When she inhaled, her entire body moved with the breath—and then she lowered her head to stare at him.

Phoenix jolted in surprise as the pure black orbs in her head stared back at him. There was no difference from her irises, no whites of her eyes at all. It was like two dark abysses, the light completely being absorbed and no reflection whatsoever. There was…nothing. Phoenix was staring at her, and there was nothing.

“What the fuck,” Phoenix breathed, and then her head cocked to the side.

It was a quick jerk of her head, as if she found something interesting, but there was nothing Catherine about it at all.

“This is all your fault,” she said, her voice morphed to the point that it sounded like numerous voices were speaking at once.

“What?” Phoenix responded, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Your fault. This is all your fault, Phoenix,” she continued, and as the horror flickered across his own features, a cruel smile began to turn up the corners of her perfect lips.

“Catherine—” Phoenix started.

“Catherine isn’t here anymore,” Catherine said, and Phoenix didn’t have enough time to reply before a force rammed into his chest. A shout escaped as the hit sent him flying backward, his back smacking against the far wall and his head cracking against the plywood with a sickening thud. Phoenix collapsed to the ground with a groan, and when he was finally able to pry his eyes open, he inhaled sharply in surprise.

She was standing directly above him, the same cruel smile on her face as she stared down at him, the black holes in her head wide and unwavering. Phoenix’s heart slammed in his chest as he stared up at her, unable to speak, and it was like she knew, for the smile on her face grew to an inhuman size, nearly splitting her face in two.

When she opened her mouth, familiar words fell from her tongue, but it was the same morphed voice as before. “Demons, they live inside us all. Demons, they will make me crawl.”

“No,” Phoenix gasped.

“Demons, they made me fall. Oh, they made me fall.”

“Stop,” Phoenix wheezed.

“Demons, all in the night. Demons, they make me fight.”

“Leave her alone—”

“Demons, it’s just not right. It’s just not right.”

“Please—”

“Demons, they live inside us all,” she continued, the words that had haunted Phoenix for a decade sounding even more cursed when spoken in that tone. Gritting his teeth, Phoenix pulled himself into a sitting position, but he froze as she slowly crouched in front of him.

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Phoenix’s eyes were wide as he watched her, but the thing staring back at him was definitely not his Catherine. She was so close that Phoenix could feel her breath caress his face, but he couldn’t breathe, much less move within this proximity. As she slowly lifted her hand, Phoenix stiffened, but she brought her fingers to her own mouth. His brows furrowed as he stared, watching her nails as she began to pick at the corner of her mouth as if something was there. Pick, pick, pick.

Blood began to coat her fingernails as she picked at her skin, and when her hand shifted, Phoenix could see the wound she had begun to create at the corner of her mouth. He couldn’t breathe as he stared in horror, and she continued to pick and pick and pick until she got a piece of flesh between her nails and then she pulled—

“Stop! Stop, stop. Holy fuck, stop!” Phoenix yelled in panic.

“Your fault,” the voice said as she continued to pull, a small ribbon of her skin peeling away and blood beginning to drip down her face. “You cursed everyone you loved, and now you have to deal with the consequences. You are to blame.”

“Leave her alone! She didn’t do anything! Holy fuck, Catherine.” Phoenix reached forward, grabbing a hold of her wrist before she could continue damaging her face, but as soon as his hand made contact, she shrieked.

Her free hand grabbed him by the throat, her hold inhumanly strong as she squeezed the air out of his lungs and choked off any ability to breathe. She suddenly climbed to her feet and lifted him into the air as if he was nothing but a sack of feathers. Phoenix choked and clawed at her hand, but she didn’t respond in any way as his feet dangled right above the floor and the blood continued to drip down her face.

“She’ll burn in hell with you, and it’s all your fault,” the voice that took over her body rasped and her nails began to dig into Phoenix’s jugular as he gasped and clawed for air. “You’re a cancer, and her death will be on your hands.”

“Catherine—” Phoenix gasped.

He was suddenly released from her grasp, causing him to collapse onto his bedroom floor as he heaved and fought for air, but he didn’t have enough time to recover before Catherine shrieked. As Phoenix stared up at her, she threw her head back, but the sounds coming from her now weren’t demonic or morphed… They sounded like her. They were her screams…

Phoenix tried to climb to his feet, immediately collapsing onto his ass once more, but then the snapping began. Catherine lifted her arm, and Phoenix watched in horror as her forearm completely snapped in two, the bone breaking into a right angle. The screams amplified as the bicep on her other arm did the same, snaps filling the air as her fingers began to jolt in wrong, grotesque directions. One, two, three… Snap, snap, snap her fingers went. Her spine snapped to the side, and when she collapsed to the floor, the screaming cut off in an awful gurgling sound… and then there was just silence. She didn’t move as her mutilated body lay on the floor before him, as if it belonged in some demonic possession movie—but that was exactly what his life had become, right? His life was a literal demonic possession movie, but the one that had been tortured… the one that suffered because of him…

“Catherine! No. No, no, no, no, no.” Phoenix scrambled forward, but before he could reach her, her arm twitched. And then her other arm. Phoenix froze as she suddenly threw her hand forward, her palm making contact with the floor as she began to drag her mutilated, broken body towards him. And when she threw her head back to stare at him, her neck was at a wrong angle, and the same demonic, cruel smile was on her face. Grabbing a hold of his sweatpants leg, she dragged herself towards him, and there was blood smeared on her face, and the black orbs of her eyes never changed. It wasn’t Catherine at all, and the panic in Phoenix's chest seized his ability to move, and then he was caught in her mangled grasp.

“I’ll see you in hell, Phoenix,” she rasped, and then she unhinged her jaw and sank her teeth directly into his bruised neck. All Phoenix could do was scream as she tore his throat out with her teeth.

He woke up in a cold sweat.