Chapter 40: Victoria’s Curse

The air in the room thickened, charged with something ancient and wrong. The moment Ben took another shaky breath, Victoria snapped.

The walls trembled. The lights flickered violently, plunging the room into pulsing darkness. A high-pitched, eerie wail filled the space—not just a scream, but the sound of something breaking, something being ripped apart.

Ellie clutched Ben's drenched body, her own shaking violently. "Victoria—"

"No!"

Victoria's voice was no longer entirely human. It was layered, distorted, filled with an unearthly rage that made Ellie's bones feel like they might crack under its weight.

"You think gasping for air erases what you did?" Victoria's form flickered, shifting between the girl she had once been and a nightmarish shadow of grief and fury. "You think survival means redemption?"

Ben's breath hitched. He was still too weak to speak, but the way he trembled against Ellie said it all—he knew what was coming.

Victoria's fingers twitched, and suddenly, the air around them grew heavier. The temperature dropped so violently that Ellie could see her breath. A pressure settled over her chest, thick like water pulling her under.

"This isn't over," Victoria whispered, her voice venomous. "You will never escape me, Ben."

The shadows around her twisted, curling like inky tendrils around the room. Her eyes burned with something ancient—something cursed.

"You left me to die," she hissed. "So now, you will never truly live."

Ellie barely had time to react before Victoria lifted her hands. The room exploded with darkness, swallowing everything whole.

And then—

A pulse.

A force slammed into Ellie's chest, knocking her backward. She gasped, clutching her throat as a cold, burning sensation spread through her veins.

Ben convulsed beside her, choking, his body rejecting something unseen.

Victoria's laugh was low, cruel. "You belong to me now."

The curse took hold.

Ben let out a strangled cry as his body jerked violently. Ellie reached for him, but something—something unseen—wrapped around her wrists, holding her back.

Victoria's voice wrapped around them like chains. "From now on, you will feel what I felt, Ben. You will suffer as I suffered."

Ben clutched his chest, his breath ragged. "Victoria—"

"Every night, you will drown," Victoria continued, her tone almost gentle—like a lover whispering sweet nothings. "You will wake up choking, unable to breathe. Your skin will burn from the cold that swallowed me whole. And no matter how much you scream, no one will save you."

Ben let out a shuddering breath, horror flooding his face.

"And Ellie—"

Ellie's heart stopped.

Victoria's gaze snapped to her, dark and hungry.

"You love him, don't you?"

Ellie's lips trembled, her body still paralyzed by the unseen force.

Victoria smiled, slow and terrible. "*Then you will watch him suffer.**"

The air around them pulsed again. Ellie's vision blurred, her ears ringing as Victoria's words etched themselves into the very fabric of reality.

The curse was done.

The shadows receded, leaving behind an eerie silence.

Victoria stood there for a moment, her form flickering—something almost human passing over her face.

Then she was gone.

And the screaming began.