The Seventh Curse Bearer

SIX: Our futures past

"Come in miss, how may I help you?" The woman at the reception insisted.

"I'm looking for Mr Alnilam." I asked politely.

"Which one, the younger or older because the older went away on business and he won't 've back until next week." She smiled with her gasped teeth.

She looked Tai. She wore a beautiful grey pen suit and looked about to be twenty two years old. She sighed. " The boss went out for a bit but he will be back in thirty minutes. Is it urgent so I may inform him?"

"No its totally okay, we will wait until he is back. I gazed at Mariah who stood nervous as hell. She was sweatin g I could see her frame trembling below those heavy clothes she insisted on wearing during the scorching summer heat. Come to think of it I never really met Cain' s father, except for framed pictures I saw in Mrs Alnilam's office. She seemed to adore her husband so much that she constantly gazed at these photo, memories of their pasts, memories of his business and political achievements. I wondered how she could be so cruel as to choose who her son married yet she her self loved her own husband. Did she not understand true love? .I wanted to tell Cain his mother was deceiving him. I wanted to tell him his feeling were insignificant to her and that she considered him as nothing but a puppet by, i simply couldn't bring my utter guts to go through with it.

"It's better we go back, you know he doesn't like it when I leave the house and by now everyone would be looking for me."

I faced her and placed my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Mariah, you are not their maid. You can't let anybody just walk over you like that. You are your own independent person and nobody can tell you any different regardless of your social and financial status." I said and smiled.

She was deathly shy. "Are you sure he's going to like me!" She asked.

"Well if you had worn that dress I asked you to today the he wasn't going to scold you, ... what i I mean is you wouldn't be scared, you should have listened to me." I said winking at her while nugging her shoulder. "You look nice though."

" But this was your idea, you insisted I put on this as well." She said.

"Yes, i know Mariah, so just trust me."

She was on edge like a child waiting to be scolded by her parents. I felt sorry for her. The way she didn't even have her own freedom. She wore a pair of denim jeans that suit her well. I encouraged her to put on a pair of beautiful heals and she put on later after layer of clothing and stuff on top. She sat twisting her wrist watch in apprehension.

He then walked in greeting his assistants and receptionist while enquiring about any visit while he was away then we were summoned to his office.

"Nancy, what a pleasure for you to visit me here!" He was genuinely happy to be in my presence.

Then Mariah timidly walked in behind me. And at first, he did not seem pleased by the fact that she was there.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" He said to her in a cold tone. Then to my surprise, his tone changed. "Wow Mariah, you look different today." She blushed as the man who sat before her said something that he probably had never said to her his whole married life.

I sat next to her while she gazed down in embarrassment, this is what I was trying tog et rid of. I wanted to annihilate the fear she had for him, his family, for men. I wanted her to be more confident and to ha e a romantic presence and a future with him.

"It's nice the two of you thought of visiting me at the office. What brings you here to day?" He gazed down as he drew files from his desk and inspected them.

"Well, i said, Mariah over here thought he outs pass by delivering this file you forgot at home." I insisted as she withdrew the yellow file from her hand bag and handed it to him.

"My love, you didn't have to. You could have just sent the driver with it, i would have gotten it." He insisted.

I was still drawn on the fact that he was being nice to her because of my presence, but either way, i had to bring then together.

" So, what's your line of work Mr Alnilam?" I smiled at him while he blushed then felt embarrassed as he gazed at Mariah who just laughed it off.

"Um I'm actually the CEO of this company, my father owns many cooperate firms and from that I run one of them." He paused. "I mean I've always wanted to do my own thing but well with my strict parents I went with the flow."

He seemed sad, we chatted for a few more minutes and i stepped out to use the restroom. When I came back, i was deeply surprised that Cain had initiated a conversation with Mariah. It's like he was different person. I guess Mariah reppeled her own husband by her own hands through the way she dressed and presented her self. No wonder Malacca was taking advantage of their relationship.

We left and stage one of my job had been initiated. I flu d out Cain's likes and dislikes. I had to convince Mariah to dress a certain way, to be more confident so that Cain respected her as a being. Instead if me seducing Cain, i was going to use the art of manipulation on Mariah just like how my mother used it on me in my past life as a child. We stopped by doing some shopping at the arts store. I picked my herbs, a Crystal ball and some mixers and mini bowls whilst Mariah gazed at me in horror and fear.

"Sister Nancy, are you sure you need all this?" I was a bit happy she had resorted to call me sister instead of 'miss'.

Back in my room I sat on the floor with the crystal ball in the centre of my ground herbs and essence. I wanted to see into their pasts and their future. My first act of witchcraft.

I concentrated as I gazed into the crystal ball. Nothing worked. I disposed of it immediately as it did not serve me any purpose. I decided to mix up the herbs my mother had taught me as a child in my previous life. I drank the potion to attain knowledge of Cain's past and future. There I saw her, the supposed Amira, with my internal eye. Her death at the hands of someone she knew, a staged accident. Her vile personality, how it matched that of Malacca and how she had tried to eliminate her sister from the mansion because Cain was starting to love her. I gazed into their past as a once desperate Cain tried to convince an unmoved Mariah that he loved her.

He held her by the wrists with both of his arms while he pinned her to the wall. She struggled to free herself from his strong and muscular grip but to no avail. "Leave me Cain, you know I don't love you. I don't know you persist in complicating my life." She said as tears rolled down her eyes.

"Why not Mariah, are you afraid your so called sister will see us like this? That he'll know of my true feelings for you? aren't you tired of letting her control your life? Why can't I love you even though I'm your husband? Huh? Tell me? Am I not allowed to do that?" He asked as he was almost drawn to tears.

"You know the circumstances we got married under, you are officially Amira's husband and i wouldn't take advantage because she loves you and i know you love her too. You don't love me sir so please let me go!" she cried. She didn't love him and it was sad to watch him almost drawn to tears on his knees pleading for the love of a woman whom he would learn to hate in future. I stopped swing onto their future. I knew all I had to know and I knew all I had to do. I brew up the potion to love. The most dangerous potion of all as it had caused hearts to break, souls to ail and lives to end in the centuries past.

Dinner was early that day. I had the intention of sitting next to Cain and slipping the potion into his drink, the problem was, the potion had to be taken alone and not mixed with any other sort of beverage so yes,... that day at dinner time wasn't the best time to do it. That day marked a significant day for the family as Mr Alnilam, Cain's father came back. Everybody gathered and hovered around him. He gave each of them gifts from abroad including me! I was surprised.

"Cain told me about his new found female friend so just as much as my son is dear to me, i cherish his friends and acquaintances the same." He said as he gazed in my direction. I found my self smiling then gazing down out of embarrassment and shyness. I hadn't noticed but that day I realized that a part of me was just like Mariah, shy and timid.

Mr Alnilam looked to be in about his sixties. His hair a mix of back and platinum grey strands that lay on his skulp comped neatly . He slim and he was tall. He looked to be about way way older that his wife. His brown eyes eyes were large and sunk into their sockets deep into his head. His skin had less wrinkled for a man in his sixties. His appearance was pleasant, at sixty something , he still possessed very attractive features. I would later learn that not only had he been unfaithful to his wife but he had other children out of wedlock apart from Cain and his siblings. I wed lock, this weathly couple that possessed divergent personalities had produced a set of seven children including Cain, the eldest passing away at the age of thirty two the year prior. Cain was now the crown heir to his wealth. He would be first in his will.He had so much pride in his son and wasn't disappointed when he learned that Cain wanted to pursue His own dreams in life. He had his own ambitions. Mr Alnilam had one grand daughter from his deceased son and he wanted grand children. Children were his joy no wonder he expected so much from Cain who was facing failure in his marriage.

After dinner I found Ali sitting at the living room's balcony alone ruminating while gazin at a photo of Mariah. I paced up behind him and gave him a scare so much that he almost jumped out of his skin.

"You scared me Nancy!" He said as he panted for his breath. He was hysterical. I sat next to him.

"Sorry to bother You Cain it seemed I interrupted your 'you time'!"

"No its okay Nancy, I just come here when I want to ruminate on things." He let out a sigh then gazed at her photo and smiled at the stars.

"That's a pretty great photo of her." I said. as I pretended to sip from a bottle and offered him some as well. He nodded no , he didn't want the potion and the was some way I had to think of to make him take just a sip, that's all I had to do.

"Actually Cain, this is my special herbal drink that is said to lengthen life, it heals the heart and reduces stress and muscle ache. It's the best remedy after a long day, and it looks like you need it more than me." I smiled as I slowly but nicely forced it into his hand. Eventually he gave in and took a sip.

The potion of love was as sweet as true love its self, and the potion of hate had a bitter taste to the mouth. the same bitterness one attained after taking it.

"Its good, really good!" He said. where did you get it or did you make it tour self?" He continued to take another long sip as I watched in fear and excitement. My first official act of bewitching somebody. I was scared to death.

"Yes I did," I smiled then went silent out of nervousness and guilt. the potion was brewed specifically for him to fall with Mariah and could only be reversed with an anti-potion or if he found out that I had given him one then he would wake from his love spell.

"You know, I don't even like the way I've been treating her lately. I know i only do it because of Malacca..."

"Malacca? " I interrupted him.

"Yes, sometimes I'm too stern with her, I don't treat her nice and it hurts me to do that, I always want to know where she is and I monitor her where abouts, I don't let her even leave the house!" He hid a sob. What was happening to this man, what was he trying to hide from his family? His love for Mariah? But why?

" Ever since the death of my first wife Amira, I have been afraid , scared for her life, afraid that someone might take her too just like they took my Amira away from me . I not at all ashamed to admit that I did not love Amira but i did not want to lose her either. i know she was murdered because the circumstances of the accident were not severe enough to kill her. I don't be live she would intessionally ram into a parked car and die just like that. Now I'm always paranoid that the same person is out to get Mariah and i just can't shake off that feeling." He said.

I mean if they could do that to her what more to someone I deeply love."

" You have any suspects in mind?" I timidly asked.

"I thought it could have been Malacca since she blamed Amirah for taking me away from her!" His accurate response gave me fright as I had seen it all when i saw into his past.

"But then i thought no, Malacca doesn't have it in her, she wouldn't do it, maybe my mother or my brother would have done it. It could be my one of my business enermies and either way I wasn't going to let them take Mariah away from me too so I have to pretend to not love her in front of everyone. Amira, I pretended to love her even when I knew didn't .

I love Mariah and i can't even show it now that she loves me back." He said. I was shocked, Cain had just revealed his inner feeling to me and the potion hadn't even taken effect. I wanted to tell him the truth that Mallacca panned to kill Amira and she succeeded but i failed to. I told her how they kidnapped her from the house and drowned her to death and how they staged her whole accident, How they placed her body in the car and how they forced it into another parked car literally. But I could not just tell him out just like that. What was I to say? ' Cain I'm a witch and i read into your past and saw your fiance kill your deaf wife. ' and 'someone also recorded this atrocious act on camera. ' I must couldn't and i figured when the time was right, i was going to look for evidence. Maybe search for the boy who saw it all and recorded it. I probably realised I didn't even need the potion. All I had to do was solve the problem between them. I could have just found evidence that could have put Malacca and his accomplice behind bars.

We talked for a few more minutes before I said my good nights.

Stick around for a bit more he said as he had gotten a beer for himself and a soda for me. I noticed his mother standing at the entrance of the living room far away from were we sat in the balcony I gazed in her direction . She thought I was going through with her plan and probably she was happy. She would later call up on me to inwuee if I was probably going about seducing Cain like she wanted. how Mariah was all suffering because of me like she hoped and she would also want to know why Cain was delaying the divorce as i had told her I would find out. She would probably want more from me and I was afraid of being tangled in her clutches of doom and being lost forever under her command and black mail. As I would soon learn she was more dangerous than I thought.

When Cain went to sleep the potion would take its effect on him and when he woke up in the morning the first thing he would see was Mariah's face.

I had done the deed and my work was done. I would always remember my mother's words. "Darling remember this potion is as dangerous as it is effective, one must never mess with matters of the heart. So use this teaching of potions wisely." I remembered those very words and how she had told me it could enchant the heart of men and she taught me to reverse it. Although my mother was a bad witch, i wasn't going to follow in her footsteps.