to me, ‘I don’t love you and I never have’ ripped my heart out completely. His family moved out of town the next week and he was gone. Gone forever.
My eyes well with tears. I turn away from Zoë, wrap my arms tightly around a pillow and bury my sobs in it.
The nine months I had with Charlie changed me forever. The love I felt for him ran deep. His words left a cavernous void inside of me that bled me dry of all emotions. The end of our relationship made me a different person—a person I didn’t like, a person that wasn’t who I really was.
It has only been five months since he crushed my world and shattered my trust. Everything is still so fresh.
I spent the entire summer hiding in my bedroom, crying and kicking myself for my stupidity. How could I believe that the things he said to me were true? Why couldn’t I tell the difference between the truth and a lie? My dad tried to tell me it was for the best, that I didn’t need him in my life. Was he thinking of the curse when he said those words to me?
Somewhere in the middle of my pity party, I drift off to sleep. There is just blackness. I feel like I am trapped inside myself. Maybe this is what it feels like when the pendant takes control.
“Emma?”
Who is calling me? I turn around, hoping to see something. “Zoë?”
“I can’t figure out how to get out of here. Walk toward my voice. Maybe we can figure it out together.”
After just a few steps I bump into her. “Grab on to me,” Zoë orders me. I fumble in the dark to locate her arms, and when I do, our surroundings drastically change. We move at warp speed through a tunnel of alternating light and darkness. Everything streaks by so quickly that I can’t make anything out. After a moment, everything settles into place.
We are standing in a field with grass nearly reaching our knees. The sun is just vanishing over the horizon to my left. To my right, a wall of cloudless darkness moves in to take over. Objects begin to appear one by one. First a wooden fence, then a rocky, dirt road with a dusting of snow on it. A small, two story, white house with a large wrap-around porch materializes at the edge of the field. A matching barn lies beside it. The doors are open and a bright orange light flickers and glows from inside. “What is this?” Zoë whispers.
Blood curdling screams from off in the distance fill the air. The screams evolve into terrifying, horrific screeches that have us trying to cover our ears without letting go of each other. We drop down into the tall grass to stay hidden. A rush of bitter cold air blows by us, sending chills down my body. I look over at the house, contemplating whether or not we should attempt to seek shelter in it, when a woman runs out of the door and over to the barn. Once again, there is screaming but this time it is different. More human.
“Zoë, this is the story from the journal,” I whisper to her. “We are watching what happened that first night.”
“Do you hear that noise? Something is coming.”
The grass in front of us rustles as something moves quickly through it. Then, out of nowhere, a large black snake shoots up from the ground, mouth wide open, fangs dripping with venom. It hisses loudly at us, primed for attack. I dig my fingers into Zoë’s arm and hide my face, terrified of the snake. We both scream and lose our balance, falling backward into the grass. As we fall, the world around us changes again, completely out of our control.
Everything moves in a fast-forward motion, skipping over parts that are unimportant. When it comes to a stop again, it takes our breaths away. We both gasp for air as we take in our surroundings. We have fallen onto the ground, arm in arm, clutching each other tightly.
The sky is the blackest I have ever seen it. Not a single star is visible, despite the fact that we are in the middle of nowhere, with no city lights to diminish their appearance.
Various types of tall leafy trees materialize around us, hiding us in their cover. In the distance, a fire crackles loudly. We stand up and look around to see where the sound is coming from.