The darkness consumed me before I could even register what was happening. One moment, I was pacing back and forth in my room, trying to calm the storm brewing inside me, and the next, I felt this searing pain tear through my chest like claws digging deep into my flesh. My breath hitched, my knees buckling under the weight of something far more sinister than just exhaustion. Emily's influence. It crept back into my bones like venom, wrapping its way around my mind, my body, and my very soul.
I staggered, clutching my head as a voice that wasn't mine started whispering at the back of my mind. "You're weak, James. You'll never be free."
My muscles tensed, my skin crawling with the familiar sensation of the curse Emily had placed on me. I could feel it taking hold of me again. That black curse that I had fought so hard to suppress. No... not now. Not again.
