Your heart was my lifeline, a constant beating drum, leading me away, your life force song like a siren’s, I follow you, I worship you, I want you, I need you, I throw away everything I knew of my life before you, Nothing can matter without you, I thought I was living before I met you, But really I was just a mould of another being, another body, Another life, just like everyone else, another copy, Another version of all that was, I was dead when you found me, a rotting corpse of failed dreams, Failed moments, but you rose me from my ashes, You washed away the decay, You brought me back when no one else would, You saved me, you made me anew.

“The knife belongs to me."

"Please… d-don’t do this." Addie wheezed, holding onto her side as blood dripped through her fingers. "It won’t bring her back."

"Why not? It brought your precious Damon back, why not my sister?"

"No… that thing, w-whatever that was… it wasn’t Damon. It just l-looked like him." Addie tried to make Kat understand, but she was hellbent, and when she wanted something she would do everything in her power to get it, even if it meant killing her best friend. Addie almost couldn’t give a shit what Kat did with the knife at this point. She had tortured her, beat her, made her hurt in places she never knew she could. All she wanted to do was survive.

Kat approached Addie’s weak, worn out form and sneered. She could imagine stepping on her, squishing her like a bug, ridding herself of this parasite. The girl had made it infuriatingly difficult when there was no need, and she wouldn’t stop for no one, no matter the consequences.

"Give me the knife, Addie." They locked eyes, Addie’s pleading, Kat’s deadly. "Give me the knife!"

Addie struggled and shrank within herself, she couldn’t fight no more. Didn’t want to fight no more. So, fuck it, she thought and handed it over. Whatever happened now was out of her hands, she just hoped that whatever came out of it, gave Kat exactly what she wanted and more.

“Everything I am is yours.” That’s what you said. Through thick and thin. In sickness and in health. That’s what you promised me. And you never break your promises, do you Billy? No. You would never. But I don’t think you have control anymore. Whatever it is that’s inside you will eventually take over, and when that day comes, I’ll have to be the one to stop it. To stop you.

Don’t worry, I know you never meant to hurt nobody. When I found you in the cellar hunched over Holly’s bloodied mess of a corpse, I could see that nothing of the boy I loved was there. You were asleep, it was the monster that raged. Can’t say it isn’t tantalising to think that I could save you. That I could help break this curse and wake you from this nightmare.

So instead, I’m making you a promise. I promise that I will do everything to save you even if I have to kill you. I will not be selfish or make up excuses when you kill again, and I will stop blaming you for bringing this curse upon yourself in the first place. The curse is on both of us.

The next time when those fangs come out to play, and I lose you to the evil again, I promise that I will end you. Even if I have to end myself.

Everything I am is yours.

I promise.

You told me I was special. That I was the most important thing in the world to you. That everyday when the demons come to play in your sick, fragile mind, I can chase them out with only my smile.

“You’re the best mistake I ever made.” You’d say, planting sweet kisses to my cheeks.

I don’t think you realised how funny that sounded. How that word would sliver and tangle itself within and darken my image of you. Chipping away at that angelic haze given only to the people I worship, because how can a mistake be something good? How can a mistake be seen as anything other than a mistake?

The last few nights I have dreamed of a path. I don’t know where it leads or what lies ahead but there’s something that entices me to take it. It doesn’t promise to grant my wishes or free me from my chains. It could be my freedom. Or it could lead me to my undoing. I have no fear of the unknown when I stand at the foot of this path. In fact when I look back at my life, at my mother and father herding me and my sisters like cattle, selling us to the highest bidding man or monster makes it look shinier, more promising. Maybe it’s my souls way of screaming at me to run, take a new path, become something else, get away from the ties and chains that keep me bound here. Or maybe the path is my future if I stay. Deserted, unloved, untouched. The mist being the only companion in my lonely life more caring than any human could ever be. What do I do? What do I choose?

When I awoke my sheets were clinging to my feverish skin and my hair had disheveled. It was still night time, the only sound being the gentle snores of my sisters and the creaking sway of the ship. Quietly I peeled the covers from my body and blindly tried to light the lantern on my bedside table, trying desperately not to wake them. A gentle glow revealed my surroundings and underneath the lantern, a crisp red envelope with a burgundy seal awaited me. I slumped down the side of my bed, hiding myself away with the letter as if the shadows were watching intently for it’s secrets.

"Sara, I meant what I said. I love you and I don’t want to imagine my life without you in it. If you feel the same, meet me at our spot. We leave tonight.

• David"

I can’t help the smile spreading across my face as I wonder, is this the path perceived in my dreams?

When you’re a child, You believe it will take forever, To grow into an adult, With adventures far better.

But time is a trickster, It manipulates you’re mind, For once you’re grown up, You’re fate has been signed.

Looking around you see people the same, Wanting the house, the marriage, the kids, the game.

You want to go back, When the days were so easy, When you felt like forever, Was so far away, so breezy.

Your time is still running, No matter what you do, Your mortality is your motivation, For everything you do.

So when the day comes, And you’re life is at an end, Surrounded by your family and your friends, Look back and be happy with everything you have achieved, For life is shorter than we’re made to believe.

I try to be good. I help people everyday whenever there’s an opportunity. I say I do it because I like it. It gives me purpose and a cleanse for my soul but if I’m being honest it’s because I’m scared. The people of this town have started seeing me as a saint, a helper, someone to idolise and look up to and I love that. I’ve always wanted to be seen as something good, have a normal life with no worries and no ties but like everything on this god forsaken planet it comes with a price. They can’t understand the wars I face inside to stay this way. I never expect thanks or accept gifts because as far as I can feel, they have already paid. After each good deed I feel my soul become lighter, cleaner, shinier. But every day when I make my way to the cursed lake littered with the towns abandoned trinkets and shattered stone I warily approach the enchanted mirror, hoping I will see a change in my appearance. It shows my true form every time, the demon in me needing to be free, to unleash its rage on the sinners but I haven’t met one soul so far that I deemed worthy to be sent to an eternity in hell. It grows weaker everyday, the fires once blazing now fading. I don’t want this life anymore. I don’t know what will happen to me, I could die with my demon half, I could become human or you never know, I could become an angel. It’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.

The Devil inside, He asks for a piece of my heart, I keep it close, unwilling to part.

He’s charming, good looking and smart, But I still won’t give him a piece of my heart.

His gifts are breathtaking, thoughtful and sweet, But I know what he’s after, A wolf hungry for meat.

His words engulf me, Terrifying but seducing, Of love and power, He’s almost amusing.

My will is stronger, No man can wield it, But the devils no man, He can easily achieve it.

As hard as I fight him, he’s impossible to beat, In the end I back down and accept my defeat.

I surrender and give him a piece I no longer need, The part with my sorrows, my anger and my greed. He’s pleased with my offering, he holds it with care, Then swallows it whole as I continue to stare.

Somehow I feel lighter, letting the devil devour my sins, Then he kisses my knuckles and a new life begins. But I always feel him waiting, craving more parts, Of my pain and my sorrows deep in my heart. The Devil inside.