Curse Carriers

“Make it Stop, Please Make It Stop” screamed Rei the voices in her head sliced through her giving her a pounding headache. Voices came barreling into her mind, powerless to stop them

Rei thrashed as another tidal wave of voices crashed through her mind.

What sickness is this... what have they done to me!

Then voices from the other rooms.

"No, I fell off the trampoline."

"I don’t want to do the surgery, don't make me, please."

Something awoke inside of her whispering the answer, the answer to make it all stop. Rei hissed something in a swishy tongue that even she couldn’t understand. But it didn’t matter, whatever it was inside her had stoped the voices. She slowly looked up at the doctors. Then the Horror and Fear set in. She thought she was the one who was numb from the thoughts. But the truth was everyone else was. Then blood rushing to her head, turning her palms icy cold, she could only think of one thing. Run as far away from here as possible, far, far, far away, where there would be no voices, no people to harm. She slid off the hospital bed and grabbed a bag, grabbing whatever she could before running out of the room with white walls, turns out everyone outside was numb too. Hate simmered at the surface of her mind, not at them, not at herself but at whatever she had inside her.

The monster, whatever was inside her was a monster and she wasn’t going to stop until it was killed. She ran as far as possible. And just as she broke through the line of trees, people became unfrozen, a familiar headache setting in. Her monster urged her to say the words, the words that would stop everyone again, she fought it down, resisting the temptation. Rei turned and ran, through the streets and into the bush. The sharp twisted branches from trees and bushes, sliced through her, scratches on her arms and legs and a particularly large one on her cheek. Rei pulled twigs and leaves from her shoulder-length wavy brown hair, her tan skin covered in mud and blood, she stopped, finding the comfortable shade of a nearby tree. She was far away from people, she couldn’t hear the voices. She closed her eyes, head lolling to the side, a light sleep hovering over her conscience.

Rei’s eyes fluttered open as the first lights of dawn broke through the trees she was resting under. She opened her arm reaching to fallen branches as she stretched. Her stomach screamed for food. She riffled through the bag and found there was some money in the pack that she stole from the hospital, maybe there was a town nearby. But going to a town met people and people met voices. She was going to have to push though she told herself. The monster inside awoke again stretching its claws, hissing the words that would make people numb. But she wanted some control...

No, she thought harshly to the monster

We aren’t making people go numb.

The monster growled in reply but relented when it sensed she wouldn’t budge.

It hissed at her to imagine an invisible barrier around her mind to stop the thoughts. She hauled herself off of the twig covered ground.

Which way she thought to herself, but it was the monster who answered.

                     . . .

Rei walked around the outskirts of the town, her stomach begged for food. She stumbled into the small town. But a girl caught her eye, she kept herself separate from the other kids and she made her way to a seaside cliff, she glanced around and Rei quickly jumped into the shadows. The girl looked back at the sky and whispered in the same strange tongue that Rei had spoken in before, lightning flashed and rain poured down. Then the girl jumped off the cliff and appeared in the sky seconds later with beautiful angel wings. Rei wished she could follow the girl, but she didn’t have wings. The monster answered her plead she could have wings she just had to trust it.

She muttered under her breath in disgust, she didn’t want to trust the monster, she wanted it gone, but she need to follow the girl, maybe she could help, Rei sighed and jumped. She screamed as she fell and just before she hit the water, ash black wings sprouted out of her back. She never knew she could fly and the wind in her face felt amazing. The girl in front turned eyes winding in surprise.

“Oh no” was the only words she could choke out as the girl hurled a lightning bolt at her head. Rei ducked the bolt of lightning missing her wising past her face, but the girl continued to hurl Lightning at her. In a fit of fear and worry her mind, went numb and then as a wave left it she projected her voice into the angle like girl's head.

'Please I don’t want to hurt anyone' she pleaded 'I just want to talk, please can you help me, there something inside of me, and it takes over.”

The girl stopped hurling the bolts and stared wide-eyed at Rei

“Follow me,” said the girl she turned and fly off, Rei followed.

After what felt like hours they stopped and landed on an island.

“Where are we?" Rei whimpered

“Welcome to the islands of no return.” the girl said looking at her with a quizzical look.

“Why am I like this, is there something wrong with me?”

“That depends, but after what you described to me yes, — You are a curse carrier”

“I’m a what?!?”

The girl sighed. “A. Curse. Carrier.”

“What exactly is that?”

The girl rolled her eyes “You really know nothing do you?!”

“Hey!”

The girl rolled her eyes again.

“A curse carrier is someone like you and me that carries a curse that gives us different abilities, and humans are always trying to kill us so we hid in mist and spread the rumours about the island of no return.

“But I can go back to my home— right?”

The girl looked away.

“No.” It was a small word but the implications were too big for her mind.

“Never” Rei repeated, she had to be sure

“I’m sorry,” the girl said and she sounded like she meant it.

“Your life will be better here.”

“I don’t know?”

“Trust me, it’s going to get easier,” the girl reassured her. “You’ll be happy here, you’ll see. You ready?”

“For what?”

“To meet the Council, of course,” said the girl like it was obvious.

“I barely know you!?! Why should I trust you?”

The girl sighed “ What do you want to know?”

“A name would be nice” Rei informed “I don’t want to call you mysterious girl”

The girl sighed again, longer this time and closing her eyes before telling Rei. “My name is Kiya, Curse Carrier of the Storm.”