Chapter 165

The necklace had a history. Maki didn't know it at first. She didn't even know why she'd been drawn to it, but there it was. A delicate chain with a small, worn pendant that seemed to hum with some forgotten rhythm. When she first put it on, it felt strange, but not in a way that caused her to remove it. It wasn't tight around her neck, nor was it cold. Just… there. She could feel it, but it didn't make her uncomfortable. She'd bought it for a cheap price at a flea market on a rainy afternoon.

The seller had looked at her in a way that made her skin crawl, but at the time, she didn't think much of it. He'd barely spoken, just handed her the necklace as if she were meant to wear it. She had bought it and left without another word. That was the beginning.

Soon after, she noticed changes. Small at first. A sinking feeling in her stomach. A dull ache that never quite left. It was like something in her head was shifting, but not in any way she could describe. A nagging, twisting sensation. As if her mind was slowly growing heavier. She tried to ignore it. She had a life to live. A job. Responsibilities. But things didn't stop.

The days became longer, the nights colder. She would find herself staring at the walls for minutes, or was it hours? Her thoughts seemed out of reach. A fog crept in, clouding her mind. Sometimes, she would catch herself in the mirror, staring at her reflection for far too long, as if she didn't recognize the person looking back. Her features seemed unfamiliar, as though she didn't belong in her own skin.

And it wasn't just her. Every time she'd worn the necklace, something strange happened. People would look at her differently. Not in a way that felt good, but in a way that made her want to disappear. They'd glance away quickly when their eyes met hers, or they'd whisper behind her back. It wasn't obvious, not to anyone else, but Maki could feel it. And it was getting worse.

She started hearing voices. It was soft at first. Whispers, barely audible, coming from nowhere. It was as if the walls themselves had a voice, or the floor, or the wind outside. Sometimes, when she was alone in her apartment, she'd sit in the dark, listening to it. The whispers would come, always just out of reach, pulling at the edges of her mind, coaxing her deeper into whatever it was. But there were no words. Only sounds that scratched at her brain.

She tried to take the necklace off. But it wouldn't budge. No matter how hard she pulled, it stayed around her neck, as if it had fused with her skin. The skin around the chain was raw, sore from the constant tugging, but it was useless. It felt like the necklace had become a part of her.

Maki's world began to distort. Time didn't make sense anymore. She'd wake up in the morning, but not remember how she'd gotten there. Her days blended together, one indistinguishable from the other. She lost track of conversations, lost track of moments. And there were the dreams. Horrible, jumbled dreams where she'd see faces—twisted, distorted faces of people who she thought she knew. They'd stare at her, silent, their eyes wide and empty. And always, always, they wore the necklace.

It wasn't just her. Maki started researching the necklace. There had been others. A dozen, twenty, more. People who had worn it before her, people who had ended their lives in the most brutal of ways. All had gone mad. All had worn the necklace until it destroyed them. They had felt what she felt. The slow, insidious pull on their sanity. The whispers. The aching inside their heads. The desperation to be free, but unable to escape.

Each one had a story. One man had carved words into his skin, screaming them to no one. Another had wandered into the streets, speaking nonsense to the world, his mind gone. One woman had walked into the ocean, never to be seen again.

But none of that stopped her. She couldn't stop wearing it. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to take it off anymore. It had become part of her. As much as she hated it, she couldn't let go. It was as if her body and mind had come to some agreement with the necklace, and now it controlled her.

The whispers grew louder. They filled her head, spinning and twisting like a cyclone. Her thoughts became disjointed, fragments that never quite fit together. She would find herself speaking aloud, not knowing who she was talking to. Her coworkers at the small office she worked at began to notice. They would look at her strangely, then avert their eyes quickly. They saw the changes. They saw the vacant expression in her eyes, the trembling hands that would grip the edge of her desk. They saw the slow unraveling of her mind, and they whispered, too.

And it wasn't just the people at work. It was the neighbors. The people on the street. Even strangers in the store. They looked at her differently. As if they knew something was wrong. Something she couldn't hide anymore.

Maki tried to tell herself it was just stress. The sleepless nights. The long days. But it didn't work anymore. She couldn't keep lying to herself. Something inside her was dying, and it wasn't her body.

The necklace was doing it. Slowly, surely, it was tearing her apart.

She had to leave. Had to get away. But it didn't matter. Where would she go? She tried to run once. She thought maybe if she put some distance between herself and the necklace, the madness would stop. But as soon as she stepped outside, the whispers followed. She could hear them, feel them in her chest, pulling her back to the apartment, back to the necklace, back to that thing that was consuming her.

Her hands shook as she stared at the wall in front of her. A blur of colors and shapes that didn't quite make sense. The clock on the wall ticked—each tick a hammer against her skull. She clutched her head, trying to stop the voices, trying to quiet the screaming in her brain.

The whispers weren't enough anymore. The necklace was more than just a necklace. It was the thing that was eating her from the inside. It was the thing that had made her lose everything.

The world was falling apart around her. She couldn't remember what was real and what was not. Time no longer had meaning. The walls around her seemed to pulse, to breathe. They stared at her. The same faces she saw in the mirror, the same twisted, distorted versions of herself. And they were laughing.

She could hear their laughter now. It was everywhere. A chorus of madness, rising louder with each passing second. The laughter filled her ears, flooding her mind, drowning her in sound. She could see it, too. Faces in the walls, in the floor, in the corners of her vision, all laughing. Laughing at her.

And then it came. The end. She stood in front of the mirror, her reflection staring back at her. But it wasn't her. It was someone else. Someone who had been worn down by the necklace. Someone who had been consumed.

With trembling hands, Maki reached up to take the necklace off one last time. She could feel her fingers brush against the chain, but it wasn't working. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. The voices were too loud now. The world had become a blur of chaos.

Her eyes widened. She could see it now. The necklace wasn't just a thing around her neck. It was the thing that had been in her, slowly eating her mind, eating her soul. It was the thing that had driven everyone to madness. And now, it was taking her too.

With a final scream, Maki tore at the necklace. The pain was unbearable, the skin on her neck ripping as she pulled at the chain. But it wouldn't come off. It wouldn't stop.

And then, she stopped.

Maki dropped to her knees, her hands clutching at her chest, her mouth wide open in a silent scream. The necklace had won.