Cursed Paper- A Short Story

[moon-city]

Summary

Cecile finds two pieces of a special paper which promises to fulfill its user's wishes by allowing the user to draw out whatever they want which will occur in 24 hours. Except, she is not the only one who has been given this gift. There are only 10 existing pieces distributed randomly to other users with one main rule: if other users find out that you have possession of the paper, you will die.

_{Photo by Kelly Sikkema
Source}

Rules of Paper:

• Only one side of the paper can be used but you can also choose to not use it at all or give it away.
• Once you draw something, you cannot erase it. It will occur in 24 hours
• If other owners of this paper find out you are in possession of the paper as well, they can kill you in 24 hours and take ownership of your papers by simply drawing your fate on paper.

Cursed Paper

The school bell rang and Cecile grudgingly made her way to the second floor of her high school for art class. Mr. Monroe was an overly passionate art enthusiast who took every opportunity to use Chris, class president and manga artist, as a leading example for quality work.

The morning had started off by being eventful after Cecile found 2 pieces of paper neatly placed in a charcoal envelope with a list of rules. "Well this whole thing could just be a dumb prank set up by someone" thought Cecile to herself. She sat down in the back corner of class and realized that the deadline for her clay figurine submission was due in 24 hours.

Pam and Kate sashayed over to Cecile and said, "You could use some sleep Cecile" said Kate. Pam interrupted Kate "No, what she really needs is more time for her figurine, just ask big head Monroe for an extension".

_{Photo by Feliphe Schiarolli
Source}

_{Photo by Paula Almeida
Source}

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Cecile sighed and thought about the paper. "I could just throw it out or ignore it but what if this is not a prank and I could test it out in a harmless way just once". Afterschool, Cecile went home and decided to draw Mr. Monroe sick in bed with a cold writing an email to all students about the clay figurine submission extension.

Suddenly, Cecile's phone began to ring and she saw the caller ID was Pam. "Just checking up on you Cecile, how are you doing? You seemed distracted today". Cecile who was still lost in thought blurted, "Listen its all good, if things work out Monroe will extend this assignment once he catches a mild flu". Cecile immediately regretted her choice of words while Pam burst out laughing and said "Woah that’s enough wishful of thinking for today, anyways I have to go".

Cecile decided to correct herself immediately "Hey Pam before you go, can we just keep this whole thing between us only? " The next day, Cecile's phone began to blast as she found 7 missed calls and 15 messages from Kate. "You won’t believe this Cecile, Monroe emailed the whole class with an extension for our assignment, well don’t take this as an excuse to slack" said Kate.

_{Photo by Firmbee.com
Source}

Cecile gulped in disbelief "Kate, I will talk to you later sorry". Cecile ended the call as her mind raced with thoughts. "I guess this confirms it, this thing actually worked. I don’t know what to do with this last piece of paper but for now, I need to keep a low profile" thought Cecile.

It had been a full 24 hours since Mr. Monroe was sick. He asked his class to submit their clay figurines by the end of lunch time outside a double decker table with name tags. "Hey Pam! This was an interesting turn of events, I did not think we would be getting an extension on this and Monroe seemed fine that day but got suddenly sick" said Kate as she struggled to catch up to Pam.

Pam placed her tag on the figurine and said, "Cecile handed hers earlier and she has some good intuition, she guessed that things could end up going this way". Kate gasped "Wow well it was a lucky guess I suppose". Pam suddenly remembered her conversation with Cecile and face palmed herself "Listen don’t tell Cecile I mentioned this, I sort of made a promise not to discuss this". Mr. Monroe overheard the conversation as he was passing by.

It was last class of the day and before Cecile knew it, it was coming to an end. "Cecile before you leave today, I would like to discuss your assignment". As the last school bell rang and students made their way out, Cecile made her way to Mr. Monroe. "Cecile did you read the last part of the rules?" Cecile looked confused and responded, "Mr. Monroe I added my name tag and placed my figurine before lunch time". "Cecile I wasn’t referring to the assignment" said Mr. Monroe with a wicked smile. Cecile’s heart skipped a beat as she realized her doomed fate.

_{Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie
Source}

Comments

[theinkwell]

Thank you for sharing this story with the Ink Well community.

[moon-city]

Thank you for stopping by!

[agmoore]

Welcome to the Ink Well community, @moon-city. This is an intriguing story. It has a good arc and Cecile's character is well drawn. Readers feel a sense of inevitability as the terms of her opportunity/challenge are laid out. Cecile will fail. We feel this. And yet, when she does her transgression is accidental and she has our sympathy.

We would love to see more stories from you. Acquaint yourself with our Manifesto and Community Rules. They are simple and mostly have to do with keep the community a safe, pleasant place.

Keep writing!

[moon-city]

Thank you for orienting me with this community agmoore! I will definitely look more closely at the sources you mentioned. Its a pleasure to be here.

[nineclaws]

Oh this is so well done @moon-city! You had my attention all the way through and then an abrupt end when I'm salivating to know what happens, LOLOL! Love it, very creative idea, the two pieces of paper and all that went with it.

[moon-city]

Thank you so much Nine. I haven't practiced short story writing in a while. I definitely need a refresher with all the basic foundations. I wish I could make a Part 2 for it because I had a lot of ideas about how I wanted to take it in a more unpredictable route but since it is supposed to be a short story, I ended it abruptly hehehe.

[nineclaws]

You're welcome! I like the way you ended it. I'm sure you could do a sequel. Play around with it and see where it goes.

[moon-city]

Appreciate it a lot Nine 🙏🥰. I will definitely play around even more with this and refine it.

[nineclaws]

You're always welcome! I'll be watching for the next installment. 😉

[moon-city]

I cant thank you enough Nine LOL. I hope you have a peaceful Sunday.

[nineclaws]

You're welcome! I hope you're enjoying your Sunday, it's been peaceful for me.

[stayten]

!discovery 20

[moon-city]

Thank you Stayten!

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