Chapter 2
575words
With shaking hands, I video-called my best friend Lena.
The screen lit up to reveal Lena's familiar face with her perfect makeup, her warm, bright apartment visible in the background. The moment I saw her, I nearly burst into tears.
"My goodness, Emily, you look awful! Is the food at that resort really that terrible?" Lena exclaimed with her typical dramatic flair.
I shook my head as days of pent-up panic finally found release. "Lena, I'm losing my mind! Daniel… he's acting so bizarre!"
I rambled incoherently about Daniel's increasingly strange behavior.
"Can you believe it? He's gotten rid of everything round in our hotel room! Plates, bowls, cups… all replaced with square ones. My antique makeup mirror was 'accidentally' shattered!"
"The most ridiculous part is that the sushi I ordered yesterday somehow arrived squashed into squares! He even cut my donuts into triangles with a knife!"
Growing more agitated, I grabbed my only remaining pair of round pearl earrings from the dressing table and held them up to the camera. "Look at these—my favorite earrings! Just because they're round, when he saw me wearing them yesterday, he acted like he'd been electrocuted. He went completely crazy, snatched them off me, and threw them out the window! I only have them now because I secretly went to retrieve them."
Lena: "What? What kind of madness has gotten into Daniel?"
I continued pouring everything out to Lena: "And there's this guy online, Kieran, who warned me that this town is under a witch's curse, and that Daniel's strange behavior is connected to it! He told me that under no circumstances should I ask Daniel why he's afraid of circular objects, or I'll die a horrible death!"
Lena listened quietly, her brows furrowed. After I finished, she remained silent for a moment before speaking in her most rational tone: "Em, this sounds completely absurd. A witch's curse? What century are we living in?"
She paused, her tone growing serious: "But Daniel's behavior is concerning. You should get away from him. Let me handle this—I'll ask him directly."
My heart plummeted: "No! Lena! Kieran said that question cannot be—"
"This is ridiculous. I'm calling him right now!"
Before I could finish my sentence, Lena had already ended the call.
Seconds later, Daniel's phone rang loudly in the quiet room. I watched him check the screen, and the name "Lena" instantly drained all color from his face.
He glanced at me, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace: "I… I need to step outside to take this."
The door clicked shut behind him.
I immediately pressed myself against the door like a gecko, desperately trying to overhear the conversation. But the door was too thick—I could only make out Daniel's muffled voice, his tone shifting from initial panic and evasion to pleading, and finally, I heard a suppressed, desperate, animal-like howl.
Then everything fell into deathly silence.
A few minutes later, my phone began vibrating repeatedly.
Text messages from Lena.
"Emily, I know the answer now."
"We were wrong. That question really shouldn't be asked."
"I'm leaving now. We'll be sisters again in the next life. Remember, don't ask Daniel that question."
My fingers turned to ice as my blood seemed to freeze in my veins. I frantically called her back, but there was only a cold, endless busy tone.
"Beep… Beep… Beep…"
