Welcome back! Thank you so much for your amazing responses to the first chapter! Reviews are always much appreciated and I can't thank you guys enough for taking the time to leave them. Also, thank you to everyone who has followed this story or added it to their favourites. I always really appreciate your support.
Chapter 2: Sinister Happenings
Marinette struggled to sleep that night, though it came as no surprise. Everyone else had finally passed out at around four in the morning, leaving Marinette to toss and turn for hours on her own. The candles had soon burnt out, leaving the room completely pitch black. Anything could be in that room with them right now. It could be inches from her face and Marinette would never know. She laid there with her blue eyes wide and unblinking and her head half buried in her sleeping bag. The darkness of Alya's living room played tricks with her eyes. Every so often, Marinette was sure that she saw a shadow move.
Afterwards, Marinette would always shake her head and remind herself that ghosts weren't real. The Ouija board incident had just been a prank and her friends were still carrying out the charade in order to try and scare her even more. Marinette hadn't spoken to a real demon. There was nothing watching her in the darkness right now. Though it sure did feel like it.
The dull burn on her hand continued, making Marinette keep her hand balled into a tight fist in order to try and get rid of the pain. It wasn't an unbearable pain, but just enough to make her extremely uncomfortable. It made Marinette wonder how such a small candle, such a small flame, could cause a burn that hurt as much as this one did. Marinette had burnt herself on candles before, but it had never resulted in anything that felt this bad. At most, her skin would blister and feel hot slightly for about an hour afterwards. This was something else. It was like the flame was still pressed against her skin, eternally burning the back of her hand.
"Marinette?" A voice suddenly hissed over at her, making her jump. "Are you awake?"
It sounded like Juleka.
"Yeah." Marinette whispered back.
"Did the planchette really move while we were gone?" Juleka asked.
"I'm not falling for it Juleka." Marinette frowned, still getting the unbearable sensation that something else was in the room. It was like the air in the room had felt incredibly heavy since Marinette had done that Ouija board session. Like something was sapping the energy out of everything. Marinette didn't think she had ever felt so paranoid as she did now. Every little noise made her jump. Despite knowing it was a prank, her friends had clearly still managed to get her really well, much to Marinette's dismay. She hadn't faced her fears. If anything, she had ended up feeling more afraid than ever. Something really didn't feel right.
"What do you mean not falling for it?" Juleka sounded confused.
Marinette rolled her eyes, refusing to turn around and look at Juleka who was sleeping on the inflatable mattress next to her. Marinette just wanted it to be morning already. Then she could go home and try and forget that this whole thing ever happened. She would never watch any horror movies or associate with anything even remotely scary again. She'd had enough for one lifetime.
"I know it was you guys that moved the planchette." Marinette murmured, getting angry, but also trying her best not to raise her voice too much and wake everybody else up.
"How could it have been us?" Juleka asked, her voice raising slightly too.
"I don't know. You tell me. It would be just the sort of thing you guys would do to me."
"Marinette, I can promise you that we had nothing to do with it." Juleka vowed. "I know I definitely didn't do anything and I was with the others the whole time we went down to the store."
Marinette sighed, no buying it. "Whatever."
There were a few moments of heavy silence. Marinette had honestly thought that Juleka had gone back to sleep until she began to whisper again.
"You can feel it too can't you?" Juleka sat up in bed.
"Feel what?"
"There's something in this room. Something that's not human. Something that's not of this world."
Marinette groaned. "Will you stop trying to scare me? I've had enough. The joke has far outstayed its welcome."
"Believe what you want, Marinette." Juleka hissed and Marinette heard her friend get up and quietly make her way back towards the coffee table where the board game remained. "Maybe I can talk to it and find out what it wants."
"You do that." Marinette mumbled, now starting to finally feel sleepy. She felt a little bit safer now that somebody else was awake, though why she was so scared in the first place, she wasn't sure. What happened had all been some stupid prank. The paranormal wasn't real. There was nothing in this room that could get to her. The weird sensations and vibes she was getting was likely just her feeling paranoid after the horror movie they had watched hours earlier.
"It's a shame it's not three o'clock in the morning. That's when the barriers between our world and the spirit world are at their weakest." Juleka murmured away as she set the game up.
Marinette huffed and sat up in bed, knowing that she wasn't going to get much sleep now that Juleka was determined to try and contact the other side again. Marinette watched Juleka with bored, sleepy eyes. Juleka was definitely taking this stupid game to a whole new extreme now. If she thought she was helping in make Marinette believe what had happened even more, then unfortunately she was only doing the exact opposite. Marinette found herself growing less scared and more annoyed instead. This joke had gone way too far.
"Hello? Is there anybody there?" Juleka asked.
Marinette rolled her eyes when nothing happened.
Juleka frowned at the board. "Why did you talk to my friend? Why won't you speak with me? I know you're in this room, I can feel your presence. Marinette forgot to close the portal, but I demand that you leave. Your presence is not wanted in this room or this world."
"Oh yeah, make the spirits mad, that's a great idea." Marinette began to feel nervous again. She could barely make out Juleka's silhouette in the darkness. The small amount of moonlight that leaked in through the curtains cast dark shadows against the back wall.
"I can feel it, Marinette. It has ill intentions." Juleka growled as she looked around the room.
"Stop it, this isn't funny." Marinette whimpered, curling up into a ball.
What happened next happened so fast that Marinette wasn't sure if she had even witnessed things correctly. Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her because of how dark it was, but Marinette could have sworn that she saw a shadowy mass appear on the wall behind Juleka's shadow. Marinette looked behind Juleka, but there was nothing there. Marinette's yelp of alarm turned into a loud scream as the Ouija board was suddenly knocked from the table by an unseen force. Had Juleka done that? It didn't look like it, but what else could it be? Regardless, it still had Marinette screaming loudly. Juleka only slightly flinched back though, glaring at the board that had been mysteriously knocked to the floor.
"Seriously Juleka, stop this!" Marinette pleaded. "The joke isn't funny anymore!"
Marinette's screaming and pleading had caused everyone else in the room to stir awake. Alya was the first to rise, looking around the room in alarm, followed by Rose who immediately leapt out of bed and clung onto Juleka for dear life. Mylène rose out of bed looking confused while Alix looked grumpy, glaring at Marinette for having woken them all up.
"Marinette?!" Alya shrieked, slightly worried, but also slightly angry.
"I'm sorry, it's just Juleka was messing around with the Ouija board again and –" Marinette's panicked explanation was cut off by Alya glaring at Juleka before yelling at her.
"Juleka, if you don't put that stupid game away, I'm gonna shove it right up your –"
"Guys!" Mylène cried out. "Cut it out!"
"Alya, please don't insult Juleka." Rose scolded as politely as she could.
"There's something in this room. Something that Marinette let into our world." Juleka tried to explain, but Alix had begun laughing before she could even finish.
"What? Where?!" Rose squealed, clinging onto Juleka even tighter. Juleka wrapped a protective arm around her and glared all around the room while everyone else stood there looking either annoyed or confused.
Marinette remained tense as she looked around the room as well. Was Juleka right? Had she let something through? Something powerful enough to knock the Ouija board off the table like that? No! These things aren't real, remember, Marinette? Juleka had probably knocked it off herself. If there really was something in this room, why wasn't anything else happening? Why hadn't the Ouija board worked any other time? Because none of this was real, that's why. At those thoughts, Marinette forced herself to try and relax. The birds had begun singing outside and the faint light of the rising sun was beginning to be visible through the slight gaps in the curtains. It would soon be daylight. Things always seemed less sinister and scary during the day.
As her friends continued to argue and fight among themselves, Marinette sighed, ready to lie back down in bed. That was until she felt something brush the back of her neck. More on edge that she thought, Marinette screamed again, whipping her head around and gripping the back of her neck with one hand. There was nothing there. But yet, her neck still felt cold. As if ice had been pressed against it.
"Marinette, cut that out!" Alya yelled. "Otherwise the neighbours will call the police on us."
"But something touched the back of my neck!" Marinette yelped, letting her hand relax slightly, but still kept it attached to her neck.
Alix laughed. "Wow, that movie affected you more than I could have ever hoped."
Marinette narrowed her eyes. "So it was you last night!"
Alix looked like she was about to question what Marinette was talking about, humour still sparkling in her blues eyes, until Juleka's gasp interrupted her. All eyes turned to Juleka, confused over her sudden outburst. Meanwhile, Juleka's eyes were locked on the back of Marinette's hand which she was still using to grip her neck slightly, trying to warm it up after that strange cold touch. Marinette froze as everyone looked at her, feeling incredibly awkward as they did so. Juleka looked terrified while everyone else just looked puzzled as they were trying to figure out what had Juleka so freaked out all of a sudden.
"Mari…" Juleka's intense fear came out as nothing more than a whisper, "What have you done?"
"What do you mean?" Marinette frowned. Was this all still part of the joke?
"Your hand! The mark on the back of your hand! That's a demon's mark!" Juleka exclaimed.
Marinette bit her lip and brought her hand away from her neck so that she could look at the back of it. Instead of seeing a normal looking burn or blister like she had been expecting, the burn seemed to be forming into the shape of a circle. The skin was red and slightly raised where the mark was appearing. A pattern seemed to be forming in the middle, though Marinette couldn't quite make it out. The skin still felt warm and Marinette gasped, poking at the unusual mark, wincing at the stinging sensation it created as she did so.
"You've made a deal with a demon!" Juleka cried out. "Marinette how could you be so stupid?!"
"Alright, that's enough everyone!" Alya yelled and everyone immediately went quiet. "Enough of this demon and ghost stuff, it's clear we're all still on edge after the movie."
"Speak for yourself." Alix mumbled, folding her arms across her chest and blowing a stray strand of pink hair out of her face.
"Juleka, enough of this whole demon stuff, it's going too far now." Alya scolded. "It's a sleepover; we're supposed to be having fun, so leave poor Marinette alone. I say we all just calm down and enjoy the rest of the morning together. Seen as we're all up now, we might as well have some breakfast."
Everyone agreed and made their way towards the kitchen. Marinette sat at the far end of the breakfast bar, slightly further away from everybody else. With her head resting in her hand, she pushed the flakes of cereal around in the chocolate milk, having completely lost her appetite. This whole joke was now starting to feel incredibly mean spirited. Marinette could take a joke, but she couldn't help but feel like this one had gone way too far. No matter how many times Marinette tried to reassure herself, she still felt incredibly on edge, as if something was about to jump out at her any second. Adrenaline pumped through her body as her stomach churned inside of her, like she was on a roller coaster, locked permanently in a fast, downhill descent.
The rest of her friends chatted away, but Marinette couldn't help but feel slightly salty and kept to herself, still staring into her cereal bowl. The mark on the back of her right hand was plainly visible as she held the spoon in her hand, though Marinette tried her best to ignore it. But it was impossible. It no longer stung, but instead tingled lightly. It covered almost the whole of the back of her hand and Marinette was surprised that such a small candle could cause so much damage. Despite knowing it was most likely the candle, Juleka's words continued to echo around in her mind, as if the inside of her skull was nothing but a hollow cave. The words bounced around, never ceasing. A demon's mark.
"Mari, are you alright?" The sudden sound of Alya's voice and the feel of a warm hand on her shoulder made Marinette jump. She gasped and looked back to see Alya standing beside her, gazing down at her, her hazel eyes full of nothing but concern for her best friend. Marinette looked around dazed and confused. Everyone else had moved back into the living room and were busy packing their things. Alya's younger twin sisters had emerged from their room and were sat on the couch, eating breakfast while watching cartoons.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Marinette lied, picking up her cereal bowl before heading over to the sink to help Alya who had already started doing the dishes. She poured the remaining contents down the drain and began washing her bowl, her eyes constantly being drawn to the mark on the back of her hand. Alya walked back over and began washing some dishes as well, still glancing at Marinette every once in a while.
"I'm sorry about the whole movie thing. I didn't realise you got affected by scary movies that badly. I should have thought –" Alya began apologising.
"It's fine." Marinette replied flatly, wincing every now and then as the water stung the mark on the back of her hand.
"And don't listen to Juleka. She's probably only trying to wind you up." Alya laughed.
"Well I don't appreciate it when it goes this far." Marinette grumbled.
"I know, I'm sorry." Alya sighed before her eyes caught site of the mark on Marinette's hand. "Wow, that really is some burn."
"Tell me about it."
"Does it still hurt?" Alya gently grabbed hold of Marinette's hand to look at it.
"A little." Marinette admitted. "It looks so weird."
"Yeah, well, don't listen to what Juleka said. Burns can look weird sometimes. The weird pattern is probably just the result of hot candle wax spilling onto you or something." Alya explained, letting go of Marinette's hand.
Marinette examined it again. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She smiled.
"So nothing to worry about." Alya chuckled. "Just try to chillax, girl. There's no such thing as demons. There's nothing paranormal that can harm you."
"Thanks, Alya." Marinette beamed and pulled her friend into a grateful hug.
However, Alix's laughter interrupted them.
"You still freaking out, Marinette?" She giggled. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who was as much of a wuss as you are – hey, whoa!" Alix ducked just in time as a glass cup shot at her seemingly out of nowhere. Everyone went silent as the glass smashed on the floor next to Alix.
"Alix!" Alya growled.
"It wasn't me!" Alix protested before looking around at everyone angrily. "Alright, who thought it would be funny to pull a stunt that dangerous?! You could've knocked me out!" Her eyes landed on Juleka. "It was you wasn't it? To make us think all your demon stuff is real!"
Juleka stood up angrily. "I'm not desperate enough that I would throw a glass and potentially hurt one of my friends!"
Alya turned back to Marinette and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Remind me not to have a huge sleepover like this again."
Alix and Juleka stopped shouting at each other soon enough when Alya had intervened to shut them up. Afterwards, they just settled for shooting glares at each other as they packed their things away. The apartment was in chaos as everyone fought over the bathroom to get ready, however, much like at breakfast, Marinette kept to herself. She felt strange. Was she coming down with something? It didn't quite feel like that, so why was she feeling so weird? Alya's words had helped calm her down slightly so she was no longer feeling as on edge and paranoid as she was. It felt like a million eyes were all around the room, watching her every single move. Okay, so maybe she was still feeling slightly paranoid.
Everything felt surreal. Like she was living in some sort of dream. Marinette barely registered that she was saying goodbye to everyone and thanking Alya for inviting her. Soon enough, Marinette was on a bus home, staring out of the window, wondering if last night had really happened. The burn on her hand was proof that it had. Sighing, she ran her hands down her face, glad to be away from her friends for the moment so that they wouldn't play anymore stupid tricks on her. Being surrounded by daylight made Marinette feel much better. There were no scary dark shadows. No eerie silence. Just the intense brightness and typical loud noise of the city of Paris.
Marinette was glad to have a whole Sunday afternoon to herself ahead of her. Maybe that would finally help her fully calm down. Her parents would only be downstairs and she could work on some new designs to help take her mind off things. After getting off the bus, Marinette walked the rest of the way to her family's bakery and trudged her way upstairs, her exhaustion from having gotten no sleep finally catching up with her.
Once she reached her bedroom, Marinette all but collapsed into her desk chair and opened her sketchbook, only to stare at the empty page in front of her. Her mind was as blank as the paper. When her mind could manage to think of a coherent thought, it usually only involved what had happened the previous night. The design of the board, the way the letters were arranged and how a moon was drawn on the corner of the board. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts away, Marinette gasped as she realised that she had doodled the design of the Ouija board.
Growling in annoyance, Marinette tore the page out of her book and angrily scrunched it up. She was supposed to be forgetting about what happened and be moving on, not making herself feel even worse by doing drawings of it. It was just some stupid prank and no doubt everyone found it hilarious that she had been this effected by what they had done. Still feeling angry and frustrated, Marinette threw the scrunched up paper into the trash before sulking at her desk again.
However, the sound of something falling over behind her instantly had her freeze in place. What was that? Did Marinette dare look? What was with all this weird stuff that had been happening since she had played that stupid game? It had to be all in her head. Alya was right. Demons and ghosts weren't real. Marinette was just paranoid and that was what was making her intensely and overly aware of everything around her. She was definitely not watching any horror movies again or letting her friends pressure her into doing anything even remotely scary again. Just look at the state it had left her in!
Slowly, Marinette turned around, forcing herself to look and bracing herself for the sight of some demonic monster or transparent figure standing in the corner of her room. There was nothing there. Nothing was different apart from the fact the one of her hand made Chinese lanterns had fallen into the floor. Nothing to worry about, Marinette thought to herself as her eye twitched. It was something that could have quite easily fallen off on its own.
Turning back around, Marinette began shivering as the temperature of her room felt like it had suddenly dropped. She pulled her black jacket tighter around herself and rolled the sleeves back down, trying to cover as much of her exposed flesh as she could. So her parents had turned the air conditioning on? That was pretty normal, it was a warm day out today. Nothing weird going on at all. Calm down, Marinette, you're starting to sound insane, she mentally scolded herself before forcing herself to concentrate on designing, chewing on her pencil as she did so.
Just as Marinette was calming down, the sound of her floorboards creaking behind her made her jump again. This time, Marinette darted out of her seat and stood in the middle of her room, looking around wildly. There was nothing here. Buildings creaked all the time. Buildings in Paris was often incredibly old so it was perfectly normal for them to do so. Yeah. That was it. Marinette knew she really needed to get a hold of herself. This is why she had been so against watching that damn horror movie and playing that stupid game in the first place. Because she knew she would get like this - easily terrified by the slightest noise.
Marinette sat back down again and picked up her pencil, ready to finally properly draw some designs when she yelped at the sight of the back of her hand. The part of her skin that had been previously red and swollen was now turning black right before her eyes. It perfectly followed the outside circle and the shape of a star was now becoming visible in the centre of the circle, only this star was upside down with the two points directed upwards rather than down. There seemed to be another design appearing in the centre of the star, but Marinette couldn't quite tell what it was.
Panicking, Marinette ran out of her room and down the stairs, ignoring the concerned and confused looks of her parents before dashing into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Oh god! Was her skin rotting off?! Struggling to keep her panicked breathing under control, Marinette began running cold water into the sink and put her hand under the water. She rubbed the back of her hand vigorously, even resulting to using her nails to see if she could scrape off whatever that black stuff was. All that seemed to achieve was making the back of hand sting and made the skin around the strange symbol turn red.
Shakily reaching a hand up to the soap dispenser, Marinette squeezed as much liquid soap onto the back of her hand as possible, hoping that it might help. She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until her hand was completely covered in foam. This had to work, this had to work! This sure wasn't seeming like an ordinary burn now and Marinette was too scared to look at the results as she rinsed her hand under the running water. She forced herself to peak though and her panic only grew when she saw that the black mark was still there.
Her knees turned to jelly and she nearly collapsed. She couldn't breathe properly. She couldn't think properly. What was going on? What did she do? Should she tell her parents? Should she go to a hospital? Why was it turning black? Why was there clearly a design instead of a normal burn? It looked like someone had given her a tattoo in her sleep without her realising. She couldn't tell her parents. They would only freak out and think that she got some Satanic looking tattoo. And what would a doctor say? They would probably think she was crazy. It looked like Marinette was going to have to find a way to get rid of this on her own.
Grabbing a wash cloth, Marinette kept scrubbing at the back of her hand, rubbing the mark as vigorously and as hard as she could, ignoring the intense pain and the vast amount of water she had splashed onto the tiled bathroom floor while doing so. Was this her friends' doing? Had they given her a fake tattoo in her sleep that was resistant to water? But…then surely she would have woken up with the black mark on her skin? When she woke up, it was just red with little to no discernible features. Now it looked like a professionally made tattoo. Why? How?
A demon's mark.
No! It couldn't be something like that. That would be impossible. Demons didn't exist. Come on, Marinette, she urged herself on, scrub harder! She needed to get rid of it as soon as possible. The quicker it disappeared, the sooner she would be able to relax and stop panicking. Because right now, Marinette felt like she was about to pass out from fear.
Realising she was probably white as a sheet and looking like a mess right now, Marinette looked up to check in the mirror and froze as she caught sight of a tall, dark figure standing behind her in her reflection. Whatever it was, it didn't move, but Marinette could feel its invisible eyes watching her. It had no discernible features and Marinette could only tell that it was taller than her and that it was watching her intensely.
Marinette screamed, losing her balance as she pushed herself away from the sink slightly. In the process of trying to right herself, Marinette slipped on the water drenched tiles and hit the ground with a loud thud. Pain shot up her back, but luckily, Marinette was able to keep her head from hitting the ground. She blinked and instantly looked to where the figure should have been standing. Nothing. There was nothing there. But…but Marinette could have sworn…
"Marinette?!" Sabine yelled from behind the bathroom door before bursting in. "Are you alright? Oh my goodness, what happened?!"
Marinette hid her marked hand behind her back before smiling awkwardly at her mother.
"I…I…uhhh…fell." Marinette tried to pull herself up while keeping her hand hidden. Her mother helped her up off the floor and Marinette winced as her back throbbed. That was going to leave a nasty bruise.
Sabine shut off the water and looked at Marinette in confusion.
"What on earth are you doing?" Sabine demanded.
Marinette tried her best to quickly think up a believable enough lie. "Oh – umm – I spilled paint all over myself and I was quickly trying to clean it up."
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Oh honestly, Marinette, I have no idea where you get your clumsiness from."
Marinette let out a fake laugh. "Me neither." Before talking much too fast. "Anyway I best get back upstairs before I lose my idea, I'll probably skip out on dinner as I'm really tired and will probably go to bed early, I do have school tomorrow after all, okay, bye!"
Marinette quickly dashed out of the bathroom and ran back upstairs into her room, accidentally slamming the door behind her in the process. She looked back down at her hand, breathing heavily in panic, her throat closing up as she saw that the black mark was still there. The skin around it was red and sore, but the mark was completely intact. How was this possible? What was this? It had to be her friends. They'd put something on her skin. She never realised that her friends were so good at art though. The design was neat and perfect.
That had to be it. It had to have been her friends. There was no other explanation. None at all! Taking a deep breath, Marinette tried to force herself to calm back down. She was letting everything get to her way too much. This was all one big joke. It wasn't a demon mark. Just another part of her friends' prank. Yeah, that was it.
Feeling slightly more reassured, Marinette climbed up to her bed before collapsing and staring at the mark on her hand. It was pretty well done and Marinette found herself impressed with the design. It was just annoying because thanks to her friends, she had to keep this hidden from her parents because otherwise she would be dead in a world known as permanently grounded.
Sighing in frustration, Marinette let her poor, sore hand drop down onto her mattress. She just lay there staring at the ceiling, feeling completely and utterly exhausted after a night of no sleep and plenty of adrenaline rushes. Her body now felt like it had been run over by a truck, then a bus, then another truck, followed by a tank. Her eyes were heavy and her heart still pounded away in her chest out of fear. The late afternoon sun felt warm on her face, helping her to relax. She would just have to swallow her pride and ask her friends how to get rid of that paint on the back of her hand.
Marinette's eyes slowly fluttered closed and she focused on taking slow and calming breaths to try and soothe herself. By reacting like she had been, she had been giving her friends exactly what they wanted. In and out, Marinette continued to slowly breathe, her chest rising and falling delicately, allowing her to ignore her burning hand. Instead, Marinette focused on how warm the sun felt against her face. It's comforting heat allowing her to finally fully relax.
Soon, Marinette felt like her whole body was enveloped in heat, like a warm blanket had been placed over her in the middle of a cold, snowy night. Warmer and warmer and warmer still. The heat continued to engulf Marinette. Hotter and hotter it grew and red colours danced behind Marinette's eyelids. Soon, Marinette felt like her skin was burning, as if flames were licking her skin with their impossibly piercing sharp tongues.
Gasping and crying out in pain, Marinette's eyes shot open. Everything around her was dark apart from the glow of a wall of fire that surrounded her. It provided just enough light for Marinette to realise she was in the middle of an open field. The grass was dark below her, though Marinette realised she appeared to be standing on some sort of man-made wooden hill. It looked like there was an outline of a church in the distance that was faintly illuminated by the full moon. How did Marinette get here? Where even was here? But yet…it all felt weirdly familiar.
Heat still surrounded her and Marinette whimpered in pain slightly as it was too much. She looked around frantically and was about to run forward and off the wooden hill when she was halted in her tacks. She couldn't move. It was like she was pinned against something. Her arms were tied behind her back, the thick rope that kept her bound to what felt like a pole behind her dug into stomach, making Marinette feel slightly sick. Smoke filled her lungs, causing her to cough uncontrollably.
Looking down the hill, Marinette finally caught sight of a figure walking up towards her carrying a torch in their hand. The person climbed closer before stopping in front of a bound Marinette. Words become caught in her throat as her blue eyes remained wide with fear. For a reason Marinette couldn't explain, she knew this was the end. She knew she was about to die. It was like a second brain had invaded her skull and Marinette was getting a glimpse of someone else's thoughts that weren't her own. She shook with fear and all she could manage was a whimper.
The man in front of her was not familiar to her. He was old and short, with messy white hair and a white beard. He was slightly dirty and wearing what looked like medieval Catholic priest attire. He brought the torch closer to her and Marinette automatically flinched away from the flames which caused the man to laugh. Marinette then watched in horror as a purple butterfly appeared in front of his face. It was him. He had done this to her! It had all been a trap!
"CHAT!" That word, that scream left Marinette's mouth without any of her input. It was her voice, her mouth, but those words were not her own. It was if someone else was speaking through her and Marinette had no control over it. Yet, it still all felt so familiar. The fear she was feeling was the most vivid feeling while everything else felt so surreal.
She would never see her kitty again. This was it. This was the end. He had made sure there would be no loose ends. How long had he been planning this? Planning her demise? How could he do such a thing? Marinette supposed it was no importance to her now. She would never know. This was her end.
The priest merely laughed at her screams, the purple butterfly symbol still in front of his eyes as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"In infernis arderet" The priest whispered, sending shivers down Marinette's spine, despite the intense heat that surrounded her. "Sordidum pythonissam."
Marinette then screamed as the priest dropped the torch on the wood beneath her. He quickly jumped down and watched with a sadistic smile as the hellish flames engulfed Marinette, creating unimaginable pain, incinerating her in its unforgiving inferno before everything went black.
Marinette's eyes shot open as she gasped, the terrifying and vivid nightmare fading away into her memories. It appeared that Marinette had slept the afternoon away as her room was now almost pitch black, with only the faint glow of the moon and streetlights shining in through her windows. Marinette continued to stare up at the ceiling, a dark and ominous feeling overpowering her and preventing her eyes from looking anywhere else.
There was a pressure across her stomach, as if someone was sitting on top of her, pinning her down to the bed. Was this sleep paralysis? Marinette wiggled her fingers and toes to make sure, but she moved them easily. Yet that almost crushing weight was still there, rendering her unable to sit up. Remaining frozen in a state of intense fear that Marinette didn't think was possible to ever reach, she couldn't even manage to a shiver as it felt like someone was running a hand down the side of her body, tracing the outline of her curved waist.
Finally, Marinette forced her eyes to move, her gasp becoming caught in her throat at the sight of what currently had her pinned to the bed. A dark mass hovered over her, straddling her stomach. One feature was plain to see in the darkness and was completely unmistakable; two glowing, green, cat-like eyes stared back at her intensely.
Dun dun duuun. What is it with me and setting Marinette on fire? I have no idea...anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed the second instalment. As always feel free to let me know your thoughts and feelings a review. I read every single one of them. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate your support. See you soon.