It was dark when I opened my eyes again. The cold breeze flowing through the creaked door awoke me. It was still rainy outside and my clothes were still wet.

I got angry that my parents didn’t change my clothes. Just as I was about to head downstairs, I heard a familiar voice screaming. I got scared and ran back into the bed. Few seconds passed after the screaming; the whole house became silent.

I got a hold of myself and slowly stepped out of under the blanket. I did not notice until then that this was not my house. I had never seen this blanket in my life, as well as the dak grey ceiling. The wooden floor was old and rusty. It was just like a haunted house.

The wind blew harder, and I could see shadows of the ghosts sneaking from up behind me. The walls started to close in, and the thunder struck the house. I screamed and yelled, “Help! Help!” as loud as I possibly can. I pass through the kitchen on the first floor. I could definitely feel someone’s presence and as I passed through the front door someone followed after me.

From the second floor till I reached the nearest store outside the house, I did not stop, or think, or look out. I ran and ran and ran.

I smashed into the garage of a Chinese store. I couldn’t see well, and my head rang from face planting the metal slider. Soon enough I collapsed to the ground reaching my hand up towards the clouds, desperately waving them around to grab onto something. It wasn’t too long after that my tiny arms fell ill and lost control. Slowly I lost consciousness again.

I don’t know what happened to me after that, but one thing was for sure. Someone saved me.

“%#^&!&#” I hear someone talking above me, but I don’t understand the language. ‘Am I dead?’ I squint opened my eyes. The bright light shined right into my eyes blinding me for the split second. I made a sound. “@#$%^&&$%^” The talking became louder and closer, but I still didn’t know what they were saying. My eyes steadily adjusted to the light. I could finally see who was in my face. It was a man. He had a dove white face mask that covered his mouth and nose, to me it seemed like the angel I had always thought of. But soon I heard my parents’ voices coming from behind the glass doors. “Kate! Katelyn!”

It was my mom. Her voice drowned in fear and sorrow. When I caught a glimpse of the two, I couldn’t stop tears from rolling down the side of my face. I was alive. I was back home. The doctors checked me thoroughly before assigning me to a room. It wasn’t long before the next guests arrived, and their arrival changed my life.

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“Ms Smith?”

“Yes…?”

“May we speak with you for a moment about the murder of your four friends?”

His words pierced my heart. My mind went blank, and I could only recall one thing from the back of my mind. “Should we hang out for just a little bit?” I should not have said that. I should have listened to my parents. To my teachers. To everyone around me. She shouldn’t have been there. They weren’t meant to be there. It was my fault. I killed them.

Shortly after my panic attack the detective asked me questions. But I cannot recall a single thing they asked. Three days past my awakening I was discharged from the hospital. I only had minor injuries to begin with, so my discharge was reasonable, but my mother was not impressed with the doctor’s decision. She didn’t want me to go back home. At the time I did not know why she had argued about my discharge but now I wish she had won the doctor over. While the argument was in process the doctors asked about my opinion, but I wasn’t able to say anything. I wasn’t as hurt as the others, nonetheless I wasn’t dead like them. I couldn’t bring myself to argue about my injuries.

The way home was quiet. No one said anything. The radio was off, and my parents didn’t discuss about the living expenses. It was just dead silence. My noisy brother was quiet, and my sister did not bother me. It just felt so different, I could feel that we were never going back to the way we were before.

One day passed, nothing happened. I was held captive in my room by the ghosts of those I abandoned. I’d start screaming one second and start talking the other second.

On the second day my family visited my room one by one. My mom would bring me food and my dad took the empty plates. My sister came in and left a book. My brother, he brought me snacks. But none of them spoke a word. I know now that they were trying their hardest not to bother me or discomfort me in anyway. If that day was like any other day, I would’ve thought that I was in heaven. But that day, it as though I was being tormented be them. As though they were blaming me for the incident. Their silence became a toxin.

But then, someone came on the third day.

It was Ava’s mom. She ran into the house and bursted open my door. My parents tried to stop her, but I told them it was fine.

She flew at me and grabbed me by my neck. Her hands shook crazily but did not let go of my neck. “It’s your fault! She’s dead because of you!”

I couldn’t say anything. She was right, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have asked them to stay with me. If anything, I should’ve been the one to have died that day. According to the police they were found on the first floor of an abandoned house. I knew instantly that it was the house I woke up in. If I had opened my eyes and searched the house before I ran out, or if I had recognised Ava’s screaming voice, I might’ve been able to save her.

I let go of her hand and give into her forceful choke. It was hard to breath, but I stayed still.

My father pushed her off of me and embraced me tightly into his arms. My mother scream at her and took her away, out of my room. “You’re a monster! You’re cursed! You cursed witch! You killed her, you killed my baby!” Just like that she was thrown out of the house. But somehow by the next weekend everyone had heard about my new nickname. The cursed child. That was my new name. Before they knew my name they’d already known me as ‘the cursed child’.