12th November, 2026
9:30 PM
Dear Veiren,
Today was actually a pretty good day.
I studied well at school, and guess what? The guy who's always mean to me got into trouble. He ended up getting detention!
The moment I found out, I couldn't stop smiling. I know I probably shouldn't be so happy about it, but after all the times he's annoyed me, it felt like justice had finally done its job.
I was so excited to tell you all this.
It's funny. Whenever something happens these days, good or bad you're the first person I think of telling.
Did I keep you waiting?
A reply formed,
"Hey Azalea,
Welcome back.
And don't worry, I don't mind waiting.
I have certain abilities that let me move between timelines and observe things that most people can't. I went somewhere to check on something important and only just returned.
I'm glad you had a good day, though. As for the boy who got detention... let's just say the universe has a funny way of balancing things out.
So, what else happened today?"
I grabbed my pen and quickly wrote,
"Abilities? Does that mean you can come out of the diary and observe me too?"
The thought alone made me feel strangely awkward.
I stared at the words for a moment before setting the pen down, suddenly wishing I could erase them.
But it was too late.
Veiren had probably already read them.
"No. I can't come into the present or anything like that," he replied.
"But I can return to the timeline where I was alive. Even then, I'm nothing more than a wandering soul. I can see things, move through places, and travel across timelines, but I can't really interact with the world."
There was a brief pause before new words appeared beneath the last sentence.
"I guess that's why I spend so much time talking to you."
"Hmm... So that means you can see the past you?"
I wrote the question carefully, my curiosity getting the better of me.
If Veiren could travel through timelines, then surely he could visit the years when he was still alive.
The thought was strange.
What would it feel like to watch your younger self from afar?
And if he could see his past... had he been watching it all this time?
"Yes, I can."
The reply appeared after a long pause.
"I can watch myself being treated miserably and do absolutely nothing about it."
For the first time, his words felt heavier than usual.
"I've seen those moments countless times. The loneliness. The whispers. The way people looked at me as if I was something to be feared."
A few seconds later, another line appeared.
"And I think I've finally figured out why they called me the Curse."
The words sat there quietly on the page.
Not angry.
Not bitter.
Just tired.
As though he had spent years carrying a question that had only recently found its answer.
"So, um... the bad things that happened to the families who tried to adopt you weren't coincidences?"
For a long moment, nothing appeared.
I immediately regretted asking.
Then, slowly, words began to form on the page.
"No."
My stomach dropped.
"They weren't."
Another pause.
"But neither was I the monster everyone thought I was."
The next sentence appeared shakily, as if even writing it was difficult.
"I never caused those things intentionally, Azalea. I was just... there."
I stared at the words.
"What do you mean?"
His reply came almost instantly.
"I think something was attached to me."
The room suddenly felt colder.
"Every family that took me in suffered misfortune. Accidents. Illnesses. Financial ruin. Sometimes worse."
A new line appeared beneath it.
"And after watching my past over and over again, I've realized one thing."
The ink seemed darker somehow.
"The disasters always started after I arrived."
"Veiren, you can never be bad... I just know that."
I hesitated for a moment before adding another line.
"I'm all ears if you want to tell me what happened."
For a while, the page remained blank.
Then, one word appeared.
"Why?"
I blinked.
"Why do you trust me so easily?"
More words followed.
"Everyone who knew me believed the rumors. Even the people who were kind to me eventually started looking at me differently."
The ink paused.
"But you've never met me."
Another pause.
"You don't know what I look like. You don't know whether I'm telling the truth."
A final sentence appeared beneath the others.
"So why are you so certain I'm not the monster they thought I was?"
I looked at the question for a long time.
Because I didn't actually have an answer.
I just knew.
"Honestly, I don't know either."
I smiled faintly as I wrote the words.
"Maybe it's because you've never lied to me."
My pen hovered over the page.
"Or maybe it's because every time you talk about your past, you sound hurt... not cruel."
I stared at the diary for a moment before continuing.
"And monsters don't usually spend their time worrying about whether they're monsters."
The moment I finished writing, heat rushed to my face.
Why was I getting so emotional over this?
I quickly added one last line.
"Besides, if you were really a terrible person, I don't think we'd be talking like this."
For a long time, no new words appeared.
Then, slowly, Veiren began to write.
"The first family that adopted me was Mr. and Mrs. Seaton. They had no children."
"I was five years old when they visited the orphanage. While the other children were playing and trying to get their attention, I was sitting alone with this diary."
A pause.
"I think they felt sorry for me."
Another line appeared.
"They were kind. Very kind."
My chest tightened.
"But a month later, they both died while traveling somewhere."
The words felt cold.
"And I was back at the orphanage."
I swallowed hard as more ink spread across the page.
"They told me I had appeared on the orphanage doorstep one day. No one knew who my parents were or where I came from."
The next part came more quickly.
"A second family adopted me when I was six. I had two older sisters. They were wonderful."
For a moment, I thought things had gotten better.
Then I read the next sentence.
"Two months later, their business collapsed."
My heart sank.
"They fell into poverty and could no longer afford another mouth to feed."
"So they sent me back."
The diary was silent for a few seconds.
"After that, bad things started happening around the orphanage too."
The words seemed heavier now.
"Food poisoning."
"Accidents."
"Children dying."
I stared at the page.
"People started connecting everything to me."
A long pause followed.
"Eventually, they locked me in a room."
My grip on the pen tightened.
"They brought me food and water, but they didn't want me near anyone."
Another line appeared.
"They hated the thought of me being there."
The next sentence took longer than all the others.
"When I turned fifteen, they sent me out of the village."
Nothing followed.
No explanation.
No complaint.
Just silence.
And somehow, that hurt the most.
"That's... terrible..."
I stared at the page for a long moment before writing again.
"If it wasn't all a coincidence..."
My hand hesitated.
"What did you discover?"
The reply came almost immediately.
"I discovered that the villagers were only half wrong."
My stomach twisted.
"The disasters happened because of me."
Before I could react, more words appeared.
"Not because I caused them."
A pause.
"But because something chose me."
The room suddenly felt very quiet.
"I didn't notice it when I was alive. Not at first."
"It stayed out of sight. Watching. Following."
Another line appeared beneath it.
"But every time I revisited my past, I saw it."
My grip on the pen tightened.
"Saw what?"
The answer took longer than usual.
"A shadow."
The word looked darker than the rest.
"It was always nearby."
"Outside the Seatons' house."
"Near the orphanage."
"Watching from the edge of the forest after I was banished."
I swallowed hard.
"And wherever it lingered, misfortune followed."
The next sentence appeared slowly.
"I spent years believing I was cursed."
A pause.
"But I wasn't."
The final words sent a chill through me.
"I was chosen."
"What was it?"
For a moment, the page remained silent.
Then, slowly, a reply appeared.
"A soul."
I frowned.
"A demonic soul."
My breath caught.
"What?"
"Azalea, you know how I inhabited this diary after dying, right?"
"Yeah."
"Similarly, there are souls that inhabit humans."
I widened my eyes.
"That's... bad?"
"Yeah. It is."
The next lines appeared one after another.
"A soul's power depends on how desperately it wanted to live before it died."
"Every soul develops a different ability."
"But that demonic soul..."
The ink paused.
"It had been after me since birth."
A chill ran down my spine.
"I think that's why my father abandoned me."
"It wanted me isolated."
"Feared."
"Hated."
"It wanted me to lose control."
The next sentence made my stomach twist.
"Because a soul can only inhabit a living person when they're unconscious or mentally broken."
I stared at the words.
Everything sounded impossible.
Ridiculous.
And yet...
"...All of this sounds so unreal."
I hesitated before writing the rest.
"But when you say it, it feels real."
For a while, there was no reply.
Then new words appeared.
"Because it is real."
"I don't know who that demonic soul was."
"I don't know why it chose me."
"But before it could take my body..."
The words seemed to darken.
"The villagers burned me alive."
I froze.
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't even breathe properly.
Then another line appeared.
"I died wanting to live."
A pause.
"And that desire awakened my ability."
My eyes moved across the page.
"The power to travel through time."
Another sentence followed.
"And unlike most souls..."
My heart skipped a beat.
"I can take someone with me."
The pen slipped from my fingers.
"What?"
The answer came immediately.
"I can bring a living person into the past, Azalea."