The Macbeth Curse

For those who don't know what Macbeth is, it is a play by Shakespeare about witches and murder. In fact, after my whole grade read it in middle school, the literary teachers thought it would be a good idea for us to perform the play to the parents.

I remember being Lady Macbeth, and it was pretty fun. However, when looking back at my diary, it had a bunch of information that I must have erased out of my mind.....

My diary:

January 26

So today we finished Macbeth in my English class. It was okay, but Shakespeare really had a messed up mind. Well my teacher told us that tomorrow we are getting together with the whole grade to talk about performing the play. That sounds exciting. Spoiler: I am glad Macbeth dies!

January 27

Today the teacher confirmed that we are performing the play!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!! I love to act, but the school musical is for high school only. Some people didn't like performing, but the teacher said that's okay because they could be in stage crew and design the set! I am definitely going to be in the play though.

January 30

We finally went in the theater so we could start doing things for the play! Before we went in, the teacher talked about the "Macbeth curse". She told us to not say the word "Macbeth" in the theater because it is bad luck. She said that if we do talk about Macbeth, we should say "The Scottish Play" instead. I thought that was pretty weird because I don't believe in curses, but I went along with it. When we went in the theater, Sami Slinger, a popular boy, whispered "Macbeth" just for fun. Everyone just awkwardly laughed. No one was going to tell the teacher because curses aren't real and the teacher was probably just joking.

February 1

I got casted as Lady Macbeth and she is one of my favorite characters in the play! We started getting set up for the show and the stage crew was working on the set. The stage lights aren't working so we are getting it fixed tomorrow. The teacher told us that we might come across some more problems but "the show must go on". I love that saying. The show must continue no matter what happens. It is called improv.

February 6

The show is really coming along, and I memorized almost all of my lines. Shakspeare plays are shorter than you'd think. The props are also starting to come in. Jagger, who is playing Macbeth, was in charge of bringing the dagger for Duncan's murder scene. Jagger is so good at making props! The dagger looked rusty and realistic, and it must've taken a lot of work to make. He even painted on spots of reddish brown blood. The teacher loved it, however she was disappointed because Sami, who is playing Duncan, wasn't here today so they couldn't practice the murder scene. That meant we got to practice one of my scenes! I had a great time!

February 8

Sami was still not here. It is flu season so he probably has the flu. Jagger was acting weird though. He is usually talkative and no one heard him talk all day. He was pacing around backstage when the stage crew was working on the costumes. The teacher tried to talk to him but he glared at her and walked away. The props are good but the costumes are coming out really bad. The teacher said that it is okay because she could just get store brought costumes. I practiced more of my scenes and I forgot a line. I need to keep practicing.

February 9

Today when we walked into the theater, something was off. We realized that the stage lights were broken again and it was a mess backstage. Props and unfinished costumes were scattered everywhere, and the red paint somehow spilled all over the room. The teacher was really upset and gave us a lecture about how we need to be more careful. We spent the rest of the class cleaning everything up. We still got some practice time in though. I am worried because I am forgetting more of my lines, and Macbeth seems even longer than I remember. Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. This is one of my lines that I am remembering just now. It is weird because I am remembering random lines from Macbeth at random times. From now on, I will write down all the random lines that I remember. Maybe it will help me recover my forgoten lines.

February 10

Both Sami and Jagger were absent today. I hope Sami will get better soon. Jagger probably caught something as well. I was upset because I couldn't practice some of my scenes since Jagger plays Macbeth. I also wanted to see Jagger practice Banquo's murder scene, and a boy named Solomon is playing Banquo. Since Jagger wasn't here, I offered to temorarily play the part of Macbeth during today's rehearsal so I could practice that scene. I felt bad because Solomon hadn't had a chance to practice any of his scenes. But Solomon was acting weird, similar to the way Jagger was acting a few days ago. Since Solomon wasn't functional today, I quietly practiced my lines to myself. I think I am forgetting more lines.

February 27

Today was the day of the play! It didn't go as planned, and I don't really remember anything except this one scene I was in. I don't think I forgot any of my lines, which is good.

The one scene I remember was Banquo's murder scene. I remember that Sami and Jagger were still absent, and the teacher was no help because she just didn't show up today. For some reason it was decided that I, as Lady Macbeth, was to go up and "murder" Banquo instead of Macbeth murdering Banquo. So Solomon and I came up onstage and I pretended to murder him. For some reason there were no murderers in the scene, but in the actual play Macbeth hires murderers and doesn't murder Banquo himself. I think there were supposed to be murderers but they were absent today.

When I pretended to stab Solomon with a dagger, red liquid gushed out of his neck. I thought it was funny how no one told me there would be fake blood! I think someone squirted ketchup from backstage. The parents in the audience just clapped.

''Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow'r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? ''

I just remembered a random line. I don't remember if I actually said it in the scene or I'm just remembering it now. No, I think I said it right after I "killed" Banquo. I don't think that was the right thing to say because Lady Macbeth says that when she is sleep walking. I don't think the parents noticed because they just clapped.....

February 13

Oh my God! I just had the weirdest dream and in the dream we performed the play but it was all messed up. In the dream, I wrote about it in my diary before I woke up with this pencil in my hand right here at my desk.

What the..... I just looked at the last passage in my diary and it literally described my exact dream! I just realized... I think when I dreamed about writing it down, I actually wrote it down!!!!! This is so creepy! I am too scared to erase it, so I'll just leave it as it is.    

February 16

Solomon has not been here for the past three days. No one has heard from Sami and Jagger as well. Whatever. No one cares. All we care about is practicing.

Even the teacher cared about practicing. The whole time she was sitting in a chair and the only words she said were "practice makes perfect". She is right! I forgot most of my lines but am starting to remember a few.

February 17

The teacher did not show up today. Our class went right to the theater to practice. The three girls who play the three witches had evil masks on..... or maybe it was their actual faces. The dagger had a new coat of red painted onto it. It looked really good!

Was it just me, or was no one their usual selves? Everyone really got into character. Stage crew worked non stop. I came up with new lines "kill....kill...kill..." I like them better than my old ones, don't you think?

February 21

I did not pay attention to anyone today. I had to stay in character. All I focused on was "kill...."

February 22

I don't remember what happened today. I can't even remember what happened in the last few weeks. All I know is that I woke up in a hospital bed thirty minutes ago and have tried and failed to put any pieces together. Half of this diary has been ripped out and I am a bit angry but too tired to yell. Right now there is a priest in the room with the bible, and my parents are next to him crying tears of joy.

There is a wound on my arm, and it looks pretty bad. I think I got stabbed somehow. I don't know why. I know that I just came back from a production of a school play....oh yeah, it was Macbeth. I was Lady Macbeth, and it was fun. I am tired. I think I'm going to go back to sleep.

end of diary 

Well, I still don't know exactly what happened, and this is ten years later. I found these ripped pages in a box when I was packing to move out of my parents' house. Next to my diary pages, I found this note:

Patient Report: 

[name] and her whole class was abmitted to the hospital after [name] and other people got stabbed. A priest was gotten becasue it was discovered that some devil was possesing the students to kill others. It was also discovered that someone summoned The Macbeth Curse. Sami, Jagger, Solomon, and the teacher are pronounced dead due to this curse. The priest did an excorsism which was successful and also made all students forget what really happened.

[name] kept a diary and her pages were immediatly ripped out. The priest replaced all bad memories with good memories about the play being successful. [name] must never find out the truth, because then the devil will be summoned again.....