The Elucaen Curse

Ch. 1

 Summer was the time for sweet dreams, but my dreams had been anything but sweet. I thought the nightmares would come and go, but they stay etched in my mind, making each night as restless as the next.

After an episode, I would have jolted up from beneath the safety of my warm comforter, breathing heavily as my heart pounded in my chest like an earthquake threatening to erupt any given moment. Beads of sweat always found its way across my forehead as the salty drops marked their invasion in my eyes, darkening my hair as the perspiration made its way south. Only this time, it was different.

There was a searing pain that shot up the side of my forearm, giving off a gnawing sensation that seemed to escalate every passing moment.

"It was just a bad dream, Erin. It was just a dream, " I chanted, pulling myself into a sitting position on the four-poster bed.

I liked to believe it was true.

As I felt the breeze brushed lightly against my skin, my eyes averted to the open window with an attempt to succumb to the summer's serenity,. Birds of blue and red hues whistled their morning melody, and milky clouds traveled amongst themselves along the vast clear sky, providing a very welcome distraction.

As the sleeves of my shirt rode up once my fingers met in a stretching motion, my eyes noticed the one thing that destroyed all hope of what I wished was a dream.

Right where a clear area of skin should be, was a mark engraved as deeply as a bottomless ocean, a skull with vivid amethyst eyes.

I couldn't exactly recall when the nightmares started happening, but lately they've been more erratic than usual, and longer than expected. No matter how I tried to stop it, there was no way I could avert the scenes that swarmed around in my head. They always consisted of snippets of conversations between two people; a blonde man with his back turned, and a woman with a cloak draped around her as if she was swallowed by darkness itself, a woman with the same intense amethyst eyes as the mark branded on the arm before me.

A knock suddenly disrupted my thoughts, so I rolled down my sleeves and quickly laid down on the bed and closed my eyes, hoping the noise would go away.

"Erin, wake up," a little voice whispered clamorously, as I felt the proximity of their breath tickling my ears.

"It's already eight, hurry up and go down and eat breakfast," the said voice continued.

"Go away Erik, can't you tell I'm still sleeping? I just started closing my eyes five seconds ago, so just leave me be," I half-lied, burying my head under the feathery pillows.

He grabbed the pillow and glared at me with his electric blue eyes, the one physical quality that we both inherited from our mom's side of the family. "Now you listen here, sister. You better get out of bed right now and go downstairs before mom yells at me, or else..."

"Or else, what? Are you going to glare at me some more?" I retorted.

A cheeky grin started forming on his lips. "I didn't want to do this, Erin, but you leave me no choice."

I started closing my eyes. "What can a runt like you do to-"

Less than a second later, I was soaked from head to toe in immensely frigid water. The icy sensation had trickled down my face in excruciating slow drops, my eyes as murderous as a killer in the night.

"What on earth is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how cold that is?" I asked, glowering.

"Hey, I did warn you. But just to let you know, there will be a round two if you don't ge-" he started before something caught his attention. He then stared curiously at the minuscule object on the floor next to the bedside table, completely mesmerized.