Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The feeling of constantly being watched wouldn’t leave your body. No matter how many times you looked back to see that there was nothing there, the uneasiness wouldn’t leave your body. It was suffocating. You told your friend, and she was quick to suggest an idea.

Which is why you found yourself in a temple, standing in front of a man, who sat down but still managed to look down upon you. She claimed that she had come to see the man once and that he managed to fix her back problems. Now that you looked at the same man, you doubted she was speaking the truth. You knew something was off the very moment she claimed to be cursed.

The man looked you up and down, not even sparing a glance to your friend. Perhaps it was because he had already met her before. He rested his head on his balled up hand.

“She’s cursed!” Your friend was quick to announce, making the man chuckle. You gave her a side-eye before looking back at the man. He looked over you, his eyes focused on something he shouldn’t be focused on… but you dismissed it thinking he was just trying to find this so called “curse”. Maybe that was how things worked. Or maybe he was a pervert.

“Cursed?” He repeated back and she hummed and nodded in agreement. You already felt as if things weren’t going to work. A doubtful expression overtook your face, and he was quick to notice.

“So tell me, do you feel as if you’re always being watched? As if you can’t breathe properly?”

-

“Thank you so much.” You bowed your head at the man who was nice enough to walk you out. That feeling of constantly being watched had gone away. You could finally breathe.

“It was no problem.” He answered. You and your friend walked down the temple’s stairs, the man watching. She nudged your arm, smiling your way.

“See! I told you!” She began, which made you laugh. You were doubtful, but it certainly worked.

“It did, thank you.”

-

That uneasiness had gone away, but soon it came back. Had it not worked? Every time you turned, there was no one lurking in the shadows, but you felt as if someone was there. You didn’t have that awful feeling of not being able to breathe, so it had partially worked.

Maybe you were just paranoid. But you still locked your front door, your bedroom door. You closed your bedroom window, your sliding glass door, the windows in the kitchen, living room windows, your bedroom window. You were so worried that you were even closing your closet door, scared that there was some type of monster hidden there.

You would go to bed, your fan off just so any type of light sound could wake you up. You had the habit of sleeping naked, but that soon went away since you were scared of the monster lurking in the shadows. It would take a while for you to fall asleep, but when your eyes got the best of you, almost nothing could wake you from your slumber. He noticed it.

He would get too close, his breathing practically on your face as he looked over you. He would wonder why a mere useless human just got the right to live? But he also wondered why he was so infatuated with you. You were the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

He smirked as he watched you sleep peacefully. He could tell you had instinct. You had closed and locked everything, you knew there was someone there.

The back of his hand nearly touched your cheek. He was so tempted to caress you. His lips went down, and he was so close to touching your lips, but he stopped himself. A centimeter away from pressing his lips on yours.

But he knew he had to stop, and he ran away before anything else could happen.

You woke up in panic, that feeling of being watched increasing for a moment but it had suddenly disappeared. You looked at the window, the breeze causing the curtains to flow. Your eyes widened, and you heart stopped when you realized that you had closed that window twice.