Slowly, she opened her eyes, a bit bleary, pulling herself up, feeling rather heavy. Yawning and stretching her arms wide, her body aches as if she had been in an accident or something. Her long, wavy hair is all messed up from a bad bed-hair.
She stood up, lazing around, carrying her weight to the bathroom. It was time to get ready and go to her class. That once-little lady is no longer so little, with an agenda in hand, to arrive at her university by 8. She passed by her mirror before reaching the bathroom door, only to be stunned by her own haggard appearance.
"Wow, damn. I look..."
"Horrendous."
A deep voice cut her words by her ear, low and close, jolting her. Malum was standing behind her out of nowhere again, yet as always, charming in his regal attire of all black.
"Stop it, Malum. You can't just appear like that."
Ene grumbled. Her cheeks reddened as his gaze lingered for a while, reading through her reactions. His hair sways softly as he leans backwards, dissipating once again, out of her bedroom and to the balcony of her apartment. It was apparent he never cared for her words, not ever since she breathed her first breath under his calamity.
However, it has been his daily routine for the past few years: first to jump scare her, then to analyse the delicious corruption for his next destructions. Ene walks out of her bedroom, yet still stretching light after mending her hair in a low ponytail.
"My body aches like crazy. I know I'm exaggerating it, but it felt like I got crushed by a building or something."
Hearing her words, Malum feigned obliviousness through his silence. She took her remote control and turned on the television; it was the morning news. The news played of last night's calamitous event; a 33-story building in the central city had collapsed, killing many. Those injured had not yet been reported. Ene sat on the couch as she tilted her head slightly, a sense of deja vu.
"I... could have sworn I've been there before."
She crossed her arms as she tried to recount it. A blur in her memories. Another woman appeared before her, her lengthy hair covering her face, wearing a shabby white dress, sitting close, and a lingering, pungent floral scent wafted around her.
"Ene, didn't you go there last night? Have you forgotten?"
The lady said softly. Gestured his hand in an instant, shutting the television off instead of announcing more information.
"Don't you have to go to your 'university'?"
Those stern eyes sliced at them, momentous in their direction. Ene instinctively clasped both hands by his reminder.
"Oh, right, right. I'll get going now."
Leaping off the couch, her steps small yet nimble, she rushed as she closed her bedroom door behind her. Malum flashed before the lady, grabbing her by the throat, lifted high, wriggling in pain.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know she died again."
An instant regret as her voice strained from her own ignorance. Her spiking brittle nails were clawing his hand for release. He grimaces as the hold on her throat is an iron grip, pairing his authoritarian tone.
"Shut your mouth, or I'll make you stop talking altogether."
Whilst threatening her, he hurled her across the floor, followed by a shaking thud upon contact with the wall. The lady sobs pitifully, crouching as she trembles. Her hand caresses her neck from where he throttled her, a bruising pain.
"I've only let you live because your filthy presence affects her state for the worse."
The lady's face was visible through the partial parting in her hair. Her skin was pale white, with trailing blood tears staining her cheeks like red paint on a clear canvas, and a deep purple bruise on her neck, seen from where he grabbed her. Not wanting to rage him anymore, she sobs woefully as she vanishes before him.
Malum warped before the balcony once again, arms crossed. Trying to remain composed despite his troubled mind.
Why is it getting worse every single time? The corruption seeds I used to mend her body and feed her soul are not affecting her whatsoever.
Ene comes to his mind, that petite young girl who always preferred the night of dark hours, wasn't affected at all, not once. She hasn't yet been corrupted, despite the number of corruption seeds he gave her in secret. What makes her so different? As if a protection...
This kid... she's leaning too much toward the light. It's nauseating. I can't let this vessel be tainted with light; she belongs to my calamity. Why is she too different from the others?
Out of the bedroom, Ene dressed in a long-sleeved, double-layered white shirt, a blue cardigan, and black slacks. Hair updo to a bun with a star hair claw. Noticing he was yet again deep in thought.
He had been like that quite often. I wonder what's wrong.
The girl shrugged her shoulders, leaving the house and Malum with his own contemplations as the door clicked shut. Her platform clanks, echoing as she walks down the hall. Stopping as soon as she felt distorted by a split second, a detachment. Glancing back and forth, even if all looked too similar, she knew she was already stuck.
Ene walked back to the house only to go out the door again. Going down the stairs, yet she's coming down from the floor above instead, and the elevator had no button to press.
Knowing she was trapped, the surrounding darkness deepened as the halls began to decay before her eyes, worn-out colours and peeling paint, a mouldy smell as if she had entered into an abandoned and run-down apartment instead.
Malum sensed the disturbance as he wisped away in dark mists, outside. Even in the same hall, he could see her going around and around. Ene couldn't see him while he could; something hid her there. Two different worlds, yet noticing the same entity.
Crawling, dragging its body across the hall, filling it with the flesh of mutilated bodies. Uncountable legs and arms, bodies twisted abnormally. It was missing its 'heads'. The same foul stench filled her nose as she scrunched her face, catching its words.
"Sweet... So sweet... Smell so sweet..."
It kept echoing in her mind. She didn't understand the term 'sweet' nor know what to do as of now. Much earlier than those days, she had sensed something was lingering around the halls of the apartment, but this was not what she had expected. Whom invited it, that she'll never know.
It dragged, hulking its body yet again, only to rip it off amidst friction across the floor. The creature didn't stop, instead, smearing its rotten flesh and drenching the floor with rusted blood. Yet still dragging its heavy body across the hall toward her, crawling on its arms. With nowhere to go, cornered, a cold sweat ran down her temple as she felt the rough, tattered wall. Then there's Malum, relishing the exquisite distress of her face.
Should I let it swallow her instead? Although this one is a hassle and rotten to the taste.
Malum observed how the demon dragged itself closer to her; its 'mouth' was but the body slits open, baring the missing heads as teeth, yet it moved as if it were still alive. A horrifying sight to see, each head had bleeding hollowed eyes, wailing in a deafening manner. Its mouth contorting unnaturally, eager to consume and shred her apart.
Ene backed to the very edge, to Malum's anticipation. The monster, inches away from her, its bleeding tongues reaching out of desperation. Ene ducks her head. Diving her head first, tight, against her knees as she trembles with a single utterance.
"Malum..."
His eyes flickered slightly; that call of his name felt different from how she had always done. Promptly, a flick of his hand, the abomination disintegrated, burned by an invisible fire. Its screeching quakes the dilapidated apartment, as the windows shattered millions, to which Ene closed her eyes and shut her ears to the ear-splitting death cry.
After a while, the quietness settled to her bewilderment.
"What are you doing? Aren't you running late?"
Ene's eyes fluttered open upon hearing the deepening voice, meeting his ever-so-familiar stern gaze. Standing near her was Malum. She looked around the halls, noticing the creature had disappeared, not a single speck of flesh and blood left, and the apartment returned to its original appearance. She had returned to the human world.
She exhaled with relief as she stood straight once again to properly herself, straightening her outfit. A sheepish smile on her lips as reddish hues settled on her cheeks, embarrassed to be seen in such a state. She bowed slightly before walking, passing him as she headed for the elevator.
Upon the elevator's arrival, she turned to look at Malum once again, whose eyes were still fixated on her. Beaming and light-hearted, she thanked him as the elevator's door shut.
"Thank you, Malum."
Waving her hand goodbye, too. It was a sight he could not comprehend, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed. His arms crossed with a raised eyebrow. His feet tapped the floor, rather restless.
"Did she just thank me? Me? Calamity?"
He let out a half-chuckled, a total disbelief. He warped nearby, above a rooftop terrace where his view was clear of that careless girl. He watches her every move, heading for her 'class' he presumed. Ene was smiling again, much to his curiosity.
"This Rohi is truly an enigma."