Heavenly Curse - Chapter 01 [GabrielxReader]

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Pairing: Gabriel/Reader

Summary: You should have never joined your friends when they played around with those old books.

Warning Level: ●○○○○ Low / Fluff

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It was one of those days, you couldn't wait to be over. Exhausted wasn't enough of a word to describe your current condition. The little diner you worked at had been packed all day and the last customer left five minutes after closing time. Your feet and your head both hurt awfully as you wiped the dried ketchup off one of the tables. Why did people always leave such a mess? Was it so hard to eat on their plate? It was almost 10 pm when your workmate finally closed the register. You quickly changed into your normal clothes and hopped out of the restaurant. The last thing you wanted now, was to be locked in here.

»See you tomorrow.« Your colleague waved you goodbye.

The brunette young man named Cole was the one who had taught you everything about working in the diner. He was nice to you, even though it was pretty obvious you didn't exactly like this job. Sometimes you even hated it, but it earned you some money for now. As you headed home by foot, you realized how it still felt strange to be here. The palm trees that softly rustled in the warm wind reminded you that you actually were in Miami. It was hard to believe sometimes, considering that you hardly saw anything else but the restaurant and your home. If you could call that 'home'. The beautiful, medium-sized house in the middle of a tidy, quiet neighborhood wasn't yours. It belonged to the friends of a friend. And that alone sounded stupid. When the twins inherited it from their grandmother, your best friend Vivian was all crazy about the idea to move in with them. It was a chance to live in Miami after all. In a house, not a shitty little flat. Maybe it was a little reckless to just agree to join them, without having a job or anything. The worst part however, wasn't the stupid diner. Two days before your flight, Vivian's sister had an accident. Nothing too serious, but Vivian decided to stay with her, and let you fly alone. She promised to catch up with you later, but nobody knew when that would be. So here you were, living with two girls you practically didn't know, in a city you totally didn't know. At least the way between the only two places you knew, wasn't long. After a few more minutes you walked up the driveway and made it to the big, wooden door. How you wished everyone was asleep, but the light from inside told you they weren't. When you turned the key and stepped into the hall however, you realized that it was only candlelight. Shadows were flickering over the walls of the living room, as you took a look inside.

»(Y/N)!«

Olivia, one of the identical twins jumped up and quickly grabbed you by the hand. Her blond hair had chin-length, which was the only way to tell her apart from her sister.

»Come on, join us!« She made you sit on the floor with them.

The girl with the shoulder-long hair, named Rachel, looked up from a book and grinned at you.

»Just look at that sick stuff we found in the basement.« She chuckled.

Your eyes fell on the old-looking books and boxes, scattered all around you.

»What... is all that...?«

»grandma's stuff. She could be a little weird, haha.« Olivia laughed, sitting down again.
»She never let us touch any of those things. The were 'taboo'.«

»...why?«

»Well... she was… « Rachel rolled her eyes, searching for a word.
»... superstitious.«

She pushed a roll of dirty, old paper over to you and gave you an excited look. Hesitant, you enrolled the brownish fabric and let your eyes wander over it. There was something written onto it in a weird, circular shape along with a lot of symbols you had never seen before. And it looked old. Not like those things, that were supposed to look old. Really old.

»Is that Hebrew...?« That's what at least a part of the text looked like.

»What do I know? Granny collected a lot of crap I guess.«

The sisters both chuckled, but it all seemed a little creepy to you. All the stuff laying around looked like it belonged in a museum. When you turned the scroll around, you found a little note stuck to the backside. It was written on modern, lined paper in a neat handwriting, probably from Mrs. Dowel. It looked like some kind of instruction. There was no word about what it was supposed to do however, only a number in the bottom right corner. Looking around, you saw a lot of those notes. Rachel had one of them in her hand.

»Okay, let's try that one!« She grinned.
»(Y/N), you do the one you have over there.«

»Wait, what?!«

»Yeah, you first!« Olivia cheered.

They looked at you like two kids playing with a Ouija board for the first time. You weren't exactly believing in ghosts and stuff like that, but it still sounded like a bad idea.

»Come on! It will be fun!« Rachel tried to convince you.

»Yeah, maybe the lights will flicker and shit, uuuhhuu!« The other sister added and both cracked up in laughter.

Since those two were the closest thing to a friend you had here, you didn't wanna be the killjoy and took the note to read it more closely.

»Whoa, it says something about cutting myself for blood!«

»I'll get a knife!« Olivia jumped up, running to the kitchen.

»H-hey, seriously?!«

»You'll just need a drop, chill.« Rachel waved it off

Wonderful. You already cursed this day. Olivia came back, handing you the largest kitchen knife one could find. As you read on, you were pretty sure you understood how it worked. Even though you felt more than stupid, actually doing it. You sighed, searching for a spot on your arm, that wouldn't hurt so much. The blade was shaking as you slid it over your skin, just enough to make it bleed a little.

»Damn it...«

You shook you head, putting the fingers of your right hand onto the wound. The other girls were watching you silently, as you place the same hand on the old paper, right in the middle of the circle. Five bloody fingerprints stayed on the scroll as you lifted you hand up again. Rachel looked around the room. Not a sound was heard. No lights flickering. No pictures falling off the wall. Nothing.

»... that's all?«

»That's all that the note said.« You smiled sarcastically, getting up.

»Meh... how boring.«

You made your way to the kitchen, while Rachel and Olivia studied their own note and the book they had found it in. You held you arm over the sink and let the water wash the blood away. What a childish thing to do, you thought, hoping that would not leave a mark. In one of the drawers you found a band-aid which you put on the cut, before rolling down your sleeves. The tiredness kicked in again, so you decided to head to your room now. When you stepped out of the kitchen and back into the living room, the last thing you saw, was a match stick in Rachel's hand. Then a loud bang made you flinch. The next second, the candles were out, along with the electricity of the whole street. Everything was dark.

»... w-was that... a thunderbolt...?« Olivia muttered, holding onto her sister.

The growling sound of thunder outside seemed to confirm her theory. Somehow a shiver ran down your spine. You walked to the window slowly and took a look outside. It was hard to see anything without the street lights, but at least there wasn't anything burning. There was no denying, that the atmosphere was creepy, but you decided to act like an adult again and turned around to go to your room either way. The twins watched you, as if they were waiting for you to be attacked by something. Which of course didn't happen. You made your way upstairs, with nothing but your bed in mind.

The next morning you got up feeling rather whacked. You had woken up a few times during the night, for no apparent reason. The though of work made you feel sick, but you had no choice. Half an hour later you arrived at the diner, already wearing that ugly fawn blouse with the stupid handwritten name tag. You yawned while raising a hand to greet Cole, who was writing today's special offer onto the chalkboard. He smiled briefly, as you went to the back to get an apron.

»Tired?«

»Yeah...«

He chuckled when he saw your exhausted eyes.

»Party last night?«

»... not exactly.«

You rubbed you cheeks a bit, wishing yourself back to bed, when Cole suddenly pointed to the right. It took you a few seconds to even react, but when you finally turned you head, you saw that someone was sitting in the corner at the end of the room. You frowned a bit, wondering. He wasn't there when you came in, was he? And you didn't here the door open since that. Maybe you were just too tired after all. Your workmate wasn't done with the sign yet, so you had go. You sighed mentally. Usually the first customers arrived an hour later, and if there was anyone that early, they were mostly weird in some way. That day didn't start well. Pulling a notepad out of your apron's pocket, you slowly started walking towards the guy. He was facing the wall, so all you could see was his backside. He was wearing a brownish jacket and a dark green baseball cap. For a moment you wondered if he was a bum or something. But as you came closer, somehow you reconsidered your thought. Your eyes fell on the curly hair in his neck, that almost shimmered in the early morning sun. A clean right hand was slowly scratching the side of his jaw, his eyes studying the menu.

»Good morning, sir.« You said, as friendly as possible, when you finally reached his table.

The actually rather young man, looked up at you and a smile appeared on his face instantly. You noticed that his eyes matched his hair almost perfectly. Both somehow reminded you of a corn field in the summer.

Clearing your throat, you tried to focus on your work again.

»Would you like to eat something for breakfast?« Your pen touched the paper of your pad, ready to write down an order.

The guy kept looking and smiling at you a little too long, before returning to the menu.

»... yeah. I think I'll have...« His finger hovered over the letters
»...the waffles.« He finally said.

»Coffee?«

»Hot chocolate, please.«

You hesitated to write for a moment, thinking that this was the order of a child. But who cares.

The day went by and the diner was packed non stop. You just ran from one table to another, trying hard to even understand what the people were ordering. There was not a cloud to be seen that Tuesday, so on top of it all, it was so hot, you almost melted. Sweat-drenched and half-deaf, you stumbled out of the restaurant before Cole finally locked the door. You took a deep breath of the cool air outside and thanked god it was over for now. The customers had left such a mess, you had to work overtime to clean it up. It was already dark now and you realized you had never gotten home so late before.

»Was a long day, huh?«

You just nodded and waved to him, not willing so speak anymore. As you turned to head home, you swore to yourself, you wouldn't even look at Rachel and Olivia tonight. And you would definitely not play any stupid games with them. You shook your head a bit, looking at the band aid from yesterday. Somehow it made you imagine dying of blood poisoning, because two childish broads wanted to play with grandmas curiosities.

»Tshh...« It made you chuckle a bit.

What the hell have you gotten yourself into here? Life was more than strange sometimes. You made it into another street, when you suddenly noticed someone walking way behind you. Not that this was anything special in a city like that, but those footsteps just were... different. They sounded so forceful. You tried to keep your pace, but your legs automatically sped up. Everything in you told you not to look back, but your curiosity just didn't mind. You turned your head just for a second, getting a short glimpse of a dark figure. It was wearing some kind of hoodie and gray jeans. There was no way of telling if it was a man or woman, since their face was indistinguishable under the hood. Home wasn't far away, no problem. Just the other street. The steps became faster. Screw this. And you started running. For a second there, you felt super stupid, but just until you realized the person behind you had started sprinting too. Mortal fear came over you now. Was this a robbery? Attempted murder? You were just about to scream, when a loud, dull sound from behind you, made you flinch. You swung your head around, while still running, causing you to fall over your own feet. Your hip hit the ground hard, but you didn't feel any pain right now. The person seemed to be gone, but you soon understood, that wasn't true. There was a big hole in one of the houses' large wooden fence. Behind that, strange noises could be heard. It was hard to tell what exactly it was, but it definitely sounded like a fight. Very slowly you got back on your feet, stumbling away from the scene. What ever was going on here, this was your chance of getting away from it. You just couldn't really run any more. More or less jogging, you finally reached the Dowel's house. Out of breath, you searched your pockets for the keys, while stepping on the freshly mowed grass. You fumbled through the stuff in your bag, finally feeling the cold metal, when a gasping sound behind you made you jump again.

»Aahhh!!!«

You almost fell again, but somehow maintained your balance. Someone was slowly walking towards you, forcing you to move backwards. The lawn around the house was leading into the garden, where you hoped to see one of the sisters. But everything was dark in and outside the house. You were so terrified, you couldn't even make a sound anymore. The air was stuck in your lungs, making it hard to even breathe. Was that the end? Really? Then you saw the little shed, that the twins always used for parties, as they said. You were about to make a run for it, praying it wasn't locked, when the dark figure stepped into the light of the pool's reflection. You froze on the spot, when you recognized the soft features of the waffle man from this morning.

Wait, what??

He stood there, crooked, and stared at you. You looked him over, as he was heavily breathing. Something in this picture just seemed out of place. There was something sticking to his jacket and falling to the ground, as he slowly moved forward. It turned out to be some dark, little feathers, as if he just had a pillow fight. A really distressing pillow fight. Now he was close enough for you to witness the smell of blood around him. He opened his mouth, obviously about to say something, when he collapsed to the ground.

»W-woah!!«

You had never been in a strange situation like this, but you had to make a decision. One thing seemed clear to you. And it was maybe the only thing you understood at all, right now. Waffle man wasn't the person that had chased you earlier. That one was different. You made a quick move and grabbed the man in your backyard by the arms, to pull him to the shed. The only thing you could think about, was to find a place to hide. Luckily the door was open, and the guy wasn't very heavy. You dragged him inside, closed the door as quiet as possible and turned the key. The lump in your throat was painful, as you stood in the dark, listening for any strange sounds and looking down at the unconscious stranger at your feet.