The Haunted’s Kiss of Regret and Repentance

“Wow, sis, talk about obsession. We’re going to need a full-on food date today just to piece all of the puzzles together.” We rode in my car and went to the mall to talk and shop at the same time.

“I can’t believe that out of all the guys that you’ve dated, you landed a voodoo addict for a stalker. I mean, I knew you were wild, but I would have never imagined you were wild enough to bag the spawn of Satan’s heart”. Perry tried to lighten up the mood, and I couldn’t help but smile at the support system that I had.

“So what did you tell mom and dad for them to let their youngest child come all the way here without a bodyguard?” I’ve noticed; these past few months that the secret bodyguards my parents appointed to tail me, became lesser in numbers, and I assumed Izzy had them as well.

“You know mom and dad gave me bodyguards. I just have no idea where they are now, but I bet they’re somewhere around here eating pizza or something. You know those guys love it when we go to the mall because it’s like a rest day for them too.”

“Anyway, Shyne, you need to tell us whatever secrets you still have with Rian. This man is putting some weird voodoo spell on you, and it’s affecting both of our beauty sleep. I can’t keep running to your room when you’re having a nightmare, especially during exam week”.

“I know and I’m sorry, Perry. Let me just go grab a few things in the school supplies section while you two buy something to drink at Starbucks. I’ll tell you guys everything later, oh, and let’s just order delivery and eat in my room. If I will tell you all my secrets, I need to be in my comfiest clothes in case I have an emotional breakdown”.

We went back to my room, and we decided that Izzy should first explain to us everything that she found out about the Latin letters.

“Okay, so here are the photos of the pages of that cult book I was talking about,” I took all of the letters, and we each compared them to the words written on the book Izzy found online.

“The book says that the Latin words are like a prayer meant for two souls to be bound for all eternity. These are just torn pages of that woman from the cult, so we can’t retrieve the entire text. However, we can figure out how this guy was able to get his hands on those curses and spells if we could talk to him or anyone who is in the same cult as he is.”

“Well, Izzy, that would be a little hard since it would mean we need to go to their village and ask around. That is a plan that I definitely will not do, I’m sorry, but you can take Perry with you if she’ll agree”.

“Oh no. I will definitely give a hard pass on that suggestion. That man is too freaky for me. I think the only reason you’re not having hallucinations now is that we found out about this curse thing”.

“Sis, I think the best way to know how he was able to get this spell or curse on you is to tell us what happened between you two”.

“Okay fine, I’ll tell you guys everything I can remember from him,” I said as I mentally prepared myself. I could see Rian’s silhouette in the corner of my eyes, standing behind the heavy curtain. I ignored him and sent a silent prayer to God for protection as I told Perry and Izzy everything.

“Rian was a guy that loved giving me cuddles and whispering stupid promises of love to me, especially after we finished. I’ve always hated it because I knew it was one-sided. We both had a simple agreement to not take things too seriously, but after a year or so, Rian changed”. I could feel the fear creeping in me as realizations struck me along with the story.

“Rian would text me Latin words and send me those letters. He would always ask me to send him a photo of me when I was happy or just doing random stuff every day. Whenever I failed to give things to him, Rian would be mad at me and be a little rougher than accepted. He would never hit me, but wherever he held me, it left a small bruise, so I decided to find a way to leave him without the risk of him telling anyone about us”.

The silhouette disappeared near the curtains, and I had to hold my breath when I saw a shadow’s hand near the bed I was sitting in. It was as if he was under my bed. I continued my story and decided to fight against the fear.

“Rian would take my handkerchiefs, shirts, hairbrush, perfume, etc. I thought it was weird, but the fear of him flipping out was worse because, at some point, I lost the courage to say no to him.”

“Wait, sis, do you mean you left all of those things with him even after you guys broke up? The letters, the photos, the whole enchilada?”

“Unfortunately, I did because I never thought of anything out of the ordinary. Rian promised that when we got married, he’d make sure to keep those as a remembrance. He also said it was to be shown to his grandmother and other members when the time was right. However, after I met a few of his family, I wanted to take the items back. We had a fight, and he never gave it back”.

“Shyne, you have to get those back from Rian. I think those were the things he used to cast this weird voodoo soul-binding trick on you”.

“Now that you mention it, I remember that Rian’s grandmother was the abortionist that helped me prevent my first pregnancy. The baby was never formed because he took me to his grandma to get a massage and ritual thing to keep a baby from forming. It was both terrifying and painful. I went there twice, but the third and last pregnancy scare was when I broke up with him”.

The shadow’s hand disappeared, and I felt like it was standing beside me now, but I just could not see it. I calmed my heart down and focused on finishing my story.

“I remember his grandma whispering something to him, and he had this evil look on his face. I was too tired to mind it at that time, but some words sounded like Latin. Whenever we went back to his place, he would promise that he would be a good father if we got married. He also promised that I would always be protected by him, not because he had money, but because he had friends that would always stick by my side. He mentioned spirits, but I just assumed he meant angels.”

I could feel a sudden chill, and by the looks on Perry and Izzy’s faces, they did too. They both knew that something was with us, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.

“So, let me get this as straight as I can without being overly dramatic and judgmental,” I could Feel Perry’s sarcasm building as she took a steady breath.

“You had unprotected intercourse with a delinquent guy who had no future, and now we find out that he probably cast a spell on you from a cursed book he had from his cult?! What’s next? Are you going to tell me you’ll transform into this mythical being that teleports using shadows?! This is too freaky, Shyne! Oh my goodness!”

“As much as I hate to agree with this woman, she’s right. I am in complete shock right now, and I can’t believe I almost had a delinquent addict who is also a spawn of Satan as a brother-in-law. Tell me honestly, did you do drugs while you were with him, or was that the black magic talking?” Izzy obviously wanted to be as dramatic as Perry but kept her composure.

The heavy feeling was still around, but their loud reactions made the situation bearable. For once in my life, I felt as dumb as they were explaining. I sat there staring at them as they went back and forth about how they could cut the spell that Rian possibly gave me. All I could do was drink the frappe I ordered while the three of us talked inside my room.

“Why don’t I unblock him and confirm this impossible situation? I mean, that guy has been stalking me nonstop, so I suppose unblocking him and getting the gist of things would be a piece of cake.” I explained as calmly as I could, but my voice still shook.

I found Rian’s account in my block list, and my fingers shook as I unblocked him. Immediately, I checked his account, and what I saw made me feel a mix of emotions I never knew I would feel.

The three of us gasped as we saw the local news that Rian’s friends and family tagged him in. Rian Batista was a resident of a small village, and hanged himself in his own room using a thin blanket. The date of his death was the day after I began having hallucinations of him.