The Family Veil

Coming up to the driveway of my late family’s mansion, I still hear the sirens of the ambulance and feel the flames licking at my feet. Eighteen years and not a year goes by without that going through my head, I think to myself. 1

I have my annual All Hallows’ Eve feast with my family, as is tradition. While they are ghosts and can’t eat, I try to bring the “spirit” of a dinner with them every year that I can see them on All Hallows’ Eve.2

As I turn the key and open the door, I can’t help but remember running from this place because of the fire that had consumed this mansion. It was on Oct. 31, 1990 and it’s a day that I won’t forget for the rest of my life.3

I was eight years old and my family had owned this great mansion for many years, going back to the original settlers of this state. They were from old money and every Halloween, they would sit down at a feast and celebrate the holiday with the spirits of families past.4

It was a tradition that survived countless generations and always seemed to bring the family together and support each other through whatever troubles that they had gone through in the years.5

However, that year, everything changed. I woke to my room covered in flames and I ran down the hallway. As I looked into any room that wasn’t covered in flames, my family was strangely still in bed asleep. It was like the fire didn’t even bother them. 6

With the flames licking at my feet, I made a mad dash to the front door and smashed my way through. I headed towards the neighbor’s house across the street and had them dial 911, but when I got back to the mansion, it collapsed, killing my family. 7

I couldn’t remember ever in my life feeling such despair as that fateful night. I was asked at least a dozen times if I was alright and other than some first degree burns on my arms, I was unharmed. Yet, inside I was adrift and lost from any connection of family that I ever had. 8

The courts of the state gave me over to foster care and for thirteen years of my life, I was in the caring and loving home of a nice old woman named Agnes. However, when I turned 21, she died and I was content to live at her place, but three days after she died, a lawyer came to my place and told me of my inheritance that I got from my family that died in the fire.9

I was in shock, partially due to the fact that I had blocked out a majority of that night and because the house was rebuilt even though I saw it collapse before my eyes. Strangely enough, the house reappeared whole about a year before Agnes died. It was on Oct 31. The lawyer said that the house was mine and he gave me a key for the door before leaving.10

My curiosity got the better of me and I traveled the two hours up to Vermont to see the mansion. Seeing my family again was the last thing that I expected, but strangely enough it gave me back some of the time that I had missed out from the fire that claimed this house. As I walked through the halls with the grocery bags, I could hear snippets of conversation just outside of my hearing, laughter in the kitchen, and smell the smoke of cigars in the sitting room when I passed by on my way to the dining room even though every time I looked no one was there. 11

I put the two grocery bags on the table and headed to the kitchen for our family dinner.12

My mother’s ghostly form floated through the doorway and gracefully sat on a chair looking relaxed. With an elbow on the table and her head propped on her hand, she looked at me as I busied myself around the kitchen without looking back at her.13

“Tell me Alex,” she said, looking up at me. “What troubles you?”14

“Nothing, mother.” I said, going into the kitchen and setting out pots and pans. “I’m content to spend dinner with my family. Even though it’s a ghostly family.” I said, looking around the house to emphasize my point.15

“We are bound to this place, as our fathers and mothers before us. It gives us enough energy to talk to you on this day and helps keep this sacred place safe from people who would do this family harm.” She said looking ominous.16

“What people?” I said, confused. She never mentioned this before in the last three years that I’ve come to this mansion to visit my family. 17

“You never knew, my poor boy. Oh, you never knew about the hardships that this family has gone through being what we are. The struggles of who we are and our fight to keep our secrets.” She said, looking lost in a memory before her eyes. 18

I knew that the history of the family was a mysterious one and everyone in the town wondered about our eccentric family. We had enemies, but since the family all died in that ill-fated fire when I was eight, I thought that it would be in the past and not worried about now in the present.19

“Tell me what started the fire that night, mother. Was it our enemies or was it the stove being on for too long like the fire investigator said?” I said, looking straight at her as I boiled the pasta for tonight’s dinner.20

My mother for the first time in her life looked frightened as the memory of that night flooded her eyes. It was like she was reliving that night before she shakily answered “That night was a true tragedy and I will have to discuss it with the family before I tell you the real reason of what happened that terrible night.” She rose and floated towards me. A single tear ran down her cheek as she leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. The coolness of it reminded me that I would never feel her warmth again. I turned away as the sadness overwhelmed me and busied myself with chopping up the vegetables.21

My mother, sensing my distress, floated through the wall without a word.22

Three hours later, I put on some classical music to drift through the halls to calm my mind and when I set everything at 8pm, like clockwork, the ghosts of my family drifted through the walls to sit at the table and relive that fated night eighteen years ago.23

That’s the reason that I come here every holiday to see my family as they were. It’s a rare treat for me to sit here and watch that night again and again every year because I miss my family so. To sit here and watch them grumble about the food taking so long and seeing my Uncle Evan sneak a drink from his flask and watching my other cousins run around the table playing tag.24

A single tear runs down my cheek and all of the ghosts stop what they are doing and look directly at me. 25

“You’ve never cried before when you’ve seen us.” My grandfather Thomas said gravelly. He always sat at the head of the table. “You’ve always been overjoyed to see us. Why are you now sad?”26

I stare at my hand and wonder why I’ve been sad today. I guess the phantom touch of my mother’s lips made me realize that even though they are all still here and interactive, I won’t be able to hold them ever again.27

“I’m sorry, Grandfather. I believe that for the first time in my life, I’m grieving your loss. Before I was too young to remember your loss and when I first met you again when I first came to this house, I was very happy to see you again, and now I’m having a hard time coping with your loss, even if you do visit me in your ghostly forms.28

My grandfather looked somberly at my mother and she nodded. She spoke and it was as if she was speaking to me in my own head. Her voice was a gentle touch as if I could hold her close one last time. “We haven’t much time, son, for you are our only hope and prayer against the coming darkness.” She smiled softly.29

“What do you mean?” I asked, my mind going back to our previous talk in the kitchen.30

“You are the last descendant of the Kushov family and you are a part of this family of witches and wizards guarding this area from the darkness that has plagued this land since we arrived from Europe. “ She said, looking regal like a Queen.31

“The fire that you survived when you were young was no ordinary fire. It was a warlock attack on our family. He sought our powers while we were paralyzed by his well coordinated attack, but he missed one crucial point: you. You hadn’t grown into your powers, so they were dormant and you were invisible to his notice. Thinking that his job was done, he collapsed the house, but his newfound powers were not given to him and he’s been searching for the last descendant ever since.” She said, looking directly at me and taking my hand. 32

I felt her warmth in that hand and when I looked down, her hand looked real as did the rest of her. “Son, you are destined to fight this man and eradicate his darkness so that light and goodness may flourish. Close your eyes and hear our voices.” 33

I closed my eyes and for a minute, nothing happened. Then, I heard them, voices whispering so low I could barely hear them, but I knew that they were chanting. A heat started to burn slowly in my stomach and it burned hotter and hotter until I bowed over from the burning sensation. I put my head in my hands and screamed out my pain and then suddenly it was gone and I was whole, yet altered.34

I could hear everything in the house and smell the flowers from outside the place. I could feel the magic and power in this house and my veins inside my skin felt as if fire traveled in them. I moved my hands away from my head and fire leapt from my skin. It didn’t burn them, but it was there all the same. I closed my hands and the fire died. 35

I looked at my mother and rest of my family. “What just happened to me?” I said, looking at each of them for the answer that I knew already. 36

“You’ve been reborn and your powers have been activated. However, that means that you’ve also been targeted.” My mother said, cocking her head to the left as if trying to hear something. 37

I looked at her and instantly I knew that the man that had killed my family was outside the door and coming to kill me. Rage flooded my veins and red covered my vision as I got up, knocking over my chair, and headed for the doorway. 38

The front door burst open and a stocky man looking to be in his forties, with a cigarette between his teeth walked through the destroyed doorway. He was dressed in a long trench coat and his eyes looked as black as night. No whites came out of his eyes and those eyes looked at everything coldly with an deadly stare. 39

Those eyes centered on me and his lips turned into a feral smile. 40

“Well, well, what do we have here?” He said, taking a drag from his cigarette. He blew it out at my face and laughed. “Not much considering that you are the last of your family. You are the only thing stopping me from harnessing the power of your family’s line.” He smiled. “Not much of a challenge, if I do say so myself.” His smile turned into a flat line. “Prepare to die.”41

He raised his hands and fire flew at me. I dodged and the table behind me smoldered as the fire hit it. I felt fire travel down my arms and I ran at him with fire in my hands. I clenched my hands into fists and hit him as hard as I could.42

I watched in satisfaction as he bowed over from the hit and stumbled. Fire leapt to his jacket from my fists and he quickly took it off so that he didn’t get burned. He looked back at me and even though his eyes were black, his face showed his outrage and ferocity.43

“I underestimated you and thought that you were an easy kill. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” He said, before he launched himself at me. He grabbed my shirt and threw me across the sitting room. I smashed against the grandfather clock and it broke into pieces around me. I heard chanting and rolled instinctively to the left. The ceiling around me collapsed. I held up my hands without thinking and the plaster and wood stopped just inches before my body. Then I heard my mother’s voice in my head. 44

“Hear our voice and let us help you, son” She said and I nodded. Then I was taken out of my body. I watched myself throw the debris and rise up. My eyes looked gray as if a ghost was inside me. My voice issued forth, but it was altered as if hundreds of voices were speaking from inside of me.45

“Regath, you have plagued our family and other families of witches for the last time. Your path of destruction ends here and you will no longer trouble us any longer.” My hands came together in front of me and all of the spirits became visible to me and they started to be sucked into the ball of power that my hands were forming. 46

As I saw my uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters all get sucked into the ball of power, I knew that I wouldn’t see my family, ghostly or otherwise, again. My mother was the last one and she waved goodbye and said that we would see each other again on the other side. 47

I came back into myself and unleashed the ball of power. It hit Regath in the center of his chest and engulfed him in a fiery explosion. The tables and other furniture were blasted back, but the house remained standing and as I stood, I grieved for my lost family. 48

Two weeks later, I was exploring the house and in the basement, I found a wall that was covered by a thick red cloth. I removed it and there wasn’t a wall but a fluid barrier. Behind that barrier was my family. However, when I went to reach them, the wall formed solidly and I couldn’t get through. My grandfather Thomas pointed to a book that rested on a shelf and the first page was a note to me. It said:49

“My dear grandson Alex, this wall allows us to contact any ancestor that we choose so that we don’t lose the collective knowledge and experiences and so we grow stronger for it. We call this the family veil since the veil is a window to the other side. Do not grieve for us for we did this all for you. Enjoy your life and when you are ready to pass on, we will be here to see you through. It is my sincerest hope that you have a big family to carry on the family line. What you do from here is up to you. 50

With much love from your family and from me,51

Grandfather Thomas52