His so-called best friend, Kally, betrayed him.
His girlfriend, Len Len, betrayed him.
The two of them did it together.
Still, Jax found it hard to believe it.
He closed his eyes, forcing his mind to focus, yet the echoes of distant voices kept repeating in his mind. So, instead of clarity, he was greeted by a disorienting cascade of imaginary images and sensations that tormented him nonstop.
Those weird noises he heard... He really wished that he was just hearing things, that it was just a product of his imagination. Or better yet, a nightmare from which he could wake up and escape.
But would that still be the case, if the pain was just too compelling?
How could they do this to him?!
He trusted them both, but now they were thrusting at each other?
Unacceptable!
Tears pricked at the corners of Jax's ghostly eyes, but as he was now nothing but a mere ghost, not even a single drop came out. In the end, Jax opened his eyes and forced out a faint smile.
It couldn't be helped. It was a harsh reality, but he was now dead. Anger wouldn't change that. And maybe, just maybe, it was for the best. His girlfriend would be spared the pain of grieving for him, and that thought brought a strange sense of comfort.
Thinking about it, Jax turned around, his hands falling to his sides, and attempted to shake off the gloom that had settled on his face. He resigned himself to returning and waiting for the Grim Reaper to collect him, escorting him to whatever lay beyond.
Before, he wanted to see them desperately.
But now, he didn't even want to hear their voices.
He better leave that place before he lost his composure and did something that an evil spirit shouldn't have.
"By the way, how's Jax doing? Did you pile more work on him to strain his body? Hopefully you did, so he'll be too busy to get suspicious of us, and we can enjoy some more... quality time together."
But as if fate was stirring the embers of anger he tried so hard to suppress, Jax caught the two of them conversing again. He froze, unaware of his own pause, his ghostly heart constricting. This time, their words were laced with malice and deception, making it impossible for him to turn a deaf ear.
Kally chuckled. "Haha, of course. I've even set up a few annoying acquaintances to make his daily life a living hell."
"If he's getting bullied, I'm sure he won't lift a finger. He's too busy being a good boy, just like I told him to. And that obedience... it's going to be his downfall, haha." Len Len snickered, her voice low and playful.
Kally sneered, his tone dripping with amusement. "Haha, and with the extra workload I dumped on him, he's bound to burn out sooner or later. Overwork will be the death of him, literally."
"Poor Jax, he's got no one to blame but himself. Did he really think I'd ever marry him? Ugh, just the thought of being tied to him for life makes me shudder. It'd be a never-ending nightmare!"
"Spot on! You're wasting away under his care. Don't worry, I've got a plan to speed up his demise. I'll send someone to take care of him... quietly, of course."
''Just don't let me see him begging for mercy, okay?''
''Hehe, fine, fine. Anyway, do you want another round?''
''Can you even do it?''
''Who do you think I am? Of course, I can!''
Smooch! Smooch!
Chuckle. Chuckle.
More strange noises...
Plok! Plok! Plok!
''...''
Jax finally lost it. his entire ghostly form twisted, darkening with a malevolent energy. He could no longer contain the cauldron of emotions boiling within him. Anger, pain, and sorrow had consumed him whole, transforming his very essence into a seething, dark specter.
At that moment, Jax's rage and anguish had eclipsed all other emotions, rendering him utterly fearless.
Even the terror of ghosts, which had once held him in its grip, no longer had any hold on him.
To hell was being a ghost. He didn't care anymore.
"I will kill you..." Jax's voice was a low, menacing whisper, dripping with a chill that even the living were able to feel. The air around him seemed to grow colder, as if his very presence was drawing the warmth out of the world, replacing it with an aura of dark, malevolent intent.
''What?! Who goes there?!'' Suddenly, a gruff, irritated voice bellowed from within the room. The speaker's tone laced with a mix of surprise and hostility, as if daring the unknown presence to reveal itself.
Jax's spectral senses confirmed that the voice belonged to his treacherous best friend, Kally. He could also sense Kally's growing unease, his attention drawn to something amiss outside his room. Jax knew it was only a matter of time before Kally stepped out of his room.
Good thing he noticed. Jax was prepared to make him suffer. Then his girlfriend. This rage in his heart — it would never cease to exist as long as those two were not ghosts just as he was.
Creak!
The door creaked open, and Kally's frustrated face peered out. Jax's ghostly form tensed, poised to strike. His eyes blazed with a fierce, otherworldly intensity, flashing with a cold, malevolent light that seemed to whisper a single, chilling promise:
Death.
Kally stood in the doorway, his lower body wrapped in a blanket, his face slick with sweat and twisted in a scowl. His eyes blazed with annoyance as he scanned the hallway, clearly irritated by the sudden interruption.
Jax's gaze, on the other hand, locked onto his traitorous friend, his spectral eyes burning with a fierce, vengeful intensity.
Jax's jaw clenched. His teeth grinding together in a silent snarl. His eyes flashed with an icy, murderous glare, the cold killing intent within him surging to the forefront.
The traitor, Kally, stood before him, oblivious to the danger lurking mere inches away. And Jax's rage screamed at him to strike, to unleash the fury that had been building for so long.
Just as Jax was about to lunge at Kally, a sudden, unseen force yanked him backward with a speed that was both terrifying and disorienting. Jax's eyes went wide with shock, his teeth gritted in a futile attempt to resist the force's strong pull.
But it only seemed to intensify, dragging him away from his target with an unyielding, otherworldly strength.
"NOOOO!!" Jax anguished scream echoed through the air as he flailed his arms wildly, his fingers straining to reach Kally's throat. ''I still want to kill him. PLEASE, DON'T TAKE ME AWAY!''
But too bad, his desperate cry fell on deaf ears. He was instead dragged away by the relentless force, accelerating to a terrifying speed that left his stomach lurching.
"NOOOOO!!" Jax cried out. But his deafening scream was lost to the living, echoing only in the void. His voice trailed off into the distance, and then he was gone, consumed by the darkness.
Meanwhile...
"Hmm? Was that just my imagination?" Kally muttered to himself, many question marks floated over his head. He instinctively raised a hand to his neck, his fingers brushing against his skin as if to reassure himself that he was still in one piece.
He couldn't shake the feeling that someone had just been there in the area and was aiming at his neck.
But seeing that he was just hearing things and he found no one outside, a grin, wide and naughty, etched brightly on his lips. He hurried his way back to bed, and savored the body he desired to satiate himself.
Plok! Plok! Plok! And another big PLOK!
More and more strange noises.
***
''I failed this time...''
A low, menacing whisper seemed to seep from the shadows, dripping with malice. The voice grew more resolute, its determination intensifying as it continued...
"But we will meet in person someday. When that time comes, I will feast on your terror, and then... I will consume your very soul. Your body will be mine to claim, mine to possess, and mine to control."
''Pwaaahhhh!''
Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!
Jax's eyes snapped open, and he gasped for air, his chest heaving with rapid, panicked breaths. His vision swirled, a blurry haze that refused to clear, as he struggled to remember where he was and how he got there.
The familiar strange voice still sounding freshly in his mind. And he felt a chill creeping up to his spine. His skin crawled as he wondered who or what this mysterious entity was, and why it seemed to take such a sinister interest in him.
He couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, like unblinking eyes were trained on him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Jax took a deep breath, forcing his mind to focus. But his eyes still betrayed the turmoil within, a lingering glint of anguish, a hardened grimace of fury and hatred that refused to dissipate.
He looked around, and found himself lying on the cold ground. Was this the afterlife? Jax frowned slightly as he struggled to piece together his surroundings. Was this some kind of purgatory, then? No, it didn't feel like that either.
It felt... real.
This familiar feeling...
Wasn't this what he could feel when he was still alive? Jax narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing his surroundings with renewed intensity. Only then did he realize too that he was no longer in soul form anymore, but a physical being, bound by the constraints of flesh and blood.
Then, suddenly, memories burst forth in fragmented flashes, like shattered glass reassembling in his mind. Voices of deceit and betrayal echoed repeatedly in his ear, their treacherous words gnawing at his sanity like a relentless, maddening curse.
Jax's jaw tightened, anger and pain swelling within him. The faces of the two traitors seared themselves into his mind, fueling his rage and giving voice to a vow:
"I will make them pay for their treachery and for toying with my emotions! Their suffering will be my redemption!"
But before that...
Twigs and leaves crunched beneath him as Jax pushed himself up. He rose to his feet, his gaze scanning the eerie landscape.
''What happened? I was clearly...'' Jax's voice trailed off, his eyes blinking in confusion. He distinctly remembered what had happened to him a short moment ago. That he was yanked away by an unseen force, a terrifying suction that had left him disoriented and helpless.
But why was he in that place now? Had his soul somehow reunited with his physical body?
Jax contemplated hard. But while he was confused about his current situation, he suddenly noticed something floating in front of him. Then three question marks floated over his head.
Jax blinked thrice, distrusting his own vision. A growing sense of incredulity whispered that it was nothing more than a mere hallucination.
And then, with a tremble of uncertainty, Jax spoke, his voice barely rising above a whisper, "Is that... a scroll?"