Aleyah opened her eyes and found herself in an all-white room. She looked around, there was a fresh flower on the table, her hand was on an IV drip and her body covered in a white blanket. "Wait, I shouldn't be here." she muttered then grabbed her glasses and put them on.
She was right, she was in the hospital. She felt unwell, her body felt sore, it felt like she had been crushed by a 100 kg stone. She had difficulty just to sitting so there was no way she would try to stand and torture herself.
Aleyah was alone in the spacious room. The bed in front of her was empty but there was a navy bag on it. She clearly knew that the bag was from her house so it was very likely that Lucy or Smith was in this room.
"Luc.. Lucy?" she called in a barely audible hoarse voice. Her calls went unanswered so she concluded that they were out. It seemed like she had to try to remember for herself how she ended up here.
Aleyah recalled what happened to her. The last thing she remembered was that she suddenly saw the shadows and they were threatening her. Aleyah looked at her right hand and the ring was still there with a red glow, and then she remembered she went into the bathroom to remove the ring on her finger with soap. Then it was useless, "Okay, after that..." Aleyah muttered trying to remember, "Then I ran to the room and took several pills without stopping."
She opened her eyes widely and suddenly clapped her hands. "That's it. I definitely ended up here because of those pills." she said to convince herself. For some reason she was very relieved, either because she was grateful to be alive or grateful that her fantasies about the shadows were only in her head.
"You're wrong," said someone.
Aleyah stared at every corner of the room to find the source of the voice and then she found it. It was from a teenage boy near the wardroom door. Her eyes widened in shock and afterward she shook her head in disbelief. She just couldn't believe it. She pulled the blanket to hide her face when the ghost came closer.
"You have to accept the fact that you are here because of me, I borrowed your body and I will borrow it again." said the ghost, who is now right next to Aleyah.
"Stay away from me." Aleyah shouted but all that came out of her mouth was a hoarse voice. Then she stretched out her palm as her last attempt to make the creature understand her words and stop approaching her.
The ghost seemed to be thrown into the air when Aleyah forbade it to come closer. The ghost turned into a black shadow and then floated around the room for a full circle. He sounded annoyed with his shrill sound and then the ghost returned to standing nearby at the distance Aleyah wanted. Aleyah held her aching neck and still stretched out her hand to prevent the ghost from approaching her. Aleyah tried hard to scream in her heart to forbid that ghost from coming any closer and it worked.
The ghost had tried hard to get past the limit that Aleyah had created but he couldn't. "It turns out you do have some kind of supernatural power. Let's see how long you can use it to stop me." said the ghost of the teenage boy with a cynical grin. Then another black shadow appeared in the room and joined that male ghost.
Aleyah closed her eyes and increasingly mumbled her ban. She noticed the ring on her finger turning colors, which had now become more red, ever darker than before and almost turning to black. Aleyah didn't know what was going on, did the object change color because she was expelling the shadow?
"No. No." she muttered while shaking her head. She could look at them with both eyes and it wasn't a hallucination or fantasy. She refused to believe it.
Suddenly a drop of red blood slid from her nose until it exploded on the clean white blanket. Another drop fell again and she wiped it off afterwards, she immediately felt dizzy seeing the red spots on her hands. She hates seeing blood and she almost faints because of it. The teenage ghost tried to step towards the bed slowly to make sure he was able to approach the woman.
"Good, now take turns. I'll finish the job this time." said the black shadows after they made sure that the woman could no longer use her power. However, their steps were blocked by the ghost of the teenage boy. He forbade them from attacking or taking over Aleyah's body. "This is not the time." he said.
The ward door opened, a blonde girl and a nurse appeared there, followed by several policemen. That's when the teenage ghosts and other shadows retreated for a while.
Aleyah opened her eyes wider and peeked at who was standing next to her. "Are you okay?" Lucy asked worriedly. The girl helped her sit up and put her arm around Aleyah's shoulders warmly.
Lucy took the tissue from the nurse's hand and helped Aleyah wipe her nosebleed. Meanwhile the nurse checked the IV and the doctor asked Aleyah several questions. Aleyah only answered yes or no in her hoarse voice but her focus was on the black shadows. They could borrow her body? Does it mean they can possess her body? What nonsense is that?
"Ekhm." That sound came from one of the policemen in the corner of the ward. He cleared his throat and then the attention of all the women in the ward was focused on them. A total of 3 police officers were in Aleyah's room, still in uniform and looking at her seriously. Lucy didn't leave her side and she was very grateful for that.
"Is there something wrong, officer?" Aleyah asked, still in her hoarse voice. Those policemen staring at each other then one of them who looked the most frightening approached Aleyah. "Did you see his face?" he asked straightforwardly.
Aleyah starled, did the police talking about that shadow? Did he also see the shadow or the ghost? Should she say yes? No, that's a dangerous admission. Aleyah kept searching for the right way to answer their question and she needed time. But they demand a fast response.
They were all staring at her intently until Aleyah was pressured, and finally she nodded to end their curiosity. The policeman folded his arms in front of his chest, "Alright then, that's great. I'll bring someone to draw a sketch of that person's face. Meanwhile, I want to ask you something else, miss." the policeman took a breath and glanced at Lucy briefly.
"Apologize if I asked this after you just woke up but your contribution will be a wonderful help for my team." he said again. Aleyah looked at the police one by one and then she nodded as an answer. "Can you explain what you were doing there alone during the night?" asked the policeman carefully, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Officer, what are you talking about?" Aleyah asked awkwardly. "Why would I go out at night? I don't think I understand any of this." The policeman exchanged glances with his colleague as well as Lucy. Lucy always watched her sister going out every night so she was quite surprised to hear Aleyah not admitting what she had done.
Aleyah looked at them all one by one. "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked, in a total confusion.