Rows and rows of buildings zoomed by before me, melting into a single fuzzy imagery that filled both my gaze and my mind with the same blurry confusion.

Inside the cab I had booked after receiving the call, was complete silence, save the low folk song humming from the built-in radio.

The driver was surprisingly the same middle-aged bald man who had brought me to the estate the first time.

Possession.

Of course, I knew that such things existed. After all, before I had found my soulmate, I had been a magnet for the dead. A piece of cake they wanted to possess, and even attempted to get a piece of, every night.

But now, upon reflection, it seemed that after meeting Adam, my days were somehow filled with peace. I had strangely not seen a single demon or soul in weeks.

I felt conflicted. Of course, my third eye was open and I could communicate with the other side, but that did not mean there was anything more to that ability. It was like a professor of anatomy and physiology, but that did not mean they could perform surgeries. I was just as useless as everyone else was. Why was I being called again?

"Madam, we are here."

Indeed we were.

The taxi stopped right in front of the girl's dormitory building.

A lift of my head had me meeting the wide panicked eyes of the girls standing outside, probably too afraid of what was happening inside the dormitory building at that moment.

In contrast to the situation, the sun glared down at everyone brightly.

I don't know why but this struck an ominous feeling in my chest. The world could be bright and unseemingly normal...even happy... and yet inside tall buildings, inside four-walled rooms, something wretched could be occurring. Completely the opposite of normal.

"Nia, can you help us please?"

A girl stepped forward, she had tear stains running down her face, and a large red welt on her left cheek.

"Yes, we...we know we didn't treat you well. But-but can you take back the curse please?" Another girl began to blabber quickly and pleadingly.

She stopped and suddenly reached forward to grab my hand, her eyes lowered and she whispered miserably, "We've not been able to sleep for days."

"Please, girl!" An American accent shot through the other quiet crowd, and a sandy-toned girl with a bonnet still on her head stepped forward, "Every night, it fucks her! Over and over again! Lately, she's been screaming and crying. It's like someone's dying."

The hairs on the back of my neck began tingling and I fought back the shudder that itched to bubble out of me.

This was the first time I saw something like that outside of the four-cornered television screens. Of such psychotic aggression, such crazed possession, and the hellish actions of the dead.

I had once heard someone say somewhere... or perhaps I had read it in a forum online... that the stories behind fiction had to come out of somewhere, somewhere in reality. Today I believed that to be true. No matter how unrealistic an aspect of fiction seemed, it must have come out of reality in some capacity. One way or the other.

"Let me clarify this for those that are misguided. I am not a witch. I can not cast a spell or curse of any nature. I am..." I stopped, noting that there were some girls I knew to be purely human, "— more sensitive to things than you all. Because of this, things you all may not be able to see, always loiter around me and demand I fulfill their unfinished wishes. I'm here at the warden's request. I am here to help but I am just as clueless as you all are, ok? "

To wait for a reaction seemed wasteful, so my feet immediately began walking towards and into the entrance of the dormitory building. My stride slowed as the eerie bleakness of the usually bright and airy building sunk into my pores, spreading goosebumps down my arms.

Everything was silent. Too silent. All the dorm room doors that usually remained open with girls buzzing in and out of the rooms, now remained shut close — uninviting. There was something about the air as well, like subtle electricity running all around me, buzzing against my skin... leaving goosebumps behind.

The 10th hall was a girl's dormitory in a 5-floor building which was arranged in the middle of other architecturally similar dormitory halls.

Normally in old and established universities with old buildings, it was difficult to find modern-day amenities. Thankfully these dormitories were a set of newer buildings and thus had things such as elevators and modern designs.

Opal's room was on the 3rd floor.

For a little while I contemplated between taking the stairs and the elevator. As I stood in front of the elevator, staring at the metal door — I couldn't help but remember the first time I had used it and gotten stuck in it for the next 2 hours, in the dark, with slender fingers wrapped around my chest and a candy knife-like voice whispering obscenities into my ear.

But sometimes the cause was larger than one's fear. And so in the end, the decision was made with a stab against the up button beside the elevator.

The door promptly opened with a ding before I could re-think my decision, and I stepped in with silent resignation. I had already come so far.

Yes, I had already made it this far.

I had to at least try... try to talk to her soulmate... try to negotiate.

I was trying my hardest not to think about this entire thing being my fault.

About how, if I had attempted to mediate earlier on, if I had not tried to act normal and ignore the ghosts...If I had just attempted to help Opal, even if it was just informing her about what was behind her.... Maybe then this would not happen.

I did not want to think that way. I didn't want to make the situation about me because it was not about me. It was about Opal.

Right. I was already there. What was going to happen, was going to happen.

The digitalized red numbers on the wall changed slowly, one by one as each floor was left below, until a solid 3 replaced the 2, and the elevator came to a halt. The weight in my throat dropped back down to my stomach right as a little ding echoed around the elevator.

The silver doors parted and I stared outside...at the dark nothingness.

It was like death.

I could sense death. In the chill, in the complete robbery of my sight, of any sort of light.

The light of the elevator spread softly into the hallway, like a sad last saving grace, and yet beyond the light I could not tell what lay awaiting me.

I had still not even seen the resident ghosts that normally roamed the hallways of this dormitory. Not even that lecherous young girl who liked to loiter in the elevator.

I stood in the elevator, motionless until the door slid shut again. And yet, I still stood there. I was fully aware that whatever lay beyond the thick metal doors before me, held the power to change my entire life.

This one decision, this one acknowledgment... would make my remaining days in this University... a nightmare. Every one of those that I so successfully had ignored till date... would know with certainty that I could not only sense them but between them and I... there wasn't much of a difference between two living beings if they tried and were powerful enough.

At that moment, in the small four-walled space, there was nothing but silence, and I. And with this silence, was one other unavoidable thing. A decision.

I could not stand there forever. I had come to help. To help Opal who was being tortured by her deceased soulmate.

Nervousness tickled down my chest. I stared at the "open" button on the wall for what felt like ages. Second by seconds trickled by and I stood there, frozen.

Was I ready? For years I had been able to pretend like I was unaffected. I had been able to hide in plain sight, to have for the most part as normal as a life I could have. Was I ready for that to change?

At that moment I could only come back to one word...

Adam.

My own soulmate was dead. The closest thing to a family, to someone I could call my own... wasn't alive... was in the same realm as all these ghosts and spirits...then why... why was I still running?

Maybe... maybe it was time to finally stop. Finally, stop and just accept it. Accept myself and what I was now... what my future was... whatever it was... with Adam.

For the second time, my index finger reached forward and opened the elevator. Once again, the doors parted, allowing a soft glow of light to enter the otherwise pitch-black corridor.

One

Two

Thre— A soft clink echoed in the silence as as the soles of my shoes stretched outside of the elevator and touched the corridor floor.

Fingers grasping at my pants, I stepped outside, and immediately the pale glow from the elevator began narrowing and narrowing until all that was left was ... nothing.

I could not see a single thing, but I knew that if there was something... they would be able to see me. This was disadvantageous.

My hand slipped down to my pocket and had just touched my phone when a cold chill hit the back of my neck.

"And of course, the stupid virgin is the one to arrive and fight a dead rapist,"

The lecture theatre spirit huffed behind me in irritation. I had heard her voice day after day for ages now, there was no way I could not recognize her.

And just as I had always pretended like I couldn't hear her before, I couldn't help but pretend this time too.

Then I rolled my eyes in resignation. Right. It was now or never.

"Are you here to watch the show?" I whispered into the air amusedly.

An audible gasp cut through the air and immediately a strong hand grasped my ponytail and sharply pulled my head back, bringing me to a stop.

"I knew you could hear me! Get out of this building right now, you brat!"

"I can't do that," I hissed against the numbing pain on my scalp, "I have been called to help!"

However, the dead virgin had no intention of letting me take even one more step forward.

"Help? What help? Help is arriving today! We don't need you to put yourself in danger, girl!"

Help? What sort of help was she talking about?

No, wait, I needed to focus. I could not get distracted. I shook my head to refocus my mind and immediately winced when my hair tugged against the death grip.

"Let go please,"

I didn't think too much before my fingers reached back and wrapped around the cold thin fingers on my hair. All I cared about was removing the source of pain as my fingers tightened and was just about to tug the hand away when the girl behind me let out a yelp and snatched her hand back.

"You! W..why do you have he—"

Just then, a loud scream pierced through the air, catching both us the dead and the living by surprise.

"Oh that hell's slime is going to rot in the depths of feces for eternity," The girl groaned and then quickly continued, "Hurry Hurry, what are you waiting for? Go help then!"

I would think more about what she said but the moment called for action now attention and so all I could do was blindly rushed forward.

There was nothing ahead. Nothing I could see and make sense of. My feet kept thudding against the floor, which meant that I was moving, and yet I could very well be moving in circles... I did not know.

I couldn't continue that way. And so instead of moving forward, I slowly began to move to my side. One stretch of my leg at a time, I shuffled towards my right until my fingers touched the cool surface of a door.

Then I started walking again.

One by one my fingers brushed against the wall and doors until it came to touch the familiar metal sign stuck on the door.

If there were light, I would be able to see the "Opening Hours" sign that she had hung in front of the door as a joke when she had moved in, but with the situation at hand, all I could think about was what I was going to do next.

Was Opal going to be in her room? Of course, she would be, right? What about the warden? What would be the best way to get the lights working again? Would the switch work? I had been able to walk this far in the darkness but I was not going to step into that room without my sight.

"What do we do now?" A whisper touched the tip of my ears and I shivered from the chilly air.

"Aren't virgin souls powerful? Can't you control the lights like he has?"

"Well thank you for your faith in me but I regret to inform you that while I am strong, that rapist demon is a lot stronger after all his nonsense... so I can't do anything."

"Well fuck then why don't I try?"

I felt the brat before I heard her. Her chopstick-like cold fingers wrapped around my chest like a steel band in blood-curling familiarity. Feeding off of my disgust and irritation, the girl grew delighted. The candy-like sharp laugh floated in the air like... burnt sugar on the tip of a knife.

"You fucking moron, did you think you could solve anything? Have you come here to get pinned down by that thing and fucked in the ass until it split you into two, slit your throat, and fed on your blood? Then left you to bleed to death on the floor underneath your stinking old bed. feeding on your decaying meat day after day until there is nothing left of you except your bones? Aren't you tired of being abused at the hands of a man? The only thing that made your bastard of a father feel in control was beating you up. Don't you remember those blows? Don't you remember his words? What? Have you gotten used to it? Do you want to get tortured by a man so badly that you came running here, you stupid cow?"

This was what she did. She grabbed onto you and sucked out your discomfort, sucked out your disgust, every single negative feeling, every single negative memory in you... and it fed that way. This old, wretched soul.

The reason I had avoided the elevator as much as I could after that first day was because of that filthy mouth, and those perverted hands.

"Sezah, you shouldn't touch her..." The lecture hall spirit suddenly voiced out a warning from somewhere in the dark.

"And why not, dear Lucia?"

Sweat trickled from my temple, down my cheek and and jaw. Until I caught it before it reached my neck. Unfortunately in the process, my hand brushed against those of Sezah's.

One minute she was stuck to me like glue and the other the perverted ghost had pulled herself away from me and all the lights were turned on.

The first thing I saw was two wide white eyes. The two black iris remained pin-pointed and small, however, it was obvious that the always wretched ghost was afraid.

"Well... as you just saw..." My head turned to the prettier lecture hall ghost in confusion.

What were these two going on and on about?

I shook my head again. These two were a distraction on their own. What actually mattered at that moment was that the lights were on and I was still to find Opal and the warden.

"Do you two know if the warden has also been stranded in there by Kane?"

"You know his name?"

The young girl's head couldn't even reach my chest, but the arrogance in her eyes and the cruel curl of her lips told me that treating her like a kid would lead to only one thing. A mysterious death.

Before I could reply, she scoffed and continued.

"What warden? That old bitch tried to save the girl last night while he was raping her. He slit her throat and threw her from the balcony. She's a vegetable in the hospital right now. And besides, we don't need your help, help is coming!"

My blood ran cold.

"No, but she called me, just a few minutes ago. That is why I came here?!"

"Gardenia..." Lucia whispered urgently.

My mind was on fire. If the warden had been almost murdered and was unconscious in the hospital since last night...then the one who called me here was...

"— the warden didn't call you here... he did"

... was Opal's mate... Kane.

It was as if he was listening to us. Amused and watching a play unfold itself. Watching a mystery solve itself piece by piece. Because just as we figured out the reason for attendance in that wretched dormitory... the knob to Opal's dorm room twisted carefully, and the door slowly creaked open, just a little.

It was an invitation. A "come if you dare" ...

Beyond the door, was a dark abyss.

Then suddenly, a light turned on. It didn't seem like the main light, but enough to dimly brighten the entire room.

And yet I didn't go inside. Something told me that if I went inside... I would die.

"What do you want from me, Kane?"

There was no response.

"I should go." I immediately decided.

I had overestimated myself. What did I know about dealing with the dead? Absolutely nothing. It was safer if I left. I was worried for Opal, but didn't both these spirits say that help was coming? What was I going to stay here and do then? Be the weakest link? Be the probable cause of distraction for the shamans who were coming to help?

"Nia! Nia, don't leave me here!"

I froze.

My breath quickened as I listened to the wretched voice of the miserable-sounding Opal.

"Save me, please! Nia! It hurts... it hurts so much"

My eyes widened and I subconsciously took a step forward. Opal... she was dying...

"I'm bleeding, please... I'll die!"

The girls behind me were whispering in urgency but I could not make sense of it at that time. All my attention was on the helpless voice of Opal. I didn't even realise when I was standing right in front of the dorm-room door.

"Nia!" Opal's voice tore through the air again

But this voice sounded hoarse, shrill, and dehydrated.. almost powerle—"Run!!!!"

I gasped, the fog in my brain cleared instantly and I almost took a step back when the door slammed open and a large black being that looked like it had crawled out of the deepest depths of the purgatory, stood before me. Green eyes pierced into my soul. His black lips parted and a snake-like tongue licked the air, "Oh don't run awayyy. I just want to play!"

Like lightning, his claws reached forward and wrapped behind my neck, pulling me into the once again pitch-black room. The sound of the door shut was like the sound of the last nail to the coffin.

My chest was pounding. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't see and I was so scared. That was so scary. I couldn't see...

"Don't be scared. I just want to play, Nia"

It was a whisper against my ear. I felt a tickle in the shell of my ear and recoiled back into myself as the image of a snake-like tongue repeated itself in my mind.

I grit my teeth to hide my shudder and let out a shaken scoff.

"What happened Kane? When possessing me every night didn't work, what did you do to become this? This demon? Are you ashamed of how you look now? Is that why you aren't turning the lights on? Are you ashamed of what you have be—"

My breath left my chest as I was thrown back onto the floor.

My back hit the floor with a bang and my head followed after. A steel-like hand wrapped around my neck and I suddenly felt that death was always just a touch away.

"Gardenia, I hate you." A deep gruff voice growled into my ear, "If you had just let me possess you, I wouldn't be this way. I wouldn't have to do all this!"

My breath was leaving me. My feet were kicking in struggle slower, I was starting to see floating black spots. I couldn't think. I couldn't think.

"Addam"

"A-Adam...Adam..."

I was dying... I was going...

The sound of concrete rip apart was so loud it almost brought my mind back to earth. My eyes ripped open only a slitter and were filled with the sight of a beam-like light shooting down from the crack in the ceiling. The entire room turned bright.

I blinked against the black spots before my eyes, trying to focus on what was happening just as the large black half-man half-serpent demon was ripped off of me and thrown against the wall.

Four men in black suits stood in the room. Two that looked like the mirror reflection of each other, and were holding Kane by his neck, a thick golden chain materializing from their arms and wrapping around Kane's black, scaly neck.

The third man, who looked strangely like someone I knew but could not recall... had his hand lifted up to Kane's face, until a large red mark formed on the demon's forehead. Embedded into his scales, like a brand.

Loud wretched animalistic cries filled the entire room. I grimaced against the sound, I felt like I was going to go blind. My eardrums were going to burst into flames.

But the fourth man... the fourth man was standing like a tower. Looking right at me.

Unbridled fury blazed blue flames in his bright blue eyes. I blinked as one minute he stood at the foot of the light and the next he was right in front of me, kneeling over me.

I smiled.

"A..dam"

"Ad..dam" I whispered giddly in my delirious stupor. I was so glad he was here. My... my soulmate. My family. I smiled happily as I willed myself to twist on the floor until I could wrap my arms around him.

I finally closed my eyes.

Then I leaned all of my weight on him. Like a slug.

I was safe. I was safe.

"He he... Adam..."