[Background Music: Justin Bieber - Ghost]
"Picture? Picture, you demon?" The picture generated by AI. What were the odds? How was it a perfect representation of Jayden? She hadn't expected it either. The photo she had provided as a model wasn't his. The boy didn't even have Jayden's green eyes or his uniquely platinum-tinted blond hair.
"I repeat. You took Jayden away from me!" She dared to threaten him, a malicious smile forming on her lips.
Hate seeped through her words as she clenched her teeth. However, her warning didn't intimidate him. He was convinced he knew better. After all, the game they played with her had brought them great satisfaction. Trampling her under their feet made one feel more powerful. She was just a witch. She didn't deserve to live.
"Stop, you witch! You're delusional. Don't you understand he would never like you? You're ugly and old!" He was annoyed by her persistent claims of knowing him. There was no way that boy would ever like her. He was too beautiful. Such a man would never even glance at her.
Rather than retort, she closed the distance between them as he continued to hurl harsh epithets at her. He wondered why she was still searching for him on social media. He knew her search engine inquiries included the real-life Jayden. Yet, they had never actually met. It was all in the old hag's head, right?
"Hey, lady, old hag, I mean. Those in your stomach are not butterflies, but my knife turning in your wounds. Stop trying to get in touch with him, you psycho! He doesn't care about you!"
Marie-Rose's worries intensified when she realized Emilian might be referring to the real Jayden. But she didn't even have Jayden on her friends' list.
They merely liked each other's posts occasionally, mostly her. So how could have Emilian missed the mutual likes with Jayden?
Now frustrated, she had sworn to be careful, but the details had betrayed her. Yet, she wasn't made of stone. She couldn't help showing Jayden that she liked him. Standing before Emilian, her anger ignited.
Hurtful words were just that—meant to humiliate and enrage her.
Jayden and his gang only wanted to mimic her, to prove her wrong, to have the last word. This mockery was their response to a novel they had never laid eyes on. What truly angered her, though, was that his statements were not true. And she had to remain silent about it. Living this way was the real hell.
The truth struggled to surface, yet Marie-Rose couldn't allow it to be known. On the other hand, what more did she have to lose if they knew the truth?
Apparently, Emilian remained unconvinced that Jayden and she were acquainted.
"You should have focused on somebody else. Someone who was available. Someone like you. Do you think you're attractive? You should have focused on someone your age. Do you really think he'd choose you when it means changing your diapers in a few years?"
"Well, the truth is darker than that," she blurted out. "You fool. I met him in person. Not only that, but we liked each other," she shouted at him, her distress finally released.
"Are you nuts? Then why wasn't it official?" He tried to catch her in an inconsistency, to taunt her further.
"You stood in our way with your pride, thinking it was you I liked. Thinking I was looking for you, when you knew damn well it wasn't you, it was never you, it was him all along!" He refused to see the facts that were before his eyes, black and white.
Why would she and Jayden go to such lengths to protect each other if nothing were going on between them? Was Emilian blind or something? Marie-Rose and Jayden wanted to be together, but the scandal broke just hours before their planned meeting to talk.
"Why didn't you move on, witch?" He didn't expect her to tell him to his face that she never liked him. He attempted to hide his instant resentment. Even with a girlfriend, he still wished to be the object of her admiration, the inspiration for her male character. Oddly, he felt regret that he couldn't taunt her with his stalking anymore.
Until this day, she had tried to spare his feelings. But suddenly, she no longer cared. The alarm had rung for Emilian. Wishing him a rude awakening to reality, she said, "Do you really think someone else can replace him? Do you think he can be replaced? Some people can never be replaced." Her teeth showed as she spoke. "Did you really think that if you just found a replacement, I would somehow forgive you? I will never forgive you, demon! My curse will follow you everywhere, even in the highest realm!"
"If he liked you so much, why weren't you two together?" He attempted to apply logic.
"Because of your scandals, that's why. You prevented us from being together. You and your bloody scandals." Her voice shook with suppressed emotion.
"Oh, don't tell me you didn't get over him..." After a moment of silence, he added oddly, "Anyway, he left you for someone younger."
The burning hatred transformed Marie-Rose's appearance into flames. "Whatever you say will not change the truth," Marie-Rose said, although she feared Emilian might be right.
She pondered Emilian's words. It could be true, but who would blame Jayden for finding someone new after an abrupt breakup without a valid reason? He was not stupid; he must have known something more complicated was going on.
Marie-Rose was afraid Jayden would consider her crazy, so she chose to keep her findings to herself and let him live a free life, away from the dramas of the org and the gov and other insane people out there.
And who would blame the new girl when everyone was searching for love and a relationship? Why wouldn't she be entitled to find love with Jayden, especially when she couldn't possibly have known about her? How would the fact that he was in love with someone else before her change their relationship? Wasn't everyone in the same position?
Perhaps this was the reason he didn't show up the previous night. He must have met someone else since their breakup. He must have had other commitments. After all, they hadn't agreed on the purpose of the meeting, and in the end, it wasn't as if they had set up a date.
But that would never change the truth. The truth was that the feelings she had for Jayden had been mutual, but it was just too soon to call it a relationship. But she knew he was interested in her too.
So did he really think Marie-Rose would take it out on the innocent Jayden and his new girl, and not on the real culprits? They underestimated her desire for revenge. She would make sure the real culprits paid.
"Not in your wildest imagination have you seen what I will do to you." Her patience had reached its peak. "I'm coming for you. I'll drag you with me, demon. I won't let you live in peace."
She released an inhuman scream that erupted from deep within her. Anger transformed into fury.
While screams echoed from both sides, Marie-Rose watched her ghost from somewhere on the sidelines. She pitied the fool, Emilian.
Marie-Rose was glad the ghost hadn't taken the murder weapon to try to slice Emilian, and fortunately, the knife was nowhere close to her ghostly form. She took it into her possession as evidence of the murder that she was certain they would try to cover up.
She wondered if she should let the ghost kill him, and strangely, her heart told her yes. After all, the police couldn't blame a ghost for a murder, could they? But no, he was too useful for her purposes. She should let him live. Death was too easy a revenge; he should live and suffer the torments that a killer must endure. Wasn't that rewarding? Watching him tormented incessantly by her ghost.
After one dies, a great revolution follows, and everything one feels is amplified a thousand times. Marie-Rose's anger as a victim rose to unprecedented levels, far beyond what any normal human could feel. Her suppressed emotions were capable of destroying the entire apartment. But for the sake of the investigation, she had to leave it intact. So the spirit tried to soothe the ghost, suggesting a lighter punishment.
Her spirit knew a long and restless night awaited Emilian, with sleep troubled by torments as the ghost of Marie-Rose followed him into his dreams, demanding justice.
She left him to deal with her ghost while her spirit went to explore a better way to return to this world.
"I'm gonna kill you, demon," the ghost yelled at Emilian, striking him with hands and fists. The beating made Emilian mumble prehistoric onomatopoeia, fitting for the mess he had become.
Out of the blue, books from the shelves started to float in the air in an insane dance. One after another, three books fell on Emilian's head as he knelt down to shield himself. One was an anatomy atlas, which fell to the ground with the pages open to the anatomy of the heart.
The second was a thick tome, the Constitution, which strangely opened to the paragraph about freedom of expression upon hitting the ground.
The Bible, the last to fall to the floor after ricocheting off Emilian's head, lay open with its pages at Matthew's Gospel 19:6.
Before losing consciousness, Emilian read the verse: "What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder."