Ghostly Curse

Awol Soul

I was in the hospital room standing next to my body during the late night when the thing came to visit. I couldn't tell what it was at first, but I knew it was bad. It came through the window just behind me. It was silent and dark. I didn't notice it immediately, but that was only because I was thinking about what the doctor had said earlier. I have no idea why it distracted me so much, but I couldn't pay as much attention as I needed to.

It was when the creature spoke that I finally noticed it. "What a lovely body. It'll be fun to play with it."

That one sentence made me shiver. I turned to the creature and glared. "You cannot have it."

The creature grinned before rushing at me. I couldn't dodge his first attack without putting my body in danger. The creature hit me like a ton of bricks and didn't stop attacking. He kept trying to go for my body, to take control of it. I pushed, punched, and did everything I could to stop the creature from attacking even one of my "roots". Soon enough, without my noticing, the sun was up. The creature had gotten one of the many roots I had made and destroyed it. I was barely keeping it at bay when my mother had walked into my hospital room. Her voice distracted me long enough for the creature to hit a bad blow to both my soul and destroy another root. The creature was going for another one when my mother noticed it, probably due to my scream, and quickly shouted, "Brazia Vini!"

I have no clue if those were actual words or not, but it seemed to cast a shield like spell around both my body and soul. When the creature left I allowed my (soul) body to relax where it knelt on the floor by my real body. I held my stomach where the creature had managed to slash me.

Before I knew it my mother was kneeling next to me, but she didn't seem to see me as well as she did before. She bowed her head and sighed sadly. I didn't move for a good majority of the day, but my mother did. She went around the room checking things, honestly she would have probably lit some sage if she could have. My sisters and brother came later in the day, somewhere around noon. My eldest sister, Laya, saw me on the floor with my had over my stomach, but only gave me a questioning look, before continuing to sit next to both me and my body. Laya looked at me again with questioning eyes. All I did was close my eyes, resting for later. I had to be ready for if the creature came again.

Laya stayed with me that night, as per my mother's request. I didn't mind, but I also didn't want her to get hurt, especially since she hates hospitals. She stayed up pretty late talking to me that night. Telling me stories, even watching something on her phone with me. She didn't stay up as late as she usually would have been able to, though, because she had an overnight shift the night before and she had to do stuff during the time she usually slept during the day. She was asleep by midnight.

It didn't take much longer before the creature arrived again, my mothers spell null. This time I noticed the creature immediately, only because I was facing where he last entered. I stood up and took a step forward, bracing myself for the fight to come. Before attacking he looked at my stomach where he last wounded me. He aimed at that spot immediately. I barely had enough time to react. We fought, I fought harder than the night before, but there was a problem this night. My sister was vulnerable in her sleep, he could easily take her body. I had to fight to protect both my body and hers. I was losing. The creature managed to cut two more roots before I finally got my sister to wake up.

"Laya!" I yelled as the creature reached for her body just after throwing me.

She woke up immediately, causing the creature to back away and return to attacking my roots. I crashed into him, just barely managing to get him away, but that caused my soul to go where he went when he disappeared. It was dark, terrifying. Everywhere I looked there were red eyes surrounded by darkness staring at me. It felt like years before Laya managed to drag my soul back to the hospital where my body was. I gasped and shook in fear when I got back. That whole day I was so out of it even Laya didn't know what to do. She did talk to my mother outside of the room though.

The doctors didn't let anybody stay that night, because, as they put it, my body was getting weaker. My body was still healing, but my heart was slowing. The days went on with me resting from the nights while the nights went on with me fighting for my body, but my soul was getting weaker along with my body. Every root that was destroyed made my fighting weaker and weaker. It didn't take long for the creature to notice that before he started to hit my soul with blows hard enough to knock me down for a while and attacking the roots. I managed to last about half a month before the creature destroyed my last root.

I blacked out when he destroyed the last root. When I woke I was in my body, but only long enough to see my mother and sibling surround me with smiling faces. Before I could realize what happened I felt the creature start pulling me out of my body. I barely managed to whisper out a "sorry" before my soul was yanked out of my body. I had all the injuries from my previous fights covering my soul still. One thing, however, stood out. Two, actually, the first is the red cord that I could see. It was wrapped around my wrist, seeming to even go inside my skin on both my body and soul. It was tightly woven and looked weak, but when I touched it it felt as strong as could be. It was odd. The second, was the the creature was moving my body and none of my family seemed to notice it wasn't me. Even Laya, who usually sees me, didn't seem to notice I was standing next to her, not lying in front.