The Ashes She Gave Me

001

Stella insisted I wear the silver locket she gave me after her tragic miscarriage. I hated wearing jewelry, but her eyes had been so hollow, so desperate, that I eventually caved and fastened it around my neck.

This morning, the ultrasound screen was a black, silent void. My perfectly healthy baby had lost its heartbeat. Meanwhile, sitting in the very same waiting room, Stella texted me a picture of her positive pregnancy test.

I walked out of the hospital clinic like a wandering ghost. The sunlight felt cold. Suddenly, a scruffy old man stepped directly into my path, his piercing eyes locked onto my chest.

"Girl," his voice rasped, sharp as an ice pick. "You are carrying a child, yet you wear the ashes of the dead. You are trading your own flesh and blood to buy life for someone else's womb."

A chill violently violently down my spine. Stella's sudden pregnancy. My baby's vanishing heartbeat. I shoved past the old man and ran. I didn't stop until my lungs burned and I was safely behind my own front door.

My hands shook wildly as I tore the silver locket from my neck. Without thinking, I roughly looped it around the neck of my pregnant black Lab, who was resting on her bed.

I stood in the entryway, panting, staring at the little silver pendant. It was filled with a fine, grayish-black powder.

Bone ashes?

My mind went entirely blank.

"Those are the ashes of a stillborn!"

The old man's grave expression flashed in my mind. "It's a dark exchange. Life for life. The baby inside you will rot, and the one who gave you that locket will give birth to a perfectly healthy child."

My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. Stella and I had grown up together. We were closer than blood. When she lost her baby, I waddled over to her apartment with my own heavy pregnant belly just to cook for her and hold her hand. I couldn't believe she would do something so evil to me.

But what if? My baby's heartbeat was really gone.

Outside the hospital, when I tried to throw the locket into the street, the old man, who introduced himself as Danny, had grabbed my wrist.

"The ritual started the second it touched your skin," he warned. "If you want out, you must pass the burden to another pregnant vessel to complete the cycle. Toss it away blindly, and both you and your child will die."

I had begged him for another way. I wasn't going to curse an innocent woman just to save myself.

"You have until midnight to pass it on. Once it's done, call me. And remember, do not alert the ones who cursed you." He handed me a crumpled piece of paper with his number and vanished into the crowd.

It was five in the afternoon. Seven hours left.

My thoughts were a chaotic mess as I stumbled deeper into my house. The moment I approached the study, a sound froze the blood in my veins.

Heavy, satisfied panting. The distinct, wet sounds of the aftermath of sex.

Then, Stella's breathless giggle drifted through the cracked door. "You should have seen your wife walking out of the clinic, Nolan. She looked like a walking corpse. I almost laughed out loud."

My husband's voice, low and coaxing, replied. "Just wait until the ash ritual is complete. When she finally passes that dead lump of flesh, she'll cry her eyes out. It'll be hideous, but you'll love the show."

Lightning struck my brain. Danny was telling the truth.

I wanted to kick the door open, scream at them, tear them apart with my bare hands. But Danny's warning echoed in my ears. Do not alert them.

Biting down on my lip so hard I tasted copper, I silently backed away. I slipped out of the house I shared with Nolan and drove straight to the small apartment I owned before we got married.

The second I locked the door behind me, my knees gave out. I collapsed onto the hardwood floor and sobbed until I choked.

When I finally wiped my face and looked up, my pregnant black dog was cowering near her crate, keeping a wide distance from me. I had raised her for seven years, yet she never warmed up to me or Nolan. Strangely, she absolutely adored Stella.

Looking at her swollen belly, a dark, desperate thought clicked into place. Danny never explicitly said the locket had to go to a human.

A cold hardness settled in my eyes. They wanted to play God with my child. Let them burn.

002

I poured half a bowl of premium dog food. While she was distracted, I cautiously wrapped the silver locket around her thick belly, hiding the chain beneath her fur. Then I nudged her into her large crate and draped a blanket over it.

Maybe I was losing my mind, but the moment the locket rested against her skin, the dog looked up at me. Her eyes held a human-like, venomous disgust.

My fingers trembled as I latched the crate.

Just then, the front door clicked open. Nolan walked into the entryway, juggling several grocery bags.

"Hey, honey," his voice dripped with his usual buttery warmth. "The gate guard mentioned you came into the complex. When you weren't at our house, I figured you were hurting and came here to hide."

He set the bags down. "I bought fresh chicken. I'm going to make you a rich broth tonight to build your strength back up."

His words sounded so caring, but a layer of icy sweat broke out across my back. He tracked me down.

Bang.

The black dog suddenly rammed her head against the crate door, bursting it open before I could even flinch. I watched in absolute horror as she trotted straight to Nolan, rubbing her head affectionately against his legs, whining for his attention.

My nerves snapped tight. She always hated Nolan. Why was she acting like this?

Nolan looked surprised, but as he bent down to pet her, his eyes caught the gleam of silver buried in her fur. His expression instantly darkened.

"Harper," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "Why is the locket Stella gave you on the dog?"

"Oh, that..." I forced a light laugh, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I thought it looked cute. I was going to record a little video for social media. Might go viral."

Moving on pure adrenaline, I whipped out my phone, filmed the dog for ten seconds, and posted it online right in front of him.

Nolan's face remained stormy. "You put expensive jewelry on an animal? What if she breaks it? Stella poured her heart into this gift!"

He snatched the locket off the dog. As he stepped toward me, his voice morphed back into that sickeningly sweet tone. "Come here. Let me put it back where it belongs."

The moment the silver left her body, the dog reverted to normal. She bared her teeth and snarled viciously at Nolan.

He shot her a single, murderous glare. The dog shivered, tucked her tail between her legs, and bolted back into her crate.

My stomach churned.

Before I could back away, Nolan's hands were around my neck, fastening the clasp. The locket felt like a line of frost burning into my skin. My windpipe constricted.

A sharp, violent cramp ripped through my abdomen.

003

I let out a painful gasp, doubling over.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Nolan asked, feigning panic.

"My stomach... it's cramping really badly. I need to lie down."

Clutching my waist, I limped into the bedroom, pretending to be in agony. My plan was simple. Wait until he was distracted in the kitchen, rip the necklace off, and tie it back onto the dog.

But the second my fingers brushed the silver chain, a shadow fell over me.

"What are you doing, Harper?"

My heart jumped into my throat. Nolan was leaning against the doorframe, watching me with dead, unblinking eyes. It was the exact same venomous look the dog had given me.

"I'm changing my clothes," I retorted, forcing myself to frown. "Why are you hovering over me?"

His gaze stayed glued to my chest. "With the baby's complications today, I'm just worried about you. Just rest. I'll go start dinner."

He wasn't going to let me take it off.

I swallowed my terror and fury, waiting for another opening. But Nolan was like a shadow. Even when I went to the bathroom, he knocked on the door after three minutes.

Time bled away. The clock hit nine-thirty. Less than three hours until midnight.

Under the crushing anxiety, my head began to spin heavily. Nolan practically carried me back to bed.

A while later, I forced my heavy eyelids open. Peeking through the cracked door, I saw Nolan sitting on the living room sofa, his back to me, phone pressed to his ear.

"Relax. I've been watching her like a hawk. She hasn't touched the necklace."

He paused, a cruel smirk evident in his tone. "I slipped a little something into her soup. She'll be out cold until tomorrow morning. By then, the ritual will be locked in."

"Feel bad for her? Are you joking? She lies there like a dead fish. If it weren't for her bank accounts, I wouldn't have looked at her twice."

"Once she goes under the knife to remove the dead tissue, I'll keep spiking her food. When she finally drops dead, everything she owns is ours."

Silent tears spilled hot tracks down my cheeks.

With my parents gone, Stella and Nolan had been my entire world. I never imagined the depths of their depravity. They didn't just want to sacrifice my baby. They wanted to slowly murder me.

Hearing Nolan end the call, I snapped my eyes shut and leveled my breathing. His footsteps approached, stopping right beside the bed. Every muscle in my body screamed to run, but I stayed perfectly limp.

Thankfully, he only observed me for a moment before retreating to the spare room.

I waited another agonizing ten minutes before opening my eyes. I checked my phone. Eleven o'clock!

I pulled up the apartment's security feed on my phone. Nolan was stretched out on the sofa bed in the spare room. Moving with agonizing slowness, I slipped out of bed.

I took the leftover soup he had spiked and poured it into the dog's bowl. She lapped it up and was unconscious within minutes. Thank God I had only swallowed a few spoonfuls at dinner. I could still push through the dizziness.

Fighting the fog in my brain, I tied a towel securely around the dog's snout, scooped her heavy body into my arms, and sneaked out the back door. I hailed a cab and rode to a sprawling, dimly lit park miles away.

In a secluded grove of trees, I secured the silver locket tightly around the dog's waist.

It was five minutes to midnight.

There was no time to exhale. I pulled a brand-new smartphone out of my coat pocket, swapped my SIM card, and hurled my old phone into a nearby pond. I didn't know if Nolan had installed tracking software on it, but I wasn't taking any chances. The new phone was supposed to be his birthday present. The irony tasted like ash in my mouth.

With three minutes to spare, I called my lawyer. I was not going to let them get away with this.

The second the clock struck midnight, I dialed Danny's number.

Just as the line connected, the unconscious black dog suddenly convulsed, letting out a muffled, agonizing shriek.

004

Dark, foul-smelling blood began to seep onto the grass beneath the dog. Her swollen belly visibly, horrifyingly deflated.

If I hadn't passed the locket on, that would be my baby.

My voice trembled uncontrollably as the old man answered. "Danny. I passed the locket on. What do I do now?"

"Get to my place, now," he ordered. "The ash locket is a parasite of the dark arts. Your child's life force has already been drained. We need to restore it tonight, or you will still miscarry."

"I'm on my way."

I pressed a hand to my belly. A tiny, incredibly weak flutter pushed against my palm.

My baby was fighting.

A fierce wave of adrenaline washed over me. I sprinted toward the main road to flag down a cab. Just as I reached the curb, headlights blinded me. A car violently jumped the curb, speeding directly at me.

Through the windshield, I saw Stella. Her face was ashen, her eyes manic. She leaned halfway out the window, screaming like a banshee.

"Harper! Who did you give the locket to?!"

I dove onto the pavement, narrowly avoiding the bumper. A yellow cab screeched to a halt nearby, and I scrambled into the backseat.

Crash.

Stella's car slammed into a concrete planter. She stumbled out of the driver's seat. Her summer dress was soaked in a massive, terrifying patch of blood.

She pointed a trembling, bloodstained finger at me. "You can't run from this, Harper!"

"Drive!" I screamed at the cabbie. "She's out of her mind, get me out of here!"

The driver slammed the gas, leaving Stella raving in the rearview mirror.

When I finally reached the address Danny had given me, my legs turned to jelly. I slid down the wooden doorframe, gasping for air.

My new phone buzzed. A picture message from Stella.

It was a photo of the park. The black dog lay lifeless in a dark pool of blood on the grass.

A sharp hiss escaped my lips as a fresh, agonizing cramp seized my stomach. I felt a warm dampness between my legs. I didn't know if my water had broken, or if I was bleeding out.

Then, Nolan's number flashed on the screen.

I declined it. He called again. Ten times. Fifteen times.

I looked up in sheer panic as Danny opened the door. He ushered me inside, moving quickly to arrange thick white candles and pour coarse salt into a large runic circle on his living room floor. "Hold on, girl. Almost ready."

I tried to slow my hyperventilating.

Since I wouldn't pick up, Nolan's text messages started rolling in.

"Honey, where are you? Let me come pick you up."

"You really think ditching your phone means you can hide from me, you stupid bitch?"

My heart skipped a beat.

The next image he sent made my blood turn to ice. It was a photo of the rusted iron gates at the entrance of Danny's apartment complex.

The texts kept coming, rapid-fire.

"See? Found you."

"I'm in the courtyard. Pretty rundown place."

"I'm in the stairwell. God, no elevator?"

"I'm at the door."

My breath caught in my throat.

A split second later, a heavy fist pounded on the wood right beside my head. "Honey! Be a good girl and open up!"