Chapter 3: The World of Specters

The modern streets of Evergreen City stretched out before me, but the sight made me question my already faltering sanity.

What a wonderful world, I forced a twisted smile, feeling the memories of the two worlds collide in my mind. After being killed by The Wife in eighteen ways, I had expected the outside world to seem brighter, more vivid. Maybe I'd see the familiar modern urban scenery: the bustling crowds in coffee shops, white - collar workers waiting for taxis in front of office buildings, or elderly people jogging in the park.

However, I found myself staring into an abyss, and the abyss was staring back at me. The memories of being trapped in the college dormitory and the sales department of Oak Academy now seemed so ridiculous. It turned out that I had been living in a huge set all along, and now, finally, someone had torn off this thin layer of paper. Or, more precisely - I had been torn apart so many times that I saw through the appearance of reality.

The glamorous facade of the Evergreen City downtown area had turned into a gallery of nightmares. Smoky black shadows drifted among the oblivious pedestrians, their forms rippling like waves in the morning light. A headless giant, dressed in a well - tailored Armani suit and carrying a briefcase, strode down Michigan Avenue, while ordinary humans walked right through its massive legs. At the entrance of Starbucks, a businessman with never - drying blood streaming all over his body was playing with his phone. The crimson liquid pooled at his feet, visible only to my cursed eyes.

But the real horror was in the heights.

My gaze swept over the glass - and - steel mountains of the financial district. There, among the shiny spires and corporate logos, creatures beyond human comprehension had established their domains. A one - eyed behemoth with tattered angel wings perched on top of the First National Bank Building, its pupil following the traffic below. A rabbit - headed bride, her wedding dress stained with century - old blood, danced an eternal waltz around the spire of the Evergreen Building. Most disturbing of all, a giant eyeball covered the entire west side of the Morton Building. Its surface was a writhing mass of countless small eyeballs, all blinking in an unsettling unison.

"Ha ha ha ha ha" "Ha ha ha ha ha" A burst of laughter welled up from the depths of my chest. At first, it was as faint as a crack in glass, then it gradually grew, spreading like a spider's web. I tried to suppress it, telling myself rationally that there was nothing funny about this - but those memories of death, the pain of being torn apart, corroded, and decomposed, they were like wine fermenting in the dark, finally maturing into the purest madness.

The laughter burst out like a hysterical tsunami breaking through its bonds. This was not a nervous chuckle in the face of the impossible, nor the hysteria of a mental breakdown, but something deeper - the wild laughter of a soul that had been adrift in the abyss of death for too long and finally saw the truth of the world. That laughter contained relief, understanding, and a near - pathological joy.

Passers - by cast sidelong glances. They only saw a well - dressed young man laughing in the street, unable to see the terrifying beings swimming past him. How ironic. In this moment, those normal people seemed like the most absurd set pieces.

"Sir, are you okay? Are you sick?"

The voice was soft, full of concern, coming from around my waist. I looked down and saw a little girl dressed in a neat Catholic school uniform. Her chestnut - colored hair was neatly tied into twin ponytails. She was holding a pink schoolbag decorated with unicorns, the perfect picture of innocent childhood concern.

"I'm fine, little girl," I replied amidst my fading laughter, "And you should call me big brother."

Her eyes widened, and for a moment, I saw something ancient and hungry flash behind those seemingly innocent green irises. "You can see me!"

The transformation was both rapid and terrifying. Her skin split like overripe fruit, revealing wriggling flesh and calcified bones. Her twin ponytails turned into crazy tentacles made of hair and internal organs. The pink schoolbag burst open, spilling out strings of yellowed human teeth that clattered onto the sidewalk.

But I didn't run. I didn't scream. Instead, I felt my smile widen. Driven mad, I tried to further enrage the monster in front of me.

"Of course I can see you," I said, my voice filled with manic cheerfulness, "I can see all of you now. Every single one."

"You can see me! You can see me!" the little girl - like creature roared excitedly, like a starving wolf that hadn't eaten in years.

The thing that had once been a little girl tilted its misshapen head, and dozens of small mouths opened along its neck. "You're different," it gurgled through multiple throats. "The others who could see us... they always ran. They always screamed. But you're laughing."

"Because I finally understand," I spread my arms as if to embrace this cityscape filled with Specters, "This is what I've been preparing for. Eighteen deaths. Eighteen rebirths. This world finally gives me a reason to live. Ha ha ha ha ha. This world is so interesting." Tears streamed down my cheeks and into the corners of my mouth, but at this moment, there was no fear in my heart, only excitement.

A sound like bones rubbing together came from the creature's main maw - it was its laughter. "What an interesting prey," it mused. From its back, a baseball bat formed from fused human vertebrae began to take shape. "I wonder if you'll still be laughing when I break every bone in your body."

"I probably will," I admitted, my smile never wavering, "But before you kill me - because let's be honest, you will - I want you to know one thing." I leaned down, bringing my face close to its nightmarish visage. "When I come back, and I will come back, I'm going to start hunting you all. Every single one of you. One by one."

The bone club whistled through the air at supernatural speed. I felt my ribs shatter, my internal organs rupture under the impact. As I fell to the ground and my vision began to blur, I still maintained eye contact with the Specter.

"See you soon," I whispered through blood - stained teeth, my final laughter echoing through the Specter - haunted streets of Evergreen City.

The bone club came down one last time, and darkness consumed me. But this time, the darkness felt different. This time, it felt like coming home.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in that modern apartment, surrounded by IKEA furniture, and the morning light was filtering in through the blinds. The Wife's familiar voice drifted in from outside the door: "Honey, breakfast is ready!"