VRI

The morning at the Fox Hole was relatively calm—as calm as that was possible. *

“Has anyone seen my player?!” Alison demanded, pacing loudly and shaking her white headphones.

“Maybe it’s in Matt’s kitchen?” Renee suggested, still braiding her friendship bracelet.

“I already looked! We have to leave in half an hour, and I’m not leaving without music!”

“Then check with the boys,” Dan suggested, but then a deafening knock came at the door. The girls jumped.

“Are we waiting for someone?” — Alison frowned, throwing open the door.

A disheveled and frightened Nicky stood on the threshold.

— Renee, help! You know about curses, right?!

— Nicky, calm down. What happened? — Dan took his hands, trying to calm him down.

— A package for Neil... We were joking, throwing the box around, then — BOOM! BOOM! Smoke! Neil's been cursed! — he chattered.

• The girls exchanged glances. *

— What do you mean, "cursed"? — Renee asked warily.

— We need to help before Andrew gets back, otherwise it's fucked! "Nicky pulled them along.

• A child's cry could be heard in the room. An open box lay on the floor, and in the corner, squinting in fear, stood a small, red-haired boy of about four years old, with icy eyes and scars on his face. It was Neil .

"Neil, please calm down," Kevin tried nervously to approach him, but the child only sobbed louder and cowered in the corner. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife.