For all who were in the cafeteria at the time, the shocking sight was Eric's sudden fainting. It was mere seconds before the boy went terribly pale in the face and lost consciousness.
Only his sister, Veronica, saw the black glow that left the 16-year-old's body at that moment.
— What is wrong with him? Is he sick with something? — Nicki looks at the boy's pale face, and the darkest scenarios manifest in her mind.
— He will be fine. He will recover soon — replies the brunette as she squats on the edge of the bed, not intending to leave the medical point until her brother regains consciousness.
— What did you tell the teachers and the nurse for not calling your parents?
Veronica shifts her gaze to her friend.
— The truth. She is anemic and faints because of it. I asked them not to call his parents because this often happens to him. I pointed out that I know how to take care of him.
Lucas, who is standing by the door, leans his shoulder against the wall, watching his friend with his arms crossed over his chest.
— He has managed to make a sensation around him. People are gossiping that it was Miranda who did something to him. At this rate, he will quickly become a popular student.
— I'm not going to fight him. I'm going to protect him — Veronica says in a firm voice, looking at her brother with concern in her eyes.
He is giddy for a reason and wants attention. He has endured torment since he was a child, something has taken over his body, having total control over him.
The 17-year-old can't leave him alone with this. And she has treated him so horribly all these years, taking it out on him, while he was the one who suffered the most in their family.
She shouldn't judge him.
He needs help, he has needed support for a long time, and right now, Veronica will be his refuge. After seeing something leave his body, she is convinced that the images from the past are not her childhood imagination, and that something has actually begun to haunt Eric.
Her brother is entitled to be angry with her, to hate her and punish her for the way she has treated him throughout his life.
Veronica deserves it.
— The bell is about to ring, go to class. I have a release to take care of Eric — she turns to her friends, who nod and obediently leave the room. — I'm sorry — he whispers in his brother's direction, feeling tears gathering under his eyelids. — I'm sorry that all my life I judged you, not knowing how much you were suffering. I am the selfish one, not you.
— Don't try to be a good sister now — he says in a hoarse voice. He rises to a sitting position, she hands him water, which he ungratefully snatches from her hand. — For ten years you have seen what happened to me, and yet according to my parents, you made me a monster. You always wanted to be their pet, you succeeded. You are there, ray, I am a haunted freak.
— Parents don't think of you that way, Eric. They love you and worry about you. You're the one who keeps them out. You create a wall that no one can break through.
The brunet lifts the corners of his mouth in a mischievous smile.
— Well... you could say that our whole family is haunted, maybe that's why they don't loudly call me a freak.
— Eric! — His sister chastises him with her eyes, but he doesn't care. He puts his glass down on the table and, pushing past her, gets out of bed. — Why were you in the cursed room? Did you go there because you were curious about why this place started our family's curse?
Eric sighs loudly. He lowers his head and looks at his sister with sympathetic eyes.
— Julie reported to you? Keep trusting her, and you won't be able to graduate from high school, or you'll go to hell.
The 16-year-old heads for the exit, Veronica gets off the bed and runs up to him. She grabs his hand, not allowing him to leave the room.
— Explain to me... why Julie is my friend, and why she has been harassing you since you were born? What explanation do you have for this? Try to convince me, Eric.
The boy turns to face her, and his eyes are flooded with tears of pain.
— Do you know how much I've suffered all my life? It hurts, Vera. It hurts terribly — he says, slapping his hand on his left breast. — You were born mentally strong, that's why Julie is your friend. Why do you think I suffer all my life?
The girl crinkles her eyebrows, analyzing his words in her mind. So that's the point? Julie has respect for her, does not harass her because she is strong? Eric is mentally weaker, that's why he suffers? She chooses the people who become her vessel?
— What exactly do you mean?
— She feeds on a person's suffering. I am her delicacy. I would like to fight her, but I have no reason to be happy. I am unable to win against her. My soul is one big black stain.
He pulls his hand from her grasp and walks out of the medical room, leaving his sister alone, in a state of stupor.
It would make sense, given the story her mother told her.
*
— If you don't want the caregiver to call your parents, then sit tight and let me stay in your room. They have agreed to this on the condition that I take care of you — Veronica warns him as she closes the door behind her. She sits down on Lucas' bed, piercing her brother with her eyes.
— Do what you want. I'm going to sleep. I didn't sleep a wink during the night. Anyway... I don't even remember it — he says sleepily, closing his eyes.
Veronica knows the reason Eric can't remember the last hours, since something has taken control of his body.
— Sleep, I'll just sit with you until you recover.
— Don't pretend to care about me. This is ridiculous — he mutters, turning his back on her.
Her brother resents her, and will probably continue to do so throughout his life. She judged him, treated him like a monster, when in fact it wasn't his fault that he was mean and cold from an early age. He became alienated by his contact with the envious spirit that had devastated his soul for many years.
— I will help you, Eric. I will compensate you for all these years of suffering — she says in a whisper, but he doesn't hear her. He is so tired that he immediately falls asleep.
The demon has sucked all the energy out of him, fed on him.
The girl rests her head on Lucas' pillow and pulls her cell phone out of her skirt pocket, intending to make a phone call to her mother.
The woman answers after a few signals.
— Veronica, why are you calling me at this hour? Don't you have classes? — The 17-year-old smiles at these words. She might have guessed that this would be the first question she would ask her. — Are you truant?
— No, mom. I have a free hour, so I decided to call you.
— Is everything okay with Eric?
— Everything is fine with him. He is in his element. He bullies his peers, but he does it in moderation. I keep an eye on him.
Every time she calls her parents, they ask about her brother first. They have reason to worry, given his character.
— Please, Veronica, keep an eye on him. I wanted you two to be together at school because you can call him to order at any time. He has already caused us enough trouble in middle school.
The brunette looks at her brother with sad eyes.
— I will do my best to temper his character. Maybe because he is going through puberty now, he causes more trouble. This should pass.
— I am afraid of this age. He's sixteen, it's a difficult time, I know this from myself.
The seventeen-year-old clenches the cell phone more tightly in her hand.
— Don't worry, mom, he is not alone. There are me and Lucas. We will take care of him.
— Veronica, if the curse of our family hangs over him.... then I don't know if sending him to Horace Mann was a good decision for him to be in your care.
— It's better if I keep an eye on him than if he were to attend another high school and cause a ton of trouble. If this curse is true, we can't assume that actually Horace Mann is the main reason for it.
Her words sound confident, yet deep down she has doubts. Since Eric entered the cursed room, and because of this, something gained more power and possessed him in his teenage years, it means that this building may actually hide the solution.
Veronica must discover it at all costs and, once and for all, free her family from the curse. She must help her brother.
— Regarding this curse, Mom, will you answer some questions for me? — The woman remains silent. — I know this isn't the right time to talk about this topic, but lately, I've been thinking a lot about what you told me.
— You're not lying to me, Veronica, are you? There is nothing wrong with Eric? — The 17-year-old immediately denies it, not wanting to worry her mother.
— He is fine. I take care of him, I really do.
— I trust you, all right. — The teenager breathes a sigh of relief. — What do you want to know?
— You also saw the demon that haunted Eric as a child, right? Did you interact with him, it wasn't my imagination? — She hears her mother swallow her saliva harder out of nervousness. — You talked to him...
— You saw it and didn't say anything to me.
— Sorry, it was too scary.
There is silence between them for a long moment.
— You have to keep an eye on him all the time, Veronica. I told you a story from my youth, when something as frightening as your brother's happened to me. There were days when something took control of my body, and I couldn't remember anything. My childhood was happy, but it all started when I thought Danielle had died. This phantom, this something, appeared when my soul was suffering, at the moment when I was at my weakest.
Chills ran through Veronica's body. Eric told her the same thing. These are the words he heard from Julie.
— When you met Dad, when he helped you, you didn't see the phantom for a long time because you were happy at his side. You overcame the darkness.
— That's just it, my love. This phantom reappeared when I met your aunt, and she intended to take away my happiness at all costs. I suffered again, I became mentally weak once more....
The brunette watches her brother's back, guessing that the only solution would be to make him happy.
— Love is a powerful drug that can destroy this curse — she whispers.
— Is there something going on in Horace Mann? Why do you want to know just now?
— Mom, I swear that everything is fine. I just want to know how to fight this curse when something bad happens to Eric.
— When something starts to happen, me and Dad should be the first to know about it, remember, Veronica.
— Yes, mom. I promise.
She says goodbye, then presses the red handset and hides the phone in her skirt pocket.
— Eric was telling the truth... What if Julie is actually evil, and I have trusted her all my life? She manipulated me, wanting me to hate my brother.... — The teenager tightens her eyelids. — I will annihilate this demonic rag if she has played games with my family all my life....
*
Veronica and her brother, return to afternoon classes, earlier reporting to the guardian that the boy has recovered and is feeling better.
The 16-year-old walks in front, entirely ignoring his sister.
— I am not air, Eric.
— To me, you are — he replies to her groggily. He reaches the classroom where he has classes and ignores his peers, who try to talk to him and ask if he is feeling better. He crosses the threshold, with his eyes finding the bench on which Miranda sits.
The girl looks unhappy as he sits down next to her without asking her permission. The colleagues who have accompanied her so far look at him with furious eyes.
— What, toadstools? — turns to them sternly when they do not intend to leave, still piercing him with their eyes. — You will not become more poisonous by staying in her company. Yesterday, when I kissed her, along with her saliva, I sucked all the poison out of her. Now she is a gentle mushroom. — He puts his hand on her hair, trying to smile at her in a charming way.
— Guest, we just played, and the winner was to sit with our Goddess.
— Goddess? — Snorts the brunette under his breath.
— She didn't let you sit here. — One of the guys looks intensely indignant at Eric's behavior. — She doesn't even like you. She complained that you were treating her in a despicable way.
Scott's envious gaze, causes chills to appear on her skin.
— They misunderstood me — she explains hastily.
Eric grabs her head and pushes her closer to whisper in her ear:
— Don't play with me, Barbie. You have to obey me. Otherwise, everyone will know about your secret, and you will lose your status as a Goddess. Together, we will be stronger. We will make us the most popular in this place. Do you want this or not? Remember... at any moment I can throw you into a swamp, from which you will not come out again.
The pretty girl opens her eyes wider as she realizes she is in his snare.
— Eric is my boyfriend. He is entitled to sit here — she says in a nervous voice, telling the boys to let it go. — He was only joking.
Their disappointed groans testify that they feel like losers. They retreat to their desks, whining that they don't stand a chance with the handsome Scott.
Satisfied, Eric settles comfortably in a chair and places his hand on his restrained friend's knee.
— What are you doing? — Miranda asks in a voice lined with fear.
— I'm playing with something that is mine. — His grip becomes tighter, and the pretty girl tightens her lips to simply keep quiet about it. — This is just the beginning, Barbie. You'll be amazed at how wonderful it is to be my slave. In middle school, every girl dreamed of it. Feel honored.
Lucas, who enters the classroom, stands in the doorway and shakes his head at the sight of Miranda's bullying friend.
The girl has fallen into his trap, and she can't even imagine what kind of hell he intends to put her through.
— When will you finally grow up, Eric? — she mutters under her breath, taking the first bench in the middle row. On the tabletop, he places the plush dog he got from Veronica as a child. He does not part with this toy, considering it his talisman.