The truth is, Evan has been hiding a very big secret ever since the Mount Phantom Disaster of 2015.
Ever since then, he's been seeing these white-garment individuals very often. Around his school, neighborhood, everywhere.
When he turned towards them some would smile back at him with a friendly wave, some would run away as fast as they could and some simply ignore him.
Sam is one of those white garment individuals he sees every day. In fact, ever since he's been killed by the demon, Sam has never left his side.
From home to school and school back home, Sam has always been following him.
When he tries striking up a conversation with him he would only smile back as if he couldn't speak.
And that is what Evan realized about all the white garment individuals he has encountered. For one, they cannot be seen by humans confirming Evan suspicion that they are some sort of ghost.
Secondly, they cannot speak or interact much with the living.
And lastly, they aren't hostile. Compared to what he saw five years ago, these white-garment ghosts are more docile than the ones he saw back then.
"I'm home." Evan opened the door to his adoptive parents' home, taking off his shoe on the front porch.
After Uncle Ben dropped off Evan at the Duncan's House, he immediately pressed on the gas and left. To Evan, it seems like he was still angry about what he said.
'I was just trying to help him.' Evan thought with the same guilty look.
"You're late. Do you know what time it is?" A female voice entered Evan's ears, a voice that didn't sound pleasing to his ears.
"Its only been an hour. You know how long it takes to go from 5 Mark Street to 2 Mark Street." Evan grumbled. Entering the household, he began taking off his shirt.
"Eeee! Why are you taking off your clothes!" Amber covered her eyes with a flustered yet angry look.
"We're family, why does it matter if we see each other naked?" Evan teased, enjoying the flustered look on Amber's face after what she did to him.
He still hasn't forgotten about her hitting him in the head.
"You perverted mongrel!" She screamed.
"Relax, I am only taking off my shirt. It's hot in here you know? Besides, I'm quite sensitive so I wear something underneath." Evan reassured while scanning the house.
Being a two-story house, it has six bedrooms, each having a bathroom of its own with five bedrooms being occupied and the remaining one being a guest room.
"Is Sister Naomi not back yet?" Seeing how empty the house felt, Evan asked.
"No, she's running an all-nighter."
"What about Auntie Rebecca?"
"No."
"Uncle Lionel."
"No! Geez, are you so dumb that you have to be asking me these questions?!" Amber exclaimed, looking at Evan as if he truly is dumb.
"Questions are made to be asked you know?"
"Well, your questions make you look like a dummy." Rolling her eyes, she walks away towards her bedroom.
"Hey, you still haven't apologized for hitting me on the head you know!"
"Leave me alone!" As she said this a door slammed shut.
Seeing this Evan was silent for a while. "All I did was ask if anyone else was home." He whispered, speechless of Amber attitude.
"Well, she's a pampered fifteen years old I guess." Shrugging her out of his thoughts, Evan went to take a bath.
Ten minutes later, he came out of the bathroom with only black sweatpants on and a towel to dry his hair.
Sitting on his bed, he took up his phone to browse the internet.
It's been two weeks since the group of workers at Phantom Radio Station have gone missing. There is still no news on them!
Man found dead in his own house. Evidence shows it was suicide, using a broken glass to slit his throat!
Children are becoming more and more brazen! They're killing their parents!
Mount Phantom High School students have been going missing after school hours. Students are recommended to make sure to go straight home after school!
The Mad Killer struck again... twenty individuals have been killed in just two nights in Francis Bay.
The government has just revealed a secret undercover group of law enforcers. They are called Authority! Little is known about them at present except that they are stationed in Mount Phantom!
Notification: Would you like to become a Spirit Hunter?
"So much bad news." Evan sighed as he instinctively removed the notification from his screen.
"At least the government is trying to prevent more deaths." Seeing the news about the secret law enforcement known as Authority, Evan felt good inside to know the government hadn't given up on Mount Phantom yet.
"I just hope none of this will affect my family in any way." Evan clenched his fist. He wasn't sure if all these deaths and missing news were caused by actual humans or demons, but Evan wished he had the power to do something about it.
He wishes he had the power to protect the few people he cares about.
"I refuse to let what happened to Sam happen again." His fingers burrow into his skin as he clenches his teeth. The mere thought of the demons made him furious.
Notification: Would you like to become a Spirit Hunter?
"I'm delusional," Evan said with a smile, a tinge of sorrow crossing his face as he looked at Sam in his room.
"How can I stop demons? I am only human after all." Sam edged in closer, tightening his grip on his trembling hands, which seemed to be out of control.
"I am just a weak nobody." Tears fell from his eyes as he looked at Sam who showed a sorrowful smile. Even though he was the one who suffered the most out of Evan and Uncle Ben, Sam felt sorry for Evan.
And Evan understood this, making his guilt grow even further.
"If only I tried harder. Maybe you'd still be alive..."
Notification: Would you like to become a Spirit Hunter?
"Why does my phone keep going off." Annoyed by the continuous beeping, Evan picked up his phone only to see exactly 53 messages of the same notification.
"What the hell... Is this some sort of spam?" Evan seeing this just clicked the clear all option on his phone.
Throwing his phone on the bed, he took up the TV remote, planning to kill some time before moving on to doing the homework he got from school.
"The math teacher sure loves giving us a bunch of assignments." Evan thought to himself, reminded of the multiple calculation questions he was given to do.
He started feeling a headache thinking of all that homework.
"What a pain. I also got biology and english." He grumbled, turning on the TV.
Sam sat on his bed, getting comfortable to watch his favorite cartoon that was about to start.
It was the main reason Evan turned it on really.
"Why won't it turn on." Spamming the big red button on the remote, Evan began losing patience.
"Could it be that it ran out of batteries?" Realizing this, he was about to find some AA+ batteries to change the old ones when the screen lit up.
"So the issue wasn't the batteries." Confused, Evan turn to face the television.
What he saw sent shivers down both his and Sam's spine.
On the TV screen were two big red eyes staring right at them.
"I must be tired." Believing what he saw wasn't real, he switched the channel, but no matter what channel he switched to, the eyes remained there.
Gawking intensely at them., with unblinking eyes.
"Are you seeing that?" Evan turns to Sam for his opinion. When he did, he saw Sam shivering out of control with a traumatized look as if what he just saw was a ghost.
Or a demon.
"That confirms my suspicion." Evan nodded, trying to keep calm. Those eyes looked similar to the demons he saw five years ago.
"Amber!"
"Amber!"
"Amber!"
He shouted his pampered little sister's name three times. He was worried something might have happened to her.
His calm facade soon wavered when all he heard was silence. He soon became nervous and worried.
"Why now..." He muttered to himself. The scars that have diminished over the past five years coming back to him.
The rage he felt for the demons for what they did to Sam cannot compare to the overwhelming fear they instilled into him that day.
"What do you want." Evan head quickly turned to the source of the voice.
"Are you okay?" Amber asked a bit worried. Evan's current expression was one filled with fright, his eyes trembling and his shoulders shaking as if he just had a bad nightmare.
At first, Amber was annoyed to be called so much by Evan. She was sure his calling her was nothing important and thought he was trying to get revenge on her for what she did at school.
But his current look was far from what she expected. Her eyes turn gentle as she walks closer to Evan to hold his hand covered in sweat.
"I'm fine." Feeling the warmth in her hands, Evan recovered from his fear.
"I just had a bad nightmare. I'm sorry if I upset you by calling you." He smiled a bit apologetically at her.
"Hey, but that doesn't mean I haven't forgiven you for what you did to me at school-" As he said this a small hand punched his stomach.
"You mongrel! And here I was thinking something was wrong with you. Don't call me again!" She snapped, returning to her usual self before leaving his room.
"Amber," Evan called again, this time his voice serious.
"What is it this time." Feeling his gaze behind and hearing the seriousness in his voice, she stopped.
"Don't turn on the television for today alright? The light bill has been increasing a lot recently." Evan muttered softly, but his voice contained a commanding tone causing Amber to nod her head impusively before she walked away."
"It seems like she couldn't see the eyes." Watching her going back to her room, Evan's gaze wandered back to the television.
He told Sam to continue watching the television before leaving for the kitchen.
Five minutes later, he came with a pack of matchsticks and a knife made out of iron.
Before leaving his room, he quickly searched online for the weakness of demons. What he found was that they were weak to fire, light magic, or in other words the Bible and iron.
Evan didn't have any of those. First off how the hell would he a mere human be able to use light magic? He wasn't so delusional.
And second, he and his family aren't religious in any way. There's no way he could quickly find a Bible.
Not to mention, he wasn't so sure such a thing could work against these demons.
He wasn't sure if they were really weak to fire. After all, what he saw that day was a burning wasteland, and yet the demons were able to move freely.
Only the battle above the skies managed to seize their invasion.
And lastly, the iron knife. After a quick search, all sources led to this one weakness.
With the matchsticks and iron knife, Evan gained some confidence.
He sat in his bed and waited.
At 6 PM, Amber came to remind him that food was in the fridge.
At 8 PM, Auntie Rebecca called to tell him she wouldn't be coming home tonight.
At 10 PM, the house was silent. It seemed like Uncle Lionel and Uncle Ben weren't coming home tonight either.
At 11 PM, his big sister Naomi called to check up on him. It seems like Amber told her to call him.
At 12 AM, midnight something changed.
Evan's room became darker, the temperature dropped immensely and it felt like he and Sam were brought to another dimension.
The door and windows disappeared, leaving no escape routes. A sense of suffocating dread filled the air as the realization sank in - there was no way out.
The furniture in the room began to shake vigorously and a creepy sound of something rising came from the television.
Sam trembled out of control behind Evan.
Evan grits his teeth together. His hands clenching the matchsticks and iron knife more firmly.
Soon all sounds recede. The shaking stopped and that rising feeling disappeared.
However, the room was still sealed and dark.
At that precise moment, the crimson eyes on the television widened. A sinister grin emerged, revealing razor-sharp teeth.
"Your spirit qi is so vast."