บท 2: 2. Moving on.

[𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘎𝘰𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘡𝘢𝘣𝘸𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯: "𝘖 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭." 𝘡𝘢𝘣𝘸𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 – 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 – 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵.]

A string of curses rang out from under the blankets which glowed with an orange light from within. The girl buried under the blankets snapped the heavy black book shut when her black cat, Bubblegum snuggled closer to her, it's ticklish fur rubbing on her exposed calf. "Don't scare me like that you little hairy skulker," she grumbled under her breath. "It's getting late anyways, I have to go now else I'll be late." The black cat meowed at her and snuggled closer. What a scaredy cat.

She stretched lazily and unwillingly crawled her aching body out of her cocoon, the warm albeit tiny bed creaked under her weight. Ignoring the cat's whines she got up yawning as she make her way to the bathroom for a quick shower. Her head throbs from the hours she spent during the night reading creepy books about demons and monsters under the dim candle lights. She scoff, what a joke.

She had barely gotten a wink of sleep last night. Her muscles turned stiff and sore as if she'd had been run over. Ever since people took it upon themselves to avoid her, she buried herself her own little bubbly world of books. She can't blame them, she'd do the same too if she was in their shoes. She enjoyed reading, but certainly not demonic stuffs that'll have her paranoid.

With half closed eyes, she walked into the closed bathroom doors knocking her head. "Crap. Split my head open why don't you?" Seems like everything, literally everything on the face of earth is against her. Talk about kicking you while you are down.

She felt around for the doorknob and open the old heavy doors which squeaked with the slightest push.

The warm water pelting her skin helped soothes the stiffness of her body and drove away the drowsiness. Quickly finishing up, she threw on a high-waisted grey pants with a crop top and went to the kitchen. It's 7 am already, the library is probably already opened by now. Nana the former librarian slash her tutor aka the aspiring shrink is the only person that favours her, she still can't get away with being late. No one was willing to employ her, she considered herself lucky to be even allowed to work there.

Scrambling a quick sandwich for breakfast and ginger tea, she sat on the table and devoured her's. She washed the dishes but there wasn't any signs of Jiji's coming out for breakfast. She does that most of the time so she carried the breakfast to her nanny and only "guardian" alive, Jiji. With the way things are, it's clearly the opposite, with her being the one taking care of the other. She met the old lady in her room glued to the windows chanting in some weird language, as usual. Que dropped the breakfast tray on the table and sat beside her. The poor woman was holding a string full of brown beads with her eyes closed.

Of course, to ward away the evil spirit in and around the house, aka the 23 year old girl sitting next to her. The corners of Que's lips twiched.

"Good morning Jiji, how was your night?" She coughed, smiling up at the nanny as she rests her head on her arms on the table. Jiji opened her eyes and forced a smile rubbing the young lady's head stiffly.

"Morning Que Que, it was a bit cold but what can I say. How are you, my child?" 'Child,' she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She is 23 years old, in the next few years she'll probably be spending the rest of her life in the company of cats, if they manage to survive.

"When is it ever not cold here, you should have gotten used to it by now. Use more quilts at night. And I'm well thanks," she shrugged.

"Sometimes there are things you'll never get used to," she said shaking her head trying to hide the subtle gesture of wiping the hand that touched the girl's head with a handkerchief underneath the table.

"Yea," Que muttered softly pretending to not notice the woman's gesture, as always. They weren't talking about the weather anymore.

"It is going to be alright. Look at me," she urged squeezing her shoulders. "everything happens for a reason, have faith Que. Whatever stays was meant for you, and whatever you lose was never yours to keep." Que sighed inwardly as the woman began her long morning motivational speeches. She always managed to find a topic to talk about even when there was none. Mostly pertaining her cursed and miserable life. And now with the recent occurrence, it only made it worse.

Trying to avoid the subject as fast as she could, Que gave her a weak nod and pushed the tray towards her. "Here, your tea is getting cold and I'm running late, I gotta go now," the smile on her face faltered as she got up refusing to talk about "him". Jiji shook her head for the second time and grimaced. Can't she see she's trying to move on?

Que secretly believed that the reason she was sad partly wasn't because of the annulment of the engagement, but rather because she couldn't get rid of her soon as she'd hoped.

Taking that as her cue to leave, she ran to her room which was facing each other. Their home is small but cozy consisting of three bedrooms each with a bathroom, living room, kitchen area and a small garden in the backyard where Jiji plants a few vegetables and herbs. It was the same house they lived with her parents whom occupied the master bedroom before the accident, which remains unoccupied till date.

She was about to enter her room when she spotted the plants in their backyard and recalled her promise to Soph. The girl had threatened to shave off her hair bald if she forgot. What a friend she had. Turning around, she sneaked into the backyard to fetch few leaves from the young plant making sure to make no sound. It was a new herb Jiji recently bought from a stranger besides the road few days ago when she went out. She'd been going on about its benefits and how it cures arthritis according to the guy she brought it from until it was drilled into Que's head, who ended up blabbering about it to Soph The Big Mouth, who also told her grandma. And now she was forced to get the sample for Soph's grandma who insist but couldn't come over because of a certain someone. Say, isn't her life sweet? Hopefully Jiji wouldn't notice, she prayed. The woman had forbidden her from going anywhere near her little garden least she murder her precious little babies.

When ever she spent some time in the garden, like a constant visit within the span of days, the plants will wilt and eventually die. She was careful to avoid body contact with the plants. She would just pluck few leaves of the new plant without messing around. It was just a safety precaution, it's not like it'll die just because she touch...."holy shit!" Que cursed as the young green plant turned brown under her watchful eyes and crumpled to the ground.

She stared at the plant in horror, hands outstretched in the air with gaping mouth until she heard movement coming from within the house. She dashed out of the garden without a second thought?

What. The. Hell?

Bubu who was still curled up in the quilt jumped out of the bed with hair's standing erect when the windows of the room was banged open by a body slamming unceremoniously to the ground. Que was quick on her feet massaging her back as she closed the window, making sure she wasn't caught. Thankfully Jiji is already out and didn't see her in the garden nor caught her sneaking in through the window. With a blackened heart, she went over to the closet to get her stuffs to disappear before Jiji found out. Which was inevitable.

That had never happened before. Although her dark energy rubbed on whoever stayed beside her for long, it was never this direct and precise. Had her curse becomes stronger? She eyed her hands wearily and decided to use gloves from now on whenever she goes out for safety precautions. How would she explain herself to the cops at the police station if she touch someone mistakenly and they fall dead to the ground?

She'd avoided people's company, heck she'd avoided all living things in general. Not out of choice but for their own safety. Unless your light energy/ good luck/ purity, whatever you call it, is high, according to the various shrinks she'd visited over the years, then her dark energy would not do much damage to you. There are a few examples of such people, mainly those around her like Jiji, Soph, Bubu and Kevin. Not so much on the later's part. He had his own considerable share misfortunes, he was just stubborn. Maybe that was why she fell for him.

She'd been called all sorts of names. The doom bringer, witch, demoness, every bad name on the face of earth to the point she started to believe so too. She was rumored as the girl who killed her parents. She'd tried denying everything at first but don't know what to believe anymore and just accept it.

She took out her sneakers and picked up a yellow worn out kitty bag. Looking at the mirror, she struggled to put her unruly frizzy brown hair in a low messy bun. Or something that resemble that.

The image of her prominent neck bone caught her eyes and she trailed her fingers on the necklace sitting within the bones grimacing, realizing just how skinny she'd gotten. She took in her reflection and sighed.

Her obsidian eyes are wide, dull, and lifeless. That's what days of crying do to you.

"At least they aren't red and puffy," she thought.

Her once rosy skin is looking pale against her dark bird-nest. Heart-shaped face, short nose, and small pink lips that she once thought were cute. Average height and a tad bit curvy at certain places. She had a considerable amount of flesh when growing up which had gone over the years leaving traces behind around the hips and bust. She wouldn't consider herself ugly or beautiful; just plain.

Whatever, nothing matters anymore. She could care less about how she look right now, the gaping hole in her heart is sucking her life force.

Kevin.

The name brought an ache to her chest. Funny, she'd once despised him with all her might. Maybe if she'd continued despising him that way she wouldn't be hurting right now.

Bracing herself before she break down for the umpteenth time, she put on her beanie tucking her hair in, leaving behind stubborn strays hanging out here and there, she didn't bother applying any make up, she wasn't good with that anyway. She put on her sneakers, grabbed the book she was reading earlier from the nightstand and tucked it in her bag. She picked up her over coat and glanced around the room one last time to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything before leaving.

Coming out of her room, she picked up voices from the livingroom had her halting in her steps. She peeked from the corner in case Jiji had returned but there wasn't anyone around, the voices were coming from the television which was on. She exhaled walking briskly towards the TV to shut it off. She almost turned around and used the windows of her bedroom instead. Jiji must've left the TV on, she does that all the time.

The TV was switched to the news channel which was showing a crime scene of a collapsed building surrounded by yellow tape with paramedics, forensics, and police officers all over, but what caught her eyes the most was the mutilated bodies littering the ground covered in their bloodly gore. Upon closer observation she was able to recognize what was left of the building that was smashed down by heavy force, it was the grocery store she went to last night.

"Over the last few days," the anchorman reports, "several attacks were launched at various locations destroying buildings, capturing and killing innocent people. A lot of people had lost their lives while some had gone missing from the mysterious creatures. The mysterious attackers have yet again disappeared without a single trace. The civilians are advised to stay indoors, especially at night as most of the attacks occur at night and report any suspicious activities as soon as possible. The security forces are trying to investigate..."

"The attackers are clearly not human, how the police would handle it this is beyond me." she said out loud switching off the TV. Ever since the beginning of this week, multiple attacks had been lunched at various locations within the city. The aftermath scene is enough to give you nightmares for days straight. All footages around the vacinity were wiped out just before the attacks took place making it impossible to figure out the criminals. It was horrific to say the least.

No one had an inkling to who or what the attacker might though it was clear it wasn't human. Whatever beast of fury it was must be unstoppable and ruthless. Que was lucky to have left that the store before the attack happened.

Putting on her coat, she walked out of the house contemplating over the recent events. "It's gonna be a long day, hope everything turns out well," she prayed looking at the dark sky and couldn't help the dread that crept into her heart.