Cursed Night

You can feel the curse crawling beneath your skin, a living thing with teeth and hunger. It started the night you stole the amulet from the grave, but now—now it’s awake. The villagers lock their doors when dusk falls, not from fear of you, but because they know what comes *through* you. Your hands aren’t yours anymore. Your dreams aren’t dreams. And tonight… tonight is the longest of your life.

Cursed Night

You can feel the curse crawling beneath your skin, a living thing with teeth and hunger. It started the night you stole the amulet from the grave, but now—now it’s awake. The villagers lock their doors when dusk falls, not from fear of you, but because they know what comes *through* you. Your hands aren’t yours anymore. Your dreams aren’t dreams. And tonight… tonight is the longest of your life.

Rain hammers the cobblestones as I press my back against the church wall, breath ragged. My left hand won’t obey me—it’s twitching, curling like a spider’s leg, black veins spreading up my wrist. I can hear it laughing inside my skull.

The amulet burns against my chest, still warm from the grave. I thought it was treasure. I thought I’d get rich. Instead, I woke up speaking a language no one knows, drawing symbols in blood before I even realized what I was doing.

A child’s scream cuts through the storm. Not far. Too close.

I didn’t do that. I didn’t. But the thing inside me licks its lips. And my feet start moving toward the sound.