x
The boys laughed as Ralph squirmed on the floor bloody and covered in dirt.
“You act tough for a wimp,” Agatha said with a smirk. “Too bad you are like that."
Beaten and bruised Ralph looked up at his attackers with tears blurring his vision and grunted as blood squirted out of his mouth. Agatha walked over and kicked him violently in the face. Something cracked inside Ralph’s head sending him unimaginable pain and obscuring his vision once again.
“Wow! I think you killed him, boss.” One said.
“Yeah let him die,” Agatha lit a cigarette and blew smoke into the air. “Take a picture of this and send it to his brother. He needs to know not to mess with me."
The sound of phones clicking followed by laughter echoed in the night sky as Agatha and the delinquents walked away. Under the full moon, Ralph struggled to stay alive but the beating left more than bruises in his body. All he could think about was Brianna and what would happen to her if he let Agatha have her way. Struggling to move despite the pain, he felt his heart thump
…and thumped…
…and thumped…
Meanwhile, at the Black Bar located on the Southside of town, the delinquents clicked their beer mugs together and cheered.
“Wow!”
“That was intense!”
“Did you hear how he yelled when you laid your baseball bat on the back of his head?”
One laughed drunkenly. “He squealed like a baby!”
“Like a tiny plastic pig!”
Another took a huge gulp of beer and burped. “Yeah. He was such a wuss!”
“Acting like a tough guy with that shopping bag!”
“He was swinging it around like a little girl!” one laughed.
While the rest laughed and jeered, Agatha sat quietly with a cigarette in her mouth thinking about her next scheme. She already put sharp objects in his shoes, nearly drowned him in the school’s restroom, wrote all kinds of things on his desk, had the whole school isolate him because of his past, and gathered up a gang of delinquents to beat his brother to death. This would make him crack as long as he didn't call the police.
But it wasn’t enough.
Running out of ideas, she tapped on the app on her phone and scrolled down the list of schemes until one caught her eye.
‘This one looks good,’ she smiled and tapped on it but was greeted with a notification: “You don’t have enough panty shots to purchase this item!”
“Fuck you,” Agatha muttered dropping her phone in anger.
“Hey, Agatha! You haven’t ordered a drink!” one slurred leaning closer to her. “Have some beer! My uncle owns this joint so it’s free!”
She tsked and stood up.
“Hey wait!” he yelled staggering to his feet but he slipped and fell to the ground.
The rest laughed at his foolery as she walked out the door into the cold winter air. Shivering, she looked up at the full moon.
“Where are you?” she whispered.
Two weeks later, Agatha was in the convenience store looking through instant ramen shelves and as she debated which one to pick, remembered the tasty bentos Emma used to make for her.
‘She bought all the ingredients on her dime and I never got hungry in school until the day we ‘broke up’. She grabbed one of the cheapest ones and glared at it. ‘None of my new girlfriends could cook and now I eat garbage fit for a pig.’
“Are you sure these are fresh?”
The question stopped her in her tracks.
“Yes ma’am. We brought them in yesterday.”
Agatha followed the voice until she spotted Emma talking to the clerk next to the vegetable aisle, except she looked different. Wearing a long-sleeved red shirt with a red floral skirt with her hair let down, she reminded her of how she used to dress up in her favorite colors to show her devotion to her.
So, whose favorite color was she wearing?
“Emma?”
Startled, Emma turned around to see Agatha holding a basket full of instant ramen, bread, and store-bought cake.
“Oh. Hi Agatha. Are you shopping as well?” she asked.
“Emma is that you?”
She glanced sideways, “Yes?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes it is me,” Emma replied with an annoyed look on her face.
“Where were you? Do you know you have been missing for months?” she asked.
“Umm…I was only missing for a few weeks. I stayed somewhere else until the events at school calmed down,” Emma replied. “But seeing the you are still wearing our uniform are things getting worse?”
Agatha rolled her eyes at that statement and folded her arms. “What do you mean? Of course everything is fine.”
"That's 'good' to hear," Emma replied and proceeded to push her trolley of food past her.
“What are you doing tonight? It looks like you are cooking a feast,” Agatha said peeking at the items.
“Not really. I am just buying food to last us for the month." She replied.
“Yeah well…” Agatha paused. “Wait a minute, ‘Us’?”
“Yep." She looked back at her and smiled. "Me and my boyfriend.”
Agatha’s eyes widened. “Boy...boyfriend?!”
Emma nodded and turned around.
“Hey!” Agatha reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "Don't you dare turn your back on me.”
“What do you want?" Emma asked without facing her.
“Who is the bastard you replaced me with?” she asked.
“That would be me.”
Agatha jolted in shock, looked behind her, to see Jake standing with a smug grin on his face.
"I am the bastard she replaced you with. Any problem with that?" he asked.
Agatha stared at him and then at Emma. “Didn’t you guys break up?”
“We got back together after talking about it,” Emma replied with a warm smile.
Agatha growled in anger and pushed past Emma nearly knocking her down.
“Happy shopping Agatha,” Emma greeted earning a middle finger from her.
“Well that was rude,” Jake folded his arms and huffed. "What did you see in her Beloved?”
Emma shrugged and smiled. “She's ancient history. Do you want to help me take this to the register before the line gets too long?”
Jake smiled. “Of course Beloved,”
Agatha watched them leave from the corner of the shelves and dialed Magic’s phone number. Tapping her foot, she waited impatiently for him to pick up and after a few rings, he finally did.
“Hello?” answered an annoyed voice.
“Were you sleeping?”
“I was a few seconds ago,” came the reply.
Agatha boiled with rage. ‘How can he be asleep at a time like this? The rich bastard.’
“What is it? It better be important.”
“Emma is back.”
This killed the drowsiness in his eyes. “What?”
“I saw her in the store a few minutes ago!”
Magic leapt out of bed. “Idiot! Why didn’t you call me when you saw her? Where is she now?"
“She’s heading to her apartment with her boyfriend,” Agatha replied.
“Boyfriend?”
“Well duh,”
“You told me they broke up!” Magic barked.
“That’s what I thought until I saw them together. Besides, weren’t your men looking for her?” Agatha growled back.
“Idiot,” Magic groaned passing a hand over his face. “Keep an eye on them. I’ll be out in five minutes.”
“Screw you! I will be labeled a stalker for this. Send your men to do the job!”
He ended the call annoyed, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom. After taking a shower, he dressed in his uniform and opened the door to his room, startling a servant.
"Ma... Master..."
“Tell Edwin to get the helicopter ready,” he ordered storming past her.
She quickly dropped her broom and rushed to call Edwin who radioed for the helicopter while Magic entered the dining room. After downing the cup of tea brought by his butler, he rushed to the landing pad where the helicopter was waiting for him.
‘Emma is back,’ he thought as it took off. ‘I have to make sure she doesn’t leave town again.’
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Emma happily hummed as she cut the carrots while Jake tended to the meat sizzling in the wok.
“The vegetables are ready,” she announced bringing the chopping board to him.
He paused and smiled. "You cut them into cute hearts for me?” he asked.
Emma blushed and looked away. “Yeah. I am sorry it took so long."
Jake kissed her on the forehead. “It's okay Beloved. They would look so pretty in rice."
“Speaking of rice. Don't forget that it is in the rice cooker.”
Jake chuckled and poured the vegetables in. “I won't."
The microwave's 'ding' alerted Emma to it. Opening it, she took out the melted chocolate and poured it over the frozen yogurt and peach mix fresh out of the freezer until it was all coated. The chocolate froze quickly and she grinned at how gorgeous it looked.
Meanwhile, Jake finished the fried rice and set the kitchen table. Once everything was ready, they sat down at the table, said thanks, and ate.
“Wow~ this tastes delicious, darling," Emma exclaimed.
“Thank you Beloved but I couldn’t have done it without you,” he replied.
Emma chuckled. “Don’t say that. I only cut vegetables."
“But you made dessert. Speaking of dessert, where is it?”
“Until you finish your food young man,” Emma scolded.
“Aww, but I wanna eat it now,” Jake whined and she boobed him on the nose in response and laughed. Once they were done eating, they cuddled in front of the TV to watch her favorite show.
“Honey?”
“Hmm?”
Emma looked up at him. “Do you have a favorite show? Something you like?”
He looked down at her and smiled. “I like anything you like Beloved.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t like watching TV but I love a good book.”
"Really?" She snuggled closer to him. “What kind of book genre do you like?”
“Horror,”
Emma blinked at him in surprise. “Really?”
He nodded and wrapped his hands around her. “Yep. I am not a fan of fantasy horror but I love the genre based on the villain being a manipulative human killer.”
“Isn’t that a thriller genre?”
“Nope. Thriller leans closely to the psychological and is mostly action-oriented with little blood and gore. However, horror is created for the purpose of scaring someone and I like it. It gives me a rush of adrenaline.”
Emma looked away with fear in her eyes. “Well…I don’t like horror. It’s disturbing.”
He chuckled and looked her in the eye. "Then why do you communicate with ghosts and fight evil spirits?"
“It’s not that!” Emma said giving him a slight punch in the stomach. “I just don’t find them scary that’s all.”
“Why? Anyone would find them frightening, so why wouldn't you?
The question puzzled Emma so she turned to face the television instead. "I don’t know. It feels like I have met them before."
Jake hummed and tightened his grip around her as a fight scene played. Slowly, Emma's eyelids got heavier and she drifted off to sleep.
Emma’s POV
"Ugh my head!" I groan, looked around me, and discovered I was on the floor. “What the...?”
Everything around me felt fuzzy and inconsistent so I took a deep breath and tried to recollect myself.
That is until I heard a familiar sound.
“Isn’t that the school bell?” I stand up and look around my surroundings. “Everything looks familiar. Am I in Akademi High?”
The scene suddenly became static and a familiar grey figure with long pigtails ran in front of me. Blinking twice, I followed the figure until it stopped in front of the lockers and picked up the phone
“Hello? Ugh! Told you to stop calling me you creep!”
Yep. It was Osana alright. I recognize that tone anywhere.
“How many times do I have to say it? I’m not interested! If you don’t stop calling me, I am going to call the cops and…”
Then her body language changed. Clutching her phone and bending forward, her voice trembled and she seemed more agitated.
“wait…what? Are you…serious?! Okay. Okay fine! I won’t call the police. Look, this is a bad time for me. We’ll talk about this later. Just…don’t do anything rash, okay?”
She ended the call and groaned. “Ugh! Why did something like this have to happen?”
“Who was she talking to?” I watched her walk past me and frown. “Could it be the stalker Mr. Konagawa talked about the other time? If so, who is he?”
Then I felt a feeling of dread send a shiver down my spine. Looking to my right, I see a blue figure sitting between two boards propped up in a tent-like shape.
Wait a minute, how long was she sitting here?
“Hello?”
It flashed its red eyes at me and the atmosphere turned dark. Before I could comprehend what was going on, something knocked me to the ground. When I looked up, I saw it was the blue figure this time covered in blood. It raised a bloody knife high in the air and brought it down.
I wake up shocked and out of breath.
Everything felt so real!
“Beloved are you okay?”
I turn to my right and Jake stares at me with a concerned expression on his face. “Y…yes.”
Without hesitation, he moved and wrapped his arms around me. “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.”
ns 18.68.41.148da2
