Not A Small-Town Girl

An inconspicuous passerby pulled out his phone and typed a quick message. "Geoffrey’s been hit. He’s unconscious, bleeding everywhere. The ambulance has already taken him away."

The recipient on the other end responded almost immediately. [Make sure to get the truck driver out of the police station. Take care of him, too—dead men don’t talk.]

[Got it. Don’t worry.]

*****

At Treeside Villa, Danielle, Ivan, and Judy had dragged the unconscious woman back into the house, heading straight for Howard and Vivian’s room.

"Orion, we’ve got the one who cursed them."

Danielle tossed Judy to the floor like she was some rag doll, then grabbed a wet towel, scrubbing her hands like they’d just touched something infectious.

The others—Joseph, Matthew, Austin, and Orion—hadn’t expected things to move so fast. They were amazed by how efficiently they’d captured her.

"Perfect, while she’s still out cold, I’ll extract the curse from her," Orion said, pulling out the snake that he used for his personal rituals.

The Darling family members, though not as horrified as the first time they’d seen the snake, still looked uneasy.

The little serpent followed its command, biting down on Judy’s neck, then quickly wriggling inside her body.

Judy, as if sensing the disturbance, began to writhe in her unconscious state. Without Danielle’s silver needles holding her down, she’d have woken up by now.

Orion’s flute began to play faster, creating an eerie atmosphere as if two curses were battling inside Judy’s body.

Everyone else held their breath, eyes locked onto the scene. It was a tense moment—this was about Howard and Vivian’s lives, after all.

Though Judy was paralyzed by the needles, her body jerked erratically on the floor, sweat pouring down her face.

The flute’s rhythm slowed, and soon, the cursed venom could be seen moving under her skin, like something trying to crawl out of her veins.

Suddenly, the snake emerged from her wound, holding a small red worm between its jaws. It slithered out of her body and landed on the table. The worm, blood-red and bloated, looked grotesque, as if it had been feeding on her very life force. It started small, but it grew rapidly, now about the size of a finger.

Orion, who was used to handling poisons, didn’t flinch. But the Darling family members? They looked absolutely disgusted. They could only imagine how they’d feel if their parents saw such creatures inside them.

"Orion, this little worm has been controlling my parents’ minds? That’s insane!" Austin exclaimed, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Not insane—there are many different kinds of curses," Orion replied, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the three worms now wriggling on the table.

"I’m going to remove the curses from Mr. and Mrs. Darling now," he added.

The snake went to work again, and in no time, the worms inside Howard and Vivian’s bodies were extracted. But the little serpent looked exhausted, practically limp now.

All three worms were now sitting on the table. Orion gazed at them as if they were treasures.

"Miss Darling, would you mind if I took these? They’ve been raised quite well."

Danielle didn’t hesitate. She had been wondering what to do with these malicious creatures anyway.

"Sure, take them. I don’t need them anymore."

"Orion, how were these curses placed inside my parents?"