CHAPTER TWO: THE CURSE

Now that Elle had gotten a partner to support her, she could start making her findings. The past week, they had been trying to find books or anything at all that could be of help.

“Still nothing?” she sighed heavily.

“Nothing here, too. Why don’t you see a therapist... Maybe?” Saffron suggested even though she was fully aware that it was not a therapist that Elle needed. She needed a form of liberation, and the link to her liberation had something to do with the supernatural world that Saffron is from.

“Look! I’m not crazy Saf! I don’t need a therapist!” Elle said to Saffron in a fit of frustration.

The major reason why she never spoke to anyone about the nightmares was majorly because she was afraid to be labelled as crazy. She decided to give the internet another shot by opening her laptop again. “There has to be something!” she thought to herself.

She typed in the search bar “The Existence of the Supernatural; Myth or Reality?”

After endlessly searching various articles, she finally came across a website in the dusty corners of the internet that contained already archived information. There, she found an article titled “Living with unknown creatures”. Naturally, this piqued her interest, so she clicked on the link.

“I FOUND SOMETHING” She screamed as she motioned for Saffron to come take a look. Her other hand hovered across her laptop screen in excitement. In disbelief, Saffron went over to her. She doubted that Elle found anything tangible. She was sure that all history of the supernatural had been erased from existence. At least, that was what she had been told.

“What did you find?”

“Hmn. Let’s check it out together. Look!”

Saffron widened her eyes in shock at the realisation of the content of the article as they both read out loud “The supernatural exists, and I have proof. Years back, different creatures lived amongst human beings but had to go into hiding due to human greed. They will be back soon! I managed to breach into their community, and I realised all the vampires and werewolves we usually saw in fiction are actually real. I am posting this here in case something happens to me. On the night of 9th July 2004, I was initiated to join a pack of wolves, or else they would get rid me! They even have a hierarchical system. Their major base is a town called Ashfalls—”

Before they could finish reading, her laptop suddenly went off.

“Oh no, no, no. Don’t do this to me” Elle said frantically.

By the time the laptop came back on, the article had disappeared.

“What just happened?” Elle said to Saffron.

Saffron shrugged in response. She could not risk exposing her family and other supernatural creatures for Elle’s curiosity. She was the one who turned off the laptop with her powers, and somehow, she also managed to get rid of the article.

At this point, Saffron dealt with mixed feelings. She was stuck in the dilemma of either being a disloyal member of her family or being a good friend. After a moment of silence, she finally let out, “It is a dead end now. Back to square one”, and Elle nodded in agreement.

Elle, on the other hand, found it all to be too much of a coincidence. Why did it have to be that same moment when she found a clue to what she might be going through that her laptop had to go off? Why did the article suddenly disappear?

“Saf! Don’t you think it’s odd?”

“What’s odd?” Saffron inquired.

“I mean, why did my laptop suddenly go off and even more disturbing, the only article we vanished all of a sudden”

Elle had too many questions that should be left unanswered.

Saffron decided to drop the topic and talk about the school camping trip coming up. She pulled Elle to the bed “Let us forget about this for a second. And...yes! The camping trip is coming up this weekend. Are you coming along? I think it’s going to be FUN”

Everything Saffron continued saying about the trip only faded before Elle could comprehend because her mind wondered off to somewhere else deep into her thoughts.

At the realisation that Elle had been absent-minded all along, Saffron said to her “Earth to Elle?”

This brought Elle back to reality “You were saying?”

“Do you still have the nightmares on your mind? You can just go for the trip to get your mind off of it, please? We can go together and do something different.”

Elle had no interest in a so-called camping trip when her mental health was at stake “I’m not interested. You can just go with your other friends ”

“I heard this time it’s going to be different. Please? Please? Please?”

She finally gave in to Saffron’s request and decided to go for the trip. What was the worst that could happen?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“WE ARE LITERALLY IN A FOREST” Elle screamed at Saffron as they arrived at the camping location. The place was surrounded by too many tall trees that gave Elle the shivers. What was she supposed to do for fun? It looked like a bear could pop out of one of the corners and attack them.

“I’m going back to town”, Elle said, approaching the bus.

“Uh. No, you’re not!” Saffron said as she pulled her back to their major campsite.

A pale-skinned boy approached the two girls in excitement. “Lovely to see you here Elle”

“Hi, Oliver! Saffron forced me to come here” Elle said timidly.

Saffron and Oliver shared a glance. Oliver was a vampire, which explained his pale skin, and Saffron knew this. At the same time, he was aware of her identity as a witch. However, none of them dared to talk about it in the open. They both felt bad for not being completely honest with Elle.

Elle and Saffron knew that Oliver had a crush on Elle. As quiet as Elle appeared, Oliver had been one of the first males who managed to approach her on her first day of school. He was, in fact, the very first person, even before Saffron.

From the very first moment, she noticed Oliver. She had always been curious about his pale skin, but his excuse had always been the fact that he was born like that. After getting this response from him a few times, she gave up on her curiosity and just assumed that he had unique genetics from his family.

To Elle, talking with Oliver was more peaceful than talking with Saffron. Not that she did not enjoy Saffron’s company, she just much preferred the chill vibe she shared with Oliver.

All along, she had been aware of the fact that Oliver had a crush on her. However, since she did not feel the same way, she chose to turn a blind eye towards his feelings. Was that a selfish or cruel decision? She did not care what kind of decision it was as long as she still had her friendship with Oliver.

“It was nice talking to you, Oliver; if you need us, we’ll be setting up our tent” And with that, Elle was pulled by Saffron once again. Oliver watched the two girls leave his presence.

As she followed closely behind Saffron, she whispered to Oliver “Let’s hang out later?” and he nodded in agreement. Little did Elle know that what Oliver had for her was more than a crush. It was more like an underlying romantic feeling that had been in his heart since he got to know her person. It was deeper than a crush. He was willing to do anything to protect her.

After an hour of setting up their belongings, Elle realised that she had not agreed on where to meet with Oliver. She managed to escape Saffron and began her pursuit to find Oliver somewhere in the camp but to no avail.

She brought out her phone in an attempt to call him, but as expected, there was no cell signal in that location. “Oh shit!” she whispered as she pointed her phone towards different angles in an attempt to find a cell signal for her phone.

She walked deeper into the woods, and suddenly, she saw a shadow pass by her swiftly. Thinking it was Oliver, she decided to follow it. “Oliver? Are you here?” She called out.

When the shadow came to an abrupt stop, she also stopped in her tracks. Before long, she realised that all along, he had been following a shadow, but there had been no body around. She took a longer look at her surroundings and the sky.

It was already getting dark, and she was lost. She could not believe that she had been stupid enough to follow a mere shadow. The environment started to feel familiar. She started to feel like she had been sent into her lucid and terrifying nightmares.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her but only ended up wandering deeper into the woods. She eventually found an old woman coming out of a cave approaching her direction.

“Elle Locke?” the old woman called out.

Elle jolted in shock, and with a shaky voice, she asked, “How....how do you know my name?”

“I know everything. I’m only here to tell you that a curse lingers around your soul. You were cursed by an aggrieved creature......get rid of it....” The old woman said as she faded away.

She fell to her back in fear as she started sweating profusely and shivering. The air had suddenly become cold. A person had just disappeared right in front of her. And most importantly, she was cursed?

The night was extremely cold, she thought, compared to the muggy summer night. Elle knelt with an uncontrollable shaking of her body. The woman was gone, and with her went the terrifying echo of her words. A curse? The idea felt like something out of a horror novel, yet the fear gnawing in her heart was undeniable. Trapped, lost, and marked by some invisible force of evil: the nightmare was only just beginning.