Pierrot groaned and stood up, grabbing a drumstick as he reached for his ringing phone.
"Syca?" His voice was muffled by the food in his mouth.
"Everyone has to come. Bring them all!" Sycamore was out of breath on the other line, shouting through the phone. "It's in an apartment. Evacuations ongoing." The call cut off, leaving a monotone sound.
"Shhh." Pierrot swallowed his bite and almost cursed. "Everyone, get ready."
The team scattered, grabbing their things and running out of the shop. They all slammed into the car and closed the doors, Roy taking the driver's seat.
"Seatbelts."
"Let's go!" Pierrot said with urgency in his voice as he buckled his seatbelt in the passenger seat.
"Being complete was a bad sign." Crescent fidgeted with her fingers as she sat in the backseat.
The car's engine revved, and Roy immediately drove off to the address.
"But it is odd, don't you guys think?" Quill looked at the address on his phone, thumb on his chin in thought.
"What is?" Crescent turned to him.
He faced the team. "Six abductions and one murder... And at the mall... six possessions... and one death."
"It's a coincidence," Gibbous said in a serious tone, eyes fixed ahead on the highway.
"And the alarm just blared six times..."
Arc, who was beside Quill, felt a sudden chill. "Is it a recurring pattern?"
"No." Gibbous' tone was stern. "It's just a coincidence. Roy, how many minutes till the apartment?"
"Almost there, 8 minutes."
"Everyone prepare." Gibbous' serious tone caused everyone in the car to fall silent.
────────
A five-year-old girl skipped her way back to her unit in Harmony Apartment Complexes. She had black, straight hair and brown eyes, dressed in her Sunday best—a floral yellow puffy dress. She carried a teddy bear in one hand and a heart-shaped lollipop in the other, humming as she strolled down the hallway.
"Unit 1!" she said, seeing the large metal plate of 001 on a door. "My door is 3." She continued marching, skipping, and strolling her way back home. As she rounded the corner to her unit, she saw a man she recognized.
"Mr. King!" She shouted as she approached the man, who was staring straight at the wall, his head turned away from her.
She called the man Mr. King because of his hat with a crown on it. "Mr. King! Mr. King!" she called again, putting the lollipop in her mouth and shaking the man by the fringes of his shirt.
There was no answer. She turned to look at his face.
"Mr. King?" She peered over and saw the man with his eyes... all white.
"Mr. King...?" Seeing the man's white eyes, she pulled back.
"Not Mr. King..."
Her fingers loosened, and her teddy bear fell to the floor with a soft thud. Her eyes widened with fear as she watched the man. His movements were stiff, jerky, and unnatural, like a puppet on strings. He slowly turned his head to face her, his eyes shifting from white to a deep, sinister black.
A wicked smirk stretched across his face, revealing sharp, unnaturally pointed teeth.
The girl's mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. She took another step back, her legs trembling.
"Not Mr. King..."
Suddenly, she found her voice and let out a piercing scream, turning on her heel to run. Her tiny shoes pounded against the hallway floor, echoing loudly as she fled.
Behind her, the possessed man began to move, his mechanical motions becoming smoother, more deliberate.
His smirk widened into a grotesque grin, his black eyes oozing with black blood. He choked on the black viscous liquid as he watched the child run away, grinning, chuckling to himself.
He took a step forward, then another, his pace quickening as he pursued the terrified child.
The child glanced back, her eyes widening further as the man was gaining on her, moving unnervingly fluidly. It was as though his bones were flexible, his motions in ridiculous patterns.
She rounded a corner, nearly slipping on the polished floor, and continued to run, her breaths coming in rapid, short panicked gasps.
She reached the door to their home unit, her small hands fumbling with the handle. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled to open the door. "Mommy...."
Behind her, the man's footsteps grew louder, echoing in the hallways.
She finally managed to turn the handle and burst through the door, slamming it shut behind her and locking it from the inside with trembling fingers.
"It was the monster in the television... Mr. King turned into a monster..." Her voice trembled as the child knew what had happened to the man.
She leaned against the door, her back sliding down as she sat on the floor, hugging her knees closer to her chest. She could hear the man's footsteps stop just outside the door. There was a moment of silence, then a slow, deliberate knock was heard.
"Little girl," a voice called out, deep and distorted, sending a wave of chills down her spine. "Let me in."
She shook her head violently, closing her eyes.
The pounding on the door got louder.
"Little girl~" It had a playful tone. "It's me, Mr. King."
She covered her mouth to prevent herself from answering.
She looked around the room, searching for a place to hide. Her eyes landed on the cabinet below the television, and she quickly scrambled to her feet, running over and slipping inside, closing the door as quietly as she could.
She stayed hidden, as the pounding on the door got louder and louder.
"LITTLE GIRL!" The demon's voice, though muffled, was strong enough to reach her. She was shaking inside the cabinet, breaths shaky as she clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.
Then silence. The pounding stopped, the kicking of the door, the calling and the shouts.
She wondered if the demon had gone away and crept out of the cabinet.
As she approached the door, she heard the rustle of keys from the outside.
"Mommy?" she called, stepping closer.
"Is that you?" A click of it unlocking set off, and the doorknob turned, opening.
A woman, with her head down and disheveled hair, entered the unit, and the little girl's face brightened.
"Mommy!"