The devil curse, hand.

A man dressed in a black leather jacket, white trousers, and a pair of white shoes, walked into an environment, binded by police restriction labels, which were placed to restrict civilians from going into the area, for it was still under investigation. This location was the alleyway, where the murder had taken place. The young man, probably in his mid twenties, was examining the surroundings. His gray eyes, searching for any possible clues, in the environment. He could sense the evil aura emanating within the vicinity, but even with the leaking negative energies, he couldn't sense the malevolent entity. 

Sigh!

He hissed a sigh of frustration, surely the being was toying with him. Not wanting to be seen.

 "Keep doing what you do best. Hiding. Just give me a minute to get my cigarette, I will be back before you even know it!" The man exclaimed, taking a turn and exiting the lonely alleyway.

***

Vincent, Jordan and Brian were heading to their respective houses. Usually, they walk home together, given that their houses were located in the same district. The lads were quiet, this wasn't their usual habit, but no one attempted to talk, not until they got a response from Vincent. But the former wasn't willing to talk, he wasn't going to narrate his ordeal to his friends, and that was bothering them bitterly.

 Convinced that Vincent wasn't going to explain to them about what bruised his body, Brian decided to talk; "So you're going to behave all tough again. Still think we aren't worth your explanation, right?"

"I didn't say that." Vincent retorted. But Jordan was quick to pick up from where Brian left off. "Well you obviously did! You think we are weaklings. And for that you want to act all tough in front of us. This has been your habit since we were kids. It's obvious you don't regard us as friends, because friends share problems with each other." Jordan spoke out confidently, he felt pouring out his heart content was the best way to get Vincent talking. He could read the sadness masked under his calm smile, surely he was passing through a great deal of pain on the inside.

 "Sharon had been playing me for a fool." Vincent finally spoke up. He glared at the faces of his friends to see their reactions, and of course they were all surprised.

"Told you your dream was a bad omen." Brian immediately responded, reminding Vincent of his advice.

"Hey this isn't the time for petty talks." Jordan replied to Brian's response. He could read the sad expressions unmasking themselves from within Vincent's face. "So how did you get the bruises?" Jordan asked, feeling concerned.

  "Turns out she was already dating Henry, and the fool had asked her to call me out, so he and his gang would beat me up." Vincent answered with a faint voice.

"Then why didn't you fight back?" Jordan, fully aware of Vincent's strengths, inquired. He knew Vincent had never lost to a bully before, even their numbers didn't make him quiver, he was so strong that in their second year in junior high, the couches restricted Vincent from participating in school sports activities. There was a time when he kicked a football so hard that his foot dug into it, shattering it. He was even placed as a goalkeeper, and he ended up denting the bars. So he didn't see how a group of high school bullies could probably beat him up this badly.

 "At first I didn't see any use in fighting back, since I was the one who committed a crime. I was the one harboring feelings for someone else's girlfriend, so I deserved to be punished. But then she called  me a pig. I had to get the bullies off the way to get close to her, and when I remembered the slap she had given me in my dream, I retorted." Vincent explained.

Uh!

The two lads were puzzled. They knew they had gotten their Vincent back, a carefree, hotheaded teenager, with unknown behaviors and personalities. Most times, he appeared all smart and intelligent, sometimes he was brawn, carefree and mostly hotheaded.

"Hahaha!" Jordan and Brian laughed, after noticing that Vincent was back being himself. "You slapped her because she slapped you in your dreams?"

While the lads converse, as they walk home. The man from the alleyway, the one with gray eyes, cladded on black leather jacket, white trousers and white shoes, walked past them. The man immediately stopped halfway past them, he felt a strange presence, a negative aura. The lads were already far away from him, so he couldn't tell if the presence he felt was emanating from the boys, or if the entire environment was tainted with negative energies. So he ignored the reflex, and continued his walk.

     The teenage boys walked through the road, the entire street was dead silent, to their right rested the alleyway. They kept walking, jesting, continuously.

 Bang!

A waste bin fell drastically to the floor, erupting a resounding noise. This frightened the lads, they immediately looked back in fear.

"What was that?" Brian was the first to ask.

"Maybe it's the ghost of the murdered man haunting the entire street!" Jordan exclaimed with a serious tune, this gave them all chills in their spines. Then a cat trooped out of the trash can. 

'it's just a cat.' The boys heaved a deep sigh of relief. They turned back to continue their walk, then suddenly, the trash can rolled towards their direction, jerking them in fear. Of course, Vincent played along, his fear wasn't that much, he just reacted whenever his friends did.

"Aaahhh!" They screamed, reacting to the sudden action.

 Being the fearless one, Vincent approached the trash can in attempts to pick it up, his friends' gazes were intense.

"See it's just a waste bin, no big deal..!" Vincent exclaimed, but he was quick to put a halt to his statement, immediately he noticed an odd appearance on the trashcan. It had been clawed by a wild animal, as three deep diagonal marks surfaced, almost tearing the bin into shreds. "Guys!" Vincent called out, revealing the fate of the trashcan to them.   Puzzlement escaped their faces, as they couldn't tell if they had fallen into the trap of a forest beast.

 "Let's just go." Brian suggested his fears had got the best of him.

 But immediately he inclined, they felt heavy footsteps approaching them, but they couldn't make out what it was, even when they felt that it was in their eyes range, they still couldn't see it.

"Run!" Vincent shouted. The lads attempted to pace away, but immediately, an unknown force hit them to the ground.  

 Facing danger head-on, their eyes opened and the invisible being became clear to their eyes. It was a hideous monster, with red eyes, brown fur, claws and fangs, this creature was six feets tall, a humanoid monster with scales surfacing its entire body, and purple negative aura emanating from its body.

"Oh my God! What is that?" Jordan inquired, with fear overriding his entire body system.

"A monster!" Brian exclaimed, sweating profusely. Even Vincent was unable to hide the fear he felt. This malevolent entity was beyond their comprehension. 

 The monster ignored the rest of them, heading straight towards Jordan's spot. Jordan was unable to lift his body weight, so as to flee from the incoming danger. His body quivered the more the monster drew closer to him. It's mouth tore apart, spreading wide open, in attempts to gulp Jordan up.

Thud!

A heavy kick from Vincent, sent the monster crossing to the other side of the road. "Quick let's go." Vincent picked Jordan up, and was about to escape with him, when he noticed that the monster's body was no longer lying on the floor, in fact it was nowhere to be found. "Quick, stand up, let's go." Vincent ushered Brian to get on his feet. They paced away, apparently, they weren't fast enough, the monster had already appeared in front of them. They quickly took another route, escaping it, but they arrived at a dead end and the monster was behind them, blocking their entrance.

"Geez, it's a dead end. How do we escape from this? What did we do wrong? Is it going to hurl us until we become corpses? Is this what they call wild animals?" Brian lamented, his fear for the vehement creature, increased drastically, every second.

 Once again, the monster made to attack Jordan, but Vincent deflected his attack with a blow, but his punches weren't enough to inflict a damage to it, but they still played the role of sending the monster off balance, or driving it to a distance, preventing it from mauling his friends.

 He continued this act for a long time, eventually his fists were worn out, they were injured and were also bleeding, but the drive to protect his friends kept his durability unfazed. Even when his entire body system was quivering and suffering, he didn't stop to take a break, he kept up with the act of smashing the monster to a distance, even when his physical strengths weren't causing any harm to it.

 "Quit it, you can't harm it that way." An unfamiliar voice abrupted, and after the statement, a man walked into the surroundings. It was the man from earlier, the one donned in a black leather jacket, white trousers and white shoes. Between his lips rested a cigarette, and on his grips, a lighter. He furtherly lights it up, inhaling deeply and exhaling a quality of smoke.

'That boy is extremely strong for a person who's just a sleeper.' The man complimented inwardly, admiring Vincent's physical strength.

"Well you can't possibly harm it, not without devil energy." The man added.

Puzzlement surfaced on the faces of the teenagers; "What the hell is devil energy?" The lads asked, simultaneously.

 The man stretched forth his right hand, and immediately, it was enveloped in purple and black energy. "This!" He exclaimed. The lads gazed in astonishment. They wondered if it was sorcery or witchcraft. 

 He dashed towards the monster in an attempt to extinguish it. The creature was immediately frightened by this act, so it attempted to flee, but the punch managed to catch up with it, damaging half its body to dust.

The man approached the boys after attacking the monster. He furtherly introduced himself; "My name is Nathan Sean, I am an exorcist."

  "Wait, you're one of the madmen and women the cops spoke about." Jordan recollected.

"Well turns out we weren't mad. You saw for yourselves!" Sean exclaimed, locking an eye with Vincent.

"Why was it after us? No, why was it targeting Jordan? Is it one of your magical pets? Did you send it towards us?" Vincent questioned.

 "And that's a hell lot of questions. But let's clear this out, I didn't send a devil spirit towards any of you guys. And speak of why it's after you, why not ask your friend here what's inside his backpack." Sean inclined.

 Jordan brought down his bag, unzipped it and dipped his hand into it to examine it. He was immediately frightened by what his hands held, he quickly pulled it out, the force sent the object flying to the floor.

 "What is that? A human hand." Jordan yelled in irritation and fear. "How did that get into my bag?" 

 The rest of the lads were numb, an actual human hand inside of Jordan's backpack, it was partially wrapped with tattered, dirty, white bandages, with ancient symbols inscribed on it. if not that they had encountered a monster and survived it, they could've been screaming in the top of their voices. "Aaahhh!!" Brian couldn't hold back the urge to scream.

"Just as I feared. Someone implanted a devil curse inside of your backpack." Sean proclaimed. "Seems like lots of you got yourselves in trouble in school, so the person decided to use a tempered seal devil curse, to get back at you. Only that this person is really heartless, fully aware that you all would lose your lives."

"What's a devil curse?" Vincent asked, curiosity masking his face.

"A devil curse. Let me explain it to your average understanding!" Sean exclaimed. "Whenever a politician seeks protection against their enemies, they purchase devil curses, usually from  voodoo priests, a charm for driving away bad luck, stress, anxiety and even evil spirits. These charms are usually evil spirits trapped in objects to serve as defenses against other spirits. But when the seal holding these charms down are tempered with or broken, they emanate negative energies that attract evil spirits to them, just like a magnetic field. So when this evil spirits consume the devil curse, they gain the powers of the previous devil spirit, absorbing it."

 The lads were motionless, they didn't quite grasp to their understanding, what he explained. They just nodded in unison, in other not to complicate matters.

Sean walked up to the devil cursed hand, in an attempt to pick it up, but his reflexes kicked in, and he leaped backwards, sharply. Escaping whatever fate that would have befallen him. A large mouth opened widely underneath the lying hand, casting a shadow to it, the mouth shut close swallowing the hand in the process. It appeared the figure was the monster from earlier, it had survived Sean's attack, and had sneakily appeared underneath the hand, swimming in the solid ground, defying logic, and absorbing the hand.

 "Oh shit, that was a special grade devil curse." Sean whispered.