Subj: Cruel Intentions Chapter Five
Date: 12/2/01 7:13:55 PM Central Standard Time
From: Melissa

Chapter Five
The Dead! Why Can't the Dead Die? (which comes from the Eugene O'Neil play Mourning Beomes Electra- The Haunting

"You mean it's all gone. There's nothing left?" Elliot asked his lawyer.

"I'm afraid so. Your last expedition took a lot and your investments all failed, how many times did I tell you that before you got into something talk to me before you did anything foolish?

"Look Andrew don't make this one of your I told you so lectures. That's the last thing I need right now. Tell me what I can do. There has to be something."

"There's only one thing you can do, declare bankruptcy and sell the house," Andrew said.

We have nothing left?" Gillian asked with disbelief.

"Just a couple thousand in the bank, and that won't last long."

"And we have to sell everything? Even the house?" she aksed.

"Yes Andrew says there's no other way for us to get out of this debt."

"We have so many memories here, everything we picked up from our travels, how can we just sell it all?"

"I don' t want to sell any of it anymore than you do, but there's nothing we can do."

"Do you remember when we went to that little shop in Istanbul?" Gillian asked as she picked up a small idol.

Elliot came up behind her, "Yeah, that little man was very strange wasn't he?"

"Yeah, do you remember what he said?" she asked.

"Us e it wisely? I always wondered what he meant by that."

"Elliot did you ever notice this," Gillian asked as she examined the plaque on the idol.

"No, let me see it," he said taking it and examining it closely.

How had he missed it? The small plaque words on it, some were worn away, but the message was clear. "Three wishes for the one who holds the idol," he read.

"Three wishes," Gillian said happily. "Think of what we can do, we can get it all back. We won't have to sell the house."

"Wait Gillian remember the story of the Monkey's Paw?"

"But we will be careful," she said.

Elliot looked at the idol in his hands, and then at his wife. "No we can't do that," he said.

Gillian took the idol, "Oh Elliot, think of what we are losing. I wish we didn't have to worry about money ever again."

"How could you do that," Elliot asked taking the idol away from his wife.

"I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself," she said. "I don't want to give up all this."

"I know," Elliot said hugging her. The phone rang and Elliot picked it up. "Hello."

"Elliot it's Andrew. I need to see you at my office right away, I think I may have something for you."

"I'll be right over," Elliot said. "That was Andrew," he said to Gillian. "He wants me to come and see him, it sounds important."

"Hurry home," Gillian said as he walked out of the house and to his car.

What could it be, Elliot thought to himself as he drove into town. He didn't see the old woman crossing the street until he was right inches away from her. The last thing he saw was her face, but it wasn't the face of an old woman he saw; it was that of a skull, laughing at him.

"Hello. Yes this is Andrew Cornell. No yes I was expecting Elliot Stokes. Oh god, no I'll tell her," Andrew said and put the phone down.

"Andrew what are you doing here? Elliot left for your office an hour ago, is he with you?" Gillian asked.

"Gillian, Elliot's dead. He was killed in a car accident on his way to see me."

"No," Gillian cried softly. "It's not true," she whispered.

"I'm sorry Gillian, I know this isn't the time to tell you this, but you won't have to leave the house. Elliot had a lot of insurance. A double indemity in fact."

Gillian looked up at him, "No, I didn't want it like that."

"What are you talking about," Andrew asked her.

"The idol, I wished on the idol. I wished we had money, and now I have it, and Elliot's dead."

"Gillian that's just a coincidence."

"Did you read the story of the Monkey's Paw?" she asked him.

"Yes, I remember that story," Andrew said, then realized what she was saying. "Where is the idol? You have to get rid of it, you can't wish on it again."

"But I have to I can't go on with out Elliot," she sobbed. "Leave me alone."

"I won't leave you," he said, "not if you're going to do something foolish."

"Get out Andrew," she cried.

She picked up the idol, and held it in her hands. I wish Elliot was here now, like he was just before the accident."

"Elliot," she cried when she heard a knocking at the door. She ran to open it. Her face fell when she saw the men carrying the coffin.

"Was he in a lot of pain," she asked.

"No Ma'm, he died instantly, his heart must have given out."

"His heart?"

"Yes, he had a heart attack," one of the men said.

She lifted the lid of the coffin and looked at her husband's body. One more wish, she thought. "Wish wisely," she whispered softly.

"I wish Elliot was alive right now, alive forever."

The body in the coffin stirred, and Elliot began to scream. "Help me Gillian," he screamed.

"What have you done," Andrew asked running into the room.

"I wished him alive again," she said helplessly as she watched the body in the coffin writhe in pain.

"Gillian don't you realize that he was embalmed?" Andrew said.

"No," she cried.

She ran to the wall and took down one of the swords and went back to the body. She raised the sword high in the air and brought it down stabbing Elliot. But the body in the coffin didn't stop moving. It wouldn't die, every severed limb moved as if it were still attached to the body.

"Gillian you wished for him to be alive forever. He will suffer for all eternity."

Gillian callapsed to the floor weeping.

Elliot sat there speechless, and slumped back in his chair.

"What do you see in store for me?" the priest asked.

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