Cursed

⚠️ Content Warning

This book is not harmless. It contains violence, gore, self-harm, depression, and death. If you keep reading, don’t say you weren’t warned.

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I woke up from a nightmare, and my head was pounding. Wow, just the perfect start to the day. Who doesn’t love a goddamn headache in the morning right after you wake up and still have to go to school? [That must have been irritating]

I still felt groggy from just waking up. I rubbed my eyes and groaned, feeling irritated. I finally got out of bed after some reluctance and just glanced at the other three beds that my dorm mates were still sleeping in. There was also a fourth one, which someone would probably occupy today. I checked the time, and I saw that it was 4 in the morning, and school starts at 8. I decided to get ready anyways; it’s not like I can go back to sleep—I’m a really light sleeper. I’ve always been that way, but hell, you get used to it eventually—or you just give up on ever sleeping like a normal person.

I made my way over to the bathroom, took a shower, changed out of my bedclothes, and put on a black hoodie and jeans. I didn’t really have anything to do, so I decided to do some of my homework, which was due in 3 days. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing to do, but it was better than staring at the ceiling for 4 hours straight.

I went to my bedside cupboard and took painkillers first. After that I went back to the desk, put on my headphones, and put some music on so I could concentrate on my homework with no distractions.

But of course, peace doesn’t last long.

After a few minutes Evan slowly stirred awake and looked at me incredulously.

“Why are you doing homework so early in the morning? How do you even function? I swear, I need like 4 cups of coffee to function every day, while you don’t even drink caffeine and are still as awake as ever! You’re a vampire.” Typical Evan. He couldn’t survive a morning without caffeine, but he still had the energy to roast me at 4 a.m.

“And you’re a damn zombie.” I retorted.

Evan put a hand to his chest and feigned mock hurt. “I’m not a zombie; how dare you compare me to that!”

I rolled my eyes and continued with my homework. Evan continued looking at me for a few moments and then seemingly gave up trying to convince me to stop doing homework and fell asleep.

I eventually finished, and it became 7, and there was 1 more hour till school. Chelsie woke up to start her routine of curling her hair. Some people meditate. Chelsie just brushes her hair into submission every morning.

She spent half an hour frying her hair and then went straight for the coffee maker—because god forbid she start the day without her daily dose of overpriced bean water. Shit’s practically her religion. Most of my friends are all coffee addicts except me and Rhys, I don’t get the love for coffee. It tastes bitter and makes the person act like they are an energizer bunny on steroids.

After a while Rhys woke up along with Evan.

“Ugh why does school have to start so early.” Evan says in a whiny tone. Evan had two modes: complaining about school, or complaining about how tired he was from complaining about school.

“Would you rather have it in the evening?” said Rhys, scolding Evan

“Could you guys stop bickering and get ready already, we will be late for class at this rate, it’s already 7:45” Chelsie said slightly exasperated but also amused at Evan and Rhys’ bickering.

Evan continued grumbling while Rhys got ready and put on a gray shirt with jeans and forced Evan to get up and get ready. Evan pouted and reluctantly got up from bed and got ready.

“Can we go already before we get late?” asked Chelsie while putting her backpack on. I went with Chelsie while Rhys dragged Evan out the door.

Evan kept making fun of Rhys’ long white hair even throughout the hallway and after sometime Rhys snapped at him to shut up. Evan didn’t mind that Rhys shouted at him but he remained quiet for the time being.

We all dispersed to our respective classes.

After school I made it to the dorm first as usual and saw a girl there; I guess she was our new dorm mate.

“Hello there! Are you our new dorm mate?” I asked politely. Great, another roommate. [He doesn’t seem to want another roommate does he?]

The girl looked at me shyly and nodded. She had long, brown hair with curtain bangs and warm hazel eyes. She seemed of average height and was really pretty. She was wearing a white cardigan with strawberries sewn into it paired with a short red skirt. Now that I look at her more closely, she reminds me of someone. I’m probably just imagining it.

Chelsie, Brayden, and Rhys finally came back from class. Chelsie spotted the girl first and immediately shrieked excitedly; she used to hate being the only girl in the dorm and was probably excited to have another girl with her.

“Finally we got another girl!” said Chelsie enthusiastically. “My name is Chelsie; what is yours?”

“I’m Mariah,” she said awkwardly.

“You are so pretty! Where do you get your hair done? It’s so silky!”

“I don’t get my hair done; it’s naturally silky.”

“It is!? You are so lucky! My hair always has split ends, and I always have to keep straightening it!” said Chelsie, and then she pointed at us and started introducing us “So the one you met first was Draco, that’s Rhys and the last one’s Evan.”

Mariah waved then Rhys and Evan waved back.

I could’ve sworn that I have seen Mariah somewhere, even the name’s familiar. My head is pounding from thinking so much. I felt sick.

Rhys seemed to notice my discomfort and gave me my pills “Are you okay? You seem distressed”

“I’m fine.” I lied but I took the pills anyways.

The girls kept talking and Chelsie helped Mariah unpack. I scrolled on my phone for a few moment then went to Evan’s desk to help him with his homework because he was staring at his papers like they betrayed him.

“Evan? Would you like a hand?”

“No I am doing fine” Evan lied but it was obvious to me that he was struggling but he wouldn’t admit it.

“Come on! You obviously have no idea on how to do the homework, of course you don’t you never pay attention in class and later struggle with the work assigned.”

“Hey! I do pay attention in class!” he retorted

“No you don’t, if you did then why are you struggling? it’s like all the information goes from one ear and out from the other.” [I bet that happens to you too huh?]

Evan huffs feeling defeated, “Fine… I need help.”

“See? That wasn’t so fucking hard to admit, was it?” I smirked.

“Yeah, yeah now get over here.”

I walked towards him and pulled my chair over and sat down.

After an hour I finally got him to understand the topic, I have never seen a person this dumb before in my entire life, but it would be a lie if I said that I didn’t find it a bit amusing.

After I helped Evan I went back to my bed and observed Mariah for a bit. I noticed that she was wearing a necklace. It was silver and had a piece missing to it— [Important: the necklace has two halves, Only one was ever meant to move. The other—well, notice how he keeps staring at it.]

Wait a damn minute. I had the missing piece! Of course I had the missing piece. Why wouldn’t the universe choose today to mess with me? This must all be a big coincidence but how could it be? I recognized the girl, her name and she had the missing piece of my necklace! The necklace itself was custom made. My mother gave it to me before she died. How could that girl have the missing piece. My vision started blurring and the sides of my eyes were going dark. Inhale, exhale—yeah, like that ever fixes anything. What could the matching necklaces mean? Could Mariah be related to me in someway? In what way though? How could she be related to me if she was a total stranger to me till now? None of this makes sense. I should probably keep this thought aside for now, but how can I when it is so big that it is overwhelming my whole mind and I feel like I need to ask someone, anyone on what the hell is going on?

But I can’t ask anyone right now so I need to put everything aside for now and try focusing on something else like hmm, homework? I already did it 2 hours ago. Or maybe I could watch a movie? It will take too long to find a good movie to watch. Maybe I should go outside? That’s seems like a good idea. The weather is nice, I can clear my head and tidy out some loose ends while doing that.

I went outside. I had some work that I quickly finished and now I am just walking around the streets while gazing at the sky. I have always been a sucker for beautiful and serene things like a beach side view, sunsets, stars and even the sky itself. It always made me feel light and peaceful. [Even I like the outside sky] The streets were really empty which wasn’t that unusual because it was a weekday and people are mostly at work or home at this hour. I kept looking back, convinced someone was on my damn tail. But every time I turned—nothing. Just me, the empty streets, and my paranoia chewing the shit out of me. I kept scanning my surroundings just in case there was someone lurking behind but no one was. Old habits. Or maybe I’m just losing my shit.

Occasionally some cars and other automobiles passed by, but mostly no one was walking outside.

By the time I reached the dorm, Evan and Rhys were out cold. while Mariah and Chelsie were glued to the computer screen.

“What are you guys watching?” I asked curiously

“We are watching the Summer I Turned Pretty! Would you like to watch with us? I could summarize everything that happened so far.” Chelsie said

“No thanks, I’m not a big fan of romance stuff”

“Awe come on, you’ll love it, I swear.”

“I’ll watch it another time.”

“Whatever, you’re missing out.” Damn right I was missing out. If peer pressure were a sport, Chelsie would’ve already won a gold medal, a trophy, and a parade in her honor.

I rolled my eyes, plopped onto my bed and started scrolling on my phone.

The silence of the dorm felt heavier than usual, almost suffocating, as if the very air knew there was something wrong about Mariah’s sudden appearance.

I tried keeping my mind occupied on anything other than Mariah, and the necklace but I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I eventually gave up and went to bed.

Sleep didn’t come to me easily, my mind kept drifting to Mariah and the necklace. I tossed and turned, staring at the ceiling, wishing I could just shut my brain the hell off and rest.