Curse Part 1

My day opened with the rows of wood crossing the span of my eyes, but I knew such a mundane sight would be precious soon enough.

I sat up. My belly growled with the anticipation of food. I looked around and took it to my room. It was relatively bare. A small wood closet rested in one corner of the room.

Next to me was a small table with a stone chiseled lantern. Its flame slowly flickered into obscurity.

My eyes flung across the stained bark to the door. I should have gone out. My sister Annie had food ready for me, but if I had gone out there, I knew Joel would chastise me for not getting my breakfast.

I was of the age to be learning to hunt. My best friend Rowan was Joel's younger brother, and they went hunting all the time. I would have gone with them, but I was not great at it.

That, and I struggled at not making mistakes. I either scared the prey away or I ended up tripping on something. The forest was not a great place for walking; I realized.

I scratched my head. I hoped Joel was not too hard on me. I was in the mood to eat, not hunt. Annie was okay with me growing up a bit more before I took part in such things.

She always said hunting was dangerous. I threw my legs off the bed and yawned. I had a lot of life ahead of me, so hunting was in my future for sure.

I went to spin the dial and quench the burning fabric. The mirrored image of my face had me frozen in an instant. I blinked at what I assumed was snow over my head. I pushed my hand into my hair and brushed it.

Wait, it looked worse now. I brushed it again, but harder. It was still white, wait; it was the whole of my hair. What was going on? I pulled my head back and forth, trying to make sense of this. That was when I noticed the purple eyes, so not only my hair, but my eye color changed.

This was crazy. How had this happened? This not supposed to have happened, anyway. I got up, holding part of my hair in maddening disbelief.

The tightening clutch around my throat had me huffing exhaust at my situation. It had my thoughts racing. I tried to make sense of this. It was not every day you woke up with different hair color and eyes.

He breathed in to calm himself. My chest burned with the keenness to know what was happening. Even now, I struggled with the idea of why I changed.

There had to be a reason. Was it something I ate, drank, was it a disease? I shivered at the idea it was that bad. I turned my eyes to the open creases in my palms.

My skin looked fine, and I had not looked sick. It was a bother just to be thinking about such things, but I had to wonder. I looked over the rest of my body and saw nothing unbecoming of who I was, a simple villager wearing a simple cotton shirt and trousers.

I was ordinary, at least I supposed to be. I was not anymore, and that bothered me. I turned off the flame fully and sighed.

Nobody would have focused on my lack of hunting skill that morning, for I had a more interesting talking point. My hair and eyes, I wondered what they were going to say as I opened the door to my room and came outside.

The chaotic aroma of food was as still as the wind on a scorching day. My fingers fidgeted at the words my sister would have said. The wildness of her thoughts would have been desperate in their plea.

I walked the short distance through the dining hall into the kitchen. I had seen a plate of food, but I ignored it. I thought it best to deal with the overall shock and got that out of the way.

Annie was in the kitchen arranging bowls of cut fruits and vegetables on the smooth wooden counter. A stout woman of dark brown hair and darker eyes. They were the colors I should have had.

Annie had a milky brown skin tone that burnt like copper under the right gaze of the sun. She was wearing a flowing dress of dark panther skin pelt. It was a gift from Joel and she treasured it, because mountain panthers were notoriously hard to catch.

I watched her for a bit, as she had a cloth in one hand, a bowl in the other.

Annie felt my presence, though. She turned and immediately got the fright of her life as she shuddered back. The bowl slipped out of her hand, hitting the countertop, making a loud, scouring screech. The cloth was almost pulled to her mouth, but it merely hung under her chin, clutched in infamy.

Her eyes measured me in the distortion of reality that stood before her. Nils was like this. I assumed those were the thoughts that ran through her mind.

I shifted on my feet, unsure how to act towards this blatant attention. "Ah, sis, it's…" my tongue failed to convey my thoughts.

She stared on in dismay.

Joel's voice interrupted the uncomfortable moment. "Annie?"

I shook my head and breathed in. I had to talk to her. These lasting glares of the eyes needed some reprieve. I said, "Y-you see it, yes, you see it too?"

Annie's eyes with wide in shock as her lips opened and closed like a fish.

"Annie, what was that noise?" Joel sounded closer. I looked and tried to find where my voice came from, but failed.

Annie tilted her head and asked, "What I'm I seeing?"

I sighed then replied, "I would like to know that as well."

"By the Gods!" Joel's voice drew me to turn around and take in Joel's shocked expression.

Nothing was said, their eyes wider than the open seas took in the blazing aspire of what this morning brought. A hair that was white had shined a reflected glare off the broken sheen of the sun that came through the window.