Cursed To Hold My Breath

Time

What exactly did I have to do? I never even put breaking a curse on my bucket list, but apparently that'd be the last thing I'd ever get to do in my life before I died. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to do this.

A knife and chalk. That's all I had to work with. Hopefully I needed to use the knife on the chalk instead of on myself, but that'd be unlikely. Was it going to be one of those sacred blood rituals or something? I was totally clueless.

Erik looked at me expectantly while I sat on the floor in front of my 'curse breaking tools'. "What are you waiting for? There isn't much time, you know." He said.

"I...I don't know what to do." I shrugged my shoulders. "I've never broken a curse before."

"You do know, you've seen it in a vision." Erik said. "I cannot help you, it'll be considered breaking the rules and there'll be dire consequences."

"I thought this was breaking a curse, not playing a child's game." I muttered.

"There's rules for everything, that's just how life is." He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes, and looked over at Haley. I could hear her ragged breathing as her chest rose and fell. At least she was still alive, that'll give me some motivation. "How come she's not being all possessed and everything?" I asked.

"Possession can't just happen to anybody, it's easier of somebody who has been possessed before, but Haley is completely clean." Erik explained. "It's a matter of the mind over the body, putting constant mental pressure on one's mind until they give in and lose complete control over themselves as their mind becomes taken over by a spirit. It also puts a lot of pressure on the spirit trying to control a body they've never had before."

"Wow, that's totally different than what I've seen in movies." I said.

"They tell the story based on lies rather than facts to prevent widespread panic, though there's already enough of that over the lies of Bloody Mary or Slender." He said nonchalantly.

"But usually to get rid of poltergeists it's like holding up a cross or dumping holy water and everything goes back to normal."

"We can't all live in a movie where there's always a happy ending." He waggled a ghostly finger. "Plus, this is a witch, not a poltergeist, there's a difference. And we find that word very offensive."

"Sorry?" I held up my hands. "But what do you mean I know? I'm lost right now."

"Your vision, it was shown to you what you must do." He said. "Remember."

I bit my lip and though hard. That nightmarish vision I had, remembering being in a dark and quiet room with a bloody knife and something strange on the floor.

"The symbols." I muttered, picking up the chalk and drawing them in a circular pattern on the floor by memory. I sat back on my heels, staring at the symbols I'd drawn identical to the ones in my vision with a raised eyebrow.

"Go on..." Erik urged.

In my vision, I remembered seeing the blood trickle down my arm and covering each of the symbols. I gasped, "No, I can't do that, I don't want to." I shook my head, scooting away from the discarded knife on the floor, it's razor sharp blade glinting.

"It's the only way, Emmalyn." He said quietly. "And time is of the essence, here." He said as thunder shook the house.

I swallowed hard, my breath coming in short and quick. I've never even though to put a blade to my skin, ever. Doing this felt wrong.

Haley stirred from where she sat, and she groaned. I glanced over at her quizzically, and realized that she was enduring a lot of pressure herself. The witch must be trying to stop me through Haley.