Cursed ✔️

82. Red Flags

John looked at Emily for a brief moment trying to absorb what he just heard.

How is that even possible that two people have the SAME EXACT NIGHTMARE?

John thought.

It's kinda bizarre. Well, almost the same, except Emily was the one who was grinning evilly and she is telling me that I was the one who was? How could I enjoy that scene? It was too blood-filled and chaotic... What am I doing? This is just a dream... I shouldn't be diving into it when we have bigger issues to solve!

Still looking at Emily, near the empty reception area, he said, "Forget it, must be coincidence or something..." John tried to shake it off.

"So, what happened back there?" John continued. "Did you get anything?"

"Don't ask, John. The ride was really the scariest, let me tell you. It was like riding through a graveyard - maybe much worst than that. In a graveyard, the bodies are buried deep inside the ground, but the whole entire way through three towns was like driving past the dead bodies. There were so many times I tried to but I'm sure that I rode on top of many corpses tonight. Deadland. Even Father Murphy was about to move and the Church was about to get closed until the problem gets solved."

A shiver ran through Emily as she recalled the scene. Emily then told John about what happened in the Church and what Father Murphy told her about the past events with the stone.

"Well, that was a bummer." He said with a pout. "I was pretty sure too that Father would help us big time but... Anyway, where's Clyde?" John asked Emily. "He had gone along with you to the Church, right?"

"Well," Emily began placing her elbow on the reception desk. "after returning from the Church when we were about to enter the hospital, Clyde told me that he remembered something important that he needs to do and asked me to go on without him, he'll be back soon for us to pay a visit to Scarlett again."

"Scarlett? Why?" John asked fixing his hair.

Emily shrugged. "I don't know. Father Murphy told us to meet her. We might get some answers from her."

"Seems as if Father knows Scarlett from before too. Has he told you how he knows her?"

Emily shook her head. "Anyway, Clyde and I will be heading out soon to the Golden Gate Town - Scarlett and her family were last seen there."

As she said, Emily noticed a strangely silenced John staring at the floor.

"John?" She asked craning her neck down to see John's eyes. "Where are you lost?"

Emily snapped her fingers in front of his face which brought John back from his what seemed like his thinking state.

"Nothing, I was... I mean.. It all seems kinda wrong or should I say fishy to me."

John continued seeing a confused look on Emily's face. "I mean, Clyde did not say to you for what reason he had to go and then he suddenly disappeared, Father Murphy told you to meet Scarlett - again. The girl who can talk with spirits? Conjure them up? I am highly suspicious of her and Clyde.

I mean yes, I agree that Clyde helped us before in finding Nick's house but his and Scarlett's appearance came so sudden and so mysteriously. And then when you asked Father about the solution, instead of giving you one, he told you to meet Scarlett? And then, we don't have the third stone. Father Murphy even asked you that what made you - I mean, us - think that combining all the pieces of the stone could end Diana? I mean how can he say that, when they hadn't even tried that yet.

And think about it Em, don't you think all of them are just sidetracking us from our original aim? To find the third and the final piece!

Think about it. When Hannah got possessed, I ran and got a ride back to... nowhere by a possessed Father and then Hannah returns to kill Aunt Petunia and then all these notes that somehow gives us clues as to where we should go next and then magically this girl, Scarlett comes into picture who can see the dead and then she conjured up Clyde - which left us way back, back at Nick's house when he heard Diana's name. Now also we are still on the path of finding ways to stop Diana, but now he isn't disappearing and all, well, except for now when you came back from the church with all the information. Isn't it all a bit suspicious?

And then Father tells us about the pure and kind-hearted soul that can lift this cursed spell.

I mean yes, we should be looking for the cure, but I think that all of them want us to overlook the fact or maybe I could be wrong, but I think that they are trying to keep us away or don't want us to find the last piece as they are causing distractions for us to keep us involved in something else.

Think about it Em, we should be out there, finding the last piece to end everything, but, here we are... And how does Scarlett knows about the third stone that Father asked you to meet her again? I mean, if she would've known, don't you think she would've or maybe should've already told us when we first met her?

All I'm saying is that we should not trust them. Even if they are helping us, we should keep our eyes open for we are dealing with the most feared spirit."

"Completly agree with you, John. I even had my doubts but what else can we do? Don't you remember you found that note, saying 'Skylar' near the casket of Aunt Petunia? That was the whole reason how the Scarlett and Clyde came into the picture. I don't know if they are really helping us or it's all just some trap or manipulative act, but we don't have a choice, I mean we don't even know where to start looking for clues about the third stone. Nick and Clyde had it last and then no one knows where the last piece could be.

And you might think of this as a distraction, but we don't have another path to take. And besides Clyde and I are going to Golden Gate Town in just a few hours to meet Scarlett. I have a positive feeling about this. If Father has suggested her name, it must be because of some reason. Try to be a bit optimistic. And I don't know how what, or why Scarlett can see or talk to spirits, but that doesn't give anyone any right to see her in a different light just because she possesses special qualities. I am positive that we will surely get some clues. And has Clyde done something bad to us, as of now? Then why should we frame him for something he didn't do?

I know the things that are happening are happening at such a weird and creepier and mysterious way, that you are bound to have red flags. But I'm sure that in a few hours, we will have a clue." Emily said with a smile.

"Now, let's go," Emily continued dusting off her elbows with her hands, "I don't want to miss my few hours of sleep and I promise I'll be careful."

As both of them were heading back, Emily said, "John, Father told me that - "Diana has a way of controlling people's mind and body - just like she did with Amber Montana when she tried killing her father that night. So, beware, if the history repeats itself or if Diana got a hold of any of us, she has her pawn and then, it would've been too late. So, you have to do something before Diana begins to take over any of you. If she does, then she would've created a link between her and the person whose mind she had taken over, and then the only way to break that link is the death of that person."

"We have to act fast," Emily continued looking at John. "before Diana gets a hold of our mind. Hope she hadn't tried to take over us yet."

John began thinking about how he was holding a knife above his father trying to kill him - which he knows he would never - and then he remembered not feeling any control over his mind or body. The history had repeated itself.

"No," John replied with a smile, "Diana hadn't gotten control over any of us."

As John entered the room in which his dad was, his eyes began to turn a shade of black as the corner of his lips arched upwards - like a smirk.