Cursed to rise

Cody’s gaze was cold as he stepped forward. He placed his foot on her outstretched hand and pressed down, forcing her back onto the road. Carmen screamed in pain, the sound swallowed by the rumble of an approaching truck without headlights. The road stretched out in darkness, heavy with the sharp, metallic scent of cold asphalt.

Carmen staggered forward, her knees throbbing with pain. She had fallen hard, the rough surface tearing deep into her skin, leaving it raw as she struggled to push herself back up. Her legs were shaking, weak, barely able to support her weight.

Behind her, she could see Cody and Millie still standing at the edge of the road, their faces pale with fear.

“Cody, no, please…” she cried, her voice trembling. “Help me! I can’t stand up…please don’t leave me here.”

Cody hesitated, his fists clenched at his sides. “I’m sorry, Cam. I can’t do that. If I help you, it’s over for Millie and me.”

Carmen cried, she could feel catarrh dripping from her nose but she didn’t care. She had to say anything to convince him to pull her up before the truck she was hearing would come close. “I promise, I won’t say anything. I’ll…I’ll delete the video, I’ll dis…disappear and you both will never see me again. Never….”

Cody sighed, took a step foward to grab her hand, but almost immediately, Millie grabbed his arm. “Don’t do this, Cody. She’s going to ruin everything, You know what we have to do.”

“Are you hearing yourselves?” Carmen screamed, her voice hoarse and ragged. “I loved you, Cody! Fuck, I loved the both of you. Trusted you Millie, Cody…I would die for the both of you. My best friend” She cried “My husband! How can you do this to me?”

Her sharp words cut through the night, raw and jagged, but neither of them moved to help her. Cody’s eyes hardened.

“You should have just let this go, Carmen,” he said quietly, face down “But you couldn’t.”

The weight of his words crushed her. Her chest heaved as she sobbed, her tears mingling with the r on her face. “I can’t believe this,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “So, you’re going to let me die here?”

She tried again to lift herself, but her knees buckled, her hands slipped on the hood pooling beneath her, her injured arm screaming in pain. She collapsed back into the ground, her hand still reaching toward them, trembling with effort.

The rumble of an approaching truck sent a shiver of terror through her. The lights on the road were off, leaving her in near-total darkness. She had attempted to cross the main road earlier but when she was pushed, she fell into another side of the road—a forgotten, shadowy stretch running parallel to the bustling street. Unlike the main road, this one was abandoned, its cracked asphalt cloaked in darkness. The streetlights didn’t reach here, leaving the area eerily dim, and the vehicles that ever passed through were large rumbling trucks.

The truck was getting closer, she could hear it, but she couldn’t see it. The truck didn’t have headlights and that scared her more than anything. The driver couldn’t see her. She was just a shadow on the road, invinsible and insignificant. Was this how she was going to die?

“Cody!” She screamed again, her voice cracking as the sound of the truck loomed closer. “You loved me Cody, please…don’t let me die like this!”

But Cody didn’t move anymore. He turned to Millie who was holding his hands. “Let’s go, we can’t afford to be seen at the scene.”

Millie’s face twisted with uncertainty for a moment, but then she nodded. They both turned away, walking back into the shadows without turning to look at her even for a second.

“No, no, no, please!” Carmen’s voice rose to a wail, her fingers clawing at the ground as she tried to drag herself out of the truck’s path. But her body wouldn’t cooperate. The pain was too much. And she was oblivious of the fact that the more she moved, the more she got into the path the truck was going to take.

As the truck roared toward her, she raised up her hand as if to wave, but it was pointless. The road was dark and the truck had no headlights to see the woman waving down the road. This was it. Carmen’s mind raced “This is how I die? Betrayed by the people I loved? Left alone like trash?”

Almost immediately, the truck hit her before she could think further. The impact was swift and brutal, her body crumpling under the weight of the vehicle. Pain exploded in her chest and then faded into a cold, numbing void. She felt herself slipping, her vision blurring as blood pooled around her. The sound of screeching metal mingling with the distant roar of traffic and voices, probably the driver’s.

Slowly and slowly her consciousness was slipping away and her thoughts was not of peace but of rage.

No…this cannot be the end. I won’t let them win. They’ll pay. I’ll make them pay.

Her world slowly went black.

Cody, Millie…you betrayed me. You will regret this. I won’t rest. I won’t let this end here. No, I can’t die. Please God or gods if you’re listening, please I can’t die. I need to make them pay for what they’ve done to me. I will make them pay.

Carmen’s spirit hovered above the scene, weightless and detached. She could see her broken body lying in a pool of her own blood, lifeless and still. Nearby, the truck driver paced frantically, his phone pressed to his ear as he made urgent calls—likely for an ambulance or the police.

Turning away from him, her gaze fell on Cody and Millie, who were lurking in the shadows behind a tree. They lingered there for a moment, their faces twisted with malice and fear, before slipping away into the darkness. It wasn’t until the wail of sirens pierced the air and the flashing lights of an ambulance and police car approached that Carmen realized why they fled.

She could see the driver pleading desperately with the officers. But as much as he begged, a pang of resentment flickered within her. His negligence has played its part—if his headlights had been properly maintained, he might have seen her in time to stop. Still, her anger toward him paled in comparison to the betrayal that had put her here in the first place.

Her fury burned hotter than the pain had moments ago. They don’t get to walk away from this. They don’t get to live happily ever after while I’m gone.

The pull of death was strong, a chilling force dragging her towards a glowing void in the distance. I can’t die like this. I won’t. I’ll come back. I’ll make them suffer.

The light began to dim, as something dark and cold wrapped around her, dragging her away from the light. Carmen’s spirit was pulled into a vortex of shadows, with bone chilling voices whispering in her ear. But the one which stood out the most was a rough female voice;

“You thought death was the end?” the voice murmured. “This is only the beginning.”

Carmen tried to scream, but no sound came. The shadows enveloped her, pulling her into an abyss “What’s happening?” She thought, her voice echoing in the emptiness. “Where am I going?”

The black smoke pulled her faster, spinning her in a vortex of black winds and whispers. The sensation was disorienting, like being trapped in a storm with no ground beneath her. And then, suddenly, the spinning stopped.