Chapter 4

Jay's eyes fluttered open, his body aching as if he'd been hit by a truck. The first thing he noticed was the dim glow of streetlights casting long shadows on the pavement. The sky above was a deep indigo, signaling the early evening. He groaned, sitting up slowly, and realized he was still on the street where everything had happened.

To his side, Ellie knelt, her small frame trembling as tears streamed down her face. When she saw him stir, her expression shifted from worry to overwhelming relief. She threw her arms around him, sobbing uncontrollably. "You're okay!" she cried, her voice muffled against his chest.

Jay gently patted her back, unsure of what to say. His mind was still foggy, fragments of what had happened swirling in his memory like a bad dream.

"Look who's alive," a voice called out. Jay turned to see Chiaki leaning casually against a wall, her arms crossed and her spear resting beside her. She smirked, but her eyes held a trace of concern.

"What happened?" Jay asked, his voice hoarse. "Why was I lying on the floor?"

"You were possessed," Chiaki replied matter-of-factly, pushing off the wall and walking toward him.

Jay's stomach sank. "Possessed? How?"

Chiaki crouched down, meeting his gaze. "That thing we fought? It took hold of your body. Turned you into something… evil. You scared poor little Ellie here."

Jay's heart twisted at the thought. He turned to Ellie, who was still clutching his arm. Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave. He got down on his knees, bowing his head low. "I'm so sorry, Ellie," he said, his voice trembling. "I didn't mean to scare you. I… I couldn't control it."

Ellie wiped her tears with the back of her hand and hugged him tightly. "It's okay," she said, her voice small but sincere. "You're back now. That's all that matters."

Chiaki watched the scene unfold, her expression softening. "So, you can see them too? The ghosts and evil spirits?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Jay hesitated before nodding. "Yes. But I wish I didn't. Adults avoid me, and my classmates make fun of me. I hate this ability," he admitted, tears welling up in his eyes.

Ellie's grip on him tightened. "Please don't say that," she said, looking up at him with wide, earnest eyes. "If it wasn't for your ability, you would never have saved me. I felt so lonely that no one could see me. I thought I was going to die. That the 'man' would eventually get me. But then you came along."

Jay's tears spilled over as Ellie's words sank in. He had always seen his ability as a curse, but for the first time, he realized it had given him the power to help someone.

Chiaki crossed her arms, looking down at the two of them. "Look, Jay, was it? You shouldn't hate your ability. So what if people can't see what you see? That just makes you special. And you're not alone. There are more people like you."

Jay's head shot up. "Who?"

Chiaki pointed to herself with a grin. "Me. And plenty of others in my exorcist team. You should meet them sometime."

Jay's eyes widened. The idea that there were others like him—people who understood what he was going through—was both comforting and exciting.

Chiaki glanced at a large clock hanging on a nearby building and her expression shifted to one of panic. "Oh crap, is that the time?" she exclaimed. "I've got to get home. I need to make dinner for my daughter!"

She grabbed her spear, slinging it over her shoulder, and started jogging away. "I'll see you next time!" she called over her shoulder, waving goodbye.

Jay and Ellie watched her disappear into the distance. For a moment, the street was silent except for the faint hum of the streetlights.

Jay was lying down on the street, his eyes wide open. He could hear the figure growling near him, its guttural noises reverberating in his ears. He wanted to move, to get up and run, but his body refused to obey. Suddenly, he felt fingers clutching his shoulders, shaking him violently. Ellie's tear-streaked face appeared in his view, her voice frantic. "Wake up, Jay! Please, wake up!"

Jay gasped, his body jolting upright. But instead of the dark street, he found himself in his room, the familiar surroundings bathed in the soft morning light. Ellie was floating above his bed, her expression full of worry. "Jay! This creature is making some weird noise!" she exclaimed, pointing at his phone.

Jay turned his head to see his phone vibrating and blaring its alarm on his nightstand. Reaching over, he slid the X button to the right on the screen, silencing the noise. "It's not a creature," he assured her, rubbing his eyes. "It's a smartphone."

"What's a smartphone?" Ellie asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Her question caught Jay off guard. Then, noticing her vintage clothes, he realized she might be from an era before smartphones—or even telephones—existed. "I'll explain later," he said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Right now, I need to get ready for school."

"Alright," Ellie said, descending onto the bed and sitting cross-legged, watching him expectantly.

Jay hesitated, scratching the back of his head. "What I meant is that I need to change in my room. So, I need you to leave."

"What? Why?" Ellie questioned, her brows furrowing.

"Because I don't want you to see me with no clothes on," Jay replied, his cheeks flushing red as he gently pushed her toward the door. Once she was out, he quickly locked it behind her, leaning against the door with a sigh. "This is going to be a long day," he muttered to himself before heading to his closet to get dressed.

Jay was walking his way to school, Ellie holding onto his hoodie as she floated alongside him. He thought she was quite clingy, but then remembered the dark twin creatures and all the time she'd spent running from the giant 'man.' It made sense she'd want to stick close. Still, questions began to swirl in his mind. Where were her parents? What had happened to them?

"Ellie? Where are your parents?" he asked out loud.

"I don't know," she replied, her voice trembling. His question seemed to trigger something in her, as tears began to run down her cheeks. "I've lost them somewhere. I've been running away from the 'man.'"

Jay wished he'd never asked. Now, he had to cheer her up in the middle of the street, where, from other people's point of view, it looked like he was trying to comfort nobody.

Looking at her tattered clothes, he realized she might have been running for years. Who knows how long she'd been alone?

"Tell you what," Jay said, trying to sound upbeat. "How about I help you find your parents?"

"Really?" Ellie asked, her eyes lighting up with hope.

"Of course!" he said convincingly. Although, deep down, he knew it was a broken promise. He didn't even know where to begin. But seeing her wide smile and hearing her softly humming as they walked, he knew he had to start somewhere.

Jay arrived at school, his shoulders slumping as he stepped through the gates. He didn't even make it to the main building before he ran into Nick and his crew. The moment they saw him, the hurtful jokes began.

"Watch out! Mr. Weirdo is coming. Better hold your barriers—his stupidity is contagious!" Nick called out, his voice dripping with mockery.

Jay clenched his fists but didn't respond. He walked past them, keeping his eyes forward.

"What a freak," he heard one of Nick's friends mutter behind him, followed by their snickers.

"Why are they being so mean?" Ellie asked, her voice filled with concern.

"I told you," Jay said under his breath. "People see me as an outsider. I'm the only one who sees ghosts, so they make fun of it."

Ellie's expression darkened, and before Jay could stop her, she floated away from him, heading straight for Nick and his crew. In one swift motion, she yanked down their pants, leaving them standing in their underwear for the entire school to see. The hallway erupted in laughter as students pointed and doubled over, while Nick and his friends scrambled to pull their pants back up, their faces red with humiliation.

Jay froze, his jaw dropping as Ellie floated back to him, sticking her tongue out playfully. He couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at his lips.

Katie was already seated in her classroom, her chin resting on her hand as she stared out the window. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened yesterday. Jay's rejection had caught her completely off guard. No boy had ever turned her down before—not once in her entire life.

She always held herself in high regard. Boys would gawk at her as she walked down the hallways, their conversations often filled with whispers about her beauty. Girls envied her, wishing they could be as captivating as she was. Sometimes, she'd overhear boys daring each other to ask her out, and she loved every second of it. She basked in the attention, her confidence bolstered by her ability to attract anyone with her dazzling aura.

But then there was Jay.

For some reason, her aura had no effect on him. It was as if he was immune, and that infuriated her. At the same time, she found herself intrigued. Why didn't it work on him? What made him different?

Her gaze shifted to the classroom door as Jay walked in. Her eyes followed him as he made his way to his desk, her curiosity growing with each step he took. He sat down, seemingly unaware of her intense stare. Katie bit her lip, her mind racing with thoughts about the boy who had managed to defy her charm.

Jay wasn't really paying attention in class as he kept watching Ellie, who was curiously floating around the room. "What are these devices on everyone's desk?" she asked, hovering above a female classmate. She was referring to the laptops.

"A laptop," Jay said quietly, trying not to let anyone notice him talking.

"What does a laptop do?" Ellie asked.

"It's a helpful tool that a lot of people use. It helps with work and school stuff. People can go on the internet to find stuff, watch videos, or keep in touch with people. Now, would you please sit down?"

But she wasn't listening. She floated straight to the teacher and saw that the board had colored letters. She touched a letter and felt it had a different texture than she remembered. Back in her school days, she'd written on chalkboards, the texture solid and rough. This one was smooth and liquid.

"Jay? What are these letters made out of?" she asked. "It feels liquidy."

"That's a whiteboard marker," Jay replied.

A crumpled paper ball hit Jay on the back of his head. He turned to see Nick sneering at him. "Stop talking to yourself, freak," Nick said.

"Don't you hate that guy?" said a voice. Jay froze, startled. The voice didn't come from anyone around him—it came from his own mind. It sounded dark and menacing, almost demonic.

"Hello?" Jay whispered, confused.

"Can you sound even more pathetic?" the voice sneered. "'Hello?'" It mocked. "What do you expect me to say? 'Nobody's home'?"

"Who are you? Why are you in my head? How did you get in my head?" Jay demanded internally.

"Geez, so many questions. Who the hell cares? Just like him. Nick. He doesn't care about you. The way he treats you, tortures you. Don't you just want to kill him?"

The voice's words were strangely compelling. Jay nodded slightly. He had often wished Nick wasn't in his life. His world would have been brighter without him. He glanced at Nick with pure anger and hatred. Nick, oblivious, was grinning at his laptop.

"Just look at him, laughing at his laptop," the voice said. "Acting so freely. Not giving a damn about the world. I say we should put an end to this. We…"

The voice was interrupted by Ellie appearing centimeters away from Jay, startling him. "Did you hear me?" Ellie asked.

"What?" Jay replied, shaking off the voice's influence.

"Can I look around the school?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Alright!" she yelled, floating up in joy. Then she flew out of the classroom.

While Jay was working on his laptop, Katie convinced herself that she would talk to him after this class. Although she had no clue what she would talk about, it wouldn't matter. She was the prettiest, and Jay would just gaze at her and listen to her no matter what she said. Alright, she had made up her mind.

The bell rang. She rushed to Jay in the hallway. "Jay!" she yelled out. Students were already turning their heads. Other students were mumbling to each other, "Is she walking to that freak?" they said. "This is going to be interesting."

Katie stood in front of Jay, flipping her blonde hair in the air and moving her hips a little from side to side.

"Well. Well. What a beauty," the voice appeared again. "Look at her silky blonde hair. That smooth white skin. Those blue eyes like the sky and her kissable lips. Just my type of girl. Too bad she's way out of your league. A loner and the most popular girl? That will never fit. But who cares, how about we just ra—"

"How about you just shut up?" Jay said, interrupting. For some reason, Jay knew what the voice was about to say. He knew it was something terrible, something that could land him in jail. However, he did have thoughts of doing it but was too weak to act on them.

"Excuse me?" Katie said, surprised.

Jay froze, not realizing he had spoken out loud.

"Did he tell her to shut up?" a student said. "How dare he!"

Jay knew this was bad, so he just ran away. Katie tried to run after him but fell to the ground. For some reason, her shoelaces were tied together. Apparently, Ellie had been walking around the hallway looking for Jay but saw him with another girl. She got jealous. Taking advantage of her being a ghost, she played a small prank by tying Katie's shoelaces together. So whenever Katie tried to walk, she would fall.

Jay was walking back home with Ellie floating beside him, arms crossed, and an angry pout on her face. She had been acting like this all day, even during class, glaring at him with her puffed cheeks.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Jay finally asked, unable to take the silence anymore.

Ellie just turned her head away with a little "Hmmf."

Now they were walking down the street, and she was still giving him the same treatment. "Ellie, would you please talk to me?" Jay pleaded.

"No!" she moaned.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"But why not?"

Jay's persistence was getting on Ellie's nerves. Finally, she decided to spill the beans. "You were with a girl," she said softly.

"What did you say?" Jay asked, leaning closer.

"I said you were with a girl!" she yelled, loud enough for the whole street to hear—even though no one else could see or hear her.

"What girl?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"That blonde girl," Ellie clarified, her tone accusatory.

"Ooh, Katie," Jay remembered.

"Is she your girlfriend? What were you two talking about?"

"She's not my girlfriend, and I wasn't talking to her."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Ellie accused, narrowing her eyes.

"No, seriously, I wasn't," Jay insisted, which was technically true since he had been more preoccupied with the voice in his head than Katie.

Before Ellie could argue further, they heard loud noises coming from around the corner of a building. It sounded like an animal rampaging through trash cans.

"Probably a raccoon," Jay muttered, turning the corner to investigate. But it wasn't a raccoon. Standing amid the scattered trash was another black figure, but this time it had the head of a wolf. Its glowing red eyes locked onto Jay's, and it let out a low, menacing growl.

Jay froze. The figure's gaze was intense and unrelenting.

The creature snarled before charging at them.

"You must be kidding me. Not this again," Jay said, bracing himself for another nightmare encounter.