Chapter 18 - The Second DaughterThe hand was small.
Too small.
But the fingers were covered in the same black mark.
My mother began crying.
“I thought she died.”
“Who?”
“The first daughter.”
Lena looked at me.
“Her name was Mara.”
I shook my head.
“I've never heard that name.”
My mother whispered:
“Because she was erased.”
The family had hidden the existence of Mara.
She had been born minutes before Lena.
My father believed two daughters meant two sacrifices.
So he chose the weaker child.
Mara disappeared.
Lena was kept alive.
I was born years later.
And somehow the ritual transferred to me anyway.
The truth was worse than I imagined.
The voice from the cradle laughed.
Then a little girl stepped out.
She looked around six years old.
Her face was pale.
She wore a white dress.
And the same red ribbon.
She stared directly at me.
“You came back.”
I couldn't move.
“I'm sorry.”
She smiled.
“You promised.”
I remembered.
That was the memory I had buried.
At six years old, I had seen Mara.
I had promised to return.
But I had forgotten.
The girl's expression changed.
“You forgot me.”
She reached for my hand.
The black mark on my wrist disappeared.
Then reappeared on hers.
Everyone stared.
Mara screamed.
The chapel shook.
My mother understood first.
“The curse doesn't need a sacrifice.”
She looked at me.
“It needs someone who remembers.”
I stepped toward Mara.
“I remember now.”
The little girl smiled.
Then she whispered:
“Then wake up.”
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes...
I was lying in my wedding bed.
It was 3:00 A.M.
My husband was asleep beside me.
No father-in-law.
No blood.
No basement.
No sister.
I sat up, trembling.
Maybe it had all been a nightmare.
Then I felt something nibbling my back.
I slowly turned around.
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And this time...
I saw exactly what was behind me.
