Capítulo 43: 41. Vengeful Spirit: The Epilogue for volume One-1
Maisarah entered Thalia's room after she returned from the hospital.
She was not intruding because Thalia's mother asked for a favor, to pack some of her daughter's clothes and give them to her tomorrow morning. She came here in haste and forgot to bring a change of clothes for herself.
Maisarah agreed and promised to visit her early in the morning.
The door slowly opened up with a loud yet eerie creaking sound.
The unnatural sound of the door opening somehow made a shiver run down her spine. There was a numbing spine-chilling sensation at the back of her nape, and she could hear nothing but the wild thumping of her heartbeat.
Maisarah touched her nape. She felt a cold touch there, and when she turned around, only a lonely and unoccupied living room was at her back.
She narrowed her eyes. Presently, she felt an eye on her. The uncanny feeling of being watched made her unsettled. Who was the one who kept watching her from the dark?
The gaze had followed her from the moment she entered her house and intensified as she stood by the door of Thalia's room.
Maisarah ignored the creepy feeling, grabbed the doorknob, and at the same time exhaled a breath of air to calm her tense nerve. As if she was preparing her heart for something to jumpscare her.
Soon after she opened this door, a dark room filled with a depressing and gloomy aura greeted her. The sense of dullness was abnormally strong, and she felt unhappy just at the thought of entering this pitch-black room.
Maisarah frowned. Somehow, the room appeared wrong to her, but she didn't know the source of this bogus feeling. Her eyes flickered everywhere indiscriminately, adamantly wanting to find the fault inside.
The room's condition from where she left this morning was not consistent with the one in front of her eyes.
One second, the room gave the impression of a haunted room, and the next moment, it returned to normal.
There was also a shadow of someone in the middle of the room. It stuck out like a sore thumb and resembled a human figure.
The human silhouette was conspicuous amidst the darkness because several sheens of red particles casually swayed around it had illuminated the area.
It was easy for Maisarah to outline the blurry figure. Although, its unexpected appearance made her rub her eyes twice.
Maisarah pinched her thigh and hissed in pain. It seemed that she was indeed not dreaming. The flustered girl lifted her eyes and got bewildered again.
The shadow had gone! Even the firefly-like creatures around it had vanished!
Was it her misperception? Perhaps, she was too tired that she started to see a thing or two?
"....I regret that I return here alone," Maisarah said sullenly. "I should wait for senior."
The young girl was still dawdling in the middle of the door, feeling reluctant to step inside. Should she come back later?
The ever-growing premonition of danger made her hesitate to enter. She peeked her head and scanned the interior. Nothing seemed wrong in her eyes, yet she could not shake off the dreadful feeling crawling inside her heart.
Are you afraid? Her inner voice asked.
No.
Then, what are you waiting for, Mai? Go inside. No one could prevent you from entering except yourself. The voice persuaded her again.
The last trace of hesitation had disappeared. Maisarah steeled herself and whispered, "Up we go, then..."
Once she decided it was time to step forward, an unexpected cold breeze hurled toward Maisarah, making her scarf flutter wildly, almost toppling her backward.
Maisarah couldn't help but close her eyes and put her hand up as a shield. Subconsciously, she took another step into the vicinity and tried to find her sense of balance as the harsh wind forbid her to do so.
She had an impression that someone or something had refused her entry and tried to push her out.
"Let me in or..." Maisarah gritted her teeth, giving out a warning to no one.
The mysterious wind vanished as fast as it came.
A faint chuckling swept passed her ears, seemingly reverberating in the empty room, before disappearing alongside the harsh wind. Maisarah's ears perked up. She got the shivers right away, and all the hairs on her body stood in alertness.
Another unknown emotion erupted; a feeling of melancholy.
Her head subconsciously followed the direction where the sound faded off. She stood there, unmoving for a moment. Something about that laugh sounded very familiar to her. The crisp and mellow laughter made her heartstring stretch to an unbearable point and the round eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
Her heart was aching.
Silence had once again descended in the room.
Maisarah blinked her eyes, wiped the tears away, and took the sight before her eyes in astonishment.
The once gloomy room had brightened up as the sinister force dwelling inside had gone.
The windows opened, and the curtain furled to the side, displaying the beautiful scenery outside.
The light penetrated inside, illuminating the whole bedroom and dispelling the coldness away.
The chilling shiver Maisarah felt had also disappeared.
She sighed as she no longer felt the dreadful feeling from before.
Oh. No wonder Maisarah felt something was wrong after her eyes fell inside the room.
It was the window and the curtain.
A moment ago, those were closed, which was weird since Maisarah recalled that she had opened them for better room ventilation.
The day had ushered to the afternoon when the sunlight was the brightest and hottest during the day. It was a good time for an afternoon nap. After she prepared Thalia's clothes and put them into a bag, she would return to her room for a quick sleep.
Tap!
Maisarah switched the light. The fluorescent glowed brightly above her head and illuminated the entire room. She squinted her eyes to adjust herself to the sudden brightness.
As she walked further inside, her nose twitched and scrunched upon smelling something unordinary coming from the room. The smell was particularly dense in the middle area.
There was a heavy scent of blood, and the undertone of the bloodied, rusty iron smell had filled in every nook and cranny of the room.
Above all of the nasty smells lingering in the air, the prominent one was the stench of a rotten corpse.
Instinctively, Maisarah covered her nose, and she heaved in and out a heavy breath.
Unfortunately, her bile had risen to her throat, and the urge to vomit overwhelmed her.
"Ugh, so nasty," Maisarah grumbled under her breath. "Where did this disgusting smell come from?"
She had been going in and out of Thalia's room frequently since her friend got admitted into the hospital, but she never smelt such a disgusting stench every time she did so. The last time she went in, the room filled in with the whiff of the usual floral air freshener fragrance.
How come in a day, the odor turned unpleasant?
As if there was a corpse in the room. Maisarah was a frequent visitor of this room after the owner. If something were rotten inside, she would already smell them before.
She had made it into a routine to come inside her friend's room to ventilate the area. Every morning she would open the window, tie the curtain, sweep the floor and tidy up the bed.
She would make sure everything was fine before going out, and when she returned in the evening, she would close the window and unfurl the curtain.
Was it the lingering smell left behind by that shadow from before?
Or, perhaps, did Thalia hide something unspeakable inside her cupboard, and after some time, it fermented?
She was a strange girl who acted differently from ordinary people. Not one or two people had acknowledged Thalia's strangeness. Even so, if you give Maisarah a choice on whether to befriend Thalia or the rest of the girls who love to gossip and waste their time seducing every male student passing beside them, she chooses Thalia without thinking twice.
At least Thalia was a genuine friend. She was an honest girl despite her foul mouth. However, Thalia indeed hid something grave inside her heart, a dark secret that she was unwilling for the others to know, and she dared to do anything to conceal it.
Maisarah's eyes flickered left and right as if searching for something.
Should she check the source of the rotten stench? Maybe there was a dead lizard or mice somewhere inside?
The faster she finds the source, the better.
Maisarah carefully looked around, checking meticulously, from the inside of the wardrobe, drawers, under the bed, and every place she could think about, yet she found nothing suspicious.
Hmm, weird. There was nothing that could be the reason for this smell. Thalia's room was clean. She cleaned it every day, so she knew the in and out of this place better than anyone. Nothing suspicious so far, but thankfully, the smell had gradually diminished.
Maisarah shrugged her shoulders and went to sit on Thalia's bed.
The moment she touched the blanket, she hastily retracted her hand. A vision flashed across her mind, and Maisarah couldn't help but shudder. She jumped off the bed as if being electrocuted. Her body shook, and the shaking became uncontrollable.
Maisarah tried to wipe her hand with the tissue on the drawer. But the feeling of something filthy stuck on her palm didn't go away. Then, she saw mineral water. She quickly doused water on her palms and rubbed them relentlessly until they turned red.
Maisarah muttered something under her breath, walking back and fro, and she looked terrified.
The thick fabric was beyond cold. It was as if something colder than ice had laid on it. And the coldness had seeped into Maisarah's skin, causing her to have this kind of reaction.
Yes. A moment ago, Maisarah saw something unbelievable. It was her secret. A psychometry ability. Her power was mediocre, but sometimes, it was enough to make her peaceful life chaotic.
Occasionally, due to someone holding enormous feelings toward something, or an object absorbed too much negative/positive emotion of the owner, she would be able to read their memory.
What kind of memory does this thick blanket hold?
A memory of something terrifying lay on top of it, which not happened once or twice, but every day.
A headless ghost had accompanied Thalia to her sleep every day.
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