The silence after I woke was deafening. But i could finally think like myself
Miss Kaur sat on the floor, her hands pressed to her temples like she was trying to squeeze the noise out of her head. The cracked mirror behind her pulsed with a faint, strange glow,like when you turn on a tv at 3am. I should have felt relief. But I didn't. Instead, a cold knot twisted in my gut.Her eyes snapped up to me, wild, sharp, calculating.
"What did you do?" she spat, voice brittle but furious.
I wanted to say, I followed the demon's plan. But I couldn't. Because the truth was: I hadn't done enough. I wasn't strong enough. Not yet.
"I-I didn't mean to," I stammered. "I just… I tried to listen."
Miss Kaur's lips curled, but it wasn't a smile. It was a warning.
"Listening isn't the same as obeying."
Before I could react, she came to me. Fast. Not by walking, by jumping. Her fingers wrapped around my throat, squeezing,not enough to choke, but enough to steal my breath.
"I don't have time for your hesitation, Ojas," she hissed. "The curse demands perfection. And you will obey."
I gasped, clawing at her hands, panic flaring like wildfire. Sallos's voice distant but clear, echoed in my mind:
No mercy.
You must be sharper.
Stronger.
Faster.>
I tried to focus, to pull that strength out of the darkness. But my limbs betrayed me, I was weak. I knew it i always was weak, it's just that... everyone make me believe i wasn't. Just because my academic area is good, my parents never let me learn self defence and now this is all targetting my choices. Miss Kaur tightened her grip.
"Look at me," she ordered.
I forced my eyes open. All i could see in her eyes was hate and determination, all this just so she could use a fragile soul like me. What did I even do to face all this? I don't think I'm that special or that worthy? I thought to myself.
Why me.
Why me.
Why no one else. I'm not even prepared for this, if i have to endure any more of this stupid pain, i would better be dead. Maybe even death is better than these sick rituals Miss kaur performs.
"You're a child playing with fire," she said. "And I'm the one holding the match."
She shoved me back into the chair, the leather straps snapping into place around my wrists and ankles. I struggled, but the bonds were tight. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial filled with a dark liquid. Fuck, i knew it, another ritual or is it to just alter my mind? This all is making my mind and soul go crazy. I just hope this all is a dream I don't wanna drink anything strange. Not from this woman.
"This will help," she said, voice soft and cruel.
"No," I begged. "Please."
Her face twisted with something I didn't understand, frustration? Disappointment? I knew I was fucked up, I'm too bad with words i suppose. But the next words made me believe, it wasn't my fault, it's just that she was determined.
"Your suffering is necessary.
Pain is the key."
She uncorked the vial and poured the liquid down my throat. Oh fuck, i tried to throw things at her, push her with my legs, nothing worked. The burning was instant. My vision blurred, i could see too many shadows. Sallos's voice grew faint, and i couldn't even think straight.
And then, the torment began. AGAIN
Hours, or maybe days, passed in a haze of pain and darkness.
Miss Kaur's experiments were hurtful, in my 15 years i have never experienced these type of pain, even my dentist didn't hurt me this much. Cold instruments pressed to my skin, whispered incantations, flashing lights that turned my mind to static. Each test was designed to push me closer to breaking,closer to surrender. I could have had surrendered long ago but I never wanted to be a victim, I felt like I'm in a video game. Now that this lady was against me, I knew I had another person by me. Sallos was still with me, whispering words to keep me sane.
You are not alone.
The curse feeds on fear
Feed it defiance instead.>
I clenched my fists, my breath ragged but steady. I knew now, I had to rebel against her, no matter if I'm the weaker one or the one will less knowledge.
I would fight.
But Miss Kaur was smarter. Ofcourse because she knew everything about this thing...maybe? Every time I stumbled, she adapted. She read my pain like a map, twisting the path so escape felt impossible. And then, I realized the truth:
This wasn't just about the curse. It was about control. Miss Kaur wasn't just trying to bind me to the demon. She was trying to bind herself to power. I didn't know why but that's what came to my mind, all those biographies had already twisted my mind and now these... Ancient words by sallos is. And no matter how much I resisted, She would never let go.
.
.
.
The room was suffocating,damp walls slick with shadow, the air thick with stale breath and the metallic tang of blood. Miss Kaur was gone for now. Or so I thought. Whatever it was I got some time to relax and think, because whatever happened all these days wasn't just a dream, the pain is too real.
"Chosen," "curse," "remember."
But what? What was I supposed to remember? Slowly, a faint image began to rise from the back of my mind. Is this the blood memory she talked about?
Ancestors. Bloodlines. A dark pact sealed generations ago. She said the curse was cast every seven generations. I was the seventh. The first child. Fuck yeah it was my parents' fault not mine. Still...
I pictured a long-ago time,my ancestors, proud and defiant, making a deal they couldn't keep. A family marked by shadows, trapped in a cycle of suffering. And then came her family. The ones who cursed us. Yeah it my ancestors surely, if those retarded asses did their work with honesty i wouldn't had suffered this much but still thinking about how powerful miss kaur's family would have been made me shudder. Why was she so desperate to bind me to this curse, rather than free me from it?
I heard a soft creak behind me. I spun around. Miss Kaur was standing in the doorway. Ugh this woman, another bad thing to this ugly room that woman was no longer the glamorous tutor or the cold tormentor.
Now, just a woman, who just wanted power, any how... but right now her eyes held something raw, vulnerable. This woman is too hard to read
"Do you want to know the truth?" she asked quietly.
I nodded, voice barely a whisper. Is she gonna tell me something that could help me save myself? She stepped inside, closing the door behind her.
"I didn't choose this," she said. "My family's legacy is a prison, just like yours. We've been shackled to this curse for centuries. But I thought,if I could control it, if I could master the curse,maybe I could finally break free."
Her hands trembled as she paced.
"But the demon… Sallos… he doesn't want to hurt you. He wants freedom too. I'm the one who forces his hand with spells and chains."
Her gaze locked with mine.
"I'm sorry, Ojas. I thought I was saving you."
The confession she just told me, made her image inside my mind take a 180°. So she was just trying to help me? Not kill me or shi? For the first time, I saw her not as my captor, but as another prisoner,trapped by history, by fear, by ambition.
And maybe, just maybe, I wasn't alone in this fight.