Seven o'clock p.m., Village of Fories, in the motel.
Inside room 103, Lev was eating the food that Kaz made. The honey flavored chicken thighs were sweet with a little touch of saltiness. Lev decided to mix the mashed potato and the buttered corn and to his surprise, it was extremely delicious. There was a condiment which Lev didn't know the name of, but when he dipped the chicken in it, rich flavors invaded his tongue.
"It's delicious!" Lev complimented Kaz's cooking. He couldn't stop eating and munching as if there was no tomorrow.
Kaz was glad to hear that. He went to the refrigerator and brought out cold bottled water. Each room had a refrigerator which was filled with water bottles. The motel employers informed every customer that no bottles should be littered outside or else they would face a charge and a warning from the village chieftain.
Kaz sat on the front of Lev and chuckled, "You should slow down. Here, have some water."
Lev took the opened water bottle and took three big gulps. The food was almost finished but he purposely left a small portion for Glib. He didn't want to let Glib miss out such delicious food.
Thinking of Glib, Lev noticed that Glib wasn't with them in that room.
Maybe he's sitting on my shoulders, unseen... Lev remembered the invisible power that Glib had.
"How's life?" Kaz probed.
Lev closed the plastic tupperware and slid it on the edge of the small, round table. He thought for a couple of seconds and answered:
"Everything is good. She leaves me food every morning and gives me a lot of free time during the day."
Then a thought quickly entered Lev's mind. He remembered something on the first night when they dropped him at Lola's.
Why did she leave me bread every morning? Didn't she say to me that I would only eat the leftover foods that she ate? Was it her shadow that was talking to me that night? Maybe there's still a sliver of goodness within her.
"I see," Kaz nodded, "I guess you're living a good life, huh?" Kaz was happy, but deep inside he felt that there was something off about Lev when he answered.
Lev shot a quick glance at Honey, who was lying on the soft bed and was occupied on her cellphone, and went closer to Kaz's ear and whispered, "Actually, there's something I have to tell you. Lola—"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Lev was interrupted by the loud knocking on the door. Honey turned her head towards the door, startled.
"Who is it?" Honey stood hurriedly and pulled the ends of her coat. She walked towards the door and slightly raised her voice, "Who is it?"
There was a moment of silence. Then suddenly a high, shriek-like voice answered. "It's me."
"Oh. It's just you, Lola." Honey recognized the voice and opened the door. She greeted her with a wide smile. "You sure gave me a fright."
Lola's appearance was a total mess. Her messy hair was so messed up that it was like lightning struck her, leaving some of her hair standing straight. Her face was disturbingly distorted. Red, wide eyes were staring straight to Lola and her lips were bathed with blood that was dripping down to her chin. She was biting her lower lips. No, more like chewing on it causing blood to continuously flow down to her throat like a red waterfall, staining her clothes.
"What happened to you?" Honey was terror-struck. Seeing such a disturbing anomaly made her take a couple of steps back.
Lola was holding a kitchen knife on her right hand. "Hello, sister. I'm glad that you came back."
She tilted her head to the right at ninety degrees while her neck didn't bend, and cracking noises could be heard. Her head was straight horizontal and she smiled at Honey, revealing her bloodied teeth and small pieces of flesh could be seen in between of it.
She straight up tackled Honey, leaving them lying on the floor with Lola on the top. She let out a chilling laugh while her face was inches away from Honey's. Small drops of blood dropped on Honey's face that came from Lola's mouth and she raised the knife and stabbed Honey on her chest.
"AHHHHHHH!!!" Honey let out a painful scream that slowly trailed off as her own blood choked her.
Kaz and Lev were petrified at what they witnessed. Never have they ever expected that such a horror event would happen in their life, but it just did, and it happened right in front of their eyes.
Glib, who was already on his humanoid form, materialized on Lev's shoulder and screamed:
"RUN!"
Lev wanted to run but Lola was laying on the front of the door, blocking their only way out. "There's no way!"
"Use your brain, you dimwit!" Glib raised his voice but there was a sense of calmness in it. He was already experienced in facing life-threatening situations when he was with Frederel.
Kaz was shocked by both Lola and the creature that appeared on Lev's shoulder, but he adapted the situation faster. He looked at the small table and started thinking.
Lev's heart was crazily beating fast. He just stood there like a sitting duck, waiting to be hunted. Glib continued yelling and hitting Lev for doing nothing.
Lola's body became more disfigured after stabbing Honey. Her limbs started to make cracking noises and her back arched inwards. Her elbows and knees protrude outwards, making her body to be in a frog-like position that was ready to lunge at Lev and Kaz.
She slowly crawled towards them while gradually increasing the speed. She lunged at Lev who was just blankly staring at her and landed on him, making them both lying on the floor with Lola on the top. Glib already jumped off when she attacked. Her tilted head with an exaggerated smiling face traumatized Lev and he started screaming.
Kaz quickly carried the table and knocked it on her head, making her eyes roll upwards and she was stunned for a while.
"Quick! Let's go!" Kaz kicked her away and pulled Lev on his feet.
They ran towards the door then Kaz took out the knife that was stabbed on Honey's chest. He reached the door and before closing it, he took one last glance over Honey's dead face. Her lifeless eyes were open and her screaming mouth was filled with blood.
Lola recovered from the daze and noticed that the boys had escaped. She let out an ear-deafening shriek and charged towards the door.
Lev and Kaz were running outside with thick fog that blanketed the whole village with a black layer. Glib materialized on Lev's shoulder and stated, "I think now is the good time to go to the Forest."
Lev grunted and led the way towards the forest while Kaz followed at the back. They were running at their top speed with the help of adrenaline that was coursing through their veins.
Glib looked back and tapped Lev's shoulder.
"Uh— Guys? We have company."
Lev and Kaz looked back and what they saw was the creepiest thing that they ever saw in their life. Lola was chasing them down with her four limbs and she was catching unto them.
What Lev saw was different from Kaz's. Black shadows have fully merged into Lola's body and countless red-dot eyes were eyeing him, targeting him as their next prey.
"Glib, what to do?!"
"I don't know!" Glib honestly answered. He didn't know how to defeat Lola, much more the evil shadow because based on his experience back on the Kingdom, he never faced one.
"What?!" Both answered Glib in unison.
They were nearing the forest and the fog was getting a little bit thinner, making their visibility of the forest a little bit better.
"We should do something about that monster!" Kaz knew the danger it presents not just on themselves but also on the village. His mind quickly analyzed the dangers that she could do if she would be left alone.
They entered the forest and Lola was already 10 meters away from them. She was quickly catching unto them, much quicker than Lev anticipated.
"Glib!"
"What?!" Glib's voice now carried a worried tone behind it.
"Any thoughts?" Lev jumped through the dead logs and dodged the branches.
"Can you run 'til dawn?" Glib sarcastically asked.
"No!"
"Then, no, I don't have any thoughts!" Glib spat.
"How about any weaknesses?" Kaz who was running beside Lev asked.
"I already told you! It's sunlight or any light, so that we could neutralize the shadow!" Glib answered tersely. He wasn't actually one-hundred percent sure if sunlight was their weakness because back on the Vale of Före, the lady that they saw was walking on midday while the shadows freely polluted the minds of some people.
"How about killing its host?" Lev couldn't believe himself that he was suggesting such a menacing idea.
"I don't know!" Glib said firmly.
By then, Lola grabbed Kaz by his ankles, making him stumble and fall on the dark-brown soil. She crawled on top of Kaz and stretched open her mouth. Her cheeks started to rip open and a hideous stench came off from her mouth.