Ash And Curses

Chapter Three

Miley eyes opened as soon as the alarm went off. Her head was pounding- again. "Please don't be a fever"she groaned as she stood up from the bed. Her mind trailed to the dream she had, she could still hear that voice in her head. "What does that even mean?"she muttered and shook the thoughts off her head. She stretched and yawned before grabbing her towel and heading to the bathroom.
Too lazy to take a bath yet, Miley laid her back against the wall and let her mind wander. Her thoughts went to the cave, the mysterious book in the Museum, her little quarrel with Kate and the massive tears that followed after she cut her hair. It was just a small length but it did hurt her. She was thinking about how she'd go to school when a strange object in the sink caught her attention. When she came closer, she realized it was a paper. 𝐴 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, RET was boldly written on it with a grey substance. "What the hell is this?"she muttered and sighed.
As if on impulse, her eyes went to the mirror. She dropped the paper in horror- shock, whatever it was. "Oh my goodness"Miley muttered, she was shaking in every limb.

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Miley walked briskly and almost bumped into Kate.
"Hey Miley, we need to talk"she said and Miley tightened her hold on a crumpled piece of paper. "Woah. You didn't cut your hair"Kate muttered.
"Actually I- oh, yes I didn't. I found an ointment that can easily pull out gums"Miley lied, feigning a smile.
"Oh. About yesterday-"Kate began. "I'm really sorry, I was becoming so attached to Frankie I forgot the things we share as best friends."
"It's fine, it really is. I guess I overreacted yesterday, what Andy did to my hair really made me mad. I'm sorry."
"Sweet Miley"Kate muttered and hugged her tightly. "You see, Frankie literally have no friends and looks lonely all the time, that's why I'm trying to... you know, be friends with him"Kate explained.
"I totally understand."

"Miley, Kate!"Frankie called and ran towards their direction. "Talk about the devil"Miley chuckled. "Umm, Miley, about yesterday, I'm really sorry I-"Frankie was saying when Miley waved her hand. "It's fine Frankie"she said.
"Okay"he replied and turned to Kate. "Have you told her?"he asked. "Told me what?"Miley raised an eyebrow.
"We're planning on going to the cave after school hours and we want you to come along"Kate giggled. Miley eyes widened. "That creepy cave?! Are you nuts?!"she exclaimed.
"We want to be the first to go in there, it'd be fun"Kate said, pulling Miley's arm. She also wanted to go into the mysterious cave but the reasoning part of her restrained her. "You both need to stop this nonsense"Miley frowned. "What if a man-eating beast is in there?"she continued. Kate shrugged nonchalantly. "Then we'd be the first to see it. We might even take pictures"she giggled.

Miley rolled her eyes.
"Are you even listening to yourself?" "Yes, and I totally agree with me."
"Ha!"Frankie chuckled and Miley frowned at him. "That was a good one, you know"he muttered silently. Miley sighed. "Alright, after school hours. But if anything bad happens, it's all your fault"she frowned at Kate. "That's the Miley I know"Kate giggled.

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"Ms Dale, are you okay?"Mrs Eleanor asked for the third time, Miley could only groan and mutter inaudibly. Mrs Eleanor made to feel her neck and gasped. "You should head home Ms Dale, or better still, go to the sick bay"she said. "I'll- it'd be best to go home, I really need to rest"she muttered and picked up her bag.

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Miley laid on the bed staring at the ceiling when her phone beeped, it was a message from Kate.
"𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐵𝑏. 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠."
She sighed and dropped the phone when it beeped again.
"𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢." She smiled and groaned simultaneously, her head was pounding. It was like having numerous hard rocks on your head.
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It was almost sunset when Miley woke up. Her headache had subsided but she still felt weak and thought it'd be nice to stretch and go for a walk. After taking few steps, she knew she either had to go back to the house or slump. "I need to go out"she muttered and flagged down a taxi. "Rightway Avenue"she said to the driver.
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Miley hummed as the taxi made its way to the Arts Museum. She looked out of the window and was fast enough to see the cave. "Stop here"she said. "We haven't gotten to the Museum yet-"the driver began. "Just stop here, I'll pay you your full price"she was almost yelling. The driver sighed as the taxi screeched to a stop. He drove away as soon as she came down.
Here she was, staring at the weird cave. As she moved closer, she realized those tiny holes weren't actually holes but words in letters she'd never seen.
"Can't be English"she chuckled. The small opening suddenly creaked and widened. "What the..."she muttered and entered. The cave was empty except for the cobwebs around it. She sighed in disappointment and made to leave when a loud noise startled her. She turned and found a large object on the floor. As she moved closer, she realized it was a big black book- which was never there. On the cover was a paper which looked exactly like the one she had found in her bathroom.
She picked it up and stared at the words written on it. "URN"she said. "Urn? Is that even a word?" An idea struck her and she fumbled with her breast pocket, taking out the first paper. She merged the two papers. "Return?"a confused Miley muttered. Immediately, the cave shook and three words written in red ink appeared on the cover of the book: 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝑶𝒇 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔. An image flickered in her head and she gasped. "𝐼𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐼-
Her eyes darted to the walls of the cave, weird letters were appearing rapidly on their own. The book opened and its page flipped and suddenly stopped. 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏. Miley muttered a curse, made for the little opening and bolted.
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"Ready?"Kate asked and Frankie nodded, cracking his knuckles in anxiety. "Here goes nothing"she heaved a sigh as the entrance widened. "Alright, one. Two. Three"she said and tried going in but a force pulled her back. She lost her balance and staggered. Frankie was quick enough to grab her. "What the hell..."she gasped...
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As Miley was about running outside, she bumped into Kate and Frankie at the entrance of the cave.
"What are you guys doing?!"she yelled.
"Alright, one. Two. Three"Kate said and made to enter the cave. "I'm talking to you!"she yelled and pushed Kate away.

"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙! 𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑖𝑛."

"What's wrong?"Frankie asked.
"I can't go in, it's like something's holding me back"a confused Kate replied.

"𝐶𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑚𝑒?"

"Let me try"Frankie said. He had hardly moved a foot when Miley pushed him away. "We should go, this place is haunted"Frankie whispered, pulling Kate.
"No, I want to see what's in there"Kate said stubbornly, trying to get inside.

"𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛?!"Miley said as she struggled to push Kate away.
"Kate c'mon"Frankie pulled her away. She breathed heavily and stared at the cave one last time before leaving with him.
"What? Am I... invisible?"Miley muttered to herself. There were rustling of leaves in the bush close to the cave. Miley didn't give her next action a second thought. She took to her heels immediately.

From a corner, two green eyes watched her retreating figure as darkness slowly set in.
"Well, Hello Miley."