In the morning, I woke up tired and felt terrible due to stress and lack of sleep. I was inside the publication office with my juniors while recalling the day I confronted her mother about her possible pregnancy.
Flashback…
I came back home late and saw my mother, Lyna De Leon, in the living room. My mother looked like she wanted to explode, but she bit her tongue since my siblings were there. I could feel the dread that she perfectly hid. I felt the same as I looked at her composed face. The seemingly collected woman understood complicated cases, yet she failed to understand her daughter.
“Why are you late? Where were you? I can't contact you for hours, and the security guard back in your school said you left after lunch” There was venom laced in her word
“Wow, sis, talk about obsession. We’re going to need a full-on food date today just to piece all of the puzzles together.” We rode in my car and went to the mall to talk and shop at the same time.“I can’t believe that out of all the guys that you’ve dated, you landed a voodoo addict for a stalker. I mean, I knew you were wild, but I would have never imagined you were wild enough to bag the spawn of Satan’s heart”. Perry tried to lighten up the mood, and I couldn’t help but smile at the support system that I had.“So what did you tell mom and dad for them to let their youngest child come all the way here without a bodyguard?” I’ve noticed; these past few months that the secret bodyguards my parents appointed to tail me, became lesser in numbers, and I assumed Izz
"Please tell me I'm dreaming right now, and this is not real. Please tell me Rian didn't commit suicide," I felt like I could faint, and all I could hear was my ragged breathing and loud heartbeat. "This is all my fault, and I know he wouldn't have killed himself if I didn't leave him." "Shyne, calm down and breathe," Perry held my arm, and Izzy took away my phone. "Don't faint on us, Shyne. You need to calm yourself down and remember that his decision to kill himself was his own choice. Do you hear me, Shyne?" I heard Perry's words, but my vision was getting blurry, and I did my best to avoid passing out completely. Tears kept falling from my eyes as realization dawned on me. "Perry, he killed himself because of me. He killed himself because of me, and he even dared t
The knock on the door repeated again, and this time, it was a bit louder. Izzy was the only one brave enough to open it, and since I've been seeing the shadow all day, I had to hold on to Perry as the three of us went to the door. As soon as Izzy opened the door, no one was there. I screamed as Katherine's smiling face popped up from the left side of the door. "Wow, you guys need to tone down your caffeine intake, you're too jumpy today. You guys need to get a life and get out of this room. You will all turn into one of those hermits if you won’t leave this place." Katherine proceeded to go inside of the house while the three of us calmed ourselves down. She kept laughing, and only stopped a few seconds after we were seated on the sofa. &n
I jumped out of bed, and Perry's head popped up under the covers as my ear-piercing scream echoed in the night. She instantly covered my mouth to stop any scream that threatened to come out."What the heck do you think you're doing under the covers, Perry?! MY GOD! You are going to be the death of me even before this stupid curse could get me!"I felt like I did the ice bucket challenge, and every part of my body was shaking like crazy. It felt like the ice in my veins formed earlier out of fear suddenly melted and turned into lava."You are such a noisy roommate, Shyne. Did you forget that you passed out last night because of the sleeping pills, and you nearly begged me to sleep beside you so you won't be afraid? I only agreed because it saved me time and energy
"Shyne, what is the matter with you? We've called your name three times already. Are you alright?"I snapped out of my hallucination when Perry touched my arm a bit harder than expected. I felt like I was losing my mind, and I began to look straight at Brixton and Rex."I'm sorry, I was in deep thought, and I thought I saw an insect near my leg, so I just froze, but it was nothing."Perry saw right through me and gave me a look that told me we would discuss the scenario later when we got home. I always tried my best to change the subject and focus on the task at hand, which is separating Rex and Brixton."Why are the both of you so tense, Brixton? Seriously, you look like you don't even wanna try the white chocolate
"How does it feel to know the full extent of my love for you?" A man's voice whispered near my ear, but no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't move or open my eyes. "How does it feel to know that my promises were all true and that you could never escape me nor my love for you, Shyne?" My eyes snapped open to search for Rian, but it was pitch black. The chest that I bumped into was nowhere in sight, and I couldn't feel it either. "Are you looking for me, my love? I'm not in front of you, I'm not beside you, nor am I behind you. Look up and look at me, Shyne" I saw Rian hanging with his tongue sticking out long enough to be terrifying like a demon's tongue. His eyes were closed, and his neck was bloody as if the rope was eating his flesh.
"Hey sweetheart, did you miss me, my love?"I screamed, but my voice was stuck in my throat, and I felt a chill run up my spine as Rian walked closer to me. This time, I clearly saw the damage that the rope did to his neck. The flesh was bleeding, and it turned both purple and red.This time, I heard footsteps running in my direction, and I felt relieved when I realized that those footsteps were probably Perry and Kath's. They must have felt that something was wrong or that they heard Rian's voice."Now that you have her, Rian, make sure she doesn't get away from you this time. It will be a pity if you have to sacrifice more for her to be yours."The voice was demonic as if it was multiple men with hoarse voic
The car we rode in was now outside the mansion, and I felt my nerve going haywire. We waited for someone to open the gate, and I saw the look of shock on everyone’s faces as I began to get out of the car with multiple bags as if I was staying for more than two days.I realized that for almost four years, after I changed schools, that I hardly stayed long in our house. Even during the holiday, I celebrated them in our ancestral dwellings all around the country where my grandparents and other relatives lived. It was a rare sight to pack a bag, knowing I would be staying here longer than two days.The people inside the house greeted me respectfully, and as I looked up at the mansion, it felt like I was entering a cage that I wasn’t getting out of. Izzy ran towards me as I was walking up the steps
I opened my eyes, and Brixton was beside me. I stared at Brixton while he looked up at the moon. The moon was so big, and the sky was like a blanket of stars. I loved this kind of view, and I smiled when I saw Brixton shifting his weight to reach for a grape near my hip. "Sly..." I whispered when he softly caressed my hip before pulling his hand back and eating his grape. He just chuckled. "Well, I try to not get caught, babe," he said and fed me the other grape that I gladly ate. We laughed and teased each other while we were sitting on the blanket at the bench in the middle of the night. It was our third anniversary as a couple, and it has been three years since I was finally released from the curse. "I can't believe that after all these years, you're still not allowed to go out with me without a chaperone," he wined when we heard laughter from the cottage in the distance. "You know my sister and my cousins are old maids who have no plan on getting hitched or getting into a rela
"Shyne!" I screamed when I saw that my younger teenage self was about to jump on the cliff."No!" I reached her, and I was able to pull her backwards, and we both fell tot he ground, "Stop it, Shyne! You don't want to do this!" I said with tears forming in my eyes as I sat on her stomach and grabbed her hands so I could pin it to her sides as I used both my legs to lock her legs in place."I'm tired!" She screamed, "I'm tired! I'm tired! I'm tired! I'm tired!" She screamed over and over again as loud as she could while her tears dropped like rain on the sides of her face.My heart began to hurt, and my tears fell on her cheeks as I looked down on her and gave more effort in holding her down with all my force and weight. I felt like there was an iron rod being plunged down my throat and through my heart. It was mortifying to think that this situation is happening, and it's even more unnerving since I know that this is a dream and yet it feels too real."Let go of me! Now!" She screamed
"Shyne, this is not some sort of voodoo thing that you see in the movies. You don't just go and pray the same thing and then you get transported into another dimension or something," The pastors told me, "When we go deeper in prayer, you go deeper in your relationship with God. This won't work unless your sincerity and focus is on point. You need to surrender, and make sure that you are doing this for your desire to grow in faith and be free from your past mistakes." "I understand," I answered, and I gave all of them a smile.” After I had that weird vision last time, I was able to make peace with my past. But I know that it was also some sort of warning for me. I needed to get through this life, and my past was one of the distractions that could hinder me. I realized that though I made peace with Rian in my mind, I needed to make sure that I made peace with him in my spirit and make peace with myself as well." After the vision that I had last time, it was explained to me by the pasto
I opened my eyes and saw that I was at a crossroad again. However, the two dirt roads were very different. Both were roads that served as dirt bridges that led to two similar looking castles. Below was a drop to a dark abyss."Calm down, Shyne," I told myself as I took deep breaths multiple times.I tried to swallow the fear that I felt, and I tried to remind myself that this was all a dream or a vision, or something. Whatever it was, it wasn't real.The chill I felt was more intense than the ones I've felt before. The scenery I was seeing even felt more real than the previous ones I've seen in my nightmares. The left side of the road was wide and inviting, and the right was narrow and looked like it was impossible to cross."Ms. Shyne," I looked up, looked around, and no one was there. I looked behind me, and no one was there either. I looked back at the two roads, and I screamed.Two men stood on either entrance. They weren't there before, but I guess I shouldn't be too shocked. I tr
My phone has been ringing nonstop the entire morning, and with a very annoyed sigh, I decided to wake up from my sleep. I looked at my phone as another missed call was registered on my phone, and I saw that it was Brixton who was calling me. An unexplainable emotion began to claw at the back of my head, and I could feel tears swell up from my eyes. I checked my phone some more, and I saw that it was the fifth time that he called. I guess I was so tired from what happened yesterday that I failed to wake up from the first four rings. As the phone rang again for the sixth time, I took a deep and shaky breath to calm my nerves, and decided to take on the challenge and answered his call. "Hello?" I asked in a more stable voice. I silently smiled a bit at the shaky breath that Brixton took. He probably didn't think that I would actually decide to entertain his calls. "S-Shyne, uhh, hey, how are you?" He asked in an unsure tone, "I have a meeting a few blocks from your school. M-maybe you
"Shyne!" I fell to the ground, and a heavy body was on top of me. I groaned in pain when my head hit the floor a bit hard. "Oh my God!" There were different voices around me, but my eyes were still closed. I knew the voices, but the hit on my head was a bit hard, and I still had tears in my eyes, so I just felt like closing them. The voices were still talking, and I felt someone pull me into a sitting position, and the heavy person on top of me pulled me into a tight hug. I felt the big arms wrap around my shoulder, and my face was pressed on his chest. I hugged him back and I let my tears fall. I cried silently as my tears soaked his shirt. "Shyne, shh..." the guy said, and he gave me one more squeeze before letting me go and holding my face as he wiped my tears. I looked at the guy, and it was James, one of my four best friends in Law School. I looked to my side and I realized that Kimmy, Joyce and Loki were looking at me with worried faces. "Hey," James said, and he slowly help
"So, you're going back to law school, and you won't even be going to tell mom or dad?" Alister asked as the three of us ate dinner.It was the first time in a while that me and my two siblings ate together without any one of us rushing to a meeting or school, or even bickering. We were just calmly eating and making small talk.I looked up at him, and I realized that he was indeed a grown up now. I nodded, and he just raised his eyebrows at me before shrugging and eating some more."You guys are boring," Izzy said as she took another bite of her fried chicken, "I was usually the boring one, but by the look on both your faces, I'd say I'm the most interesting one among the three of us." She said in a bored way.I smiled at her silliness. She was right. Me and Alister used to be the fun and active ones even when our parents were present. Izzy was always the one on the sidelines. However, I guess the family pressure and family business took over and we all just became sort of gray."Sis,"
I blinked, and my dad was no longer there. However, I looked at the door as it broke down and fell to the ground while the furniture I used to block it was harshly pushed to the side. I realized that there were at least five people outside of my room, and the first one inside was my mother. "Shyne!" She ran to me and gave me a bone crushing hug and inspected me. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear or understand her. I felt like I was numb, and I was just sitting up and looking at her while she touched my face, looked at my arms, and I realized that she had tears falling from her eyes and rolling down her cheek. I looked to the side and I saw Perry and Izzy sitting beside me on either side a foot away. It was as if they were stopping themselves from crowding me since my mom was still talking. She was saying things that I didn't understand. I was so sleepy, and I felt like my body was getting weaker and weaker. Black. everything turned black, and I could hear worried screams
My tears fell as I rocked myself back and forth while my mother and father were fighting again outside of my room. I locked myself inside my room, and knocked down one of the shelves to make sure they would not be able to open the door. I closed my eyes as I recalled how much anger was in my dad's eyes. Before he reached me, my mom was able to tackle him to the ground, and in a split second after my mom's eyes and my eyes met, I dashed back to the house and ran quickly in my room. I opened my eyes when a familiar sticky scent engulfed my nostrils. I remembered that scent, and I didn't like what happened everytime that scent was around. It was Rian's scenet mixed with his own scent after we had sex in the past. It was sticky and sweet, and it was as if our bodies were mixed with his body spray. I suppressed my sudden urge to vomit at the thought of his presence appearing again. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I took deep breaths as the room became colder and colde