I kept my eye on Scarlett the next day but nothing out of the ordinary happened. It occurred to me that this ‘curse’ could come in the form of something minute like a bruise or something completely indiscernible to me like toothache- What if it only gave her something like mild indigestion?!

Considering all I gave was a hair and a worm, maybe I shouldn't get my hopes too high…

Maybe I got the wrong hair? But why would another girl's hair be on Scarlett's bag? Maybe she started slagging it up with one of her cronies…

Well, in the end it's not like it cost me anything more than another forced conversation with Ellie…

A whole day and nothing… has it already hit and I just have no idea? I should have asked when it would hit… who’s to say it won't take a week to happen? Would the hand just have left that out?

Damn it…

During my last class of the day, history again, I turned my eyes to her once more.

Scarlett scratched her head and as her hand moved away a large number of strands came away with it, she didn’t even notice, but Natalie sitting next to her did. She looked up and down incredulously. She prodded Scarlett and pointed to the hairs lying on the ground. Scarlett moved her hand back to her scalp and lightly held her hair, this time it was a large clump that came away, removed without resistance like cotton candy.

She then did it again.

For some reason Natalie was the first one to start screaming.

Like dominos of panic each one of her group started after the other, joining into the cacophony before rushing out, presumably to the nurses office.

Unable to contain any longer myself I burst out laughing.

I can't believe it! It actually worked! That freaky hand demon thing came through!

This is better than anything I could have expected, it's almost a shame she has no idea it was me.

She’ll just think it's some kind of karmic retribution, or perhaps the ploy of one of her flunkies. I’ve heard a story online about a girl putting hair remover in her friend's shampoo after said friend slept with her man.

Something like that is probably the most logical conclusion to reach, and since I haven’t even been in her house in years that pretty much rules me from suspicion.

I suppose it makes sense that giving the demon a hair made her hair fall out, but it said anything would suffice… what would have happened if I gave it dried off skin or a sample of blood? Would her skin have sloughed off? Would she have sweated out her blood? Would she just have straight up died?

That would have been pretty gruesome to watch, not to mention it would almost certainly traumatize the entire class. Probably not myself, but still.

I didn’t have any dream that night, I slept pretty well all things considered.

Scarlett was absent from class the next day, I wonder how she feels about being too embarrassed to even show up to school?

Guess the curse worked perfectly, I wonder if her hair loss was permanent or only temporary?

I was curious if there had been any other advancements in her situation but taking a sudden interest now might spark suspicions… I can’t risk that happening…Especially when there's still so much fun to be had.

I spent the morning trying to eavesdrop on her friend group but it was difficult to get close enough without looking deliberate and my curiosity went unsated

Once the bell for morning tea rang however, one of them approached me, or more, stormed towards me.

“You!” Natalie slammed her hands on my desk.

“Eh?”

“You did something to her didn’t you?” she demanded.

What?!

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! I saw you ogling her like a creep all of yesterday, and then you start squawking when her hair falls out, you were waiting for it to happen!”

How did she notice that?!

“h-hold on, So let me get this straight, you think I made Scarlett ’s hair fall out?”

“I know you did!”

“And how do you suppose I did that. You think I broke into her house and rubbed hair remover into her scalp while she was asleep?”

“all sorts of crazy shit goes on in this town, You could have used some kind of poison or something.”

Poison? That’s her first assumption?

“‘Some kind of poison’… a bullet proof accusation if I ever heard one. Aye, why don’t you go make yourself a tinfoil hat and share it with the rest of your theorists.”

“Don’t try that gaslighting bullshit on me you slimey rat! I know what you’re like!”

Insinuating that they’re crazy is usually enough to make people like this back down but she’s surprisingly persistent.

“Do you have even a single piece of substantial evidence to support this wee crackpot conspiracy?”

“Ellie said she bumped into you snooping around the girls lockers while she was at practice, despite the fact that you’ve never done a sport in your life!”

ACH! That stupid bint can’t keep anything to herself!

“why don’t you tell me what you were actually doing in there?”

“that’s- none of your damn business!”

“You were tampering with her stuff weren't you!”

“no- I got lost looking for the bathroom, it was urgent.”

“right, because not only have you’ve never been in there once before but you needed to go so badly you didn’t even ask her where it was?”

“i- you’re a nutjob! Do you even hear yourself? What do you even think I did?”

“I think you poisoned her, put something in her bag.”

“like what? Why is this even such a big deal? Why can’t she can just get a wig.“

“because she lost her teeth too!” Natalie nearly shouted.

“wh- eh?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I- no?! how would I know that?”

My genuine surprise appeared to have shaken her conviction, it apparently doesn't occur to her that I would afflict Scarlett with something without actually knowing what it did.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“Well either way she can just get dentures.”

Natalie slammed her hands on the desk again.

“You either undo what you did to her, or I report you to Kestrel.”

“For what? you don’t have proof of anything!”

“Whatever you did to her definitely constitutes some kind of anomalous interference violation, when they see the state she’s In I’m sure they’d be willing to look into it.”

SHITE!

“y-you’re crazy! They’ll probably turn her into a test subject! They’ll interrogate you too!”

“I have nothing to hide, Why are you worried Liz?”

“I- you know what they’re like, their ‘investigations’, it doesn’t matter who’s guilty or not they don’t end well for anyone.”

“Well it's not looking good for her either way.”

“What more do you want me to say? Sucks to be her I guess?”

I was not expecting there to be more than the hair… not that she doesn't deserve it. But why teeth as well? I only gave it a hair…

“I’m serious Liz! Either you fix this or else.”

I couldn't fix it if I wanted to. And I don't.

“or else what?”

“Or else there will be consequences.” She sneered.

“God where is this fucking loyalty coming from? Did she drag you out of Vietnam or what?”

“I care when something bad happens to my friend Liz, it’s a thing called basic human decency, you should try it sometime.”

“basic hu-?! Scarlett wouldn’t know what decency looked like if it put a crater in her frontal lobe, and come to think of it neither would you.”

“and you probably wouldn’t recognise a filthy rat if you looked in a mirror, but there would still be one staring at you with a long nose and big pointy teeth.”

“Go fuck yourself Natalie!”

“You’re vermin Liz and whether you admit it or not I'm going to prove it! You’re guilty, I know it!”

“Liz wouldn’t do that.” Said Heather, she had been listening nearby but only now chose to invade our argument.

“She would.” Said Natalie incredulously.

I would.

“s-she might be rough around the edges...” she began.

Wow thanks Heather.

“But a-accusing her of poisoning Scarlett is going too far.”

“She hates Scarlet’s guts, why would she not poison her?”

“holding a grudge against someone and actually poisoning them are two completely different things.”

Natalie’s ferocity seemed to secede somewhat.

“who else would have done it?”

“how do you know someone did anything? Couldn’t she have a medical condition or an allergy or something?”

“None of the doctors seem to think so. This is almost certainly something unnatural. People don’t just spontaneously lose their hair and teeth at once.”

“Maybe it is unnatural but that doesn't mean it was intentional work of some theoretical saboteur.”

She turned back to me.

“this isn't over liz. If she doesn't get better I will bring kestrel into this.” Natalie stormed off before I could say anything else.

God what a bitch.

I turned to Heather.

“Rough around the edges? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“it just means… you’re…uh, aggressive.” she replied.

“I’m not aggr-! …No, I’m simply upfront when pretty much everyone else in this school would prefer resorting to two faced passive agressivism or subterfugal backstabbing.”

Heather made a sideways glance.

“Sure Liz.”

Urgh.

You of all people should not be giving me that look.

But at least she got rid of Natalie. I’ll admit I completely underestimated her…

I wrote her off as just another one of Scarlett ’s bimbo satellites but she wasn’t actually that far off the mark… and she must be very confident she’s right or she wouldn’t go at me like that.

No, that’s just a coincidence, any sane person would think she’s grasping for straws. She has nothing more than circumstantial evidence and gut feeling.

But if she really did get the K involved that might be trouble…

I’ve heard stories about the kind of things they’re capable of. The Icons they have at their disposal, mind reading and truth serum type shite… if she was serious…

But then would they really waste their time on something as insignificant as this? A girl losing her hair and teeth? They absolutely would be interested in that pot demon but they have no idea it was involved.

What are the chances Natalie would be taken seriously? It’s certainly not an absolute impossibility…

I looked downwards to consider my options but as if by some divine providence, There was a single dark brown hair from sitting on my desk.

…

…should I?

At this point… how could I not?

I swiftly put it into a zip lock bag.

If it hit her too, would that make her more suspicious… or less?

She seems insistent on Scarlett ’s curse being poison that I got into her somehow, but if Natalie got cursed without there being any avenue for me to do the same, it would contradict her theory.

Of Course she could also realize that I’m even more suspicious now and change her hypothesis to something other than poison… like having demonic powers for instance.

But since I don’t have a telltale contractor's scrawl, attempting to prove me guilty of that would be another dead end for her.

Hmmm… tough choice…

…

Nah, who am I kidding? I’m not gonna let that rat comment go.

She’s gotta pay.

Although… Natalie said that the doctors didn’t know what it was but the source I read online suggested that they communed with the pot demon before me. If that were true, wouldn’t there be other cases of this exact thing happening?

I wonder about that…

Later that afternoon I was approached by Ellie.

“hello liz, how are you?” she said.

“What is it now?”

“seeing how Scarlett is sick right now I wanted to go around and collect some get well notes for her.”

“You’re joking right?”

“I thought you might want to show some...” she trailed off, likely anticipating my reaction.

“Some what?”

“Some magnanimity.”

“…ok, hows this; ‘dear Scarlett , sucks that your bald and toothless now, sure hope nothing worse happens to you, I can’t think of anyone who deserves to suffer less than you.’”

“That's not cool liz, she’s in the hospital.” Ellie admonished me.

“Where she belongs.”

“Seriously Liz, what's gotten into you?”

“into me? What are you-? Ach…” I sighed loudly. “Can I ask you something Ellie?”

“Uh yeah, sure.”

“Why do you act like we’re still friends?”

Her usual smile seemed to flicker, a momentary spasm, a crack in her cheery façade at last. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, utterly at a loss for words.

“I-… I… I’m just trying to be nice...”

“Why?”

“…Because it's good to be nice?”

“But what’s the point when you don’t actually give a shite.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Really, we both know you don’t actually care about me, and yet you still pretend like you do, I don’t know if this is some kind of façade you feel the need to uphold or some kind of pathological need to be liked by everyone but it's seriously grating.”

“Well I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“no, no you’re not sorry, you haven’t been sorry about anything for a very long time.”

“I don’t know why you feel this way but I do still care about you liz-“

“-no you don’t, people who care stand up for the people they care about, they don’t just brush them aside.”

“God, it’s been ages Liz you need to let that stuff go-“

“-Spare me your platitudes. You made your choice!”

“You can’t seriously force me to choose between my friends, that’s just so immature.”

“I’m immature?! And that queen of whores and her cronies aren’t?!”

“They’re actually really cool if you get to-“

“-They’re nice to you so therefore the shite they did to me doesn't matter.”

“…come on liz, we used to be friends.”

“Friends stick up for each other, they certainly don’t play both sides.”

“Well, they don’t care who I’m friends with.”

“Of course they don’t! Because they don’t care about you either.”

“Like you would know, if you just made an effort-“

“-an effort not to be trashed on by the people who hate me? great suggestion: ‘Hey guys can you find it in your heart to forgive me for being so angry about that terrible things you did to me?’”

“This is your problem Liz, you just can’t let anything go can you?”

“Why would I? Nothing has changed?

“it has changed because people move on Liz, wounds heal, that’s how it is, that’s how life is.”

“No. No it's not, wounds can’t heal when they’re continuously resalted. Someday when they leave you out to dry like the damp laundry they see everyone else as, you’ll finally realize that.”

Ellie, with nothing else to add, simply shook her head and walked away. I can only hope she got the message this time.