia, you’re making a scene…” Alan said as he grabbed both of her shoulders giving her a pleading look.

“What do you expect me to do? You just left her there! I didn’t want to go along in the first place and now look what happened! What if she didn’t make it out!? We’re all going to go to jail!”

“Like they’re really going to catch us,” Shaun muttered taking a drag of his cigarette and rolling his eyes.

“You jackass! The whole thing was your idea in the first place! You’re always getting Alan into trouble! Why don’t you just leave us alone!?”

“Julia, you’re overreacting! We’ll be fine!”

A flash of red and blue lit up the area followed by the short sounding of a police siren. Shaun discreetly slipped into the alley as the black and white police car rolled up to them. Julia started beating on Alan’s chest and crying even more.

“I knew it! This is entirely your fault! I don’t know why I ever agreed to marry you!”

Two officers stepped out of the car. The taller of the two pointed his flashlight at the couple.

“Seems like you two were having quite an argument there,” the shorter officer said, “What’s it all about?”

“She’s just overreacting to something I said to her is all,” Alan responded.

The taller of the two took Julia off to the side and huddled over her as Julia wiped the tears from her eyes. The shorter officer stayed with Alan to ask him some more questions.

“So… have you two been drinking tonight?”

“Maybe a little… it is Mardi Gras after all.”

“Well we’ve received quite a few complaints here about the shouting match you were having. I’m not quite sure what I should do with you yet.”

Alan could faintly hear the tall officer’s conversation with Julia.

“It’ll be alright, now tell me, has he been abusing you at all tonight?”

Julia started to shake her head as Alan grabbed the officer’s shoulder and spun him around.

“What kind of asinine—”

Both officers shoved Alan against the wall and cuffed him before he could finish his sentence. Julia started crying again.

“No, no, he didn’t mean to do that!”

The short officer sighed as they held Alan against the wall.

“You should watch that temper kid. I was just going to let you off with a warning but it looks like maybe you’ve had a little too much to drink tonight. I think as a precaution we’re going to have to take both of you in so you can sober up and calm down.”

 

****

 

“Are you sure that’s all you can remember about them Miss Caroline?”

Miss Caroline’s robe was slightly burned in places and her face was dirty with soot. She looked exhausted as she talked to the detective.

“I’m sorry Joe. They ran out so fast all I could see was those Mardi Gras masks.”

“Alright, I just have some paperwork for you to sign then you can get out of here. Gracie is on her way to pick you up.”

Joe slid some papers to her and reclined in his chair sighing. Two other officers came in the room lead by a couple of kids. They both looked to be in their twenties. The girl had long black hair that was a bit frazzled, her face was dirty and it looked like she’d been crying recently. The boy, Joe assumed was her boyfriend, had short red hair and was in handcuffs. Probably just had too much to drink, Joe thought. Miss Caroline had stopped signing the papers and was focused on the two of them.

“You know those kids Miss Caroline?”

“They came into my store earlier today… bought some beads.”

Joe stood up with the papers in hand.

“Well I have to go file these, just wait here for Gracie, okay?”

Miss Caroline just nodded to him. She seemed a bit distracted as Joe left the room. It was late and the police station was pretty empty. Desks stacked with mounds of paper were all over. She could hear the two officers that had just entered laughing about something as she slowly crept out of her chair. She slowly moved towards the back where the couple had been taken. She saw the two of them sitting in a cell, their backs to her. The young woman had her head rested on her companion’s shoulder. Miss Caroline slowly snuck up on the two of them.

“It’s going to be okay Julia. They’ll let us out in the morning.”

“I just want to go home Alan. I’m so sick of this—Ow! What’d you do that for?”

“Do what?”

“It felt like you just plucked some of my hair out.”

“Oh, sorry… it was probably an accide—Hey! You didn’t need to do it too!”

“I didn’t do anything… my hands are in my lap.”

Alan turned his head and through the bars saw Miss Caroline standing over them. A look of panic set in immediately and he stumbled off the bench and onto the floor of the cell.

“Alan, what’s the matter with you…?”

She turned to see what had spooked him so much.

“Oh no…”

Miss Caroline just smiled at the two of them. Both Alan and Julia were quivering. Julia went to Alan’s side quickly and hugged him tightly.

“Calm down dear. I just want to talk to you. You’re the kids that were in my store earlier, right?”

Alan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded nervously.

“Yeah… that’s right. We bought some beads earlier… heh.”

“No, no, you know that’s not when I was asking about dear,” she shook her head, “Why were you in my store tonight?”

Julia started crying again. Alan held her close rubbing her back to comfort her.

“It was my fault. I thought that your friend put a curse on me. I told my brother all about your evil little store. He wanted to see it for himself.”

“Evil?”

“Oh my god!” Julia interrupted sobbing, “He didn’t mean it. Please don’t turn us in! We didn’t mean to burn down your store, it was an accident!”

“I’m not going to turn you in child,” Miss Caroline’s usually cheerful face seemed to get dark, “But what you done is far worse than burning down my store. That altar that you burned was an offering to one of the Ghede. My poor departed Jackie won’t make it to the next world if the Ghede does not lead him there. He’ll walk the earth forever now.”

“Oh that is such bullshit!”

“Alan, don’t!”

“You, child, need to learn some respect for the spirits. Since you were so concerned about being cursed, maybe the spirits should punish you instead of the law.”

“What’re you going to do to us?” Julia asked sobbing.

“You? No, no, cursing you wouldn’t be fitting. May haps a curse on your children will make you remember what you did today. My Jackie died on his fourth birthday, so on that day in each of your children’s lives they will receive a curse.”

From around the corner Joe appeared. He was shaking his head as if he was disappointed.

“There you are Miss Caroline. I told you not to wander off.”

She turned and smiled at him. Julia was shivering on the floor of the cell and huddled against her boyfriend.

“Oh I’m sorry Joe. These children looked like they needed someone to talk to.”

“Let’s get going, Gracie is here.”

Joe put a hand on Miss Caroline’s shoulder and turned her around leading her away from the scared couple. Alan coughed and turned to Julia as soon as they were out of sight.”

“I told you she was a witch.”

~ by Kacie Cross on May 12, 2008.