The Grimoire's Curse

Arthur did his daily routine after his alarm rang and left for the bus station. He had to be early today since there was an assembly. As he arrived at the bus station, Emilia was already sitting there reading that same horror novel. Arthur went over beside her and sat down. The wind was blowing her hair all over, her beautiful hazel eyes focused on reading the book. She seems to be in her own world, not noticing Arthur sitting down. Arthur tilted his head to lean towards her, trying to take a peek at the novel. That's when Emilia finally realized he was there, she jumped up in shock almost falling over. Her face was pale. But after seeing Arthur, her face went from pale to a bright red.

'AHHH??!! W-why did you lean towards me?? And when did you even get here?'

She sat back down on the bench while trying not to make eye contact with Arthur.

Arthur laughed softly

'Well you were so engrossed in your novel, so I wanted to see what was so good for you to be that focused on. And I've been here for a few minutes already.'

She looked over towards Arthur.

'Oh.. Sorry for not noticing you. You could've just told me if you wanted to read it. I would've given it to you.'

Arthur thought.

'I was just trying to tease her but I can't let her know that's what I was doing.'

Arthur waited for a few secs before talking.

'Sure. I will borrow it from you some day. I don't really read novels but i guess i could give it a try.'

Emilia looked over at the road.

'Oh. The bus is almost here, Let's go.'

They both stood up as the bus starts to slow down beside the station. They both took their seats at the back of the bus where Evan and Eva is at. Their eyes looked extremely tired and were both dozing off at the back. Arthur and Emilia poked them a few times. They both jumped up in shock.

'Oh it's just you guys.'

Arthur and Emilia sat down at their seats. Arthur looked over at the tired twins.

'Did you guys not sleep yesterday again. I thought Emilia told you guys to sleep earlier.'

They both looked over and frowned.

'Well that's um we said we had to finish the game first. So we spent the entire night yesterday grinding out the game.'

Emilia sighed.

'I don't know what to do with you guys anymore.'

After some random chatter between them, they arrived at school. They went to their class to put down their bags. As they entered the class, Elias was already there reading some books. After they put down their bags, they all left the classroom. Then, they went to the main hall downstairs for the assembly. There was thousands of students already sitting on the chairs in the hall. They took a seat at the back of the hall and left one empty space for Elena. After a few minutes, Elena entered the hall and started walking towards them. She took a seat in the empty seat. After some time, the assembly finally started. The entire hall went quiet. The principal walked up to the stage and walked towards the microphone in the middle. He took out a small piece of paper and started talking. After 30 minutes, the assembly was almost over. All the students started standing up to leave the hall. They all returned to their class for the second period. After some time, it was finally recess again. Arthur didn't bring lunch today so he was going to buy food at the canteen. He got to the queue early with Evan so the line wasn't too long. After buying their food they both went to sit beside the others.

After they sat down, Arthur spoke up.

'By the way, I forgot to tell you guys but the time for the sleepover is next Monday.'

They all nodded in agreement. After eating and chatting they returned to their classroom for the remainder of classes. After school, Emilia and Arthur didn't ride the bus with Evan and Eva. They decided to go to a nearby cafe to eat and study for a test. After arriving at the cafe, The middle aged woman looked over.

'Hi Arthur and Emilia. You guys haven't been here for a few weeks.'

Emilia replied to her.

'Yeah, we had a very long group project so we didn't have any time.'

The woman smiled softly.

'Is that so? Well, come sit down. I'll get you guys the menu.'

They both sit down beside each other. The woman came to their table and handed them the menu. After some thinking, they both ordered. The woman left them alone after they ordered. They took out some textbooks and began studying. There was no one in the cafe so it was quiet. quiet enough to hear even the pens gliding over the paper.

Arthur spoke up to break the silence.

'Can you teach me how to do this part? I don't really understand.'

Emilia looked over at his notebook.

'Yeah, sure. Let me see.'

Her head leans over to him trying to read the notes. Arthur tried to back away but he didn't have space to back away. The scent of her shampoo could be smelled by him.

Emilia answered him..

'Oh, this part is pretty easy. As long as you remember the formula.'

She turned over to look at him. Their eyes meet, their distance is so close, you could see every detail of the face. Emilia looked away from him, her face and ears were bright red.

'I'm so sorry!! I got too close.'

Arthur also looked away, his face also bright red.

'Yeah, No problem. I asked you to teach me anyway.'

Emilia distanced herself away from Arthur. After some time, their food arrived. They packed their books back into their bags and started eating. They returned home by riding a taxi. After Arthur returned home, he went to sleep since it was late already.

The next few days past by quickly. Finally it was the day of the sleepover. Arthur woke up quite late, because there wasn't school. It was already noon, his friends are coming at 4 pm. So he had to get ready. He started off by cleaning his entire house. Then, he prepared games, foods and drinks. By the time he finished it was already almost 4 pm. He stayed in the living room and watched some TV to past the time. Some time later, the doorbell rang. Emilia arrived first, Arthur welcomed her in. She sat on the sofa in the living room. Then, it was Evan and Eva. Elias and Elena arrived the latest. Arthur called the nearby pizza place to order some pizza for dinner. They played some board games to pass the time. After 30 minutes, the pizza arrived. They feasted on the pizza. After a while, all the pizza was already gone. They rested in the living room. They played video games on a console, played more board games and other stuff. After 2 hours, it was already 8. They laid their sleeping bags in the living room. They were planning on all sleeping in the living room. The sofas and tables were already moved away. The living room was just sleeping bags now.

They talked about random stuff for some time. Then, Arthur mentioned the grimoire he found in the attic.

'You know, last week I found a weird book in the attic. It was in some big chest.'

Evan and Eva excitedly answered.

'Really?? Let's check it out.'

Arthur nodded in agreement.

'Yeah, sure. It's probably just an old antique book.'

Arthur went upstairs to his room to grab the book from his table. After a minute, Arthur came back to the living room with the book.

They all stared at the weird book for some time.

Elias spoke up.

'It says "The Grimoire Of The Forsaken". Is it a storybook?'

Arthur thought for a while.

'Probably.'

Evan reached out to open the grimoire. When the book opened, there was dust on the pages. They took a small cloth to wipe away the dust. The first page read:

'Welcome, Readers. This book is my masterpiece. I spent decades working on this grimoire. And now, you readers shall experience these masterpieces in real life. Welcome to The Grimoire Of Forsaken. There is only 3 rules. First rule, you have five lives only. If all five is used, you will die. Consumed forever by the curse of the grimoire. Second rule, you have 1 week to complete one story in this book. Failure to do so will also lead to death. Third and last rule, have fun.'

They all looked confused.

'What.. I don't understand what any of these mean.'

They flipped to the next page.

'Chapter one: The Wailing Woman

There once was a single mom that took care of her baby all alone. She never expected the tragedy that would happen to her baby. One fine morning, she and her baby was playing in the bedroom when suddenly, cracks could be heard in the ceiling. She thought she was hearing it wrong. Until it was too late. Cracks started to form on the ceiling, slowly getting bigger by the minute. Debris started falling on the floor, the debris slowly getting bigger. By the time she realized, she couldn't save her baby. Debris fell on her baby and crushed the baby. From the grief and guilt she suffered, she committed suicide in that very room.'

They started dozing off for some reason. That sleepiness feelings felt like the sleepiness you feel after taking sleeping pills. By the time they finished that paragraph, they fell asleep.

When Arthur woke up, he wasn't in his room anymore. Instead it was a dark room, filled with debris and floors stained by blood from long ago. it looked like they tried to repair the room, but stopped halfway. Emilia was beside him, but the others weren't.

Arthur thought.

'Where the actual hell are we?'