It was dark, suffocating and painful. Fear spread through every inch of her body until she trembled. She could have fought but she was desperate. Interesting what the mind can do to the human body, thoughts of fear and despair gnaw at her hope. "Please don't kill me..." she muttered with her trembling lips. The plea from her tiny lips was not granted. Then she started praying to God.
Aleyah is dreaming. She was on her bed with her eyes completely closed and now she was starting to crumple the blanket. Her eyes began to move restlessly and shed tears. Her breath suddenly became rapid and her lips began to make sobbing sounds.
The knife rose up and the man grabbed her hair until she looked up. The knife blocked her view of the bright moon. She glanced at the middle-aged woman with the corner of her eye. That woman was being held by two adult men, the same as her. The middle-aged woman keeps calling her as a child, and maybe she is. All Aleyah knew was that the woman looked like a mother, willing to exchange her life for her child.
The person who was holding the knife and grabbed her hair turned around, tempted by the woman's offer. The middle-aged woman screamed and begged even more intensely while rubbing her hands. Her cries got louder, both in her dreams and on her bed but she still closed her eyes tightly. This time her breath hitched as the knife did its job. Cutting her veins mercilessly and making the middle-aged woman scream shrilly.
Aleyah woke up and immediately clutched her sore neck. It felt like she was really in the dream, the pain was really real and she could feel all the emotions in the dream. She inhaled greedily and checked the palm that had been holding her neck. There was not a single drop of blood and she let out a sigh of relief.
"What a nightmare.." she muttered again while rubbing her face.
"How does it feel? You said you wanted to know why I keep borrowing your body. Now tell me how it feels when you die unjustly and the people you leave behind suffering." said a voice that came from who knows where in the room.
Aleyah is starting to get used to the ghost's presence. She wasn't even surprised but she was still afraid of its appearance so she closed her eyes and avoided looking at the male ghost. But the ghost did not leave her side, instead it came closer to her and whispered, "I answered your question, now you don't even want to look or hear me. Even though I've shown you everything. My pathetic life, my pain and my grief."
Aleyah dared to open her eyes and she peeked a little to check the ghost's appearance. Her focus was always on its bleeding neck. The ghost started to get angry and turned into a black shadow again. "You have to help me!" it screamed.
Aleyah brushed her hair back, "Shut up! Just shut up!" she shouted no less loudly. The ghost circled the ceiling of her room again and was about to penetrate Aleyah's body again, as always without permission. "You were destined for this, you have to help." said the black shadow again.
Aleyah dodged swiftly and groped around on her bed to find her glasses. She stretched out her palm and then threatened the ghost with all her strength. "I want you to leave me immediately." Aleyah said firmly.
"It's useless no matter how many times you chase me away, girl. I will always find a way to come back to you. Whether you like it or not, I will still possess you and settle my revenge." said the ghost and then it floated out of the room through the ventilation gap.
Aleyah noticed the ring that had been shining jet black on her ring finger. This method was effective enough to drive them away for a couple of hours, although in the end she ended up so tired that she felt like she wanted to faint.
The night was still long but Aleyah didn't want to continue her sleep. She adjusted her sitting position and arranged the pillows then leaned back. She grabbed her cell phone and spread her fingers. She photographed that antique ring and searched the internet for its provenance. Quite a lot of articles and blogs appeared, but there was one article that caught her attention.
X O X
"Smith, you didn't get us in trouble, did you?"
"Of course not, sir. I've been doing this for years. Not to mention about my loyalty to NYX."
"Right, you know better than anyone what the consequences will be for messing up."
Smith started to feel uneasy. He got out of a luxury car at the bus stop near his house. "Do your job well." said someone who had been sitting in the passenger seat of the car. Smith bowed in response. Then the luxury car sped away and left him.
Smith wiped his face to chase sleepiness and then walked towards his house. Unlike usual, the small alley in his house was very bright. Like there was somebody visiting his house. He was curious about where the lights came from so he quickened his footsteps. He was stunned when he found a police car stopped in front of his house. They walked to the door of his house and were about to knock. Is this what that person was talking about?
Smith stepped up and prevented them from waking his daughters. He looked at Jeremy and the other two policemen sharply. "What do you want in the middle of night?" he asked as he folded his arms across his chest. Smith bought time by trying to remember whether the gun was loaded or not. If something happens against his will, then he has no other choice but to use it. He hasn't finished his job, so he shouldn't stay behind bars.
"We have something to discuss with Aleyah Mikola, your daughter. This is an important case, and needs a quick settlement." Justin said bravely. Smith was quite disturbed and shocked when he heard they were looking for his daughter. Instead of asking, he clenched his jaw and still didn't respond after hearing that. He demands them to leave.
Justin and the other police nudged Jeremy to get the young man to speak. They all are afraid of that old man. After all, Jeremy was the one who visited this bakery the most and was also the closest to the person they were looking for. Jeremy dared to look at Smith and then showed him several CCTV photos of a motorbike rider.
"Your daughter is on the suspect list. In fact, she was our only suspect." Jeremy says briefly.
Smith snatched the photos and looked at them carefully. He couldn't believe what he saw. This stack of photos was taken from various locations and all of it was taken at night. Which means that his daughter has been repeating these activities for a very long time and during that time he didn't know anything about it. He stopped at one of the clearest photos of Aleyah. It was captured when the woman parked a big motorbike and took off her helmet.
"Where did you get these photos?" Smith asked in disbelief.
"As you can see, Aleyah has killed someone." Justin interrupted lightly.
Smith grabbed Justin's clothes then slammed Justin's body against the wall. "Say that shit again to my face and I'll tear out your liver." Smith said angrily. Justin tried to fight back but Smith was too angry for him to handle it alone. Jeremy quickly separated the two of them while the other policeman had already taken out an electric gun and pointed it at Smith.
"Calm down! I know it's hard to accept and I understand why you are angry. But for that reason, I apologize for Justin's baseless accusations." Jeremy said loudly as he locked Smith's arms from behind.
Smith releases Justin at Jeremy's request. Justin fell and he immediately tried to get up as quickly as possible. Justin fumbled around his waist and grabbed his electric gun. However, that electric gun fell because of Smith and he did dare to grab it.
Smith threw away Jeremy's hand who was trying to calm him down and then he straightened his clothes. "My daughter won't ever do that. Now, I want you all to leave and never come near this house ever again."
He looked back at Jeremy, "I want you to stop approaching Aleyah from now on," he said firmly.
Smith just couldn't hold back his anger. He needed to make sure they weren't involved with the police. If his client or NYX knew about this, it would be the end of his life. Even worse, his daughter's life would be in danger.
"I know and I've tried so hard to believe that this girl isn't Aleyah." Jeremy said as he showed Aleyah the photo again. "She wears a brown leather jacket, I remembered that jacket is yours, Aleyah gave it to you as a present. She asked me to accompany her to buy it weeks ago."
Smith started to calm down and looked closely at the picture again. Jeremy pointed to a motorbike parked on the other side of his house. "This motorbike, don't they look exactly the same? The number plate and model are exactly the same. This is your daughter."
"Then what has she been doing with that motorbike all this time?" Asked Smith with a calming tone.
Jeremy was more afraid when Smith was silent and spoke calmly like this. It feels exactly like they are all saying, it feels like a silence before the storm. The old man no longer clenched his fists. He looks like holding it and nobody knows when he is going to let it loose."What-did-she-do?" he asked again, firm on each word.
"Just promise me that you will handle it without anger."
"I will ask you once again, what was she doing behind my back all this time?"
"She um.. we found traces of her movements through traffic cameras and it seems she only wanders around at night." Jeremy looked away before saying the next sentence, "It seems like she was searching for something, and um... she's almost always found at the murder scene these days."
"Not almost, always." Justin added.
Smith opened the door to his house and slammed it loudly. Jeremy immediately followed his steps. Smith called Aleyah's name loudly and increasingly louder in front of the woman's bedroom door. "She was found unconscious there, this all could be just a possibility." added Jeremy trying to calm Smith down again.
Smith pushed Jeremy's body and opened the door to Aleyah's room without waiting for the woman to open the door for him.
The sight they saw was truly alarming. Aleyah looked so weak and sick. Her lips were pale, her eye circles were getting black and there were several bruises on her body. Her brown eyes also looked more gloomy and always teary. The woman was wearing white pajamas that were transparent enough that some parts of her body looked clearer than usual. They could see blue bruises on her legs, knees, arms and on her jaw.
"What happened to you?" Smith asked in shock.