Passed along by none; a single link of white chain. Found perhaps in a ditch or the corner of an abandoned room, once found, cloyingly stuck in the mind.

  “To those unfortunate enough to become the possessors of this chain link beware — it will fall apart.” These words are the ones slipped into the minds of the owners of the curse. A fair warning for what is to come. An instruction maybe, for those who can remember how they came to possess the artifact.

  Slowly, it starts. A strand of hair pulled out in annoyance at its refusal to stay in line, a fingernail filed down to the quick because it would never be just so. Then a little more. A crooked nose snapped back into place fingers bound together in order to remove the space between them.

  They realize that this isn’t enough. Nothing about them is quite right. Everything is slightly off, slightly too long or short. So they start fixing it. Slicing into themselves, the victim removes unneeded flesh to make themselves even. Oftentimes they realize they took too much off. They must fix that. They take a little more off, just to even it out. Just a little more. Just a little more. They find a finger or toe too long or short. They fix it. Perhaps a leg is longer than the other, they fix it.

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  The chain is as it ever was, maybe more so. Its presence more firmly planted in the victims mind, a reminder gone unheeded.

  They find fault with the symmetry of their face. They file it down and are horrified to find that their bones haven’t formed in perfect line with the others. This can only mean that all of them is imperfect. They have to fix it. Carving, scooping, scraping, until they find an arm or a leg gone. It must be even. An eye, an ear. a kidney. It must be even. Lungs are unsightly, so are intestines. They will be removed. The victim does not die. They must be even. Their mind cannot think in perfect order. Thoughts are muddled, unclear. It is fixed. The link shatters.

  Their bones are shaped and splintered into many parts. All distinctly similar. All single links of white chain. To each, their journey is only just beginning. A beginning fed off another’s end.