Shadows and Whispers

Chapter 2: Shadows and Whispers

The first sign of something unnatural came on a quiet night.

Annie had fallen asleep beside Sakura, his warmth an unfamiliar comfort. But something woke her.

A whisper.

At first, she thought it was the wind, slipping through the cracks in the window. But then she heard it again—closer this time.

"Annie."

She bolted upright, heart hammering. The room was dark, except for the pale moonlight filtering through the curtains. The air was thick with the scent of cherry blossoms, though there were none nearby.

Then she saw them.

Soft pink petals drifted from the ceiling, swirling in the air before vanishing as they touched the ground.

She gasped. “Sakura.”

He was already awake.

His dark eyes were wide, his body tense. He reached for her, gripping her wrist with icy fingers. "It’s starting," he murmured.

"The curse?"

He nodded. "It knows you love me."

Annie’s breath caught. "But—I never said—"

"You didn’t have to." His voice was laced with sorrow. "It’s in your heart. And now, it’s claimed you."

The shadows shifted. In the dim light, Annie saw figures moving—women with blurred faces, their hands reaching out from the darkness.

Her body went rigid. "Who are they?"

"The ones who came before you."

A sharp pain pierced through her chest. Not physical, but something deeper, something unnatural. A force tugged at her, pulling her toward the shadows.

Sakura tightened his grip. "Fight it, Annie."

She gasped as the air grew thick, suffocating. Her vision blurred, the room tilting—

Then everything snapped back into place. The figures vanished. The whispers faded. The air cleared.

Annie collapsed against him, shaking. "What… was that?"

"The curse erasing you," Sakura said grimly. "You need to leave, Annie. Before it’s too late."

But she couldn’t.

She had already fallen too deep.

The next day, things changed.

At the bookstore, her boss squinted at her. "Do I know you?"

She laughed. "Very funny, Mr. Tanaka."

His expression remained blank. "Who are you?"

Her stomach twisted. "Mr. Tanaka, I work here."

"I’ve never seen you before."

Her hands trembled as she grabbed the employee ledger, flipping through the pages. Her name was gone. Her records had vanished.

She stumbled back.

Sakura had warned her.

The curse wasn’t just about death. It was about erasure.

She ran through town, calling out to people she had known for months. They all looked at her with vacant expressions, as if she were a stranger.

Annie covered her mouth, her breaths coming in ragged gasps.

This was real.

She was disappearing.

She rushed back to Sakura’s home—an old, abandoned temple at the edge of the forest.

He was waiting.

Tears burned her eyes as she collapsed into his arms. "It’s happening."

He held her tightly. "I know."

She gripped his shirt. "Tell me how to stop it."

A long silence stretched between them before he whispered, "There’s only one way."

"How?"

"A trade," he murmured. "A life for a life."

Her breath hitched. "No."

"If I give myself to the curse, it will let you go." He smiled sadly. "You’ll live."

Tears streaked down her face. "I don’t want to live without you."

"You have to," he said softly.

A cold wind howled through the temple, shadows creeping closer.

Sakura leaned down, pressing a final kiss to her lips.

Then he turned to the darkness and stepped into it.

Annie screamed as he vanished.

And then—

Silence.

Morning came.

The town remembered her again. Her name was back in the bookstore’s records. People greeted her like nothing had happened. The curse had been broken.

But Sakura was gone.

No one remembered him.

His home was abandoned. His name had been erased.

But Annie remembered.

And every spring, when the cherry blossoms bloomed, she sat beneath the tree where they first met, whispering his name—hoping the wind would carry it back to him.

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