Chapter 9

They reached their destination; the two women were already up. Amilia looked outside scanning the whole place. They stopped at the front of a rundown house. The walls are stripped of color and some had dark spots on them.

Amilia tried to picture the place during the day. Zephyr got down and pay for their fare. Amilia cautiously followed but not before throwing Lizzie a reassuring nod. If something is reassuring about this, it’s the man who came with them and that she can only see him.

“Let’s go inside. I’m sorry the place is a bit… messy.” Zephyr said.

It was an understatement as Amilia looked over the place again. Everything looks rusty and old. The atmosphere screams of danger. They were on the farthest part of what can be called a subdivision. The house was abandoned as if there is an imaginary line between the last house and the place that nobody would dare to enter.

“It looks haunted, Amilia,” Lizzie whispered while looking worriedly at Zephyr’s back. It was as if she was afraid that she would be heard by the owner of the house.

Zephyr led them to what looked like a living room. A makeshift sofa was facing the small table that holds a TV as big as a power generator. Zephyr shyly motioned them to the seat after he dusted the sofa a little.

“You make take a seat. I’ll just get us something to drink.” Zephyr dashed into the kitchen.

The light flickered a little which made Amilia look up. The ceiling was full of cobwebs and green moss. A drop of water was threatening to fall and she quickly avoided it. Lizzie sat at the edge of the sofa, carefully avoiding the backrest that has a hole with spring ready to bounce out.

Amilia stood eyeing him at the corner. He was inspecting the place or the remnants of the place. She was fascinated, Zephyr seems to be oblivious of his presence now. Unlike earlier. Maybe he was giving off a bad aura that made Zephyr feel something.

Zephyr came back with a tray of food and a big book. He struggled to place the tray at the table first but finally manage to set it without spilling the contents of the glass. It was juice.

“This book belongs to my grandmother.” He then placed the book at the center of the table, in front of all of them, before sitting down.

“She had told me things about angels and demons before…” Zephyr didn’t get to finish his sentence as his face turned somber.

“What happened to her?” Lizzie asked, sympathizing.

“She’s just like you.” He looked at Amilia.

“She died at the age of 30. But her body didn’t decompose. She had lived until 60… when she decided to stopped existing.” Zephyr looked down.

“How… how did it happen?” Amilia was just listening.

“Her soul got stolen by a large entity. She said it was something dark and smelly. It had claws and a large mouth with large teeth.” It was similar to what Amilia saw at her apartment.

“She first thought that it was just a dream, a nightmare so she run for her life as if that would wake her up.”

“Nightmare.”

Amilia couldn’t stop herself from blurting out what she heard he said. Lizzie and Zephyr both looked at her. Zephyr nodded and Lizzie looked like she was really into everything she was hearing. Zephyr then continues his story.

“You see when grandmother woke up everything felt like the same. She hadn’t suspected anything until everyone moved out of the house.”

“She started to feel less and less tired despite her age. She almost stopped eating as she didn’t feel hungry. When a few of my uncles visited her, she had an episode. She blacked out and from what she heard from her sons, she acted as if she’ll devour the whole family.” Lizzie gasped, placing her hand to her mouth in total shock.

“Turns out, her body was being possessed. Because it doesn’t have its original soul some Strays tried to own it. She understood things when it became too late. I was sent to be her aid for years here in this house. Before disappearing, she said everything to me. She said that she can’t take it in her to put me in danger just so she can live. And so, she ceases to exist.” Zephyr ended his story. A few minutes of silence went by.

“So, how did she disappear?” It was Amilia who asked this time. Her voice was strained and hoarse.

“She just locked herself inside the room for a month. She forbids me to go anywhere near the room. She wishes she could send me back to my family but I refuse. And…” Amilia nodded looking at the guy who was also listening to all of it at the corner for confirmation. But she got nothing.

“I’m so sorry,” Lizzie said in a hushed whisper but enough for everyone to hear.

“But, earlier at the restaurant. You felt him. You said it was dangerous.” Amilia asked casting a glance at her subject.

“Because of my grandmother. She used to suck some energy out of me. So, some parts of my soul were rotting. I can sense them.” But that doesn’t answer why he can’t sense him now.

Amilia wanted to ask but she can’t give away the fact that he was with them now. She didn’t know what would happen if Zephyr would know and what would he do.

The silence stretches and stretch, it was deafening. Amilia can’t take it anymore so she excuses herself. She went out. Inhaling the evening wind. It was cold. But not as cold as him. He was nowhere to be found, again. He had somehow managed to disappear and appear just as he wished.

Amilia thinks through her life. She was just a normal girl. Just the average teenage girl who was struggling with life. Despite being a girl who doesn’t have much thought of her future, this didn’t even cross her mind.

She had no soul. Her body was just a walking vessel for whatever consumed her and her consciousness. Aside from that, she was taking energy from the people around her to just operate her body like a normal person. Amilia sighed. Her shoulder sagging.

What did I ever do to deserve this? Am I that bad to go through this?

Amilia was lost in thoughts that she didn’t feel her friend standing beside her. Watched her with a curious glance.

“Are you alright?” She voiced out her worry. Amilia looked up.

“Yeah. I was just… thinking.” She avoided her eyes.

Stepping sideways ever so slowly to widen the distance between them. Lizzie caught her movement. She may not understand most things but she knew Amilia too well to read what she was thinking with just her body movement.

“Are you afraid that you’ll drain me?” Lizzie said it jokingly with a smile. Trying to ease the tension in the air.

“Yeah. I’m afraid you will hunch your back down just like Zephyr.” Amilia chucked a little picking up the joke. Their laughter soon died. And Lizzie started to ask the questions that had been bothering her.

“Will you tell me what happened to you?”

They were both looking at the sky. It was peaceful and full of stars. The opposite of what was happening now.

“When Stacey had those accidents, I saw some creature enter the Biology Building. It was a tall man in a suit. Then I saw it at the library. It was eating, sucking the life out of the librarian.” Amilia sighed. Remembering that day.

“So that’s what kills Miss Nuñez.” Lizzie was shocked.

“Yeah. I barely managed to escape it. I thought I was saved but when I got home. A different one cornered me and got my soul sucked out.” Amilia finished.

Lizzie was in tears. She was sobbing loudly. Releasing every hurt owning it. She pulled Amilia into a hug. She squeezed her friend. Amilia tried to get away, remembering Zephyr’s story.

“No. Don’t! Let me hug you. You… you stupid little jerk!” Amilia stopped struggling as Lizzie punch her lightly on her back. She embraced her back and let her friend cry for her.