Chapter 4
699words
My blood ran cold.
All strength drained from my body as I staggered back from the window and collapsed onto the cold floor. My phone remained clutched in my hand, the conversation with Kieran still visible on screen.
I typed: "Daniel is afraid of circular objects, but why does everyone who asks about it die?"
Kieran's reply came almost instantly, as if he'd been waiting for this question.
"It's the curse. Daniel's ancestors were involved in the witch hunts. The hatred of those witches transformed into a curse that has now rebounded onto Daniel. He's dying, so he needs a scapegoat. Emily, he wants to exchange your life for his."
My life… in exchange for his…
I collapsed on the floor, my entire body trembling uncontrollably. A rustling sound came from the living room—something being dragged across the floor.
I crawled to the door and carefully peered through the crack.
What I saw made my blood freeze.
The living room floor was covered with circular objects—items he had recently acquired from the antique shop in town.
Daniel knelt in the center of this bizarre arrangement.
His lips moved silently, as if reciting an ancient incantation. He clutched the antique pocket watch I'd seen before, slowly pressing it against his chest.
At that moment, a dark red pattern in the center of the watch face began to writhe like a living creature!
My stomach churned as I raised my phone with shaking hands to record this horrifying scene, then sent the video to Kieran.
His warning appeared almost instantly.
"He's performing a life exchange ritual! The hands on the watch are turning counterclockwise. When they complete one full circle, the ritual will be complete. You'll die, and he'll live. No… you're already in a half-dead state."
Half-dead state?
"Try opening the refrigerator," Kieran messaged immediately. "If you can feel the cold, you're still alive. If you feel nothing… then you're already…"
I didn't hesitate. Sneaking out of the bedroom on tiptoe, I took a deep breath and pulled open the freezer door. Thick frost covered the metal shelves inside.
Kieran's words echoed in my mind.
I reached out, slowly extending my hand toward the frost-covered metal shelf radiating cold air.
The moment my fingertips touched the frost, it was like passing through empty air. No cold sensation, no piercing pain—nothing at all.
I stared in horror at my reflection in the freezer's glass door, my face pale and terrified.
"The freezer is the boundary between life and death… do you understand now?"
Kieran's message pinged.
"You need to take that watch and escape! Get as far away from him as possible! Send me your location—I'll come get you!"
My mind was in complete chaos. Steal the watch… run away…
But this was Daniel. We had loved each other for so many years.
My mind flashed back to when I was seven, on the playground of Elmore Elementary School. I had scraped my knee badly, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Daniel, the neighborhood boy who was a head taller than me, had torn off the sleeve of his clean shirt without hesitation and clumsily bandaged my wound.
At fourteen, when town kids surrounded me, mocking my body shape, he stood in front of me with fists clenched white: "Anyone who says another word about her will regret it." That night, a bouquet of wildflowers he had secretly picked appeared on my windowsill.
In college, when I had an acute appendicitis attack, he drove three hours through pouring rain, running four red lights, to get me to the best hospital in the city. A nurse later told me: "Your boyfriend almost crashed into a police car—he was completely frantic."
Those warm memories of protection and love washed over me like a tide. How could he possibly want to take my life?
Ding!
My phone lit up with a bank notification: all the joint assets in our account had been transferred out by Daniel.
That was all our savings! I finally made up my mind.
With trembling fingers, I opened my chat with Kieran and sent him my location.
