Cursed (Cursed Superheroes #1)(9)

But I feel so different. Restless. Needing something, but I can’t figure out what.

Just thinking about needing something makes my hands shake. What’s happening to me?

I try to recall what happened but my skull pounds in protest and my stomach lurches. I rush to the side of the bed and throw up all over the floor. But apparently I haven’t had anything to eat because I end up dry heaving.

“What’s happening to me?” I mumble through my dry heaves.

“You’re in the process of changing?”

My head snaps up and my eyes narrow at a man standing in the doorway. He’s wearing a black sweater with the sleeves rolled up, slacks, and shiny shoes. His short hair is white as snow except for a startling bright blue streak down the center. If I had to guess his age, my bet would be in his late twenties.

“Who are you?” I mumble, kneeling up on the bed. “Are you the one who brought me here… Are you the one who…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence since I don’t know what happened to me.

He lingers in the doorway. “I’m the one who saved you. Or well, is going to save you.”

I don’t trust him. At all.

“Let me go,” I demand, hoping my mind controlling powers still work.

He shakes his head. “That won’t work on me.”

I frown, my heart tremoring in my chest. “Who are you?”

“I already told you, I’m the person who’s going to save you.”

“From what?” I ask, discreetly looking around for a place to escape. But the only way out that I can see is the door, and he’s blocking my route.

He leans against the doorframe. “From yourself. From the curse. From a painful life full of death.”

Great. Now I see what’s going on. I’ve been kidnapped by a nutjob.

“I’m telling the truth,” he says as if reading my mind. “You were cursed, Remi, from the day you were born, and that curse was collected the moment you turned eighteen.”

Faint memories of the town clock chiming midnight drift into my thoughts… I heard it right before the person grabbed me and dragged me off…

I shake my head. “Then why has my life been so perfect?”

“You think perfection like that doesn’t come with a price?” he asks with an arch of his brow.

“I…” I have no idea what to say. While he might be crazy, he does have a point. I’ve often wondered how my life got so perfect. Plus, I can’t help but think about how my mom said that there was a time where life wasn’t so great for my family. “But I never asked for perfection.”

Pity fills his eyes. “Yes, but someone close to you did and at your cost.”

I swallow hard, not wanting to believe any of this, but every part of me is screaming that he’s telling the truth, as if I’ve suddenly become a living lie detector.

“What’s going on?” I ask, pressing my hand to my forehead as the room begins to spin. “Why am I cursed? And what price do I have to pay?”

“You’re cursed because someone in your life was very greedy.” He remains by the door, either to block my way out or keep his distance from me.

Keep his distance from me? Where did that thought come from? Why would he want to keep his distance from me?

“As for the price you have to pay,” he continues with hesitancy. “You’ve already paid it.”

Confusion swirls in a hazy cloud, just like the room. “But I can’t remember anything?” I whisper hoarsely, my heart pounding in my chest.

Something terrible happened to me…

Something awful…

But I can’t remember….

Don’t want to…

“It’s your mind’s way of coping with the pain,” the stranger explains as I struggle to breathe. “Don’t worry. It’ll get easier.”

“What will?” I ask, gasping for air.

I feel so out of control…

So needy…

My body and mind desire…

Something…

“The curse,” he says, inching back through the doorway.

“Wait!” I stumble to my feet, not wanting him to go, but for a reason I can’t comprehend.

I need something…

I need something from inside him…

“I thought the curse was over?” I stumble toward him, the need inside me growing. “That what happened to me…” My body involuntarily shudders. “That whatever happened to me was the price I paid?”

He shakes his head, growing tenser the closer I get to him, as if he’s afraid of me. “Not that curse. I’m talking about the curse that saved you.”

My skin dampens with sweat, my hands desperate to reach out and grab him, feed the thirstiness burning inside me. “What do you mean… Saved me from what?”

“Saved you from death.” He takes a step back, his hand moving for his pocket. “The curse was supposed to kill you, Remi. The man that grabbed you at the party—he was there to kill you.”

My skin grows ice cold as memories flicker through my mind of what the man did to me. But as vomit burns at the back of my throat, I hastily shove the memories away into the deepest part of my mind. “Then why am I still alive?”