HAVEN || SATORU GOJO

XIX

THERE WERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CURSES that were separated from one another. There was one, a peculiar and haunting manifestation of the human heart's deepest desires gone awry. Those curses, born from intense emotions and unrequited or requited love, twisted and distorted the very fabric of affection, transforming it into a dark and suffocating force.

They represented the tragic consequences of love gone sour, leaving a trail of misery and despair in their wake.

It twisted affection into possessiveness, morphing devotion into a suffocating grip. Blinding the afflicted, making them incapable of recognizing the boundaries of healthy relationships. They became consumed by an insatiable hunger, craving the attention and affection of their object of desire with a fervor.

The cursed individual becomes trapped in a perpetual cycle of pain and self-destruction, their desperate attempts to hold onto love driving them further into darkness.

It was after school hours .. yet so, there was a young timid boy who shook in his own skin, folded in the far corner of a dimly lit classroom as the setting sun's light spilled in.

Disheveled black hair and deep ocean blue eyes .. dark circles beneath his eyes and a stiff posture that only seemed to be more prominent as he quivered to speak .. but was cut off.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Okkotsu?"

"Do you know how bad I've wanted to hit you?"

"Pay a little more attention to my feelings!"

"If you keep teasing me .. I might accidentally kill you."

He covered his ears, eyes nearly protruding out of their sockets in horror as he stared at the creature behind his harasser.

"You can't come here, Rika-chan!"

The woman froze, mid bite through her steamed red bean bun. She wasn't Satoru Gojo .. but she could detect cursed energy on a fragile level. "Whatever that was .. it's trouble." She muttered.

Megumi hummed. He had his bag slung over his shoulder, a fluffy dessert stuffed into his mouth.

Rieka shook her head, looking in the opposite direction. "Megumi .. go ahead without me. Grab Satoru if you can."

He didn't question her instinct and only nodded.

The hairs on the back of her neck seemed to stand the tallest as she approached the building. Teenagers walking past the female, there were very few left as even staff was beginning to leave.

But there was a presence that seemed to make her skin feel like thick tar.

Rieka's heartbeat picked up .. it was racing.

A flight or fight instinct.

The air was cold and the goosebumps on her arms only grew.

Walking up the stairs, listening to the own echo of her steps in the stairwell, she heard the irritating screech of a locker door swinging open and hitting a wall, back and forth.

She could smell the metallic scent of blood.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry..!"