Drawn to Death

CHAPTER FOUR: "Cursed"

"WHAT is wrong with you?" asks Jia, regarding Kassandra and all the works of art that had filled the room.

Kassandra ignores her, agitating Jia to the point of pulling her by the shoulder. "I'm talking to-"

Kassandra turns around, messing her art work but not before Jia witnesses the thin trace of ink restoring itself and she gasps. "Kas, what the hell was that?"

"What do you want?" Kassandra asks, rolling her eyes.

"Look at you, Kas. You're not well!"

"Oh, I've never felt better in my life."

"That's it, " Jia says, taking Kassandra by the arm, "I'm getting you out of here. I'll bake you a Madeira, take you to the beach even and-"

"Let go!" Kassandra snaps, surprising Jia.

"Would you stop acting like this, " Jia grabs at Kassandra's pen which causes her to freak out.

"Give it back!" Kassandra hisses.

"No! You need to take a break!"

Kassandra's face contorts into a snarl then when she sees the unrelenting look on Jia's face, she gives in, sighing, then goes to sit at the kitchen counter, just next to the cutlery.

Concerned, Jia sets the pen down and approaches Kassandra who has now broken into tears and is silently sobbing. She hugs her while standing, consoling her.

"Hey, it's okay now."

The sobbing reduces and Jia wishes she could just hold on to this moment forever as she has finally gotten her best friend back but then the feeling immediately changes, turning into excruciating pain, following a sharp squelching sound coming from her chest.

Gasping, Jia withdraws from her embrace and is entitled to a harrowing display of a knife sticking out of her bust. She feels herself running out of breath. The knife has punctured her lung, all the way to her heart that was once filled with love, now bleeding out, staining her white top dark red.

"W-why. . .?" is all Jia is able to say as blood flows out of her mouth, down to her chin. She then collapses, knife still quivering over her torso.

The once malevolent grin on Kassandra's face turns to terror after she realizes what she has just done. Her heart rate quickens. She drops to her knees, resting Jia's head in her lap.

"J-Jia? Jia!" she cries as her friend remains unresponsive, "no! No! NO! Please! I'm sorry!"

Kassandra turns to the pen, still shimmering on the counter. She has to get rid of it. It has put her under a curse. The curse of the looking glass.

She tries to break it but the pen begins to burn her palms, scalding them red. She drops it and it rolls over the floor, dousing itself in Jia's blood.

Panicking, Kassandra falls to the ground, sitting on the floor against the counter and breaks out in tears, crying for the looking glass to take it all back-the fame-the recognition. She pours her heart out for Jia. Her sweet, dorky Jia.

Kassandra cups her face into her hands, wishing she could just die. She is in the middle of sobbing when she catches the distinct squelching sound of blood and then a whisper, "There is no escaping it."

Kassandra goes rigid. She immediately stops crying and looks up to find Jia's body is gone, leaving a large pool of blood in her place.

"Jia?" she calls out. "Jia?"

An eerie feeling begins to creep up on her. The one that someone gets when they are drawn to death, causing her body to rattle against the counter. This becomes the last feeling she will ever experience after Jia's lifeless body materializes right in front of her, her appearance so dreadful that it overwhelms Kassandra's scream and the curse of the looking glass claims its final soul.

T H E E N D

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