Chapter 1

Heather

How can a nightmare feel so sweet? How can it seem like what my younger self has been yearning for all this time but failed to reach? I harshly wiped the tears that's been cascading from my face and crossed the pedestrian lane. Just in time, a reckless driver didn't hit me with his truck.

To my surprise, my heartbeat didn't skip. I can't even feel a thing anymore, despite how many people have been eying me with judgement.

"Bakit ba parang kasalanan ko? Sa pedestrian lane ako dumaan!" Suminghal ako at balak nang kutusan 'tong elementary student tingin ng tingin, pero agad ding natigilan dahil sa pamilyar na tawa sa gilid.

I didn't have to check who it was, the way the chills down my spine lingered was enough for me to recognize him. It was the nightmare that came to life.

"Nangangaway ka parin ng bata, hanggang ngayon? Grabe naman Heather!"

Instead of batting him an eye, I just gave him my fakest smile and pace my way towards the entrance of my school.

"And you still have the audacity to act like nothing happened, Rozen Blake. As always."

For the love of Heathenian Gods and Goddesses, I know this town is small but can I please stop seeing him, even in my dreams? I also know that we're literally neighbors all our lives, from our houses to our schools. But please, just let me live my life away from that bastard.

And no, I don't hate him, I just don't want to see him ever again. Nor have a conversation with him. Nor to have nightmares about him. Nor to remember him just with a single song.

Fuck mercury retrograde!

I entered my class storming, but that was actually an understatement from what my day had turned out. The summative test about Heathenian Mythology has been postponed, and that being my only subject for the day, I had the chance to do my part time job in this abandoned boarding house.

The tenant asked me to banish the spirit that's been lingering in room 3, so that's what I did. With my fist and a broken clown mask that serves as my protection, I easily cleared the whole place and made the lady in black disappear for good.

Unlike when I was younger, I am now stronger and better at facing non-living things. I can even touch them now. For I came to realize that the real horrors aren't just the spirit that haunts a place, but also real humans with evil intentions and of course a human mind who can't even forget. This adult life has battered me so much that I can now smack a ghost in the face but can't even move on from things that happened years ago. Like damn it. Is this the curse of being different?

I hugged the broken clown masked that has been with me since I was a kid. Upon walking my way back home, I can't help but to laugh off all the bullying and therapy I faced just for not wanting to throw this away. Because the world said this was a devil's thing, but it made me stronger in fighting spirits so I keep it secretly. They said it whisper things, but I can't even hear anything, anymore. I hardly forgot when was the last time it talked, so I shrugged it off at made it as a props whenever I'm doing my part time jobs.

Because it indeed has a protection spell or whatsoever in it. And it seems like the world didn't know how it feels like to be helpless and pathetic, that's why they're so easy at throwing away the things that made people stronger. 

"The sunset again," I mumbled to myself as I waited for the traffic light to turn into my favor. In the same pedestrian lane, I saw the same elementary student earlier. But this time, she was bruised and covered in blood.

In a snap, my heart finally skipped a beat as things dawned on me. The elementary girl was a ghost all along, and he saw her! I mean, that idiot saw the ghost! Which isn't possible anyway, because he is a normal person. He can't even see where his boundaries should be, what more about the non-living things?

And a normal person being able to see a spirit, could mean some things, and one of them is that their time is nearing its end. I was frozen, stunned and speechless. I can't even feel my feet nor breath properly, when all of a sudden, a loud thud rang into my ears.

"Hala yung binata!"

"Gago, huminto ka, may nabangga ka!"

"Shit, tumawag kayo na ambulansya!"

Right at that moment, the strength in my being has all disappeared into the thin air. I was in that state for a minute until my muscle memory decided to betray me and face the truth. Just like this morning, I saw Rozen Blaze, but this time he was meters away. The same innocent face and messy hair, wearing his favorite blue sweatshirt.

He was confused, staring at the bloodbathed body lying on the ground that exactly looks like him. My heart, my heart was sinking as his gaze met my eyes.

It was dead on the spot.

Although the world tried to save him, the ambulance came and his spirit went where his corpse was heading, but it was too late. Too late for him. Too late for me. Too late for us, for the world, for the heavens above. It was too late.

With a heavy heart, I arrived at my house with uncontrollable tears. I was so lost, I didn't know what to do. Either to help even though it's useless, to see him in that hospital or to stay out of it. I was trembling so much I had to take a moment before gaining the strength to come home. One snap and here I am, in this empty house with nothing but myself. Too much for having a nightshift father. But at that time, I believed it was better that way, so I can cry myself to sleep. However, imagine how the hole in my chest got triggered the moment his sister started calling on my phone.

I was not in the mood to answer it at first, but I absently did, upon reaching the messy living room. "Y-Yes, Rayne?" I responded.

"Ate Heather! Huhu! My brother is dead! He was pronounced dead!" She was sobbing so hard I had to try my best to decipher her words. I then turned on the lights and went upstairs to rot in my bed. "B-but he suddenly came back to life and went missing!"

Seems like my jaw literally dropped the moment I opened my room's door and upon hearing his sister's sentiments.

Rozen is lying on my bed, naked. With a smug look on his face.

"Rayne, I think I found him."