"Shit! Shit! Shit!!" Jack cried out as he saw that half of the little girl's body had left the TV and entered reality.
Her thin upper body had her veins popping as they seemed to be filled with black liquid. Her face twisted in pain, but the monstrous ear-to-ear smile refused to fade.
Her gaze didn't belong to a little girl. It resembled a demon looking at a pile of fresh meat.
Jack's breath became shallow as he struggled to breathe. He forced himself to look away and calm down. With the danger right next to him, his brain went into overdrive.
The image of his apartment appeared in his head. Scattered bits of knowledge of survival acted as stamps that listed everything he could use to get out.
"The window, I'll try the window." Jack thought to himself and ran to his kitchen that had a window out to the hallway of his apartment.
Jack grabbed the window handle and yanked, but it wouldn't budge. It was closed shut, frozen shut like the door. This time he couldn't even force the locking mechanism to move.
As adrenaline was pumped through his body, Jack made a snap decision and stopped trying to open the window. He ran to his fridge and grabbed the hammer he always left there.
With a firm grip, Jack smashed the window with his full strength!
Bam!
With a single strike half of the window cracked. The snaking white cracks felt as if they were teasing him. Giving him some hope that he could actually escape.
Hope surged through Jack as cracks snaked across the glass. He swung again, adrenaline pushing him past the cold seeping into his bones.
The demonic ghost girl's face contorted in a grotesque mix of surprise and fury, her ink-black veins throbbing against brown skin. With a guttural snarl, she clawed at the edges of the screen, dragging herself out faster. Her teeth glinted as her smile stretched impossibly wide, splitting her cheeks like a gory wound.
"Stop!!"
Jack could hear the demonic little girl sounding more desperate yet it also felt more demonic. Although he couldn't see her, with how the room was rapidly becoming colder he could imagine she was nearly out!
Bam!
The window cracked. More cracks snaked up the glass. Yet it stubbornly refused to break!
It was as if the more the demonic ghost girl's entered reality the more the window was reinforced.
"Not this time! I ain't dying this time!" Jack shouted for more strength and smashed the window again.
Bam!
The window shattered completely. Sending glass shards flying everywhere.
The temperature dropped again as Jack felt his hair standing up. With pure dread overwhelming him, Jack ignored the glass still in the window and made his escape.
He climbed on the sink and dived right through the window and into the pile of glass in the hallway scratching up his hands and arms.
Without waiting for anything, Jack ran down the hall, ignoring the elevator and rushed down the stairs.
"Ahhh!"
As Jack ran down the stairs he heard the demon girl's screaming and how it was becoming fainter as he got further and further away.
Jack only breathed a sigh of relief when he made it out of his apartment building. He felt his pounding heart slow down as he realized that he was covered in cold sweat.
He felt a little tired but felt his stamina slowly recovering as he walked into the open street that was covered in warm sunlight.
"F*ck! F*ck me! Why did this have to happen to me now!? Why couldn't you show up when I had the system!?" Jack cursed under his breath.
He clenched his fists as he felt angry. If that ghost just came a few days earlier the System would have been forced to protect him.
Now that the System was gone this ghost came running to him. It couldn't be more clear about why.
Yet Jack also felt a feeling of helplessness. What could he do? He was just a regular person.
The monsters outside the City walls were already scary enough yet now he had to worry about the ghosts inside the City.
Was there anywhere safe in this God forsaken world!?
Jack gritted his teeth.
"People must think I'm crazy right now." Jack thought as he glanced at the crowd of people that were looking at him with worry and pity. As they went around him and on with their daily lives.
"No, they don't think I'm crazy. They think I'm infected!" Jack's green eyes light out an eerie light as he forces himself to look normal.
In this world looking off was a death sentence. It would take one worried call for the police to be called and a bit of suspicion for him to be sent to a laboratory to be tested.
Heck, they might not even bother with doing a test and kill him outright just to be safe.
There were no shortage of videos where police officers shot people who looked crazy, sick, or not normal without hesitation. It didn't matter if they were right the majority of the time. Sometimes they were wrong and Jack wasn't interested in being a part of that statistic.
Jack forced his breathing to slow, but the tremor in his hands betrayed him. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms, willing his racing heart to settle. He couldn't afford to look unhinged—not here, not now.
"Should I call the police?" Jack hesitated.
Trying to report that he had been attacked by a demon ghost girl would only serve to add onto the case that he was insane. It was only two days ago when he was visited by the police because of the System's sudden departure.
He would prefer not to draw more attention to himself.
"But I don't have a choice. The cops are going to be called anyways."
"Having one of his tenants suddenly break a window and run out of the apartment building definitely signals the needed to get the authorities. Especially if the tenant had previous been visited by the cops just two days ago." Jack had a weary smile across his face.
He knew it would be better to take the initiative.
"Since there are monsters in this world whats so strange about there being ghosts. There might even be a department that deals with the supernatural. Maybe they can help me." Jack pondered and felt that this was the right action.
After patting himself to get rid of the glass shards on his clothes and reached into his pocket to grab his phone. Only to feel his empty pockets as realization hit him that he left his phone in his apartment.
With little choice, Jack looked around and saw that most people were avoiding eye contact with him. Just then he noticed a young man who looked around his age standing across from him with a puzzled look in his eyes.
The young man was a handsome blonde, with baby blue eyes, and wearing fashionable clothing and white cross necklace. Paired with the fact he was six feet tall and being on the thinner side he was definitely a looker.
Jack adjusted himself and tried his best to look normal and walked over to the handsome young lad.
Noticing Jack walking over, the young man's face twitched as he took a step back before he looked conflicted and embarrassed. Just as he looked as if he made the decision to walk away Jack reached Jim with a polite smile on his face.
"Brother, can I borrow your phone for a sec? I need to make a call." Jack asked with a weary smile.
The young man's baby blue eyes innocently blinked and pointed to himself, "Who me?"
Jack nodded his head and felt his nerves slightly relax now that he was talking to another human.
"Yeah, can I borrow your phone? It's a emergency."
"Ugh, sure. I don't know if it…" The young man didn't finish his sentence and uncertain look flashed across his face.
After a second, he pulled out his phone and gave it to Jack. As the polite smile across his face he did instinctively faltered slightly.
The nervous look on his face made Jack roll his eyes as he could almost understand his thought process. He didn't want to give his phone to a stranger and be potentially contaminated.
But what else was he going to do?
A five foot eleven muscular man with his arms and hands cut by glass and standing in nothing but a tank top and shorts was asking for his phone.
If he said no, he was worried that he would be shot. If not, get beaten up.
"Thank you! Much appreciated brother." Jack said with a warm smile of gratitude trying to ease the poor guy's nerves.
After getting the phone Jack hesitated on who to call. He could call 911 but that meant he might get a crazy cop or get a phone operator who immediately labeled him as crazy and sends someone to capture him.
It was too high risk so he settled to call the female officer. She was much more approachable and understanding than the bald officer. She might have the patience to hear him out.
After making his decision Jack began entering the female officer's number by memory.
"Are you calling the hospital?" The nervous young man asked.
"Hospital?" Jack shook his head.
"Why would I need the hospital? I'm just a little cut up, that's all. What I need is the police."
"Shit, maybe even a priest." Jack said with a weary smile before pressing enter.
The phone rang, making the young man jump. Jack subtly shook his head and thought to himself that this young man must have come from a well off family. He definitely avoided mandatory military service or else he wouldn't be so jumpy.
"Do you think the City has a secret service that's just made up of priests?" Jack asked the young man casually just to make conversation.
The young man's face darkened as he began to regret giving Jack his phone. He couldn't help but think he was crazy.
Eventually the phone connected and Jack heard Officer Elena's soft and smooth voice come from the phone.
"Hello? This is Officer Elena from District 5's police station. How can I help you?"
"It's me Jack. From two days ago. You and your partner visited me and said I could contact you at any time." Jack said as he felt even more calm hearing her familiar voice.
"Did you find more clues about the Shadow Gaming Company?" Elena asked with clear surprise in her voice.
"No, I have a ghost problem." Jack said seriously.
"..."
"..."
The silence coming from the phone was deafening. Jack honestly felt a little embarrassed as he instinctively rubbed his nose.
"A… ghost problem," Elena repeated, her tone hovering between disbelief and tryijg to keep her composure.
"Right. Meet me at the nearest police station to your home." Elena said after a few seconds of silence.
"That sounds great." Jack said as he breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Can you bring that scary bald guy with you? I don't think I can feel safe if he's not there."
Elena turned to Lucas who was bubbling with anger. His fists were tightly clenched as his tattoos bulged out making him look extra scary.
"Yeah. Yeah, I can bring him along." Elena said with a smirk.
"God bless you and your partner." Jack said before hanging up and handing the young man his phone back.
"Thank you for the help. If you need help making a game and if we ever meet again feel free to ask me." Jack paused.
"If it's a stupid idea don't bother me." Jack added before walking away with his hands in his pockets.
The handsome young man awkwardly watched Jack leave and felt speechless. He turned to look at his phone with astonishment before turning back to look at Jack's fading figure.