FicWad

Authors note. I am not a practiser of Hoodoo, I only researched it for the purposes of this story.



From the corner where she sat alone she watched, transfixed by the way that they moved together, almost like they were one of the same being. The way he looked into her eyes like she was the most perfect and flawless creature that could ever walk the earth. The girl sat alone, passed by all of the other guests as if she was not there, she smiled to herself that half of these people really had no idea who she was. Especially the bride and groom , maybe they had been expecting her to come, but not like this. Smoothing down her dress she took out her compact mirror to apply yet another layer of eyeliner to her already blackened eyes.

"Elise, what the hell are you doing here?"
She looked up to see Ray angrily standing over her

"Ray, it's my sisters wedding day, of course I'm going to be here." She replied sweetly, smiling up from beneath her hair.

"Don't give me all that..you know exactly why your here. Sophia doesn't need you turning up and ruining things and neither does Frank."

"Ah yes, Frank." She sighed, getting up from her seat. "Well maybe I'd better go on over there and say hi!"

"Elise!" Ray made to grab for her arm but she shook him off and made her way over to where Frank and Sophia were standing, holding onto each other and whispering and giggling at each other.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sophia pointed to the girl approaching them with Ray following on close behind her. Frank looked up, confused for a moment until she got closer and felt a jolt of horror as the realisation dawned of who she was. Her long blonde hair had changed to black, her eyes darker somehow but behind them she was the same girl, the one he had hoped never to set his eys on ever again.

"Elise..." Sophia started, waiting for whatever her younger sister was going to come out with. But instead she smiled and calmly leaned over to kiss her softly on the cheek.

"Congratulations." She said. "I hope you two are going to very happy together."

Frank glared at her, surely she had something planned, this wasn't the same Elise that he remembered, the one that he had to drag screaming out of his house two years earlier. The girl who he had once loved more than he could ever imagine, the same girl that he learned that he could never live with. The one who could never accept that he had feelings for someone else, and swore in those last moments that she would never let him forget it.

"Sorry man, I tried to get her to leave.." Ray explained, noticing how furious Frank looked. Elise on the other hand took not one look in Frank's direction, almost as if he was not there.It un nerved him even more. A vengeful death threatening Elise would have been more acceptable somehow but this one was too calm, too accepting.

"Come on, I need some air." Frank nodded at Ray and they headed off in the direction of the door. Elise watched them leave and turned back to her sister.

"I hope that wasn't anything to do with me."

"I don't know, look Elise to be honest I never thought you'd actually turn up. I mean none of us knew where you were so I didn't even know where to send the invite.."

Elise smiled wryly at her sisters stuttered excuses. "Soph, I've been away and I've sorted my head out and all I wanted today was to wish my sister well and see her marry the man she loves."

"Even though you..."

"Whatever me and Frank had, well it's in the past. He chose you and ...what's the matter."


"Nothing, sorry it's this dress its been itching at the back really bad, I think the clasps are rubbing against my skin and its really uncomfortable.." Sophia complained, trying to reach her hand around behind her to get to the back of the dress.

"Let me take a look." Elise pulled at the back of the wedding dress which was tight against Sophia's back. "You need some powder on that, it stops the friction of the seam against your skin." She explained.

"What like, face powder? I left all mine back at the car."

"Don't worry, I've got some." Elise took a tiny pot from her bag and brushed the powder across her sisters skin. "Sorry if it's a bit gritty, I think its got a little damp and well, you know how it goes. "

Sophia moved her shoulders as the fabric seemed to loosen slightly.
"Hey thanks, that feels so much better."

"My magic touch." Elise smiled and looked up to see Frank approaching."I'm gonna go outside for a smoke."

"Nothing changes there then!" Sophia laughed.

"No, nothing really changes." Elise nudged Frank as she walked past him towards the door.

"What did it want?" He frowned, taking Sophia's hand.

"Nothing, she was really..nice and happy for us too. I think she really has got over what happened." Sophia smiled, kissing him softly. "


Elise sat on the wall, swinging her legs absentmindedly. Lost in her own thoughts she ran her fingers over the place where her engagement ring had once been. Reaching beneath the neckline of her dress she pulled out the tiny bag that hung around her neck.

"Mind if I join you?" She looked up to see Gerard standing beside her. and shrugged a response.

"I'm surprised that you even want to sit with me, none of the others do." She said after a long silence, taking out a small bottle of perfume from her bag and dropping it onto her wrist and dabbing it around her neck.

"I'm sure you're not as insane as Frank makes out."

"Thanks for telling me that...I was kinda hoping that he hadn't been saying stuff about me."

"Sorry, I guess this is kinda difficult for you today..." Gerard glanced down at the bag she was gripping onto like her life depended on it. Now he was close to her he noticed how good she smelt, the perfume wafted around the two of them, mixing with the smoke and yet still smelling like the most alluring, intoxicating scent imaginable.

"Difficult, yeah it would have been but I've moved on. I went away and I got over him, I won't ever let another man hurt me like he did." Elise took a long drag from her cigarette and continued staring at her feet. She knew how he was reacting without even looking, "You know what, I really wanna get out of here. You fancy coming with me?"

"Sure." ,Gerard couldn't take his eyes from hers, for that moment there was something transfixing about her, the way she spoke, every word that tripped from her lips made him want to do everything she asked without a second thought to reasoning.

"You wouldn't do that to me would you, you wouldn't throw me aside like i was worthless. You wouldn't choose my sister over me ?" She wound her arm round his neck, pulling him close to her. "I know you're not like that are you?"

"No.." He whispered, holding her as close as he could, running his hands through her hair. At that moment she was like a drug that he did not want to come down from, he never wanted to let go and resisted as she pulled back for a moment.

"We can take your car.." Elise announced, "I'll be back in a minute i just have to get my coat. He nodded, watching her walk away until she was no longer in view and then he headed towards the car.

Elise grabbed her coat from the hook, at the back of the hall when she heard the loud scream and commotion form inside.

Sophia was bent double, screaming in pain as she fell to the floor and pulled herself forward. Her hands pulled at her shoes, throwing them aside. Frank rushed to her side, trying desperately to discover what was wrong with her.

"My feet, it feels like I'm being st ...st..stabbed..." She screamed, clinging onto him and writhing around the floor in agony as the pain worsened. Frank looked around helplessly and caught a glimpse of Elise hanging around the door frame, her lips curled into a smirk, she blew him a kiss and returned to her car where Gerard was waiting for her.

"Ray help me here...What's happening to her.." Frank held onto Sophia's head as she lay unconscious on his lap, passe out from the pain. As her head lolled to the side, Ray noticed the trail of black specks coming from her skin and falling onto down onto the wedding dress. With a sick realisation he worked out what was going on.

"Frank, you have to get away from her right now."

"Ray, I can't just leave her..."

"Please, I know this sounds crazy but get some salt, quickly."

Everyone else in the room had stopped, the music had been cut and Mikey ran over with the salt. They watched as Ray poured the salt in a circle around Sophia's motionless body.

"Elise...did she touch Sophia in any way?"

"I don't know, I wasn't watching." Frank pulled at his hair, wishing that she would just open her eyes and say something, show that she was still with him.

"Right we have to find Elise, before its too late." Ray pulled at Frank, "You have to find her and keep her busy, I'm gonna catch up with you. If she has a candle there, what ever you do, don't let her blow it out!"


"She's gone in Gerard's car..." Mikey shouted from the doorway.

Bob joined Ray by where Sophia lay.
"What the hells going on?"

"This is hoodoo, I've only heard of it from books and stuff before today."

"Voodoo?"

"No hoodoo, its worse than voodoo, older and a shitload more powerful magic. That stuff there.." He pointed to the black powder. "That's graveyard dust, Elise can't be harmed by it as long as she carries that bag thing with her, it's a mojo or a 'trick' bag. If she's got it with her then Franks gonna have problems. The salt should stop it from getting any worse, but it won't hold forever."

"..and the candle.." Bob replied, confused.

"She'll have a black candle that will be lit. When that candle gets blown out then Sophia dies. Her soul gets taken instead of Elise's. It sets Elise free. "

Frank raced out, following Gerard's car until he reached a small stone shack by the side of a cemetery, he shivered in the cool night air and searched around for the door.

"Well hello Frankie!" He swirled around to see Elise standing on the doorstep, "Are you going to come in and join us?" She didn't wait for his answer, knowing he would follow. Frank stepped forward into the darkness, broken only by candles arranged around the room, flickering silently. A glass jar hung eerily from the door frame, swinging in the breeze. Elise was sat on the couch, Gerard next to her, staring up at her adoringly.

"Elise, what the hell have you done to Sophia?"

"You think I'm going to tell you...forget it Frank. Well lets just say that once you realise that you made the biggest mistake of your life then.."

"Hang on Elise, if this is because of me and Sophia.."

"There is no you and Sophia.." Elise shouted, her voice reaching a scream. "That day you chose her over me, you think i was gonna find someone else, it's not like that. I was nothing without you, you killed me that day. I walked away and I had nothing, I was no one and I had nothing to lose. I cried for you and prayed that you could hear me. But praying doesn't work, it screws you up, it fills you with empty promises. So I searched in the darkest places, all of the hidden basements where we spoke to the dead, because without you I was just one of them. I sold my soul to get you back Frank, because an eternity in hell was worth it, I'll suffer that when it's all over, but right now I have exactly what I came back for." She smiled, pulling Gerard closer to her and kissing him hard, running her hands through his hair.

"By burning candles and putting fucking curses on people, I thought you were crazy before, but now.."

Elise pulled Gerard away from her."Now, I have you here with me again, I can make you love me again like this. Gerard loves me, you can love me too. It's so easy, all you have to do is come here." She beckoned him with her finger, Frank moved forwards, breathing in the perfume that she waved in his direction.

"Elise this isn't gonna work."
She spun around to see Ray in the doorway.

"Get out, or I'm just going to have to blow out this candle." She reached for the black candle and with the other hand pulled out a gun from behind her, pointing it at Ray.

"No Elise, this is all wrong. You wonder why Gerard was so easy to get under your spell.."

"It didn't take much, he's mine already. Now get out!".

Ray took a step forward, hearing her pull off the safety catch on the gun.

"Gerard...he and Frank, they were together. That's why Frank finished with you, he was confused. You disappeared and in the end he got closer to Sophia..."

"No, you're lying." Elise half sobbed, looking back to Gerard and Frank, they sat next to each other looking terrified. As she had moved further away her control was waning and Gerard was starting to snap out of his trance.

"Get on your knees." She snapped, waving the gun in their direction.

"You told me that you wouldn't treat me like he did..you lied. It's not supposed to be like this.." She ranted, pointing the gun from one of them to the other. Ray took a chance while she turned her back and grabbed the jar hanging from the doorway and smashed it to the floor. Glass shards shattered in all directions mixed with the nine pins that and dust that were once inside it. Elise shrieked like a banshee and fell to the floor scraping up the powder into her hands.

"Forgotten something?" Mikey appeared behind Bob, holding her bag which he handed to Ray.

Elise pointed the gun back at Frank, tears spilling down her cheeks. The graveyard powder was already burning at her hands, without her mojo bag she was no longer immune to it's acid touch. She could feel the hate and despair of the dead flowing through her skin, hitting her emotions and blackening her heart.

"I love you.." She mouthed at him , Frank closed his eyes, helplessly waiting for her to shoot now that she had nothing left.

A moment later a shot rang out and Elise slumped to the floor, a small trickle of blood flowed onto the wooden floor from her forehead. While her last breath escaped her lips, the candle beside her was extinguished and Frank held onto Gerard, rocking backwards and forwards knowing he had lost Sophia forever.