Outside my house, the rain came down harder
thick drops beating the roof like angry fingers.
We couldn't hear it at first.
That song.
That same one from yesterday
the one Eli was humming before I left her place.
I reached into my pocket and felt the coin she gave me.
Cold. Too cold.
We'd been playing games all night
laughing, talking trash
then knocked out in the parlor, still holding controllers.
The cat was curled on the chair, tail twitching.
Outside...
A voice started.
Soft, calm… like a lullaby for the dead.
It was sweet but wrong
every note too perfect, too slow, too hollow.
Rain, rain, drop the beats...
Rain, rain, fall away...
Mommy's here, mommy's coming to play with you...
Rain, rain, drop the beats...
Rain, rain, fall away...
Mommy's here, mommy's coming to play with you...
The rain started falling with the rhythm
each drop landing on time with the song,
like the sky was keeping the beat.
Then BOOM.
Pressure hit.
Everything shifted.
The air snapped.
Yo we weren't even in my house anymore.
Kiki the cat
arched its back and hissed, eyes glowing red.
It meowed so loud it felt like the sound hit my ribs.
Nami jumped up, half asleep.
"Yo! What's the damn problem with this cat, huh?!"
Then she froze.
Her face changed.
Cairo groaned, still half-dreaming.
"Yo, tell that damn furball to chill…"
Nami hissed, "Shut up, idiot. Something's coming."
I didn't need her to tell me.
I felt it.
I grabbed that samurai katana
the same one from the last fight.
The blade hummed when I touched it,
like it already knew we were about to get wrecked.
I thought, Good thing I kept this thing.
If I was wrong, we'd all be ghosts before morning.
Still, I couldn't figure out
how the hell did it find us?
We weren't near the school.
We weren't near the cave.
So how the hell
Nami bolted into the kitchen
crash, bang came back swinging two frying pans.
"Yo, I ain't dying on my midterm break!"
Cairo stood up too, holding my grandpa's old tennis stick.
He was yelling,
"Damn ghost! Don't you take no breaks, huh?!"
I could tell he was scared,
but we were all pretending to be brave
laughing through the panic.
The rain stopped.
Silence.
We ran outside and hit a wall.
Not a real one.
Like... an invisible block, pressing us back.
Then Kiki that damn cat grew.
Like grew.
It exploded out of my house,
body stretching, fur flying, claws glowing.
My house couldn't even hold him.
Walls cracked, windows shattered
the cat was massive now, eyes burning like headlights.
I looked up at him.
"This… yeah, this ain't my problem anymore."
Then the voice came back.
New song.
Lower.
Colder.
Crawling under my skin.
Gu gu gaga… come back home…
Gu gu gaga… come back home…
Each word echoed, slow and sticky,
like it was whispered from inside our heads.
Cairo's eyes went wide.
"Yo guys… ain't that the voice of that damn ghost baby?"
Nami snapped,
"Ghost baby's a boy, Cairo. This this is a woman.
And whoever she is… she's not happy."
I stood still, gripping the katana tighter.
"Man, today ain't my day.
First a ghost cat, now a singing mom from hell.
What's next, a demon choir?"
Then it happened.
Flowers.
Falling from the air
petals slow, soft…
but wrong.
They weren't real flowers.
They melted into strands.
Hair.
Long, wet human hair.
The whole place turned to liquid air
like we were underwater.
White and black fish swam around us in the mist.
The world was sinking, bending, breathing.
The hair brushed my face,
curling around my arms, pulling, holding.
We tried to run
but the ground pulled us down.
Gravity flipped,
crushing our bodies like the earth wanted us gone.
We couldn't move.
Couldn't scream.
Only watch as the flowers turned to eyes
and the eyes stared back.