Chapter 4 - The Last Hope

The world returned to me in slow, blurry pieces. I woke up on a soft mattress, my head spinning as if I had been caught in a storm. As my vision cleared, I realized I was back in Hikari's bedroom. The familiar scent of vanilla and old paper was there, but it felt heavy now, clouded by sadness. Hikari was sitting right next to me. Her face, usually so bright, was pale, and her eyes were red and puffy from hours of crying.

"𝒔𝒂𝒎... 𝒊'𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚"

she whispered, her voice trembling.

"𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓... 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆"

I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my forehead, making me wince. I reached out to steady myself.

"𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒉𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒊? 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅?"

She took a deep, shaky breath, looking down at her hands.

"𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝑺𝒂𝒎.𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆."

I just stared at her. The word felt ridiculous in the quiet bedroom.

"𝑨 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆?"

I repeated, waiting for her to tell me it was a joke.

But she didn't laugh. She only nodded sadly.

"𝒀𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊'𝒎 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇-𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅—𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇-𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇-𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓... 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓."

A wave of hot anger surged through me. I thought of her father's cold eyes and the way he controlled everything. But before I could say a word, Hikari said something that made my blood run cold and the room feel like it was freezing over.

It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I couldn't breathe for a second.

"𝑵𝒐"

I whispered, reaching for her.

"𝑻𝒉-𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆!"

Tears filled her eyes and finally spilled over.

"𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕."

I pulled her into my arms, holding her as tight as I could, as if I could physically keep her from slipping away.

"𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖!"

I promised, my voice cracking.

"𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔... 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅. 𝑾𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒙 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔."

But when I pulled back to look into her eyes, I didn't see hope. I saw a deep, dark fear. Deep down, I knew things looked bad, but I refused to let that thought take root.

Over the next few weeks, our lives became a blur of desperation. We turned the house into a library of shadows. We stayed up until the sun rose, scouring every corner of the internet for legends or myths. We talked to "experts" in dark history and people who claimed to know about ancient magic. We spent every cent we had visiting strange, dusty shops in the city that sold old artifacts and herbs.

But every lead was a dead end. Every "cure" we bought was just flavored water or a fake charm. Every expert turned out to be a liar looking for money. With every passing day, the hope in the room grew thinner.

Hikari grew weaker. It was a slow, heartbreaking change. She stopped walking, then she stopped sitting up, and eventually, she could barely speak. Her skin, once warm and soft, turned as pale as marble and felt deathly cold to the touch. I stayed by her side every second, holding her hand and watching the clock on the wall. Each tick of the second hand felt like a hammer hitting my heart. I was watching her fade away, and I felt completely useless.

One night, the room was very dark. The moon was hidden by clouds, and the only sound was the heavy, labored rhythm of her breathing. Hikari turned her head slightly toward me. Her eyes were glazed, but she found the strength to speak in a tiny, fragile voice.

"𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆"

I said, leaning in close. My heart was breaking into a thousand pieces.

"𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖" she breathed.

"𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝑯𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒊."

I replied, kissing her cold forehead.

"𝑺𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉."

Suddenly, the rhythm changed. Her breathing slowed down, becoming shallow and uneven. Her hand, which had been resting in mine, went completely limp. Panic, sharp and terrifying, exploded in my chest. I couldn't lose her. Not like this. Not tonight.

I stood up and looked around the room desperately. I was looking for anything—a miracle, a sign, any small hope I had missed. My eyes landed on the top shelf of her bookcase, a place we hadn't checked because it was covered in thick dust. There, tucked away in the corner, was an old book with a black leather cover. It looked heavier and older than the others.

I ran to it, knocking over a chair in my hurry. I snatched the book and started flipping through the yellowed, brittle pages. The writing was ancient—swirling symbols and a language I had never seen in my life. I couldn't read a single word. But as my fingers touched the ink, I felt a strange, humming heat move through my skin. It felt like the book was alive, vibrating with a message it was dying to tell me.

I stared at the page, wishing with all my might that I could understand. Then, the impossible happened. The black ink began to wiggle like tiny snakes. The letters moved across the paper, reassembling themselves into words I could finally read. The book said: "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆."

I looked at Hikari, then shot a glance at the window. The timing was almost too perfect to be true. Outside, the sky was no longer white; it was a fiery, brilliant orange. The sun was touching the horizon, performing its final act of the day.

I didn't waste a second. I didn't even think. I scooped Hikari's light, fragile body into my arms and ran to the window. I threw the glass open, letting the cool evening wind rush into the stale room. With shaking arms, I held her out into the air, making sure her face and chest were bathed in the warm, golden light of the fading sun.

"𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆,"

I whispered to the sky.

"𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌."

As the very last rays of the sun hit her skin, Hikari's body gave a sudden jolt. Her eyes snapped open, no longer dull, but reflecting the gold of the horizon. She looked up at me, a tiny, beautiful smile forming on her lips

"𝑺𝒂𝒎?"

she whispered. Her voice wasn't a ghost anymore; it had weight. It had life.

"𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆,"

I said, pulling her back inside and holding her against my chest.

"𝑰'𝒎 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚."

The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and the room turned into a soft purple darkness. But I didn't need a lamp to know she was changed. I could feel the heat returning to her skin. I could feel her heart beating strongly against my own. Her eyes were bright and full of the spark that I thought had been lost forever.

The curse was gone. The ancient magic had been broken by the simplest thing in the world: the light of a dying day. Hikari was going to live.

As I sat there on the floor with her, feeling her breathe and listening to the world go quiet, I knew we had done the impossible.

We had beaten a monster,

we had beaten a curse,

and we had even beaten death.

We had each other, and for the first time in weeks, the future didn't look dark. It looked like a brand-new day.