Chapter 263: Cursed Child

There he saw a girl sat in the corner of the room, on a simple white bed with absolutely nothing around her, a small open window directly to her left, the blinds undone which made the rays of sunshine land directly on her pale, blank face, the sound of chirping birds from the outside garden.

That girl was non-other than Abby… Or was it even Abby? 

Her usually neatly done hair, clean clothes, and well-mannered attitude was nowhere to be seen. Things that she learned while living with her family to avoid beatings and had almost become second nature to her. 

The girl in front of him bore none of those qualities… 

Her crimson hair was completely dishevelled, her face was messy with a dead look in her now gray eyes that were completely unlike the burning eyes of passion he always saw, an odd look on her face smiling, a small bird on her right finger standing completely still, one that seemed to have flown in from the open window… 

Moby was simply standing there at the entrance of the room, completely speechless at the sight ahead of him, before he noticed the girl raise her head and direct her gaze straight at him with a wide smile that gave him a bad feeling in his heart...

"Oh! Hello Mr! Do you want to play with me? I promise it will be fun! But I have to warn you… Everything I play with eventually dies… See?" 

She lifted her finger where the bird laid still before it suddenly disappeared… Sucked into either her inventory or storage ring that she wore on her left finger, Moby knowing exactly what that meant… 

"A-Abby?! Is that you? Do you remember who I am? Moby Kane?"

"Mhm! Yes! It's me Abby… And you are… Ummm… Who are you? I feel like I remember you… But not really… I have a feeling that you're a nice guy… So, I actually urge you not to play with me… Nothing good ever comes from playing with me or trusting me… But at least Alex will always be with me like he promised! Right Alex?"

She took a small pause before nodding back to herself. 

"Hehe, of course, you are!"

Moby could still not believe his eyes… He and Alex had managed to save her life… But was she even truly saved?

"Abby! Snap out of it! This isn't you! What happened!? What made you come to this!?"

Moby asked that question with clear worry on his face, yet he already knew the true answer before she even spoke it, he just wanted to see how she would respond...

Her mind had completely broken, everything was simply too much for her to handle… 

Everything from being brainwashed, forced to almost kill her best friend, cursed and attack the only person that ever showed her affection, led to the death of her lover, and finally, her entire family dying right in front of her eyes, which was her final motivation and shred of will to live left in her heart completely snuffed away…

It left her with absolutely nothing, spiralling into a void of pure negativity, some of which being completely unjust, which broke her mind to the point of devolving back into a little child with a vague sense of her previous memories, wanting to experience a childhood she never had in a safe bubble where she would never be hurt or hurt anyone else ever again… 

The word "Cursed Child" had been so ingrained into her very being that she now truly thought of herself as one.

"Whatever do you mean? Isn't it obvious? I'm just locking myself up where everyone will be safe… So… Can you please leave? I changed my mind about playing with you! I don't want you here anymore… You're a good boy with a bright life ahead of you! So Shooo!"

The smile she gave him was bright, almost like the sun, a corrupted sun that gave off polluted light. It was quite the odd sight seeing her smile in such a way, with gray eyes, black spots under them, her hair messy and her entire body shaking.

Slowly, Moby began walking in her direction.

"Abby… Please… Listen to me… I'm just trying to hel—"

However, as he approached, the fear and worry in Abby's eyes also increased, before she jumped out of bed and ran into the small garden outside of her room in a panic, tears running down her face.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!" 

Moby felt his heart slowly crack… He seemed to be getting nowhere with her… like talking to a brick wall, which must have been what had also happened with Jayden… 

He looked out from the window at the garden that she ran off too barefoot, hiding carefully behind a tree. 

So, he decided to follow her and play her game. If she didn't want to talk to him normally, maybe she would change her mind once she understood that he wouldn't get hurt by simply being around her. 

Yet, when he tried to demon flash towards her and surprise her, he was simply unable to, like his body just didn't allow it which he inwardly attributed to his recovering body. 

Moby took a deep breath, calming his nerves and focusing on one thing…

He looked around him in every corner of the area, trying to see if there were any cameras before he tried what he was about to do.

"Abby! I order you to come to me right now!"

With an authoritative voice, he called out, trying to see if his control over her had been reestablished. 

And, to his surprise, as if she was walking like a robot, she waddled from behind the tree to his direction, a painful look in her gray, tear-filled eyes…

He was happy to see his mind-link had been reinstated. However, he absolutely hated to do what he did. He never liked giving out direct orders unless it was completely necessary, and he deemed this moment as such.

"W-what's going on to my body… P-please… Stay away… Stay away from me… Don't hurt me… J-Just kill me instead…"

"Please… Abby... Just calm down… No one here is gonna die okay? See?"

He placed his hands on her warm forehead, bringing his face in towards her crying face that slowly began to feel slightly calmer, shaking lightly less. 

"Good… Okay… Now… We're gonna be playing a game okay? Have you heard of staring contests?"

"Y-y-y-yes…"

"Good… But we will be playing a variation… Once 1 minute is up, I'll be able to take a peek into your mind. Is that okay with you?"

"O-okay…"

Although her emotions had subsided slightly, the fear was still clear on her child-like face… 

The stare was not as awkward as he expected as he lost himself into the seemingly endless abyss of darkness that was her eyes that appeared to be poking deeply into his heart… 

And, before he knew it, he was thrust deep into her mind, a black void of nothingness waiting for her memories to appear. 

He thought that maybe, once he enters it and changes a few things, it might snap her back to her former self. 

However, he was sorely mistaken…

As soon as Abby's memories appeared, so did her deep, almost endless stretch of negative, self-loathing emotions that overwhelmed Moby's entire mind, a feeling unlike any other he had felt before— his body being overridden to such a point that he felt like he was about to explode from the absolute pain and agony as he only received a vague understanding of what was happening in her mind let alone changing anything.

It felt just as bad or even worse than evolution. 

Yet, despite the pain, Moby pushed on and persevered through the seemingly endless desert of misery. However, every time he made progress, the wind would always push him back to where he previously was until, he was forced out of Abby's mind by his skill's time limit. If it weren't for that then he might have remained there for eternity trying only to fail every time.

As soon as Moby was abruptly snapped back into reality, he felt a massive rush of agony ravage his entire body, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, his life nearly flashing before his eyes from the sheer amount of pain as he wanted nothing more than to take a few steps back and clench his aching heart. 

But, with Abby about to wake up in front of him, he could not allow himself, no matter what to show such strain on his face. That would only push her on and confirm her suspicions that she brings nothing but misery to everyone around her… 

'Her emotions… Those were... …. I'm surprised she still has as much sanity as she was with all of that in her mind… Luckily she didn't kill herself… She is one strong, resistant girl, I wouldn't be able to last in her place…' He thought, using every fibre of his being to endure the seemingly endless pain and agony for her sake.

Slowly, Abby opened her eyes.

"W-was that fun?"

"Mhm! Very fun!"

"Mr… Whatever you did made me very tired… I want to go to sleep… If you want to kill me please kill me now… What you did to me was very scary… My body moved on it's own, it was, it was, it was, like a nightmare… Please never come see me again BYE!" 

She ran out of the garden crying, and jumped back onto her bed with a mixture of emotions running through her mind…

'H-He-He said he had fun?'

Moby was left completely speechless and heartbroken… 

Part of him wanted to go and tell her it was all a misunderstanding but he was certain that it would have simply been like talking to a brick wall. 

He simply had to accept that the Abby he always knew and loved was no more, a battlefield playing out in his mind as he slowly walked towards the entrance of the room and opened up to leave.

"Abby, just know that no matter what, I still care for you. And you will always have a deep, precious spot in my heart. You'll always be family. I didn't mean to scare you, I apologize. I just hope you had fun too just like I did… Goodbye…"

Those were the last words Abby caught before she heard the sound of the door slamming, closing her eyes with a single tear running down her face. 

From the other side, in a pitiful state was Moby, leaning against the door with his hands covering his crying eyes. 

'Fuck… What have I done… What did she turn into… It's all my fault…'

In his storm of broken emotions. He heard a single voice shine through, a voice that had been lying dormant ever since he had awoken only to speak these words now. 

'Calm down kid. Even if it is kind of your fault, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. Use it as a learning experience. But, I think the best course of action right now would be for you to put her down…'