26. Friends

Kara stopped at Evan's front yard on her bicycle. Her gaze was immediately fixed on the next-door neighbor of Evan's house. There some people who were making a building in that house's front yard, mostly made of wood.

Not long after, Shane arrived on his yellow scooter.

"Wow, a new scooter!" Kara whistled.

"Huh." Shane got off his scooter with an annoyed face. "This scooter is new, and my dad becomes suspicious about it. He felt there was something different about this scooter. He even checked the engine frame number. Fortunately, those people also gave me the scooter ownership certificate. But, it also made my dad more suspicious. He felt there was also something different about that ownership certificate."

Kara looked at the big plastic bag her friend had brought. "What is that?"

"This is a potato chip snack of various flavors and brands." Shane picked up the plastic bag. "Well, maybe Evan actually still has Popo's spirit inside him without him noticing. He can't transfer the spirit to that bag of seaweed-flavored potato chips, but maybe he can do it to another bag of …. "

"Okay." Kara interrupts before Shane's words get any longer. "Let's go in."

Having been to Evan's house so many times, Kara walked in without knocking and immediately greeted cheerfully. She and Shane did not get any response from the owner of the house and instead found Tony sitting silently in the living room.

"You must be looking for Evan, right?" Tony's tone was bitter. "You two please just go to his room to have a look."

Shane and Kara immediately looked at each other in confusion.

Kara then ventured to ask, "Is he okay, Mr. Williams?"

Tony scratched his hair in a huff. "I don't understand that child!"

After saying that, Tony got up from the sofa and just walked away. Kara and Shane exchanged glances again.

"Have we come at a bad time?" Shane grimaced stiffly. "From Mr. Williams's expression, I sensed something was wrong."

"Remember, there is a possibility that Mr. Williams is just pranking us." Kara shrugged and walked over to Evan's room. "Let's go."

"But…. Things were different from usual, Kara. This time Evan is really down." Shane followed the girl.

"Well, the only way to find out is we have to check it in person."

It only took a few steps, the two of them already arrived at Evan's room. Shane swallowed hard in front of that bedroom door, which was decorated with a lot of cars and motorbikes stickers.

"Do we need to knock on it? Usually, we just go in. Or if the door is locked from the inside, we call him out loud like crazy." Shane spoke softly.

"Why are you acting weird like that? He's still our Evan. He won't get mad if we enter carelessly." Kara turned the knob of Evan's bedroom door. However, the door to the room was locked. When she was about to call her friend, Kara heard something strange from inside. Her forehead immediately frowned.

Those are no ordinary voices.

Kara leaves the place instantly. At first, Shane froze in confusion, before finally following his friend again.

"Hey, what happened Kara!?" Shane asked in a worried tone.

Kara didn't answer and instead hastened her pace. She went out, then went to the side of the house, right in front of the glass window of Evan's room. Kara then folded her arms over her chest and put on a fierce face.

Surprised by Kara's behavior, Shane looked at that glass window.

Mimi kneeled down on the floor and Evan was lying on her lap. The young man was lying on his side and his ears were being cleaned by Mimi with a cotton bud.

"Hehehe …." Evan chuckled, either because he felt tickled or because he was so happy with how he was now. "Deeper, Mimi ...."

Evan's voice sounded creepy like it was coming out of a drunken mouth.

Shane pressed his face against the glass window, making his face look like a clown. Kara's face stiffens even more and her eyes start to widen.

A terrifying aura started to come out of that girl's body.

Sensing something was amiss, Evan held Mimi's hand which was still cleaning his ears. He motioned for Mimi to stop. Mimi just tilted her head in confusion. Evan then got up to a sitting position and looked at the window.

He froze when he saw his two best friends.

"Hi, all." The young man wore an unusually strange smile.

***

While continuing to try to give life to the bags of potato chips that Shane brought, Evan rubbed his left waist which Kara had pinched so many times brutally. Earlier, Shane even helped the girl by holding Evan's body. Mimi didn't help at all and just stood there grimacing as if she felt the pain suffered by her master.

And what was even crazier was that Tony had recorded the scene from start to finish. Evan knows that the video of the scene will be distributed to the neighborhood chat group. He will be a laughing stock.

"It's pointless to worry about you," Kara grumbled and picked up a bag of potato chips from the floor. Earlier, Evan had tried to give life to that, but to no avail. "Can I open this, Shane?"

Shane said yes and Kara unwrapped that potato chips bag. For no apparent reason, Evan felt a chill in his spine. Did he just imagine that Popo's body was torn like that?

"Even though I brought lots of potato chips for your experiment, I haven't heard any thanks from you," Shane complained in an irritated tone.

Evan threw the umpteenth bag of potato chips on the floor. The potato chips bag was still in its original shape.

"Huh, you're doing this because you want me to turn an object into a hot girl, right?" Evan complained back.

Instead of answering straight away, Shane was stunned. It went on for a while until his two friends turned to him curiously. Shane then took a deep breath. "After all of what happened, I don't think I want that anymore."

Evan put the last bag of potato chips on the floor and then fell silent.

Kara took the initiative to lightly pat her friend's shoulder. "Hang in there, Evan."

"Sorry." Shane grimaced stiffly.

"I'll make iced tea for you two." Evan got up and left the room at a brisk pace.

Once Evan was out of sight, Kara folded the packet of potato chips she was eating. "I feel guilty about eating potato chips in front of him."

Shane's gaze was fixed on a jumbo packet of seaweed-flavored potato chips sitting on the chair. "You feel it too, don't you, Kara? Our friend's not okay."

Kara didn't answer and also took a look at the potato chips bags on the chair. A few days ago, that bag of potato chips still looked like a girl.

"It's been three days he has been trying to bring Popo back, but his efforts have not been successful," Mimi explained with trembling lips. "Luckily, he came to his senses and stopped. He chose to rest first. However, he wouldn't give up. He will try again later."

"He will not do anything to destroy himself. It is totally against his principle of living an ordinary life until death." Shane laughed bitterly. "Except at certain times."

"Except for the people closest to him, right?" Kara smiled faintly.

Mimi blinked her eyes. "But, he really likes watching porn. According to research, it can damage his brain. Isn't that self-destructive?"

Shane and Kara could only gawk at Mimi. Even for a matter of minutes, they still couldn't give any response. Mimi's words were like a piece of big news which really shocked the two of them.

"Argggghhhh!!!" Suddenly, they heard Evan's scream from the kitchen.