Family is a complex concept. If you are lucky, you can call some great people your family members. But there is always at least one troublesome family member. 

This story is about how one person created enough trouble to affect several generations.

One day an old man showed up at the witch’s house. He was very nervous, not about the witch’s presence, but about the truth he might uncover. He told the witch that he was sick and soon he would die. He had the same disease his father and grandfather had. The strange thing about the disease was that it wasn’t genetic, which made the old man worry and wonder what was going on. 

The witch looked into his energy and tried to trace it back to the grandfather to figure out what might have happened. She couldn’t find anything on the grandfather, he didn’t seem to be the problem. This confused the old man even more. The witch then searched for anyone connected to the grandfather who might have wished him harm, but found nothing. The witch sensed it must be something within the family. Her experience with other clients usually confirmed that family members were often the troublemakers. The witch decided to go through the family members in the grandfather’s generation and found a connection to one of his brothers.

It turned out that the brother had made a deal with the devil and tried to outsmart the devil to avoid his end of the bargain. One thing you should know about the devil: he always makes sure he gets his part of the deal and then some more. Unfortunately for the grandfather and now the old man, the devil decided to punish them for the actions of the brother, since the brother didn’t have any kids.

Learning this about the grandfather’s brother devastated the old man. The witch couldn’t help him since this wasn’t  a curse but pure punishment, and the only one who was able to end it was the devil himself. 

The old man left the witch’s house with little hope but determined to find a way to end the punishment. 
Whether he succeeded or not, the witch never knew.