FANG ACADEMY

CHAPTER 3: A Curse

// I WISH I WROTE THE WAY I THOUGHT

OBSESSIVELY, INCESSANTLY

WITH MADDENING HUNGER

I'D WRITE TO THE POINT OF SUFFOCATION,

I'D WRITE MYSELF INTO MENTAL BREAKDOWNS

MANUSCRIPTS SPIRALLING OUT LIKE TENTACLES INTO ABYSMAL NOTHING. //

- Benedict Smith

Bonnie stood at her place like a statue. She had never seen a dead body before. Even more, this dead body belonged to one of her classmates. The girl used to sit behind her and used to wear round big glasses on her freckled nose. The same shy quiet girl was dead.

However, she laid in a very eerie position. Her hands were on her chest, her mouth open and her eyes were cloudy. The legs were twisted almost as if someone broke her legs and she suffered from a cardiac arrest at the same time. The temperature of the surroundings dropped as students made their way back to their dorm rooms on the head teacher's command.

But Bonnie stood there frozen on spot. She couldn't move. It was almost as if the scene has traumatized her. Before she knew, she was being dragged by Lewis. He was shouting something and at a point, he picked her up and started running in the opposite direction of the dorms.

Somewhere in the middle of all this chaos, she slipped into unconsciousness almost like something was luring her to sleep.

Bonnie's POV

I woke up in a white room. It smelled of disinfectants. On a reflex, I tried to get up from the bed but I found myself too weak to do so. I felt a sharp pain in my heart and I could only whimper in response since I had absolutely no energy left in me.

I clutched my hands to my chest when I felt someone cupping my face. They were saying something to me but I couldn't hear it. I realized I was in the academy's infirmary. A nurse came into the room and only then I noticed that Lewis and Clark were sitting beside my bed. They had serious gloomy expressions on their face. The nurse injected me with something and I was out like a light, again.

*-*-*

I remember waking up on some days and falling back to unconsciousness. I had no other memory of all these days. I was sick for so long. One day, I even got to see my mom. She looked tired and pale. She used to be rosier. Had she not been taking care of herself, I thought.

Finally, one day I woke up and surprisingly enough, there was no pain in my chest, just a little bit of weakness and almost nothing like blurred vision or impaired hearing.

I opened my eyes and saw Lewis talking to my mom on a couch that was placed on the right side of my bed. Both of them looked tired and sad.

I tried calling out to them but could say nothing. My throat was so parched but as if on instinct, Lewis glanced at me and his eyes grew wider. He strode towards me and immediately held my hand, my mom following suit.

"Bon bon, you're awake." he stated in his deep husky voice. My mom started crying happily. Just what did happen to me for them to look like I just evaded death?

I opened my mouth to say something but no sound came. My mom grabbed the pitcher of water and handed me a glass.

I drank 2 glasses of water before feeling like I could finally speak.

I had to ask a lot but the only question I could ask was, "How?"

Lewis and mom exchanged a look before speaking.

"You were out for a whole week, Bon bon!" Lewis said quietly.

Okay...

I looked at mom for further explanation.

"On the morning that they found the dead body, they were unsure of the cause of death, that is until you fell sick. Doctors couldn't find out much but a council witch came and she told us that you were cursed by someone. The curse was, as theory puts it, transferred from the dead body to you since you were already marked by the murderer in some way. They haven't found out how the girl died but it was most probably a curse that didn't end with her. It got stuck on you when you looked at her.

The witch also helped us remove the curse from your body. She was a very kind lady." My mom explained to me.

"So what happens now?" I asked

"The Chancellor has suspended college for a month. The council wants the grounds sealed for investigation before they can be used, However, except for the newcomers, everyone is supposed to attend the combat classes."

I had a lot of other questions for Lewis but I decided I won't ask him in front of mom. She has a thing for panicking and I already worried her enough.

I asked a few other things to them. Clark wasn't allowed in here since I was apparently an evidence and no other person was supposed to meet me until the primary investigation finishes at the academy. Lewis was only allowed since he was the only one beside me when the curse started acting upon me, and so he was the living evidence as well.

They couldn't stop my mom from being by my side either, so that's that.

This was so f****d up. This was not at all how I imagined my senior year to be. We were totally screwed and not to mention, we have a killer on the loose.

I got tired soon after the long conversation. The curse was removed from my body but it's after effects were still there. The nurse came in again and checked my vitals before telling Lewis and my mom to wait outside. It was nightfall already and I guess the visiting hours were over already.

After everyone left, I fell into a deep sleep. Little did I know that my sleep wasn't going to be very peaceful tonight.