Short Story - Hex (1/9)

Title: Hex

Genre: Paranormal

Rating: PG-13 (for language)

Story Type: Short story
Warnings: mild violence

Word count: (total) 18,373 - (chapter) 1,665

Summary: Nora used her powers for revenge, and even though it was just a little revenge, she's still in trouble with The Powers That Be.  To atone, she helps as many people as she can.  Now, she's helping Tyler, and his problem is just so big that it might be the one that gets her out of the doghouse for good.

          
 I never did have much self-control.  Momma said that made potty training hard.  Nana said that it made potty training hilarious.  Now, though, Nana’s not telling me much of anything besides, “I told you so.”

           
Technically, she hadn’t told me anything.  Nana said that I had to be very careful what I did and who I did it to.  She said that there were eyes on me and I had to be cautious.  She never actually said that I’d be shit out of luck if I let me lack of self-control get the best of me.

          
 “I don’t know what else they want from me, Nana.  I got rid of the herpes.”

           
“You made her think that her herpes were cured, which caused a whole other problem.”

           
“But, I fixed that, too, didn’t I?  Change a few test results and voila, no more herpes, at all.  Now, she just thinks she’s crazy, and she deserves that for being such a royal pain in the ass.”

          
 “You are the pain in the ass, Nora.  And if I had any substance at all, it would be a completely physical pain.”

           
Nana always thought it was necessary to bring up the fact that she was a ghost.  She obviously didn’t want this gig.  She would have preferred lounging in the afterlife.  It’s not like I asked her to come back and watch me. 

           
Okay, so maybe if I behaved myself more often, I wouldn’t have needed a babysitter, but that wasn’t entirely my fault.  No one had ever properly taught me how to control my temper.  They were all too busy telling me how great and powerful I was to make me forget that I’m a total freak of nature, just like every other woman in my family.

         
It wasn’t like I actually sat down and put a full blown hex on anybody.  It was an accident.  I’d been telling the story over and over again to everybody who made me tell them.  And if Nana were a better guardian, she would have snatched my finger or something before I pointed at her.

           
“You’re in a lot of trouble, baby.  I’m just trying to help you get out of it.”

           
“No, you’re not.  You’re trying to rub my nose in it like I was a dog that took a piss on the carpet.”

           
The thunk I got in the back of the head proved that she could have moved my hand out of the way.  “Watch your language.”  Even as a ghost, Nana had something to say about everything I did.

           
And since I’m pretty sure you’re wondering about the situation… Quick rundown.

           
I accidentally spelled herpes onto a filthy little whore that works with me at the crappiest, most evil place known to man.  That’s right.  Walmart.  I’m lucky to even have a job anymore. 

         
Anyway, this chick aggravated the hell out of me.  She was always in my business, didn’t know when to shut the hell up and leave me alone.  That kind of thing.  So, just as we had the day before, we argued.  She tried to tell me how to run my department, and I was pointing at her, telling her to leave me alone.  I told her to take her polyesther pants back to electronics and get the hell out of lingerie.  She kept going and I accidentally on purpose said that I wish she had herpes to go along with her clap.

           
Whaddya know, she turned up with herpes!  So I had to go through this long thing to get rid of the herpes and erase that she ever had it in the first place.  All of that landed me in some serious hot water with the people upstairs.  They controlled the powers and as far as they were concerned, accidentally and on purpose were the same thing.  It didn’t matter how strong I was or how much power I had, I’d abused it and if I didn’t make up for it, then I was going to lose them.  All of them.

         
I’ve been a witch with full powers since I was two!  How could I live without my powers!

           
I couldn’t, and so Nana decided she was going to help me fix my screw up.  How?  By finding me something big enough to make the big guys forget that I had screwed up.  She kept sending me on these missions to save people and do good things, and they just grew more and more impatient.  Apparently, saving a dozen dogs from euthanasia wasn’t enough.  And trying to change Dubya’s mind on stem cell research was, once again, misusing my powers, even if a lot of good came out of it.

           
Thus, the current situation.  Nana trying to fix what I’d done wrong, all the while reminding me exactly what I did wrong and constantly giving me that “I told you so” look.  That is, if she didn’t just come out and say “I told you so.”  She liked to do that a lot.

         
“You’re lucky I love you,” Nana said.  I rolled my eyes and she thumped me in the back of the head again.

           
“Hey!  I didn’t say anything!”

           
“But, you were thinking it.  I always knew what you were thinking when I was alive.  Don’t you think I know, now?”

          
 “But…”  I sighed.  There was never any use arguing with Nana.  If I could accomplish anything by doing that, she wouldn’t spend eternity in her black funeral dress.  But, she liked her dress.  She’s Nana, and Nana knows all.

           
“Fine.”  I plopped down onto a bean bag that was in serious need of replacement.  The brown pleather was starting to rip and the seams were coming apart.  But, none of the stuff came out, so I was okay.  “What’s the plan, oh grand Pubah.”

          
 “Do you want me to hit you again?”

         
I growled and mumbled, “No, ma’am.”  Nana was like that.  Ask ten people what “spare the rod, spoil the child” means and you’ll get ten different answers and half of them would equal Nana’s.  Beat that little butt unless you want a spoiled little brat.

         
“His name is Tyler Carter Grey.”

           
“Nana, do I really need the complete lowdown?”  I knew where she was going.  Whenever she started with a full name, we always ended up with a two hour lecture on the person’s entire life.  “Can we just get to the point?  I’m coming up quick on them getting tired of me.”

          
 “And whose fault is that?”

         
“Yeah, yeah, mine.”  I groaned.  “Come on, Nana.”

           
She gave me that look.  There wasn’t really a name for it.  Even Momma called it that look.  A certain quirk of the mouth and furrowing of the brow.  It meant that Nana was tired of bullshitting around and she was ready to stick a foot where the sun don’t shine.  I really wish ghosts couldn’t  physically affect the living.  My butt still hurt from the last time she went for a field goal.

          
 “This is right up your alley, Nora.  He’s been hexed.”  I didn’t say that I didn’t mean it, because it would just start the whole hideous cycle of I told you so all over again.

          
 “I can’t reverse someone else’s hex, Nana.”

           
“You don’t think I know that?  I could care less if you’re the most powerful one ever born into this family.  I’ve still been doing magic longer than you’ve been alive.  More than twice as long as you’ve been alive.”

           
“Yes, Nana, I know, and you’ll be doing magic long after I cross over.”

          
 “Precisely.  Now, quiet yourself and listen.”  Have you ever seen a ghost gather itself to its full height?  If your ghost was over six feet in life, then it’s really impressive.  When it’s your grandmother who’s probably not even five and a half, not so much.  But, you don’t laugh unless you want a headache.

           
“I’m absolutely positive that this will wipe your dirty slate clean, Nora.  Tyler Grey is a very good person.  A kind soul.  He ran afoul of someone very powerful and very dark.”

           
“If he’s so good, how’d he run afoul?”

           
“Nora…”

          
 “Yes, ma’am.  Sorry, Nana.”

          
 “Now, as I was saying.  This will cost him his soul unless he is kept safe and the hex is removed.  The forces after him aren’t just dark, baby, they’re black.  So black that they will slowly seep all the good from him until he’s completely gone.  And then you know what happens.”

           
I knew.  He would spend eternity in a black pit, tortured and conflicted.  Enough of his conscience would be restored so that he could relive every horrible thing that he’d done through eternity.  From what I hear, it’s a horrible way to spend your death.

           
“So,” I said, “my mission, if I choose to accept it, is to protect him from the blackness and somehow trace the magic on him back to the person who hexed him, then make them take the hex off.”

           
“Precisely.”

         
“And you think this one is big enough to wipe the slate clean.”

           
“Absolutely.”

          
 “If,” I said, “I can trace the magic back and find whoever did this.”  I sighed.  “That’s a lot, Nana.”

         
“You can do it, baby.  You’re the most powerful of our bloodline.  Possibly the most powerful witch ever born.”

         
“If I were that powerful, I could just undo the hex.”

          
 “I didn’t say you were a god.  Even you are constrained by the rules.”

           
Talk about a drag.  Life would have been so much easier if the rules didn’t apply to me.  But, didn’t everything think that?

           
“Alright, Nana.”  I rolled onto my stomach and about a fistful of little white beads popped out of my bean bag.  Time to get a new one.  “I’ll do it.  But, you better be right.  If I end up dead in the end, I at least wanna be dead with a clean slate.  I don’t wanna spend my entire death with herpes.”