C4 HEADER [https://i.imgur.com/pKzXaQa.png]

Day 2: September 2, 2013, Monday.

My eyes and head hurt, and my body felt so heavy. Crying all night long wasn't a good idea. I wasn't able to get enough sleep, and worst of all, today was my first day at my new school.

"I guess I'm really going to be labeled as a delinquent transfer student..." I muttered and got out of bed.

I stretched for a bit and looked in the mirror; my face was awful. My eyes were swollen, and I looked miserable. I could cover my face a little using my hair, so tying it in my usual ponytail was out of the question today. I didn't want people to start spreading weird rumors about me on my first day in school.

While I was figuring out the best way to hide my face, my dad called for me downstairs.

"Nicole! Time for breakfast! Are you up?"

"I'm coming, Dad! Hold on!"

I quickly thought of some excuses to explain to my dad why I looked awful this early in the morning as I descended the staircase.

"Good morning, Dad. The first day of school jitters got the best of me, I wasn't able to sleep a wink last night," I said convincingly as I sat on the dining table.

"You better eat a lot then. You will feel better with a full tummy!" Dad said as he gave me a plateful of food enough to feed two people.

No complaints though, the food on the table was so delicious that if my dad wasn't an author by profession, he could easily pass as a head chef at some fancy restaurant or hotel. It tasted so good that it made me feel better. I needed this, I didn't want to stress myself too much about the things that happened last night.

"The food is great as usual, Dad. How come you're so good at cooking?" I curiously asked.

"I just got good as I did it, you know how your mom was such a terrible cook? So, I had no choice but to be the man for the job," Dad said while laughing.

I just smiled at him because I wasn't sure of what to say. I didn't know or remember that Mom was a bad cook. It wasn't my intention to bring her up, so things were kind of awkward. Talking about Mom was a heavy topic for us to talk about, I said us, but it was mostly me, to be honest.

But the silence was broken by a morbid news report on TV.

"A deceased body was found by the riverside this morning, the body has yet to be identified—"

"That reminds me, do you know about the curse going on around this town, Dad? The 13 Plagues, the people called it."

It was subtle, but I noticed a change in my dad's expression when I mentioned the curse. Was I right in my assumption that he knew something about this town? And did it have something to do with Mom's death?

"Yes, I do, sweety. I thought this urban legend would be a great inspiration for my book! I actually plan to ask around town later for reference. Does the rumor bother you?" He asked.

The 13 Plagues... At first, it didn't bother me one bit. However, taking into account what happened last night with Katie, I was starting to think otherwise. Katie was able to see and hear my mom during my "hallucinations," and she went through the same thing I did. Which was impossible, ever since I started to see Mom and go through hell on earth, only I was able to see and experience it. It was a thing in my head and a huge reason why I underwent therapy and took medications.

"I figured as much, but to answer your question, Dad. No, not at all. It doesn't bother me," I said, smiling.

After eating, I washed the dishes and went on to take a bath. Inside the shower room, I once again looked in the mirror to check on my swollen eyes.

"I look dead..." I mumbled as I gently stroked my eyes.

While staring in the mirror, I found myself thinking about the dream I had last night—why did Mom call me "Olivia"? Even though my memories of her were hazy, I could never forget how much my mom loved me and the warmth of her embrace. I also believed that she would never forget about me. But my mom, who always appeared in my visions, was different. All I could feel from her was rage and despair. It didn't feel like my mom, I knew it was only a figment of my imagination, but even so, it hurt me to see Mom like that.

When I was done taking a bath and about to get out, the lights started to flicker on and off. It was times like this that I found the most infuriating. It was really hard to tell if it was real or if I was hallucinating.

But ignoring it would be a bad idea; a flickering light could cause a fire, and I didn't want something like that to happen again. I checked the light switch and flipped it off, but the flickering didn't stop. So I decided to just get out and tell my dad about it.

However, when I tried to open the door, I couldn't get it to open. It felt like it was locked from the outside, even though there was no way to lock it from there. Of course, I checked if it was locked on my side, and it wasn't.

I was about to yell out for my dad when I felt a sudden, chilling breeze on my back. The temperature in the room dropped. My instinct told me that someone or something was behind me. So I immediately turned to figure out what it was, but nothing was there except for my lone reflection in the mirror.

With my back behind the door, the lights still flickering on and off. I was staring directly at the mirror inside the shower room, looking at my reflection... but not for too long. As the lights turned on and off, my reflection in the mirror began to change.

Every time the light turned back on to illuminate the room, my face reflected in the mirror gradually turned into a face of anguish, and then blood began dripping from its head, covering my reflection's face in blood.

The sight of myself looking like that terrified me to death. I was shaking uncontrollably, and my chest tightened. Panic also started to creep in, I couldn't move or even yell for my dad for help. But I refused to give in, and I tried to calm myself down by closing my eyes to avoid the gruesome sight and to focus on my breathing to get it under control.

I paced my breathing by counting in my mind as I breathed in and breathed out. Thankfully, I was able to regulate my breathing just enough to calm myself down, and now that I regained control, I was also able to move a little. Feeling a bit more confident, I tried opening my eyes. But that was a huge mistake.

I was about to open my eyes when I felt a cold breath on my face, and the smell of it was so putrid it made me gag. But it paled in comparison to what I saw as soon as I opened my eyes. A disturbing sinister face was glaring at me, face to face, with only a few inches separating us.

"Olivia!" The woman screamed at my face.

The sheer terror filled me with adrenaline and enabled me to pull back and scream for my life.

"Dad!" I screamed with every ounce of my being as I fell to the floor.

Fortunately, my dad heard me and quickly came to my rescue. He was able to open the door from the outside and swiftly pick me up. I clung to my dad as hard as I could and cried my heart out.

My dad held me tightly. "Nicole! Are you all right? What happened? What's wrong?" His voice was filled with worry.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Even though I didn't want to worry him, I decided to tell Dad everything that happened, including yesterday's events. I just couldn't handle it anymore; the hallucinations I had since coming to this town were on a totally different scale compared to before. Also, I didn't want to keep important details like this from my dad.

As expected, the moment I told my dad everything, it was as though life was taken out of him. He looked dejected, he put me in his arms and hugged me. I did the same, and we stayed like that for a while, crying together...

When we both calmed down, my dad helped me up and laid me down on the sofa. He told me that it would be better if I called in sick today and insisted that I should just rest.

"I'll call the academy, Nicole. Just lay down there, and I'll make some porridge for you," my dad said as he proceeded to make a call.

I was still shaken, and I felt terrible. The idea of staying home to rest was really appealing, but my dad mentioned earlier that he would be going out for work. I would rather go outside feeling dead than stay at home alone. I didn't want to get in the way of Dad's work as well, or whatever it was that he planned to do. My guess would be that he will try to find more information about my mom's death.

I stood up and stopped my dad from making the call. "No, Dad! I'm fine. I'm used to this, and I really don't want to miss my first day at my new school."

"You're used to it, you say... I'm really worried about you, Nicole. You have been seeing these visions and experiencing all sorts of unusual stuff ever since you were a kid. Maybe we should go to Dr. Hillary for a checkup."

Among the things my dad said, something stuck up like a sore thumb. His reaction when he said that was very clear, he realized he let out something that he wasn't supposed to, and he immediately tried to change the subject.

"In any case, just rest for today and stay at home. I feel bad leaving you like this, but I need to go now for work. Would you be all right on your own? Because I can stay if you want me to."

"Dad... I know that Mom came here before she died, and I also know about Henry. So, please? Don't keep me in the dark, and tell me everything..." I told him how I managed to find out and what went on yesterday night.

Dad nodded and agreed to tell me everything. "You were always too sharp and smart for your age, sweetie..." he said as he patted my head.

"What happened to me as a kid? Why are my memories so messed up? I have a lot of questions, Dad..." I always thought that my life started to become hell when my mom died; that was when the "nightmares" started. At least that was what I always believed, and now I found out that all of this has been happening to me ever since I was a child. It made my head hurt so much, and the feeling of not being able to remember anything even if I tried so hard was making me so anxious.

"All right, Nicole. I concede. I will tell you everything later, when I get home, okay? I really need to go because I will be meeting the guy you mentioned, Henry. He is a busy person, so this is the only opportunity I have to meet him today. You see, he is the former mayor of Magnolia and the father of the current one."

I agreed with my dad on one condition. If he was going out, then I would as well. I told him that I really didn't want to stay at home alone. So, I planned to meet with Katie since she lived nearby and Dad wouldn't worry as much if I was with someone.

"I'll come home as soon as I can, don't stay out too late, okay? Call me if anything happens." We came to an agreement, and Dad went out to meet with Henry. The former mayor of this town and the father of the current mayor. Why was my dad meeting with people like that? And what relationship did they have with my mom?

But the name "Henry" did ring a bell; it sounded and felt familiar. I tried to remember, but my head started to ache. I went to the medicine cabinet to get some painkillers because the pain was gradually getting to the point of being unbearable. Inside the cabinet, I found a bunch of medicines and a pressed orchid that my mom used to make. I recalled that she always liked to put that flower all around our house when she was still alive.

After Mom passed away, there was a period when I indulged myself in things that would remind me of her. Her clothes, the plushies she bought me, and foremost of all, the stuff she made using orchid flowers. They became my solace and made my mom's passing a tad bit easier to accept.

However, I began to see horrible visions and went through unspeakable ordeals. The sight of my mom in the state she was in terrified me to a great extent. It made it difficult for me to look at her like that, and it reached a point where anything that reminded me of her scared me so much that I started to avoid all of them. I was afraid they might trigger a hallucination and that I would see my mom in such a gruesome way again. As time passed, my memories of her became distorted, and I eventually forgot how she looked or how she truly was. All I could envision when I thought of her was the "mom" in my hallucinations, which was utterly terrifying

But for some reason, the sensation I was feeling looking at the orchid was strangely comforting. I used to be so afraid of them, but they made me feel really good this time. To the point that I almost forgot I was in bad shape and was feeling crappy. I was also able to remember something about my mom because of the orchid. So I decided to take it with me.

After drinking medicine and closing the cabinet, the mirror attached to it was now facing me. It reminded me of the traumatizing incident I just went through earlier.

"If I was already going through this even before my mom died... does that mean..." My brain started to think hard again, causing more pain in my head. The pain seemed to be the strongest and was coming from the top of my head. I grazed my hand at the spot, and I felt a scar of some sort. I never knew I had something like that in my head until now. It was also in the exact same place where the blood from my reflection's head was leaking out when I was hallucinating earlier.

"What in the world is happening to me? Really..." I said as I laughed in agony.

Regardless, I didn't plan to give up or lose to what was happening to me, and the orchid, oddly enough, made me feel really relaxed and peaceful. It comforted me as though my mom was the one comforting me. It was strange... But I was happy with how it felt. Feeling optimistic, I fixed myself up and went out to meet with Katie.

We met at a convenience store that was close to our neighborhood and walked to the train station together. When I explored Magnolia yesterday, I chose to do it on foot and took the scenic route so I could fully enjoy what the town has to offer. But since we had school today, we decided to ride the train.

After we took our seats, Katie slumped and sighed. "I don't want to go to school today... I want to sleep more..." She yawned and took a nap.

Katie mentioned while we were walking earlier that she wasn't able to sleep a wink last night because of what happened. In the 16 years she had been in this town, that was the first time she experienced something like that. It made me wonder if it was my fault.

The train we boarded was crowded, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Considering the number of people I saw yesterday, I thought it would be packed.

While Katie was taking a nap, I observed some people to confirm something. I glanced around inconspicuously so as not to be called a weirdo. As suspected, the spirits of some people were kind of low. I noticed it earlier when Katie and I were walking toward the station.

As I continued to watch people, someone grabbed the edge of my sleeves. "Hello, miss... You're so pretty," a cute child said to me with sparkling eyes.

I was surprised, but it didn't bother me. The girl who talked to me was the same girl I saw yesterday with her family. I think her name was Anna.

The girl's mom noticed and quickly apologized to me. "Oh no, I'm very sorry! My daughter just loves cute and pretty things. Come on, Anna. Say sorry as well, and don't bother other passengers," she said while bowing her head.

"I'm sorry, miss..." Anna said with a teary voice.

To be honest, being called pretty multiple times was enough of an apology. Besides, I was quite fond of this girl. She seemed like a kind and sweet girl. I told both of them to don't worry about it and that I didn't mind.

This little commotion woke up Katie, and she joined in on the conversation. She was really good at making friends. The way she approached and interacted with Anna and her mom impressed me. And in no time at all, she was able to become good friends with both of them. Thus we spent the rest of our train ride chatting and playing together. It was the most fun I had in a while.

We got off at our stop and said goodbye to Anna and her mom. Still, we had to walk for a few minutes before we reached the academy.

During our walk, many students from the academy started to greet us and approach us, particularly Katie. With her pleasing personality and pretty face, it was no surprise that she was popular with her peers. Katie was like the sun; she was so warm, bubbly, and energetic. Her entire personality just screamed enthusiasm, which pulled and attracted people to her.

Inside the academy, more people approached Katie. Some of them started talking to me as well, curious as to who I was, but I just feigned a smile at them. I told Katie I still needed to go to the faculty office to sort out some things and find out which class I belonged to. I also really wanted to get out of there because I felt so out of place. So, we went our separate ways.

Thinking about it, Katie and I were the exact opposite. Ever since I lost my mom, I have also lost a huge part of myself. I became disinterested in everything and started to distance myself from others. I pushed everyone away and just kept to myself. I became detached.

Back where we lived before coming here, my friends, classmates, and the people around me were creeped out by my sudden shift in personality. They even gave me the nickname "The Ice Queen" because I was always stoic and didn't show any emotions. They said I turned into a machine that had no feelings. So, you could say that solitude became my only friend. But I wasn't always like this...

"I guess it's going to be me, myself, and I again at this academy," I mumbled as I walked to the faculty office.

But in the distance, a cute, loud voice broke my internal monologue. It was Katie.

"Nicki! Let's have lunch together, okay? I'll text you, do not even think of running away! See you later!" She left as quickly as she came.

Her silly little stunt put a smile on my face. Moreover, it removed all my doubts and warmed my heart. I was really happy and glad that I met her. My friend, Katie Marsh.

(To be continued.)

Anna END [https://i.imgur.com/8yTdVqx.png]