The revelation of blood

The first rays of morning light filtered through the curtains, casting pale shadows on the bedroom walls. Ted slowly woke up, his head heavy and his throat burning. A strange buzzing echoed in his ears. When he opened his eyes, the room felt strangely silent, as if the world around him was holding its breath.

He turned his head and saw Jenna sitting on the bed. The daylight bathed her face, and for the first time in weeks, she seemed... alive. Her cheeks had regained their glow, and her eyes sparkled with a newfound intensity. An energy he hadn't seen in a long time radiated from her.

"Jenna?" His voice was hoarse, filled with disbelief and apprehension. "What happened?"

She smiled softly, a smile that held none of the pain or suffering he had seen in her eyes in recent days. "Ted, I'm healed."

A shiver ran down his spine. He tried to sit up, his muscles still sore from the fainting episode the night before. "But... how?"

Jenna hesitated, looking at her hands before meeting his gaze again. "It's the blood, Ted. The blood I took... it was the only way."

Ted's heart tightened in his chest. "The blood..." he repeated, his voice trembling. The truth slowly began to creep into his mind, but he wasn't ready to accept it.

She got off the bed and approached him, her eyes filled with pain and determination. "There's something you need to understand. This isn't just a virus, or a simple disease. It's... a curse."

Ted instinctively recoiled, his face marked by fear. "A curse?" The room seemed to close in on him. The world around him distorted, and he felt suffocated by the rising fear. "No... this can't be true."

Jenna knelt beside him, taking his trembling hand. "Ted, listen to me. My family's curse... it never stops. It demands a sacrifice, and it must be paid. I'm the last one to be affected, and last night... I took what was necessary to survive."

Ted didn't respond. He stared at her, his breath shallow, his mind overwhelmed by a chaos of thoughts. The pain of disbelief, the vertigo of acceptance... it all mixed together within him. Jenna's words echoed like an unbearable reverberation.

She moved closer, her eyes filled with silent despair. "Ted, I know it's hard to believe, but all I want is for you to understand. I never wanted to hurt you."

He raised his hands, as if to shield himself. "No... no, this isn't possible. It's too much. It's too much for me." His voice trailed off as he stiffened in terror.

Jenna felt the distance growing between them, an invisible barrier created by Ted's fear. She stepped back a little, straightening up and turning to look at him. "Ted, do you still love me, despite everything?"

Silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Ted couldn't tear his eyes away from Jenna. His heart pounded too loudly, and fear coiled around him like a snake, choking his breath. Jenna's question hung in the air, a chilling uncertainty.

Finally, Jenna turned away and sat on the bed, her hand resting on the sheet as if to reassure herself. "Ted, listen to me. I don't expect you to believe me right away, but I have to tell you what happened."

He nodded, his throat tight. Anxiety gnawed at him, but he knew he had to listen, even if it meant approaching the abyss of the unimaginable.

"My grandmother... she died at 67, but not from an ordinary illness. She was the first to carry this curse. She talked about it often, but I didn't understand. She said it was an ancestral curse, passed down through generations, and that every woman in the bloodline had to face her own nightmare on her 26th birthday."

Ted felt a shiver run down his spine. The parallel between Jenna's mother's death and the current situation made him feel nauseous. "And your mother... she...?" His voice faded, unable to ask the question.

"She died at 26, Ted. Just like my grandmother before her." Her eyes filled with tears, but she wiped them away quickly. "They were both victims of the same thing. The curse demands a toll. To survive, you have to drink rare blood, W- blood, every week for four years. It's the only way to push it back, to stay alive."

Ted's face twisted under the weight of the revelation. He shook his head, pulling back even further, his muscles stiff as stone. "No... no, this isn't possible. It's not real..." His words echoed like a desperate whisper.

Jenna stood up suddenly, moving towards him. "Ted, I know it's too much for you, but it's the truth. I don't want to lose you, but I need you to understand that I couldn't die. Not like my mother and my grandmother."

Tears of anguish began to flow down her cheeks. "I took your blood, because I had no choice. I took your blood to survive, and now I'm the only one who can keep living." Her voice almost died into a whisper. "And you, Ted… do you still love me, despite everything?"

The words caught in Ted's throat, reality cracking under the weight of what he had just learned. Everything he knew, everything he had believed about Jenna and their life together seemed to crumble, swept away by the current of this absurd truth.

His eyes settled on her, the only thing that still seemed real in this chaos. Fear, confusion, and love blended in his gaze, a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. "Jenna… I…" He couldn't find the words, because, in this moment of uncertainty, he wasn't even sure what he was feeling.

Silence settled once again, heavy and overwhelming. Jenna's words still echoed in Ted's mind, like a sound impossible to ignore. He looked up at her, his features marked by pain and confusion. "This… this is impossible, Jenna. No one can… no one can give their blood every week for four years. I can't… I can't do that."

Her eyes widened, fear and sadness blending in her gaze. "Ted, I know it's hard, but it's the only way. If I don't have that blood, I… I will die."

"I don't want to lose you either," he said, his voice rough, broken by emotion. "But I can't accept this. Not like this. I… I need time to think." He stood abruptly, his gaze avoiding Jenna's, and left the room without another word.

The stairs creaked under his steps, and the silence of the house shattered into a thousand pieces as he made his way to the living room. The air felt suffocating, each breath harder than the last. He sat on the couch, his head in his hands, drowning in a whirlpool of thoughts. Blood, the curse, survival… everything clashed in his mind, pieces of a puzzle he couldn't put together.

Anxiety gripped his throat. He thought about Jenna, the desperate look she had given him, how she had pleaded for him to love her despite everything. He couldn't let her down. But could he really accept this reality? Was this decision, this sacrifice, beyond what he was willing to do?

An hour passed, the clock's hands moving slowly, marking the time that seemed suspended, waiting for an answer. He stood abruptly, his muscles tense, his body shaking with the pressure. He knew what he had to do, even if it terrified him.

He headed for Jenna's room, his trembling hand resting on the door handle. The air around him seemed to shrink, as if the entire room was holding its breath. An inner voice screamed at him to stop, to not continue, but he gritted his teeth, determined.

The moment he opened the door, a wave of dizziness overtook him. The world spun around him, a whirlpool of darkness and pain. Before he could say a word, his legs gave way, and he collapsed in the doorway.

Darkness took him, and everything went black.