The Curses: Pudge

Curses and Spells were not supposed to be real. They should not work and they should have no power in the real world. They were the things stories were made of. Magic was only supposed to exist in movies and with cheesy magicians. It was not supposed to exist in the life of eighteen-year-old Rachel Kent. The only problem was that a curse had landed right on top of her and was showing itself to be very real. But to start here would be to miss out on how she found herself in this situation.

Rachel Kent was a sight to behold. Not really tall but medium height, she was trim but with good curves. She had a wonderful complexion and always seemed to be tan without very much work. She had wonderful long dark hair. She was popular and well-liked. She was not like the stereotype of most popular pretty teenage girls. She had a kind heart and was popular not because of being fast and easy but because she was really a good friend to those around her. She was smart, kind and caring.

She was looking forward to finishing high school and moving on to college. She had plans to become a writer, or teacher, or something of that sort. Mainly because she always felt at ease with books and learning, she also enjoyed good stories and was pretty good at telling them herself.

Rachel lived in a mid-sized town of about twenty-thousand people in North West Georgia. She was not a small-town girl but she was not really a big-city girl either. She prided herself on the ability to be able to blend in and get along with just about anyone. People who knew her at all would say that Rachel Kent was bound for bigger and better things. That she was going to be a success at whatever she set her mind to doing.

Rachel held a part-time job with the local library because she enjoyed books so much. Her job was to put books back on the shelves once they were checked back in. She also read to the children who came in on Saturdays for storytime. She also helped people find books when they had trouble finding them.

It was this that brought her into contact with the woman who would change her life on that early spring day. It was a Thursday and it was a sunny but cool day. The weather still had not taken to being warm most of the time yet which can be the case in Georgia in the early spring. She had only been at work for maybe forty-five minutes when, while putting up books in the adult section she came upon the older lady who seemed to be having a hard time finding something as she stood in one of the sections mumbling to herself.

Rachel did not recognize the woman and was not really sure of what to do. The lady seemed lost or out of it. She thought only for a moment about going to get someone but she decided against it. If the lady needed help she would provide it. As she got closer to the woman a smell began to creep into her nose that seemed a little too much like rotting meat. She began having second thoughts almost as soon as she took the first steps toward to woman. She could sense that something was very wrong. Still, though she thought someone needed to check on this woman.

Rachel would never forget what happened next for as long as she lived. She went to put a hand on the lady to ask if she needed something but before she could the old woman rounded on her with blank glazed eyes. Seeing the woman close up made Rachel want to gag. She was truly frightening up close. Her skin hung loosely off of her bones. Her face was all sharp angles and bony. Her eyes peered into Rachel with an anger that she could not understand if she lived a hundred lifetimes. A voice that was much too animal sounding came from the woman and snapped Rachel back into the here and now. "Who do you think you are child to think of laying a hand upon me?" The woman seemed to wait for a reply. Rachel being frightened by this could only back away and shrug her shoulders. The move was supposed to show that she was sorry for having bothered her and that she meant no harm but the old almost skeleton-like   woman was making it very clear that she would not be treated this way. Again the old woman spoke in the animal growling voice "You should have not have interfered here you foolish girl." Rachel started to apologize but before she could the old woman spoke again "Your actions show little regard for other people's appearances and actions. Your body shows a great deal of regard for your own vanity and self-worth." The woman then moved quickly much more quickly than it would seem that she could move and grabbed Rachel by the wrists and spoke again. "Slim and lean you might be but you are not so important that you can do as you please. Your fair shape is soon to be gone." Rachel tried very hard to pull away but this old woman was strong. Rachel was saying over and over again that she was sorry. This all fell on deaf ears and before the woman released her she growled the last word "pudge" She then loosened one hand and ran that hand straight down Rachel's chest and mid-section, to her thighs turned her around, and struck her on the back side before letting Rachel go. The old woman smiled a sickly smile and pushed past Rachel roughly before quickly rounding a corner and disappearing from Rachel's sight.

Rachel wanted to chase after her but in the end, she thought it would be better if the crazy old woman got away because she was just too strange to be dealt with. Before long she would think back to this moment and wish she had chased her and caught her.

The event had shaken her and she told the people she worked with and the police were called they took Rachel's statement about how the woman had acted so strangely and how she had held her and then hit her. The police looked at what little video there was and left. Rachel left not long after as more or less her day was wasted plus she was getting hungry.

On her drive home, she tried to think and understand what the woman had said to her and why she would have acted that way toward her. All she had wanted to do was help her. Maybe she should have just spoken to the woman instead of touching her. Maybe that had been what had set the other woman off. Still, the woman had acted strangely and Rachel thought that the words the woman had spoken when she had grabbed her were the ancient woman's attempt at scaring her and the rhyming made the words even creepier.

The fleeting thought that the woman may have cursed her left her lips but she quickly laughed it off. She then tried to put it in the back of her mind, because there were other things to think about. Much more pleasant things. College acceptance letters had started to come in, and the boy she liked had finally started talking to her. She was not going to let this woman eat up any more of her time than she already had.

This would be the last time she had a chance to really think of these pleasant things as her life was about to tilt over into the realization that the old woman had in fact really done something to her. The last few minutes of the drive home were spent wondering what was for dinner. She was not in the habit of ever really being hungry but she had really gotten that way since she left work.

Once she got home she walked into the house and saw her mom setting the table. That had to mean that her Dad was at work late again. He had been doing that a bit more lately it wasn't a bad thing because she and her mom had a great relationship but it seemed to her that she didn't see her dad as much anymore.

She helped her mom finish setting the table and then they both set out the dinner. With that, they sat down and ate. They talked some and Rachel did tell her mom what had happened. It worried her mom that the woman had grabbed her and struck her but was proud that the situation had been handled as best it could. The dinner was good as it tasted wonderful to Rachel and to her own surprise she ate more than her fill as she ate two full plates. Her mother was a bit surprised herself and remarked on it only in passing. Rachel told her that she had been really hungry since she had left work but was good now. Maybe it was her nerves that were hungry. She would hit the treadmill a little harder to make up for it. Her mother laughed and said dear you have had a tough day I think you can get away with it this time. They both laughed for the last time about how they both guarded their figures.

Rachel did a little work in the family's home gym but less than she normally would as she just seemed sapped by the day's events. She went upstairs and called her crush they spoke for a little bit she didn't tell him what had happened to her that day as it was just too much to have to go over it again. She did her little bit of home work then showered and readied for bed. She was so tired that she didn't pay much attention to the slight snugness of her sleeping shorts