Skurchk household.
"If
these walls could talk, they would tell a horror story"
The most rumoured house in town, the home of the Skurchk family,
stands tall and alone at the edge of town in the rich peoples area.
It has always had a sinister vibe to it, with its bleak facade and
tall, thin windows casting their malign gazes on the vast empty lawn
in front of the not so humble abode..
The Skurchk family has lived in town for generations, always accused of being run like a mafia, but in spite of all the wrongdoing they've been suspected of being the masterminds behind, they've never truely been pinned down for anything...
The most recent rumour surrounding the family is that the health
of the matriarch of the family, Marianne, has been declining rapidly,
something which has been actively denied by the immediate family..
..but she knew that her time would soon be up, and everything was
already set up for her sons Bill and Denis to take over the reigns of
the family 'business'..
Her morning on this particular day in june started almost like every other morning, by discussing the family politics with her husband and lifelong partner in crime, Max Skurchk. Outwardly, of course, they have portrayed an image of being happily married, but behind closed doors their marriage and partnership has definately had it's ups and downs for many a reason, one of them being differing opinions on how the syndicate should be governed..
Having been married since their teen years, their marriage was
not one of love, but rather a marriage designed by their own parents
to merge one wealthy (and no doubt sketchy) family with another of
the same creed.. A marriage that couldn't be broken without certain..
let's just say.. consequences...
The tradition of arranging marriages for the younger generations
of the family had been going on since the days of poet and playwright
William C. Simspear. This was back when the town of Bewickton wasn't
much more than a small fishing village on a remote island, some 300
years before it was officially founded by the Twinbroke family.. a
family of which today there are no known living members of, for some
mysterious reason..
Though Marianne and Max have mostly governed their family with an iron fist, like all of their predecessors have done, there are signs that the grip might be slipping, as all of their kids have atleast been able to choose for themselves who to marry, or even if they would marry at all..
Marianne has always been a bit envious of her oldest sons Bill
thriving marriage with his beloved Julienne, but knew better than to
bring it up.. Somewhere inside maybe she had a heart afterall, as she
wanted all of her sons to choose their own path...
...even
Dudleif, that she viewed as the black sheep of the family, who turned
his back on all of them to get a job in the police force.. though, he
wasn't going to inherit anything from the household when the moment
came for her to meet her Watcher.. that would be much to risky, and
ruin the family business once and for all.. She couldn't let that
happen, she couldn't let him inherit a single cent, or a speck of
dust... least of all the dust, she definately had to keep that from
falling into his hands...
The Skurchk family were not murderers, and their house wasn't haunted.. they were all evil lies and rumours made by people jealous of their fortune.. a fortune they had all built through hard, honest labour..
In spite of her feelings of greed and envy, Marianne loved her
family, and wouldn't want to see it turn into ruin at the hands of a
clumsy do-gooder, even if that do-gooder was one of her own
sons..
Romance was definately thriving for Bill and Julienne as they headed to the bedroom to do their part in securing the bloodline and hopefully the future existance of the dynasty.. and it is really striking how similar in appearance Bill is to his more good natured brother...
While the loving couple was doing their thing, Marianne headed for the gym, hoping to extend her lifespan by just a little more...
..though rarely would she get to walk anywhere in peace, given all the rumours that surrounded her family, and this was certain to make the headlines in the next edition of the Bewickton Post.. She could picture the headline already.. 'Mafia boss Marianne Skurckh (84) still going strong at the gym', or something like that.. No doubt would the journalists find a clever way to squeeze another tabloid 'news' article out of her daily activities...
...but maybe she should have stayed out of the gym on this very day. She had felt the pressure building on the left side of her chest before, but this time it felt a lot stronger.. and instead of going away after a while, it only got worse and turned into a pain radiationg from her chest and out towards her arms and feet..
She felt a cold sweat on her back as she had to get up from the machine while the pain grew stronger, making her feel light headed and as she was about to faint.. When it didn't pass, she knew this was the moment..
Time to go.. She felt a brief moment of regret for cutting all ties with her son Dudleif all those years ago and wished she could have talked to him, to get to know her grandchildren.. and even his wife, whom she had heard had an admirable work ethic..
..but she quickly brushed off that thought.. that goody two-shoes
of a traitor! Pah!
..and just like that, she was relieved of all pain and felt a
strange unexplainable light that seemed to come from both inside of
her and from somewhere above.. The Watcher was calling her
home..
"So this is what dying feels like...."
"Dear Watcher... have mercy on me.. please forgive me, for I have sinned..."
..but it was to late. Things had to go as they went and even the Watcher could do nothing but, well.. watch... everyone at the gym had of course noticed what happened, and flocked around with the mixed feelings of sorrow, shock and amusement at the sight of this now crooked, helpless old woman meeting her final fate...
Then he appeared, the Grim Reaper himself, just another one doing his job.. "Marianne.." he said with his deep voice "..fear not! Though I have come here to release you from your mortal flesh, your prayer shall be heard and I will not cast you into the fire and brimstone..."
"I can't grant you that opportunity, atleast not in the flesh. It is like I said, you will not be cast to the fire and brimstone, but for all your sins, you will not get to join the Watcher either, and thus your spirit is sentenced to roam the soil for all eternity."
"So it be done!" the Reaper said as he lifted his scythe
to give her a whack across the face with it's blunt end making her
spirit appear to instantly dissolve into nothing...and just like that
Marianne Skurchkh (11.09.1938 – 12.06.2023) had come to an
end..
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