Jerrod messed up his dark brown slicked back hair as he sighed and thought, "Haa– of course, no one will believe me."
He was back at his house again after being sent home from the hospital.
"Do I look like someone who's sick and crazy?" Jerrod asked himself as he looked at his reflection in the glass door. He still has his firm muscles and healthy-looking fair skin. Starving for one day won't make him look skinny at all.
He chuckled. "I do look crazy."
Although nothing much changed in his good looks, his dark circles under his eyes and his messy unmatched clothes ultimately gave off that he was not in the right mind.
He still felt sick but chose to return home to not bother anyone else. He doesn't want his married friend to take care of him, and he also doesn't want his parents to know that he was admitted to the hospital.
"Sir, we have loaded everything."
"Is that so? Please send the donation anonymously."
"Wow. You're really going to send all of your furniture and appliances to donation? Are you leaving the country, sir?"
"Haha. You can say that. Well then be careful on your way."
"Okay, sir. Thank you."
Jerrod doesn't like how nosy the courier was who he hired to transport his things to completely empty his house.
From the other's perspective, he may appear to be moving out, but he only wished to empty his house so that no more ghosts would be attached to any of his furniture or appliances. The only items left in his home are a sleeping bag and three suitcases.
Jerrod could think of no other solution. He decided to live without anything in his house, which seemed too effective as he had never seen the ghost ever since he avoided any chance of him approaching any cabinet or similar furniture.
"Oh, sir. It looks like you recovered!" His assistant gave him a thumbs-up while they were taking a break and drinking coffee.
"Recover to what? Do I still look sick?"
"No, you look fine now, sir, but in the past few days you were sending this dark aura."
"Come on, sir will look like that. It was not a long time ago since he collapsed! but sir! We are glad that you're back to health again."
Jerrod could only smile in response. It was only recently that he got used to his new lifestyle. He could now sleep comfortably in his sleeping bag without worrying about any ghosts disturbing his sleep because his house had nothing anymore.
"Anyway, I heard an interesting story from the other department."
"Oh, what is it?"
Jerrod sipped his coffee while casually watching his officemate gossip in front of him.
"The encoder there claimed that he saw a ghost!"
Jerrod almost spit out the coffee in his mouth and just wiped it with his tie. His ears twitched as he got interested in their topic.
"Ghost? That's funny! What kind of childish story is that?"
Jerrod understood his assistant's reaction as it would be his reaction as well if he hadn't encountered ghost before, but now that he knew ghosts really exist, he wished to seriously know the details of the story.
"Come on! Let her finish the story!" One of their encoders seemed interested and asked for the story to be told.
"Ehem! So the story is that the encoder could hear typing sounds whenever she had her overtime here at the office. but the office was empty and it was just her!" Their officemate talked in a hushed tone to make the story more spooky, and she even acted with her words.
"She might be just hallucinating due to exhaustion or overwork. She needs to stop taking over time." Another assistant interjected and killed the excitement of the story.
Everyone else frowns, and the story teller loses interest in sharing.
"Why do you have to kill the excitement like that?"
"Why are you all just joking around?" Jerrod finally asked, as he didn't get where the conversation was going.
"Haha, sir, Don't tell me you believe in ghost?"
Everyone laughed together as if they were certain that Jerrod would never believe in such ridiculous things, but Jerrod remained serious and asked, "Why? don't you?"
"It doesn't exist, sir. That encoder was only hallucinating because of guilt and exhaustion."
"Guilt?"
"She had actually been encoding her work incorrectly, so some of the transactions were back logged. A lot of clerks lose their incentives because of that. She was taking overtime to make up with back logs. so it was only her imagination."
"Sir, ghosts are the only embodiment of human flaws. It was only created with our mind."
The group laughed loudly together as they mocked the encoder on their break, but of course Jerrod was the only one feeling awkward and confused.
"Don't tell me I am suffering because of my own imagination? Do I really need to meet a psychiatrist?" he wondered.
However, what he wanted to know more about was, if what they said was true, then he must be feeling guilt over something as well.
Why in the cabinet?
Why was the ghost a masculine lady?
What does it try to tell him?
Although he is curious, he doesn't have the courage to test it and check it.
He still chose to skip the psychiatrist and continue to live in an empty house.
"I don't have to think about it anymore. I am fine living like this from now on."
Jerrod chose to avoid it rather than face it.
...
...
Off work, he used to have his dinner at home, but since he doesn't have anything at all at home anymore, he has been eating out.
"Hmm? Does convenience store food taste good?"
Jerrod wondered as he parked his car near a convenience store. He usually eats at a restaurant, but strangely, he was looking for something new for dinner.
He went inside the convenience store, looking clueless about what to get.
He walked into the aisle and ended up standing in front of pre-cooked meals.
"Oh? lasagna? There's sliced fruit too."
His brown eyes sparkled as he looked down at the five-foot tall shelves that looked tiny compared to his height.
He never thought that a visit to a convenience store would be interesting.
"This won't make me fat, right?"
Jerrod took a bunch of food as his curiosity to taste the unfamiliar foods he discovered, but soon the food that he carried on his arms fell and rolled on the floor.
"S-sir? Are you alright?" The cashier hurriedly left her post and supported Jerrod to get up, but his body trembled more as the cashier touched him.
"I-I am fine! S-sorry! I was just exhausted!" He exclaimed as he pushed the cashier away from him. He then picked up the food he dropped and hurriedly paid for it.
"That would be 805 pesos, sir." The cashier looked at him worriedly but still proceeded to bag the food he purchased. "Do I still need to reheat this, sir?"
"N-no. That's fine."
"Are you fine, sir? Do you want me to call an ambulance?"
"No. It's okay. Thank you."
Jerrod hurriedly walked out of the convenience store while his body was still trembling in fear. He then threw the food in the back seat.
Jerrod grabbed his chest and felt the hard thumping of his heart.
"T-that cashier! She looks exactly like the ghost!"