Chapter 7

The ride back home to Irene's homestay was silent. Neither Theresa nor Aisya had the guts to actually ask what went on that it affected both Irene and Kai to that extent, hell, they couldn't even make light conversation to liven up the taxi ride. They both decided that maybe they should just ask Irene so they both won't be left completely blind in the dark.

Without Irene asking, they both follow her to her room and Irene lets them. Kai never said to keep whatever is going on a secret and a few friends might actually help them in the long run. Irene unlocks her room and enters, placing her bag on the chair before laying down on her bed, exhausted.

Theresa and Aisya look at each other, mentally urging the other to be the one to start the conversation. After another 10-second struggle, Theresa relents with a sigh. "Irene, um... is it okay if we ask what happened back there...?" She asks wearily, hoping this won't upset Irene further.

Irene sits up and motions for her friends to sit down on the floor, her sitting down on the floor and leaning on her bed before the two can settle down. "Will... will you two believe what I say?" Irene asks.

"Of course! Why wouldn't we?" Aisya asks back.

Irene sighs, recalling all the events that have happened in the span of two days. "Well, I wouldn't have if someone told me he exact same story. What you didn't see happen at campus was... a man died. Black magic I presume and Kai wasn't able to help him. Said the curse was at its last stage and there was nothing he could do." She says weakly, recalling the man's terrified face, quickly flashing to the scene of his actual death where he continuously pulled hair from his throat mixed with blood, shards of glass, nails, and worms... maggots maybe. Irene was too far from him to see clearly.

"Why would Kai be able to help? I mean, I know you said he likes the paranormal, but I don't think he should be able to know, right?" Aisya asks.

"Actually, Kai is quite known to be able to deal with paranormal situations. I don't know the details but people have said he can actually interact with ghosts and stuff." Theresa corrects, making Aisya raise an eyebrow.

"Tess is right, I'm actually... being haunted right now," Irene says. "Yesterday, I had to stay back at the East Campus Centre to finish up some unit stuff, I bumped into him trying to seal a gandaruwa attacking a student. We both found out at that moment that I have rare blood, Kai said my blood attracts supernatural creatures because it tastes better than the average person."

"Gandaruwa? Isn't it called genderuwo?" Theresa mumbles.

"Isn't Kai's family predominantly Sundanese and not Javanese? I'd assume he'd be more familiar with the Sundanese term for genderuwo." Aisya comments.

"Yeah, he said he's more familiar with the West Javanese term," Irene informs. "I started being followed, when Ais asked why I fucked up my schedule, well, it's because I really can't sleep knowing I'm now a main target of literal ghosts which I never thought would have existed. Hell, when Kai pulled me away from Ais, it's because he wanted to tell me something's been following me all morning."

"Oh... I really don't know what to say..." Theresa says, the look of concern plastered all over her face.

"Kai told me about spirits and how they worked, but then he was approached for a job by an upperclassman. It was a job to both scout out and seal either a kuntilanak, sundel bolong, or kuyang." Irene explains, recalling what transpired just hours prior.

"Wait, but you said you were being haunted! What about you?" Theresa asks, getting up on her knees and moving forward to grip Irene's shoulder.

Irene points to the rattan bowl that's the easiest to see from where they're sitting. "That's his work." She says. "Until the cause for the spirits going rampant is handled, I will have to be under his protection."

"Spirits are going rampant...?" Aisya asks, making Irene remember that she hasn't disclosed that information yet.

"Ah yeah... about that... for a month and a half now spirits have been going rampant for some reason. Those murders under investigation and the one in the Physics department building are the works of black magic, spirits, ghosts, what have you. Kai's mentors actually died last month because of constant ambushes," Irene explains. "I don't know how much I'll have to pay him since it's a very long term job. Who knows when it'll end."

"You've asked him about his rates?" Aisya asks curiously tilting her head.

"Yeah, but when he asked me if I wanted to pay, I did kind of hesitate since, well, I don't know what the price will be. He basically said he's not expecting any payment from me..."

Irene looks up at both her friends, Aisya continues to wonder about Irene's answer yet something looks different in Theresa's dark brown eyes, as if something had just clicked after hearing Irene's answer. She'd ask, but ultimately decided against it.

"I wonder if Kai's finished with whatever he's doing before we left..." Aisya ponders absentmindedly, seemingly lost in her head as she processes the information she had just gathered about her crush.

"Probably not, he said he'll call me when he's done." Irene answers, pulling her phone out of her pocket and seeing notifications from various apps but none from Kai.

"Kai? Calling you? Well, that's new. He doesn't like phone calls, prefers texting." Theresa comments.

"Maybe he just meant to say that when he intends to text Irene...?" Aisya says, a hint of nervousness evident in her voice.

Just as Aisya says that, Irene's phone starts ringing. She picks it up and see Kai's contact from their usual texting app, which Theresa and Aisya recognise. Irene picks it up after the second ring, wanting to pull the covers over her head since the only look on Aisya's face is one of heartbreak.

"Are you done investigating the man's death?" Irene asks, starting the conversation.

"Yeah, before I get into the nitty gritty details, are Theresa and Aisya still there?" Kai answers, inquiring about Theresa and Aisya's whereabouts.

"Yeah, we're still here." Theresa answers for Irene, making her presence known.

"Yeah, hey. Has Ren told you about the current situation?" Kai asks once more, the background noise gettinf louder as Irene assumes he's walking to the parking lot.

"About the ghosts going rampant and stuff? Yeah." Theresa answers.

"Good, I'll get straight to the point. The man did indeed die of black magic and the caster of the curse is the same person I've been looking for. They're crafty since I'm still unable to pin point a name for them until now even with this blatant attack." Kai starts explaining. "When I said I couldn't save him because he was in the last stage of the curse, I overestimated my abilities. I would have only been able to save him had he found me in the mid-to-early stages of the curse."

"What... exactly happened to him?" Irene asks.

"Well, from what I can conclude from simply taking a peek inside his mouth and basically everything he pulled out from inside him, his internal organs are severely damaged, probably as bad as a 2-week old corpse. If he went to the hospital just a few days prior, doctors and nurses would probably be astonished at how he's still alive at that point."

"You didn't conduct an impromptu autopsy on the poor man, did you?" Aisya asks, mortified at the thought the man she loves would do such a thing.

"Of course not! Aisya, the man was basically a skeleton with skin, he's the type of thin where if you were to poke at his sides, you'd probably feel his kidney!" Kai says, sounding absolutely horrified at the thought. "The hair he pulled out of his throat contained nails, shards of glass, maggots, and what I can only presume is rotten flesh, or er-- digestive lining? I was confused about the rotten flesh part until I peeked into his mouth and saw that his tongue, teeth, and throat had completely rotted."

"Oh, that is absolutely revolting..." Theresa mumbles, shuddering at the thought. "How are you able to be so indifferent about it?"

"I just got used to it. I've been seeing disfigured ghosts since I was like, 11 years old, you get desensitised seeing those kinds of things," Kai says. "I'm going to hang up, about to head back to my apartment. I'll see you later."

The line hangs up and Irene puts her phone away, as much as she wants to reject everything that has happened in the span of two days, it doesn't seem she will go back to how everything was, even after Kai kills the person behind all of this.

"Tess, Ais, thanks for staying with me for a while. I need some rest now though, that's fine right?" Irene asks.

"Of course! If you need help, please don't hesitate to call us up, okay?" Aisya says as she stands up taking her leave.

"Irene, can I... talk to you about something before I leave?" Theresa asks, making Aisya stop in her tracks.

"I mean... sure." Irene answers.

"Privately, I'm sorry Ais, but there's something unrelated that I have to confirm with Irene." Theresa says.

Aisya hesitates but nods nonetheless, leaving the room soon after. Once the door is closed, Theresa turns to Irene. "Irene, what do you think of Kai?" She asks.