Candace decided not to retort about the man's lack of kindness, just paid for her ticket and headed for the available seat closest to the exit door. Looking out the bus window, she didn't see anyone nearby. She really was exhausted. She must have been impressed by what happened in Room 647, to continue hearing the phrase Mr. Staton had spoken. The drive to her house was smooth. After about half an hour, she arrived at her destination and motioned for the bus to stop. She saw the smirk still on the driver's face as he glanced in the rearview mirror. She shook her head, disapproving of his behavior and got out of the vehicle. She lived in an apartment two blocks from the bus stop. The day had been reasonably hot, but it had cooled off at night. All she wanted was to get home, take a nice shower and get something to eat. The grocery store around the corner was open, so she went in, bought some sausages, macaroni and cheese. She was definitely in no condition to cook anything fancy. Sh

Malcolm opted for a nice chocolate pancake, with caramel syrup and chocolate chips on top. Candace, on the other hand, stayed with the traditional dough and cookie syrup. "You have chosen very well. I've never seen this syrup, and although I love cookies, I was afraid I wouldn't like it. I hate choosing the wrong food." He commented, which made Candace's eyes light up, as this was something she herself used to talk about all the time. "So you did well. Even so it tastes special, it is a bit too sweet. I may think it's wonderful and you, sir, don't. If you want to try it..." She said. "Please, 'sir', no! I'm past thirty, but I still don't look that old. Do I?" Candace's mouth dropped open. She didn't mean to be rude! "I swore you were younger." She commented. "For real? I'm thirty-one years old now. And you must be kidding me. You even called me 'sir'." He said, lifting his chin and pretending to be offended. "Why, si-" she stopped and corrected herself, "you, even at thirty, are

Candace dropped the tray of medications on the floor, scattering the pills across the everywhere. She opened her mouth to scream, but no matter how hard she tried, no sound came out. Joseph continued to stare at her with only one eye in place, and a lunatic laugh escaped his mouth, getting louder and louder. When her legs finally came back to life, she rushed to the door and desperately opened it. "Help! Help!" She screamed and, quickly, Scott appeared there, startled. She was running, looking back, towards Staton's room and ended up being hugged by Scott, after she bumped into him, who stopped and toke her by the shoulders. "What happened??" He asked and, seeing that she didn't say anything coherent, he shook her and she finally mumbled something. "His eye is no longer there. B-bleeding." Scott let go of Candace and ran to Room 647. He saw both the tray and the medicine on the floor, but Joseph Staton was in bed, sleeping peacefuly. How the old man didn't wake up to all that scream

Joseph bent down and picked up the small box, about the size of a hand and about three fingers wide. He went to the old chair and sat down, listening to the poor furniture creak. Before opening it, Joseph noticed how it had some symbols carved into the lid as well as on the sides. Joseph's grandmother was a native, from the Pine Ridge Reservation, and though she avoided talking about it much, he could make out some of those carvings. He lifted the lid and saw a few items inside, and one of them caught his eyes. The braided leather key ring his father showed him a few years ago. They were very similar, but Joseph knew they couldn't be the same, after all, how could that be possible? There was also a necklace with a pendant similar to an animal's tooth, as well as a red ribbon. Suddenly, tiredness sets in and Joseph feels heavy eyes again, as when he was driving. He looked at the dusty bed and thought there was no other way. He dusted it off and, before going to 'bed', he observed throu

Joseph was dizzy after realizing that this woman, the Indian, was his great aunt. She was hardly mentioned, but he knew her name was Winona. He heard about how mad she was and that they cut contact with her because of this. Now he knew she cast a curse on his parents, as well as on his uncles, and maybe that's why so many wrong things happened in their lives. Joseph's mother freaked out one fine day, while cooking and tried to kill his father. His father wanted to put his wife into a nursing home, but at the time they didn't have resources for that, so the solution was to take care of her in their own home. Unfortunately, it ended in tragedy. She set the whole house on fire one night, with everyone asleep. Fortunately, his father managed to get him out of there, but not her, who burned to death. Outside the house, while waiting for the firefighters ,they could hear her insane laughter. Before the outbreak, she couldn't stop talking about curses and talismans and poisoned blood, and i