Chapter 19: Tortured Soul 

It was just another lazy afternoon in the apartment when Cassie—curious as always—found herself rifling through Briar’s assorted collection of weird, cursed trinkets. It was supposed to be a simple task: finding a misplaced spoon. But when she spotted a glimmering object tucked away in the corner, curiosity got the best of her.

The object in question was a delicate silver locket. Intricately carved with strange symbols, it looked harmless enough. Just a little shiny piece of jewelry, right? Wrong.

Cassie picked it up with a casual curiosity, feeling an odd shiver run down her spine. Before she could take a closer look, the locket snapped open with a quiet, ominous click. There was a moment of stillness. Then, everything went wrong.

A cold, unnatural gust of wind filled the room, rattling the windows. The air grew thick, suffocating. Cassie gasped, her eyes going wide as something—someone—seemed to rush into her body. Her gaze glazed over for a moment, her lips parted as she took a deep, shaky breath.

Briar, who had been lounging on the couch, looked up from her book. Her eyes narrowed. “Cassie? You okay over there?”

Cassie's lips curled into a slow, dramatic smile—except it wasn’t her smile anymore. The voice that came out of her mouth wasn’t her usual upbeat tone either. It was deep, rich, and absolutely Shakespearean.

“Oh, fair Briar,” Cassie said, her voice laced with a touch of eerie reverence. “Thou art mine dark temptress, a siren to my soul. How sweet the kiss of death shall be when thine lips meet mine!”

Briar froze, her book slipping from her hands and falling to the floor with a soft thud. “What the hell…?”

Cassie—no, the thing possessing Cassie—lifted one arm dramatically, her finger tracing the air like an invisible quill. “O, how thy beauty shines like the stars, but 'tis a cruel trickery, for my soul dost belong to another. To thee, Briar! My heart bleeds for thee... and yet it mourns, for thee shall never know the depths of my love.”

Briar’s brain short-circuited. She stood there, mouth open, staring at her possessed girlfriend. “Okay, what? Cassie, what are you—?”

Cassie—or whatever was in her now—turned toward her with wide, glittering eyes. “Ah! Briar, my dark mistress, thou art a vision of perfection, yet thou art blind to the love I offer. Dare I write thee a sonnet? Nay, I shall write thee an entire tragedy!”

Briar blinked rapidly, trying to process the situation. Her eyes scanned the room, her gaze darting around like a frantic animal. “Cassie, please tell me you’re just messing with me. Because this is—this is so weird.”

The possessed Cassie ignored her, instead swooping over to the nearest table, grabbing a pen, and feverishly scribbling something in a notebook. Her movements were unnervingly fluid, the kind of fluidity that made Briar’s skin prickle. She wasn’t sure whether to be worried or kinda impressed.

Briar rubbed her temples, trying to push down the panic rising in her chest. Okay. Okay, we can fix this. It’s fine. I’m a demon. This is literally my job.

She crouched down, peering over the edge of the couch as Cassie—or the ghost inside her—muttered darkly to herself, writing and crossing out lines of poetry in a feverish frenzy.

“Right, okay, exorcism time. This is happening,” Briar muttered to herself. She closed her eyes, summoning up the small collection of tricks she knew to expel spirits. A quick mental checklist ran through her head.

Briar grabbed the nearest thing she could find—holy water. In a pinch, it was a cheap solution, and while it wasn’t the most effective on demons, it usually worked on human possessions.

She held the bottle over Cassie’s head and poured the water.

Cassie’s possessed eyes flickered briefly, but she merely wiped the water away with an exaggerated sigh. “Ah, a mere trinket of faith. You think this will rid me of my torment? Nay! I am but a vessel for a tortured soul!”

Briar winced. “Okay, no. That was just… disappointing.”

Cassie, now drenched and very annoyed, shot her a glare. “Do not treat me as if I were but a common demon! I shall not be vanquished so easily, mortal!”

Briar groaned. “Well, I tried.”

This one was going to be a bit extreme, but Briar was desperate. She quickly recited a summoning incantation, calling forth a rival spirit to banish the one currently in Cassie’s body. The idea was that if two spirits fought over control of the body, one of them would eventually give up and leave.

A shadow flickered in the corner of the room. And then, from the darkness, appeared another ghost—a tall, gaunt figure in ragged clothes, holding a dramatic pose as if straight out of a Victorian novel.

“Ah, another poet!” the new ghost intoned dramatically. “Come, my lovely dark lady. Let us converse on the nature of the soul’s suffering and perhaps exchange some witty repartee.”

Cassie—possessed Cassie—whirled on the new ghost. “Thou art no match for my unparalleled torment, spirit. Begone, lest I curse thee with a thousand years of solitude!”

The two ghosts immediately began to bicker, each one trying to assert dominance. Meanwhile, Briar stood off to the side, watching with growing horror as the room became filled with haunting Shakespearean insults.

Finally, after what felt like hours of being stuck in the middle of a ghostly argument, Briar had had enough.

This time, she was going for broke.

Briar walked up to Cassie, her heart pounding in her chest. “Alright, fine, if this is how you want to do this, then…” She grabbed Cassie’s face and kissed her.

It was quick. Brief. But as their lips met, something… changed. Cassie’s body seemed to stiffen. The eerie glow in her eyes faded, and the ghostly presence—finally—seemed to leave. She blinked, staring at Briar in confusion.

For a long moment, there was silence. Then Cassie blinked again, looking thoroughly disoriented.

“What the hell just happened?” she mumbled, shaking her head and pushing Briar away gently.

Briar, who had immediately pulled back after the kiss, smirked. “You know, I totally knew that would work.”

Cassie blinked, still a little out of it. “What… what did you do?”

“You were possessed,” Briar explained dryly, wiping the back of her hand against her lips like she was trying to shake off the lingering feeling. “By a Shakespearean ghost, of all things. So, naturally, I kissed you.”

Cassie stared at her blankly, then began to laugh. “That was your solution? You just kissed me?”

“Yeah, apparently. Who knew it was that easy?” Briar said, trying to act nonchalant while fighting the flush creeping up her neck.

Cassie grinned mischievously. “So you’re into the ‘possessed girl aesthetic,’ huh?”

Briar’s face went red. “No! I’m not! And don’t—don’t tease me about this, Cassie.”

But Cassie just smirked, wrapping her arms around Briar in a playful hug. “You know you loved it.”

Briar groaned, but there was a part of her that wasn’t sure whether to scream or kiss her again.