The Secret of Samantha Mor

Cristiane Dias

On a rainy and dark night, Charlie and his family followed the path to his parents’ cottage. Suddenly, his wife, Lisa, asks to stop the car to change their daughter’s diaper, Annie. Michael, the older son was upset and tired, and quickly turned his face to the car window in a sign of annoyance to his parents about the trip. At this point a startling scream came out of him:

– Oh, my God…What is that?

The mother asked her son; – What happened? Then he said:

– Something was outside there and looked at me. I felt as if something touched me.

The father tried to help by saying:

– It’s only the reflections of lightnings… when they fall and reflect the trees, we have the impression of seeing something. Don’t worry!

Michael was not convinced and continued:

– Something was there and wanted to say something to me…

Everybody stayed silent inside the car.

A big tree was in the middle of the road. Charlie stopped the car, and it turned off suddenly. Frightened, they stayed inside the car, because the rain had now turned into a major storm; one strange thing had happened, and they did not even realize. The car had stopped in front of  a fork in the road, the big tree  fallen on the road led to Charlie’s parents’ house. Little Annie slept tranquilly in that moment. Lisa turned to her husband and said:

– What are we going to do now? We can’t stay here. We must protect our children.

Suddenly, Lisa looked outside and saw a light… Beside her, Charlie did not know what to do with the car. A gaze of disappointment arose on Lisa’s face for Charlie wasn’t being able to turn the car on again. The light was coming closer little by little… Suddenly, the light appeared alongside the car, their hearts were jumping out of their chests when Charlie said:

– Don’t make a noise… What is it?! Who is it?!

Next to the window of the car, a small young girl emerged from the darkness. She pointed to the house. Only then, when the car headlight turned on magically, they noticed they were in another place; Lisa was surprised and afraid when Michael told her:

– I´m afraid, mom, and I want to go home, I feel like something very bad was here. Please…Let´s go home.

That was when the rain had diminished, simply transforming everything into a nightmare, thunder and lightning seemed to fall like raindrops on all sides, Charlie said to his wife:

– Get ready, let’s go to that house now. We are all leaving now.

Michael yelled:

– I´m afraid!

Charlie answered their son, saying:

– Son, we cannot stay here, it’s too dangerous, please, let’s go, I’ll protect you. Therefore, they left the car and walked towards the house.

Lisa went running desperately to the door to ask for help. When she was about to knock, surprisingly, the door was open…

The house was very old, everything seemed be in the same place for a long time. Suddenly they heard a sweet voice that got closer and closer, approximating more and more. Everybody remained where they were, in the front dining room that appeared tidy… And out of nowhere, someone said:

– Hello, welcome to my home, who are you?

Lisa looked at a girl, who wore a long dress, had long black hair, dark eyes and a pale face. Lisa replied:

– I’m Lisa and this is Charlie, my husband, and those are my children: Michael and Annie. And who are you? Where are your parents?

She had an odd smile, strange looking clothes that were too old (in fact, everything was old in that place), and then she answered:

– My name is Samantha Mor, I live here, but my parents are traveling.  Do not worry, I can help you. Sit down and eat! Please, you must be hungry. Tomorrow the rain should stop.

Charlie thanked her… But he was intrigued. There was something he could not remember…

They were tired and asked Samantha if she could show them a bedroom, because they wanted to rest. However, she kept a certain distance from them when they were coming up the stairs. Charlie saw an old picture of the Mor family and continued walking. When they entered the bedroom, he called his wife and Michael and said:

– I remember now! This is house of the Mors. This place is cursed, and we have to get out of here! There is a legend about this place…

Lisa, asked:

– What legend is that? What happened? Please, tell us about it!

Charlie took a deep breath and responded:

– I don’t know what happened to Samantha, but her mother and father were accused of witchcraft, her parents died. Charlie continued talking:

– The legend says that “if one enters, one does not leave the Mor’s house after the first dawn”… We have until dawn to leave here.

Lisa looked at her watch; it was midnight. She said to Charlie:

– Let´s get outta here.

But when she turned around to pick up Annie, she was not there anymore, and Michael was falling to the ground.

Lisa cried out of despair and grabbed him in her arms. Charlie went to the bed to see if Annie was there, not believing what had just happened. He approached Lisa and Michael. His wife saw something in her son’s hand, which resumed the conscience, he then said with a strange voice:

– Get out of here, they are coming back

And he came back to normal and said to his parents:

– Annie is well, I know where she is, and we need to go now…

Lisa asked:

– What are you talking about?  What voice was that?

Michael kept telling his mother:

– We do not have time …

They followed their son through a passage in the wall. It was a place, full of dresses and other people’s things. The basement had an altar in which Annie was lying. Their parents went in the direction of their daughter, but suddenly Samantha appeared, and she spoke to them:

– Break the altar of the witch!

She then fell silent.  Meanwhile, Michael, looked curiously to the paper in his hand, and began reading the message: “She can only return by sacrificing a life of an innocent. Do not let her do what she did to my sister… I could not protect her.”

Samantha shouted at Michael, reading what is written on the paper is the only chance to send her back to hell.

So, Michael went towards the altar, taking advantage of finding that the witch was still powerless and recited the words. Meanwhile, the father found an axe to break the altar. Then when everything began to disappear, the witch was taken to hell. Samantha began to fall slowly. Michael went towards her to try to grab her as his hand passed through her body, and she revealed her secret:

– Excuse me for not warning them before, but the witch kept me, under a spell that kept me imprisoned, after that, she killed my parents and my sister. You were the first to show up here after 200 years, but when I saw you on the road, I wanted to protect you. Many were killed by her and her sister, and you would have been the last to complete the ritual to make her live again … Now, I’m free. Thank you, my friends.

The parents of Michael embraced Annie and then called Michael to escape that place.  When they were in the car, the rain simply stopped and a ray of sunshine appeared and the house disappeared forever.

Texto produzido sob a supervisão da prof.ª Clara Dornelles na disciplina eletiva: Oficina de Textos em Inglês. Revisão do texto: Jennifer DiLallo
Revisão e edição LAB: Juliana Mendes

Letras Línguas Adicionais Inglês – Espanhol e Respectivas Literaturas.