WARNING: Highly packed with violence, guaranteed.

Prologue

Whoosh. There was a scream. Slowly, Mark came closer and closer to the door, his top hat wobbling on his head. There was another scream. Mark saw blood through the crack in the door. Would you think this would happen in 1999? I didn’t think so.

Mark closed his swollen eyes and pushed the door open. A woman was lying on the floor, blood gushing down her lap. Her left eyeball looked like it was about to fall out. Her hair was as hard as bricks and her right leg was not attached to her body.

“Ha!” said Mark. “Serves her right. Don’t ever mess with my dad again!”

Mark checked her heartbeat, she was dead.

Mark picked her up along with her detached leg and carried her and walked for miles and miles, until he came to a halt in front of a cave. Mark put her in the cave and piled rocks in front of the opening of the cave. She stayed there ever since.

Chapter 1: Kidnapped

There was a myth that started ten years ago with a guy named Mark, who killed a woman who had gone missing. No one knew if the myth was true, or if Mark was alive or not. Ten years later, in the 2000’s, very few people in the town remembered the myth of the guy with the top hat.

A guy named Mike, who was twenty-seven years old, always wore a top hat to work. He even wore it when he showered or went to bed. His wife, Clarissa, moved to Greece to study the Greek language, so it was only Mike. No kids or pets.

People who knew the myth of the guy with the top hat always were suspicious of him. The people who were suspicious of him being a murderer were right.

One dark night, Mike was walking along the street. He saw a girl around the age of five about to walk into a closed store. This was his chance! He ran and grabbed her and kept running. When he got to his home, he handcuffed her and pushed her on the couch. She was crying so hard that soon, there would be no more water left in her body.  He went into a cabinet and pulled out a handgun. He pointed it at her.

“You have two choices.” said Mike, “You can either stay here for the rest of your life and not try to escape and not see your family again, or I can kill you right now.  The choice is yours.”

The little girl snapped her fingers, and she turned into a full grown adult. Mike was so surprised, his top hat flew off his head, and he dropped his handgun.

“Hello again, Mike.”

“Who are you?” asked Mike, his hands trembling.

“You don’t recognize me? I am your wife. I flew back from Greece yesterday, and I turned into a little girl to spy on you.  I always thought you had an urge to do something criminal. You would always stare at kids when they didn’t have parents around. But I would have never thought you would actually do it. Poor kids. While I was away, did you kidnap or kill anyone else? Be honest.”

Clarissa took off her handcuffs and handcuffed Mike.

“If I see you kidnap anyone ever again you’re going to have to deal with me, kid.”

Clarissa turned back into the little girl, gave him an, “I am watching you” look, then vanished.

“That woman has skills,” said Mike.

Mike only learned that Clarissa had powers two years ago, but he still was in awe when she did them in front of him.  

Why do I have the urge to kidnap kids? thought Mike.

Chapter 2: Exploring The Dead

After Mike’s little chat with Clarissa, he was very cautious when he saw a little girl. Mike was under a lot of stress from the chat, so he decided to take a walk in the woods near the park.

He was walking in the woods, the leaves crunching under his shoes, then he came to a halt right in front of a huge bramble. Beside the bramble, there was a whole field of dead people who had almost disintegrated. As you might think, Mike was in heaven. Even though he had the little chat with his wife, that still didn’t stop his criminal urge. He touched one of the dead people’s arms. Their arms felt like noodles. Really weak. Then he picked up one of the bodies and was about to walk away from the bramble, until the dead person fell out of Mike’s arms and turned into Clarissa.

“Caught you at it again!” said Clarissa.

It was windy out and Clarissa’s purple hair was flying in her face, but she was still staring at Mike intently.

“I knew that after our talk you still wouldn’t quit. I can’t believe I am still your wife. Which reminds me, I want a divorce.”

Clarissa gave him her ring, while she was staring at him rudely.

“But that doesn’t mean I am still not going to watch you. In fact, I am going to watch you more than ever, so don’t take advantage. Now, I have to go but don’t you think you’re going to get away with anything else.”

Clarissa snapped her fingers, and all the dead people disappeared. Then, Clarissa vanished.

Chapter 3: City Life

Mike pondered the scene in the woods in his head over and over.

“God, I wish I didn’t have the urge to do something so wrong.”

A fraction of a second after Mike thought that, a tall figure appeared in his room. He couldn’t make out what it was, because whatever it was, was too bright.

“Who are you?” asked Mike.

It wasn’t a person, but there were words written on the wall with blood.

The writing read, “Count On Blood.” The words didn’t disappear. Mike didn’t know what that meant, but he pushed the memory in the back of his head and started to think of what he was going to do.

Mike decided to go to the mall to go shopping for new guns. Now you might be thinking after two chats with Clarissa, he would probably stop. But his urge was too strong.  

As he was going to the gun store, he stopped by a store that had a variety of mannequins. As you might expect, Mike went into the store to steal the mannequin, when the mannequin he was about to take turned into Clarissa.

“You are such a nuisance,” said Clarissa. “Every hour of every day you either steal, kidnap/murder, or kill. I don’t know why I ever thought you were a good husband. I think I made the right decision to divorce you. But you need a punishment.”

Clarissa handcuffed Mike and turned herself and Mike invisible.

Clarissa transported Mike and herself to a cave that was days away from the mall. Mike and Clarissa walked into the cave. There lay a women on the cold floor of the cave who had a detached leg and dried blood all over her.

“Sit down,” said Clarissa, “There are some things about your family history that only I know and that you don’t.”

“Why do you know and not me?” asked Mike.

“That’s not important at the moment,” answered Clarissa.

“You know that top hat of yours? That was passed on for generations of men. Get ready for this. You know the myth about the guy named Mark who killed a woman who had gone missing? Well, one, he killed the woman that is lying in this cave right now. And two, Mark is your great- great- grandfather. That’s probably why you have the urge to do illegal things. The reason Mark killed that woman was because she put a curse on Mark’s father. The curse was to make him forget everything. Forget who he was, his children, his wife, and everything and everyone that he loved.

So,Mark and the woman were both criminals. But the funny thing is that Mark and the woman were husband and wife. The wife didn’t like Mark’s father. Then, Mark and the woman divorced. That’s when Mark killed his ex-wife.”

Mike was now lying on the floor next to his great-great-grandmother.

“Wouldn’t she have disintegrated by now?” asked Mark.

“No, because the dried blood has a reaction with the soil to prevent her body from disintegrating.”

“Now, can you tell me since when did you know all this information, and how did you get the information?” asked Mike.

“Fine,” answered Clarissa, “Your dad told me all of this. I swore to him that I would not tell a single soul about what he said to you, but here I am now. Your dad told me right before he died. But I thought it was the right time to tell you. Can you change Mike? Can you fight off that urge? Try to be a better person. Try, just try.”

There was a long uncomfortable silence between the two. After about an hour of silence, Mike spoke.

“I have something to tell you Clarissa. I barely remember this, but I remember one thing. When I was eight, a curse was put upon me when I was walking in the forest. Some figure popped out of a tree and placed something on the ground. I wasn’t looking and then bam! The curse made me do really bad things or want to. When I was fourteen, I tried to fight it off but it was too strong. Without the curse, I am a good-hearted man.”

“Okay,” said Clarissa. “If you really are a good-hearted man, then when we get to your place, you are going to throw out all of your guns and handcuffs. I am going to watch you.”

“Of course you are,” murmured Mike.

Clarissa transported Mike and herself back to Mike’s home.

Chapter 4: Good Hearted Man

When Clarissa and Mike got to Mike’s home, she said, “So are you going to throw the guns and handcuffs out or not?”

“Well, I was hoping you would forget that,” said Mike.

“Stay here,” said Clarissa, “I am am going to research how you lift the curse. Maybe that’s what we have to do, rather than trying to push through it.”

A few hours later, Clarissa came back in excitement. The whole time Mike was sitting on his couch worrying about whether the curse could be lifted.

“I know how to lift the curse! All you need to do is drink this!”

Clarissa was holding a cup with red liquid in it.

“What is that?” asked Mike.

“It’s blood from the dead people!” said Clarissa.

“Wait, I remember!” yelled Mike.

“What?” asked Clarissa.

“There were words written on my wall that said ‘Count on blood’. That’s what it meant to lift the curse!”

Mike took the cup from Clarissa and drank all of it in one gulp.

Two seconds after Mike finished the drink he said, “Wow, I feel awesome! I can help you clean up the mess on the floor!”

“Great!” thought Clarissa.

From then on, Mike always helped babies find their lollipops, or helped old ladies across the street, or helped find a missing dog.

His kids were angels, and so was his wife, Clarissa.