Curse of the Asuune Read online

  After a few seconds Mark rang the doorbell again and still no one answered. Mark started to get nervous, maybe he had the wrong house? Maybe someone had a car that looked just like Jen’s? Slowly Mark walked toward the car that looked like Jen’s and put his hand up to his eyebrows to look inside. It looked like Jen’s, clean, the same interior, coffee in the cup holder but maybe someone else also liked coffee and a clean car.

  On the front driver’s side were important looking files with patient names and numbers on them. It had to be Jen’s car. She was a hospital administrator and often took home files to work on while they sat and watched TV shows. Mark could never understand how she could work and actually pay attention to the show, but somehow she always knew what was going on. Many times he had assumed she was engrossed in her work only to have her yell things like “Oh, come on! Why the hell would an obviously intelligent woman walk into that dark cave and not realize the monster is in there?!” or “That guy would kick the other dudes ass! How can the people casting this show not see that?! I mean, he’d snap that dudes neck in a heartbeat. Special powers, my ass!” True, Jen was crude when they were alone, but this was one of the many things that made her perfect for him. What was even funnier was when Sarah and Jen got together. Mark had to sacrifice understanding anything about the show but the conversations those two had were more interesting than the show. Sometimes he thought they must be sisters.

  Then Mark noticed it, the headphones attached to the cellphone in the back seat. Nervously he opened the back door, hoping this wasn’t someone else’s car and picked up the cell phone. He swiped the screen and it popped on. It said ‘Kathrine Albet’s phone. Don’t Touch!’ across the screen and he knew it was Jen’s car for sure. Mark put Katie’s phone back on the seat and shut the door. He did not want to let Katie know he had touched her phone. As much as he loved his little sweetheart, she was a teenager, the rules had changed. Everything that was hers was off limits. Even looking at the screen could be grounds for an hour long argument about how they didn’t trust her. Mark felt bad that the distance between them seemed to be growing, but found comfort in the fact that Sarah was part spy and part aunt to Katie, the cool aunt, the one you can talk about sex with, the one who would never tell your parents any of your secrets. At least he knew that if anything serious came up Sarah would tell them, everything else was not their business.

  Mark started to worry and quickly walked back up to the door and rang the bell again. A few seconds more went by so he knocked loudly, but still no answer. Etiquette be damned, he opened the door and shouted. “Hello?! Jen?!”

  The house was empty and the echo seemed incredibly loud, but there was no one in the front room. Mark slowly opened the door wider and walked inside. “Helloooo?!” he yelled again, but still no answer. As Mark’s eyes grew accustomed to the light he noticed Jen’s purse on the pass through leading to the kitchen. She was here, maybe just in one of the bedrooms, talking. With the echo it might be hard to hear, Mark rationalized.

  Mark walked down the hall to the bedrooms. This was a larger house, and much nicer than the one they lived in. He could see why Jen was so set on having it. The yard was even big enough to have their hot tub and still leave room for guests to come over for barbeques. Jen sure had good taste. Mark admired his wife daily for little things that were seemingly unimportant, but these were the reasons why he always said he was ‘very married’, he loved her with everything he had.

  This house had three large bedrooms and two bathrooms. He opened the first bedroom and was impressed with how big it was, this would be Katie’s room. Mark continued along the hall until he came on the first bathroom. This would be Katie’s bathroom, Jen even talked about adding a doorway to connect it to Katie’s room to give her some privacy. Mark was not the handy type and Jen knew this. The additions and changes would require a professional carpenter, he would only mess things up.

  Next was the second bedroom, a little smaller than the first but it would be perfect for the new baby that Jen had talked about having. Jen was at a point in her career where she felt she had to choose, family or work, and she had decided that family should come first. She had arranged for someone to take over her work at the hospital as on-site administrator and she would oversee everything using her home computer. She would only have to go into work once a week for a short meeting. At first the hospital board had flat out refused but in the end Jen held her ground and they agreed to her terms rather than lose her completely.

  Mark was becoming more nervous by the second. Surely they were in the master bedroom. Jen was probably discussing how she would decorate it and boring the real estate agent. The poor man was probably afraid to lose the sale if he didn’t listen to every word. Mark laughed to himself. Jen could be pushy, a trait that Katie had picked up from her mother. Again Mark admired his wife, her pushiness had been a big part in him proposing to her. She knew what she wanted and she was going to have it her way. He often wondered if he would have had the courage to ask her to marry him if she had not brought the subject up herself. Mark always thought that Jen was way out of his league. Why would a woman like Jen want to marry a man like him?

  Mark opened the door and was stunned by what he saw. Jen and the man, he assumed was the real estate agent, were both tied to a chair. The man was younger than Mark had pictured, maybe in his late thirties and somewhat athletic in appearance. Truthfully, he looked more like a tennis coach than a real estate agent. The man’s throat had been cut and the blood had soaked his shirt before pooling on the floor. Jen seemed unharmed but maybe unconscious, she wasn’t moving. She did look very pale but Mark wasn’t sure why.

  “Jen!” Mark yelled as he rushed over to her, then everything went black.

  Mark woke in a hospital bed, both hands cuffed to the rails and his feet in shackles. He felt strange, his head was foggy and he couldn’t see straight. He also had a strange ringing in his ears, making everything he heard sound muffled. Soon the ringing stopped and he could make out what he assumed was a nurse and a police officer standing outside his door.

  “You can’t move him to the prison until he wakes up. If you do, you risk killing him. He has a major concussion,” the nurse was explaining.

  “I don’t think you understand, this man brutally killed his wife and her lover. And it looked like he tortured them first. Drained the wife’s blood while the boyfriend watched, then let the boyfriend bleed out slowly.” The police officers tone was one of hatred.

  “Oh please, have you looked at the man. How could he overpower his wife and her boyfriend?” The nurses condescending tone didn’t sway the officer.

  “We think he had help, whoever knocked him out and stabbed him must have decided they wanted to leave a patsy. Maybe this was for money? The couple was very well off and the real estate guy did pretty well for himself. Maybe this was a blackmail gone wrong. Maybe the partner got greedy and took off with the cash? We don’t know much at this point but this guy was definitely in on it.” Mark could hear the distain in the officer’s voice. The officer was certain that Mark had killed them.

  Mark wondered how he could hear them so clearly, then he realized he could hear many people talking. Some of these people had to be farther down the hall. He heard a nurse pick up a phone and clearly heard the person on the other end call for a crash team in room twelve. Mark looked up at the door and his eyes began to focus. The number three was on his door. Mark felt a sharp pain in his left arm and tried to move it but it was no use so he glanced down and saw what looked like two injection marks right on his veins. Who had drugged him? Why twice? Who had knocked him out? Someone set him up! Someone had been there waiting for him, but why?!

  Mark was startled as the nurse from the hall opened the door. The creak of the door was so loud that he wanted to cover his ears but couldn’t.

  The nurse noticed Mark wincing and shut the door as quietly as she could. “Head hurt?” the nurse asked kindly.

  “You have no idea. I’ve never felt pai
n like this before.” Mark winced again, even his own speech hurt his head.

  “Then you’ve obviously never given birth,” the nurse joked as she filled a syringe with a clear liquid.

  “No, can’t say that I have,” Mark joked back, then his smile sunk. He suddenly realized what the officer had said. Jen was dead! The love of his life, his partner in everything, was dead! And they thought he was the one who did it!

  “This will help you sleep and help with the pain,” the nurse said as she inserted the needle in his right arm.

  “Wait! Where is my wife?! How did she die?!” Mark yelled but the nurse didn’t answer.

  Quickly the medication overwhelmed Mark and everything got blurry again until he passed out.

  Chapter 4

  Mark woke in a strange bed, staring at the ceiling. He was afraid to look around because by the look of the ceiling he was in jail. The stiffness of the bed under him suggested the same thing. Mark struggled for an explanation of what had happened to his life. Yesterday, at least he thought it was yesterday, his biggest concern was that he might get caught touching his daughters cell phone. Today his wife was dead and he was in jail for her murder. How had this happened? Who would want to hurt Jen and blame him for it? And why did they think the real estate agent was Jen’s boyfriend? Jen would never cheat on him, not that she didn’t have men interested in her, she was gorgeous. It was just that she was as very married as he was, at least that’s what he thought yesterday. What’s more, this house was so she could have a second child, be the stay at home mother that she dreamed of being, spend time with Katie before she went off to college. Why would Jen cheat on him and then invite him to the house? No, this didn’t make sense at all. Someone must have set this up.

  Mark reluctantly sat up and looked around the cell, yep he was in jail. Across from him was a rather rough looking man with a scraggly beard and a bald head. The man must have been three hundred pounds and six foot five by Mark’s estimate, and he did not look kind.

  Mark heard the officers at the desk whispering.

  “He killed his wife and her lover? That scrawny dude? You’ve got to be kidding,” one officer said.

  Good, at least there was doubt in someone. Surely, no one would believe this idiotic tale. What’s more, he could get people to testify that they were very much in love and Jen wasn’t cheating. Mark felt better, people would surely believe him when the facts started coming out. Then he heard the other officer.

  “He had an accomplice. We think he or she drugged them so that this Mark guy could torture them. We’re looking into this guy’s friend a Sarah, no last name on file, we think she might have helped him plan it out. Might have even been the one that drugged them, either that or they hired someone to do it.” The second officer was sure that Mark had done it and Sarah was somehow involved as well.

  Mark’s stomach sank. Sarah had nothing to do with this, and what about Katie. Mark and Jen had papers written up leaving Katie in Sarah’s custody if anything ever happened to them. If they thought that Sarah had helped kill Jen then what would happen to Katie?

  “Damnit!” Mark yelled. He was getting angry now, this all seemed like some sick joke. Whoever planned this out must be laughing their ass off about now.

  The large man across from Mark sat up and stared uncaringly at him.

  “So you’re alive, good. Don’t want another dead body across from me. Now shut the hell up so I can get some sleep! And don’t touch nothin,” the large man snarled before laying back down.

  “Sorry,” Mark replied quietly. Then he realized, he hadn’t made his phone call. Who could he call? If they were investigating Sarah, a call from him might make her look more guilty. A lawyer! He needed a lawyer!

  “Officer!” Mark shouted as he walked to the bars of his cell. “I’m ready for my phone call!”

  “I said, SHUT THE HELL UP!” the large man shouted, sitting up again.

  “Sorry again, but I need to get a lawyer,” Mark apologized.

  The large man stood up and towered over Mark. The man reached out his hand and grabbed Mark’s arm, spinning him around. Then the enormous man grabbed Mark’s other arm and lifted him a few inches off the ground.

  “When I say shut the hell up I mean don’t even breathe loudly. I don’t care about your old lady, don’t care about your lawyer. I killed my old lady and don’t give a shit about your whiney ass.” The man tossed Mark back on top of his bed and laughed.

  Mark lost it, this was one thing too many. Mark stood up, he didn’t care if this man would snap his neck. Maybe if this man killed him then they would leave Sarah alone and Katie could go live with her. At least the pain of losing Jen would be gone.

  Mark was not an experienced fighter, in fact, he had never gotten in a fight before. Using what little he had gleaned from watching TV he pulled his fist back and thrust it forward at the man’s chest. The large man stood there with a smile on his face and watched Mark’s feeble attempt at a punch, until it hit him. The sound of cracking bones was unmistakable and the large man fell backward on his bunk holding his chest.

  “Fuck! What the hell are you! I think my ribs are broke! Guards! Medic! Someone! Get this freak away from me!” the large man screamed.

  Just then Mark realized what he had done. He had given them evidence against him. If he could beat up this man, twice his size, he could have easily subdued Jen and the real estate agent.

  The officers came rushing to the cell door and fumbled with the keys trying to open it.

  “What the fuck!” one officer yelled. “Call the doctor!”

  The large man continued to yell and hold his chest.

  “Against the wall!” the other officer yelled at him and Mark put his hands against the opposite wall.

  “I want my phone call, I have the right to an attorney,” Mark said forcefully as he stood against the wall. Just then Mark looked at his arm as it stretched out before him. He had muscles on his forearms. He looked down his outstretched arm until he saw his biceps and there were muscles there too. What was going on? His new muscles were not large like a body builder, more like a professional athlete, a fighter maybe, muscles that were trained for strength.

  “You’ll get your phone call, just don’t move until we get Claud to the medic,” the officer said with his Taser pointed at Marks back.

  “Yes, sir. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Mark said then immediately regretted it. An accident was even worse than trying to break someone’s ribs. An accident meant that he was more dangerous than they originally thought. Mark was digging himself in deeper by the second.

  “You keep your accidents against that wall or I’ll tase you,” the officer said nervously.

  “Yes, sir,” Mark said then stood in silence against the wall.

  While Mark waited for the officers to try and move Claud he looked again at his arms and noticed the two puncture marks were gone. How could they have healed so quickly without leaving a mark? They must have been at least an eighth of an inch in diameter, very large needles, where did the marks go? What was more, his headache was gone as well. He seemed to have recovered from his wounds in what could have only been hours. What was going on? He felt like he was in the best shape of his life.

  A few minutes later the officers came back and grabbed Mark, cuffing his hands roughly behind his back. What they intended was to scare him, show him who was in charge but secretly Mark was amused at how it didn’t even hurt. If he had wanted to he could have made it very difficult for them but he had done enough damage to his case, assaulting an officer would only make it worse. Mark let them push him around and even faked discomfort to make the officers think he was learning his lesson.

  “Your lawyer is already here smartass, no need for that phone call,” one officer said.

  The two officers walked him down the row of cells and to a locked room with sturdy walls and one window. There were doors leading to the room from either side. The window looked very thick and was reinforced
with bars. This must be where he was to meet his lawyer.

  The officers sat him roughly in a wooden chair in front of a metal table that appeared to be bolted to the floor. On the other side of the table was an older man who seemed to be decently healthy. He looked thin and physically fit for a man in his late forties maybe early fifties. At least that was the age Mark guessed him to be. The man wore an important looking black suit with a red tie. In front of him was an equally expensive looking brief case that was open. The lawyer was rummaging through the briefcase, possibly looking for Mark’s file, but all Mark could think was. “Who is this guy? Why is he here? And what was that horrible smell?”

  Something in this room wreaked so badly that Mark could barely keep his lunch down. He had never smelled anything this bad. Maybe one of the guards had left their lunch in the room for weeks or maybe a small rodent had died in there?

  “The cuffs please.” the lawyer said impatiently to one of the officers.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, he just assault…”

  “I’m sure it was an accident,” the lawyer said and gave a knowing look to Mark. “Now, the cuffs please!”

  “Don’t blame the county for your injuries. We warned you,” the officer said and removed Mark’s cuffs then left the room. The loud click of the door lock hurt Mark’s ears and he winced.

  “You’ll get used to it,” the lawyer said. “It gets easier to deal with.”

  “What?” Mark asked. How did the lawyer know about his sensitivity to sounds?

  “The noise, you get used to it. You will learn to control your strength better in time. I’m quite certain you didn’t mean to hurt that man,” the lawyer said with a fiendish grin.

  “What? Who are you?” Mark asked impatiently.