It started like any other morning - I was getting dressed for work, moving slow but steady. I reached for my favorite necklace, the diamond one my grandmother left behind. Every time I wore it, I felt a little more powerful, a little more... seen.
But today, the moment the cool stones touched my skin, my whole body flushed with heat. Not warmth - *intensity.* A sudden pressure in my chest, like someone was standing on it. The necklace tightened around my neck, no longer elegant. It felt like it was alive, *gripping me*.
Panicked, I ripped it off and threw it into its box, the lid slamming shut like it had a mind of its own.
Still burning, I turned the ceiling fan to its highest setting and collapsed backward on the bed. My arms stretched wide, feet grounded, chest heaving. I waited for the fan to do its job, but?
Nothing.
The air wasn't touching me. The fan was spinning - but the breeze? Gone. My forehead shimmered with heat, but no sweat ever fell. Just stillness. And then, my neck began to itch - deep, crawling, under the skin. I scratched it hard, but the feeling moved.
Like something was inside me.
My ear tingled next, a faint whisper vibrating like a tuning fork. Not a sound, but a *presence*. I blinked and stared at the ceiling.
*Was this meditation?*
*Or was something watching me?*
The light flickered.
I sat up slowly, instinct telling me I wasn't alone. The box with the necklace had slid slightly - though I hadn't touched it. The fan blades? Now they were spinning *backward.*
A chill ran through me.
I whispered, "Okay... what is happening?"
From behind the walls, a low hum began. It wasn't mechanical - it was a voice, muffled and layered. I couldn't understand the words, but I felt them in my bones. A shiver rolled down my spine, and then the words started to make sense, just for a moment:
*"She's waking up."*
My breath caught. I wasn't just overheating.
I was *changing.*
The necklace didn't burn me because I was allergic.
It burned me because it knew I was ready.
Ready for what?
The room spun once - and then everything went silent.
The fan stopped. The light died. The necklace box clicked open by itself.
And I wasn't afraid.
I was *becoming.*
**The end? or maybe the beginning.**
---
Part 2: The Pull
The box was open again.
I know I closed it. Slammed it shut, even. But there it was, sitting on my dresser - lid slightly cracked, like it was... inviting me.
I didn't want to go near it.
But my feet moved anyway.
Every step felt heavier, like the floor was pulling me down - like gravity had doubled around that necklace. My fingers tingled before I even touched it, and as I reached for the diamonds, they hummed. Soft. Low. Almost like a purr.
My hand hovered.
The whisper from yesterday echoed in my mind:
**"She's waking up."**
I touched the necklace.
The second my skin met the stones, the room shifted. The air bent - literally bent - and shimmered like heatwaves off pavement. The walls breathed in slow rhythm. My heartbeat? Loud. Echoing through my ears like a drum calling something to me - or maybe calling *me* to something.
I clutched the necklace tight.
Then, everything went dark.
Not pitch black - more like a midnight void. No bed, no fan, no ceiling. Just me and a low humming space. Then voices - more than one. Whispering, chanting... *chanting my name.*
**"Toya... Toya... the veil is thin... it has chosen you..."**
Chosen me?
The diamonds lit up like embers, glowing against my palm. Not just glowing - *moving*. The gems twisted, reshaping themselves like they were alive.
And then I saw it.
A flash.
A version of myself - but not me. Eyes glowing. Arms covered in symbols I didn't recognize. Hair wild. Standing tall in a place that wasn't Earth. She looked? divine. Terrifying. Like a goddess and a ghost fused together.
Then I heard her voice.
**"You've inherited more than you know."**
And just like that - I was back. On my bed. Fan spinning normal. Daylight breaking through the window.
But in my hand?
The necklace was gone.
Instead, burned into my palm, was a glowing mark.
A symbol. Not just random lines - something ancient.
The beginning of something *bigger.*
And I'm not sure if I should be terrified...
Or excited.
---
Part 3: The Calling
I should've known better.
I was sixteen the first time I tried it - alone in my room, heartbroken, confused, searching for something beyond what the world gave me. I lit candles. Pulled out that Ouija board I bought with my best friend as a joke. But that night, it wasn't funny. It was real.
I remember whispering, *"If anyone's there? show me."*
And something did.
The planchette moved.
Slow at first. Then fast.
I asked, *"Are you good?"*
It paused? and slid to **NO.**
I laughed it off. Called it fake. Slammed the board shut and shoved it under my bed. But ever since that night, things? shifted. Shadows lingered too long. I felt watched. I dreamed in symbols and heard my name in the wind.
I forgot about it. Or thought I had.
Until now.
Until this burning returned.
---
The mark on my palm still glowed from the necklace. I tried everything - cold showers, ice packs, even laying naked in front of the fan. But nothing cooled me. The heat wasn't on the outside.
It was inside me.
Like something was trying to burn its way through.
That night, the dreams came again. But this time, I was *there* - back in that room, at sixteen, candles flickering. Only this time, I wasn't alone.
Across from me sat a girl who looked like me - but her eyes were black. Her smile was too wide. Her skin? Cracked like porcelain baked too long in the oven. She tilted her head.
**"You opened the door,"** she whispered.
**"Now you get to see what came through."**
I wanted to run. But my feet stayed planted.
Behind her, I saw two shadows form. One was glowing - a soft gold, peaceful. The other? Red. Twisting. Gnashing its teeth, forming a shape that pulsed like a heartbeat.
I stood frozen as they circled me.
The gold one whispered, **"You were chosen to protect."**
The red hissed, **"But you summoned me first."**
And then I realized - **this burning? isn't random.**
It's the war between the *guardian* and the *invited.*
I had unknowingly become a vessel - two forces battling inside me. One wants me to use this power to heal, protect, and reveal ancient truths. The other? Wants to *consume me* so it can finally walk this Earth.
And the necklace?
It was just the key that unlocked a war I had buried years ago.
Now, every day I wear it, the battle rages.
Every time I try to cool down, the evil tightens its grip.
But the heat?
The heat is what reminds me that I'm still alive.
Still in control.
For now.
---
Part 4: The One Who Called
The necklace still burned against my skin.
Every morning, I debate whether to wear it. But without it? I'm too weak. The whispers get louder. The shadows come closer. The darkness inside me starts to win.
So I fasten it around my neck, even though it feels like fire each time.
A necessary pain.
This day felt different though.
As I walked through the city - earbuds in, head down - I felt her before I saw her. Not with my eyes? but deep inside my spirit.
**Monica.**
An old friend. Gone for almost two years. Vanished without a trace. But now I felt her beside me, her energy walking in rhythm with mine. No shadow, no footsteps. Just presence.
A sudden cold chill blew through the heat on my skin.
Her voice broke the silence:
**"I've been trying to reach you."**
I stopped mid-step. Frozen. My mouth dry.
"I remember?" I whispered aloud. "You left a voicemail. Just said, *'Call me.'* I did? but no one answered."
The air around me shifted. The world slowed. And she appeared - just beside me. Not quite physical. Not quite ghost. But real.
She nodded, eyes dim but full of truth.
**"I was already gone."**
My knees weakened. "What happened, Monica?"
She turned her face, and I saw it - the bruises, the dirt under her nails. Her shirt torn. Her hands? still beating on something invisible.
**"They buried me inside,"** she said. **"Somewhere dark. Wood. Nails. No light."**
And just like that, the memory came rushing back. The dream. The dream where she screamed for me - trapped, gasping, pounding from the inside of something hollow. I had dismissed it then, told myself it was guilt. A coincidence.
But it wasn't.
I saw her then.
**Trapped in her own coffin. Still fighting.**
And I had ignored the signs.
Tears streamed down my face. "I didn't know? I thought I was imagining it. I wasn't strong enough to open the door. The necklace - it gives me power, but back then?"
She placed her ghostly hand over mine, and for a second, the burning eased.
**"You're stronger now. And I need you to find me.**
**So my family can stop looking. So I can stop screaming."**
I looked around, the world moving again like nothing happened. Cars passed. People walked. But I stood in the middle of it all, talking to a spirit no one else could see.
And my heart ached with one truth:
**She had called out. I didn't answer in time. But now?**
Now she was calling again - and this time, I would.
But the necklace? It pulsed hotter than ever.
Because the darkness that took her?
wasn't done yet.
---
**To Be Continued?**
---
