The first thing she had done after hearing her grandfather was dying, was laugh. It might have been cruel, but they had never had the best relationship. When she was told he wanted to see her, she laughed even harder. She had never understood why her grandfather had always preferred her to her brothers. Anytime they would visit him, he would mostly just speak to her. It wasn’t that he liked her, he probably hated her, actually. He would ask her family to let her visit him at his house. They would always say yes. She always hated those visits, never knowing why she had to go. Was she the only one that could see that insanity in his eyes?
It was an hour long journey on a train to get to his house. For the last ten minutes you were in the middle of a forest. She was always jumpy around there, thinking about the muffled scream she had heard or the gunshots that echoed through the forest. When she was younger she didn’t know that something was wrong with that, and when she did, it got worse. She would run down the path to her grandfather’s house, dreading the moment she had to go inside. When she did, her grandfather would speak to her, tell her about old legends and myths. He believed in them, talked about them like they were facts. The one he spoke of the most, that he was fixated on, was about a demon.
The demon would give someone a bracelet and tell them they had to give it to someone in a certain amount of time. Most people didn’t give it away and kept it. They would be chased and tortured by things no one else could see, until eventually, they went insane. Many tried to commit suicide, but never succeeded. Any injury they had, never healed. One day they would just disappear. If you did give it away, you can ask for one thing. The person who got the bracelet will be chased instead, but they will not be tortured. The demon would leave the body they were in and possess theirs, whether it was dead or alive didn’t matter.
The myth had always scared her. It wasn’t the worst her grandfather had told her, but the way he spoke of it was scary. He was obsessive. After an hour or two she would finally leave and go back home. After every visit she would get more and more cautious and suspicious. Sometimes she was certain her shadow had moved on its own or her reflection wasn’t her. She would hear things in the darkness, whispers of anguish and screams of pain. She knew there was something wrong with her.
Her family forced her to go see her grandfather. She hadn’t seen him in a year and he didn’t look the best. He was thin and pale. You could clearly see his veins through is skin. The one thing that hadn’t changed was his eyes. She could still see the insanity in his gaze. She dragged a chair over to beside his bed and sat down. “Why did you ask to see me?” she questioned him. He frowned, “That’s not the way you should greet your sick grandfather” She glared and said, “I asked you, why do you want to see me?” She was so focused on him, she didn’t notice his hand moving until something snapped close around her wrist. She quickly pulled away. She studied the bracelet. It was just a metal cuff at first glance, nothing special. Then she looked closer, seeing a small design engraved into the side. She remembered seeing it in the book of myths. It was usually carved into the bracelet the demon gave people. She panicked tugging and pulling at the bracelet to get it open. It didn’t work. She stood up, knocking the chair over in the process and turned to her grandfather. One look at the smile on his face and she knew he wasn’t joking. He began laughing and she ran.
She was halfway down the hall when her grandfathers laughter stopped. She looked back. Her grandfather was lying in his bed, a knife in his chest. The thing that scared her the most was the thing that had put it there. It lifted the knife out of his chest with a quick pull, and turned to look at her. It’s mouth was covered in blood and gore, sharp teeth glinting in the light. It’s eyes were pitch black and they were staring right at her. She ran again, knowing stopping meant death. She still scratched at the bracelet, trying desperately to get it off. It didn’t work. She found herself in the kitchen, a dead end. She looked around looking for an escape and finally spotted the large window, but the demon was just behind her. She grabbed a knife and turned around. It’s nails, she noticed, were more like claws. It hissed and shrieked at her and finally hit her. Its claws went right through her shoulder, blood pouring from the wound, but it gave her enough time to put the knife through the demons head. She knew it wouldn’t die,but it let her escape. She quickly grabbed another knife and smashed the window, pulling herself through. She felt something grab her foot and looked back. The demon was about to stab her again when she lashed her foot out and hit its back. She ran stumbling on rocks and roots through the forest. She could still hear the hissing and shrieking of the demon behind her, so she kept running. Her family never seen her after that, but a few people say she is still alive. But how should I know? After all, who am I, the girl or the demon?
