5 December 2024
The Sun was shining bright.
The wind was breezing, chill cold.
Sophia sat on her desk.
She wrote in a journal.
“Two days have passed since Jack suffered a near-death experience.
The house had remained calm, but Jack would get scared in the dark without explaining why… he never did before. He even sleeps with me now, saying he is scared.
I tried to run some tests on him, but considering that giving psychological help to your family is illegal, I only did subtle tests but couldn’t find anything.
I tried to hire a psychologist, but Jack got scared the moment it was mentioned… I believe it was because he thought that he was ‘wrong’. I will try to figure out what it is on my own… but it will not be easy, especially since my mind is clouded by Emilie.”
She dropped the pen on the desk.
She leaned back on her chair, stretching her arms out.
“Does Jack have a mental problem?… it doesn’t seem like it.”
She stood up and looked outside the window.
“The grass is growing, huh… Ken is injured… should I? Nah, fuck it.”
She walked towards Ken’s room.
At the same time…
Ken lay on his bed, eyes covered by his right arm. His left arm, covered with gauze on his stomach.
His mind wandered.
“Jack said he wasn’t himself when he bit me.
Jack’s eyes were dark and gloomy at that time…
And that Emilie…
She even went as far as to… check up on a kid for one day leave, went back the moment she saw he is alive, and her smile felt so…kind, too kind.”
As Ken’s trail of thought continues…
He hears Sophia’s voice.
“Wake up already. Are you gonna spend your entire life just laying on your bed?”
Ken stood up. “Maybe?? My arm is kind of, you know… injured?”
“Shut up and mow the lawn. The grass is too big right now.”
Ken stares blankly.
“Are… you serious?”
Sophia nods. “Yes… I am. Your right hand is fine so…” she snaps her finger. “Get to work. I have a meeting to attend.”
Ken rose from his bed as he sighed.
“Fine…”
He stepped out of his room.
As he saw outside in the living room…
Jack lay on the couch playing on a Nintendo Switch.
He looks at Ken.
“Hey, Dad.”
“What are you doing?”
“Playing Mario Kart. 2nd place in the world right now.”
Ken chuckles. “Good good. Try your hardest.”
Jack smiles. “Of course!!”
He continues playing.
Ken heads outside towards the garage.
The grass swayed in the cold wind.
He picked up the lawnmower from the garage.
“SHROOM.” The lawnmower starts.
He starts mowing the lawn, thinking to himself.
“Emilie, something was definitely wrong with her, but I just can’t figure it out.”
Suddenly, a voice calls out to him.
“HEYY!”
He looked outside towards the road as he saw Ben walking towards him.
“Been a while.”
Ken looks at Ben as he turns off the lawnmower.
“So how are you now? And is everything okay with Jack?”
“Yeah… it’s strangely fine…?”
Ben nods. “I guess your son suddenly biting you won’t be completely fine.”
Ken nodded. “It's just… someone came to the hospital… It was Jack’s assistant teacher, and it felt like… she was hiding something.”
Ben’s eyebrow furred.
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“What do you mean?”
Ken sighed. “First of all, she said she came to check up on Jack because there was 1-day leave, and then she followed Sophia to the hospital... acted too formal, and went back the moment she saw he was ‘alive’.”
Ben’s gaze snapped. “What?? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Ken nodded. “Yes, and… her smile just felt-”
Ben said rapidly, “Creepy? Unsettling?”
Ken nodded negatively. “Too… sweet.”
“So you're telling me… she came to visit Jack because he missed one day of school and immediately went back just knowing he isn’t ‘dead’? That’s… absurd.”
“I know, but I don’t have any reasons to investigate her… it’s absurd at best-”
“No no no… it’s reasonable… there is something wrong here and we SHOULD investigate… horror movies always start with absurdity… I have a plan. Let’s go and meet up with her. She might even be a paedophile.”
“Yeah… I understand what you are saying, but it’s just… sounds wrong.”
Ben sighs. “I know it’s hard to think about it, but you gotta make this choice. I think it’s worth trying.”
Hearing Ben’s words.
Ken’s mind spirals.
“But… it’s not a 100% possibility… so why should I investigate? Is trusting him… a good choice?”
Ken sighs.
“Okay. I understand.”
Ben smiled. “Good. Tomorrow, let’s go when school gets over. We can meet her outside.”
Ken nods. “Sounds good.”
As Ben starts walking back…
He waves towards Ken.
“Let’s meet tomorrow, buddy.”
Ken waves back.
“Got it.”
He thinks to himself.
“I hope that our conclusion will be wrong. I don’t want Jack to be hurt… not like Lily.”
A drop of tear fell from his eyes.
He continued mowing the lawn.
The next day was about to change his life.
6 December 2024
Ken laid down on his bed.
The clock ticked in the quiet room.
The sun cast a pale glow.
When Ben called him.
Ben: “Ready?”
Ken nodded: “Yes.”
After a while…
Ken reached outside of Jack’s school, The Maple Ridge Elementary.
Ken checked his phone. ‘2 pm.’
As he parked his car outside.
The sound of a bell erupted from inside.
Followed by cheers from children.
Slowly, the kids came outside.
Ken’s mind wandered.
“Is this really the right step… I want Jack to be safe, but—”
“Ken.”
A sound suddenly reached Ken.
He looked back and saw Ben walking towards him.
“I tried to see if she was on Insta to see if she had any suspicious activity there… But there was nothing that I could find.”
“That’s more suspicious; nowadays, kids around 10 have Instagram accounts, and she doesn’t? But not much of a big deal though.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Let’s go.”
They continued discussing the topic of suspicions about Emilie.
As they enter the school gate, Jack looks at them.
“DAD!!”
He runs towards Ken.
He jumps up in excitement.
“You are picking me up again?”
Jack stops at a distance.
Ken pats his head as Jack leans in.
“Not really… we came for some other business. You can go by bus today.”
Jack sighs as he smiles again.
“Of course I can!!”
As Jack turns back and starts walking away, Ben stops him.
“Hey… do you know where your teacher Emilie might be?”
Jack stops as he looks back and walks back towards Ken and Ben.
“No… Miss Emilie kind of disappears after school.”
Ken’s eyes flicker.
“What do you mean she disappears?”
“She is an assistant teacher, so she doesn’t have power paperwork to do before leaving. So she leaves even before us.”
Ken sighs. “Oh… that makes sense.”
Ben let out a ‘tch’, frustrated.
“Did we waste our time then?”
Ken nods negatively. “Not really. We can ask the staff in the principal room to give us info…”
Jack tilts his head. “Why do you want to meet her, Dad?”
Ken smiles. “She came to check up on you, right? So I just wanted to give her something in return.”
Jack's eyes glistened. “REALLY?? SHE CAME TO CHECK UP ON ME?? She is my favourite teacher!!”
Ken chuckled. “Oh really? Then I think it’s a really good thing I got to know her—”
Suddenly—Ken’s phone rang.
“Let me check…”
He pulls out his phone from his pocket.
“Unknown number?”
Ken picks up the phone and a familiar voice says to him.
Greg: “Is this Mr Ken?”
Ken: “Yes… Who is this?”
Greg: “Yes, Mr Ken. I am Greg Savant. I am the doctor of The Nova Hospital.”
Ken: “Ah yes. Do you need my help with something?”
Greg's breath was unsteady as he grunted. Greg: “Yes... I do... actually, it seems like the guy who crashed into you that day… he actually was unconscious until today and now… he is screaming your name and is persisting us that you come here to meet him.”
Ken’s brow furred
Ken: “Why does he want to meet… me? And why are you grunting?”
Greg: “He is refusing to answer that question and—”
Suddenly, Greg’s voice cuts off, followed by another man.
His breath shaking as he talks rapidly.
Man: “Ken Ken Ken, please come here. I really need your help.”
Ken: “But—”
Man: “I know about Lily.”
Ken's eyes widen.
His breath hitches.
His hands began to tremble, and he started falling.
Ben grabs him from behind.
“What... happened??”
Ken’s gaze towards the ground as he thought.
“What… how… how does he know her name…”
He stands up.
Ken: “I am coming.”
Man: “Please come alone. I only want to talk to you.”
Ken ends the call, his breath shaking. His heart raced.
“Change of plans.
I am going to the hospital.”
Ben’s gaze snapped.
“What?? What do you mean??”
Ken looked at Jack.
“Go home and tell Mom I will come late.”
He looked towards Ben.
“I don’t have time to explain right now. Just try to get her information.”
Ken runs towards his car.
As he enters,
He thinks to himself.
“What is going on… how did he know about Lily?”
Jack looked at Ken walking away.
As he walked back towards the bus.
He gazed towards the bus arriving, as he thinks.
“Dad… never felt so… scared. Not since big sis…”
Ben’s face laced with anger, his fist clenched.
“What the fuck happened… What is more necessary than this?”
Meanwhile…
Ken rushed to the hospital.
The road was empty.
His breath, unsteady.
“How…why…what…”
He gripped the steering wheel.
After a few minutes.
He reached ‘The Nova Hospital’.
As he felt something.
An eerie sense of dread.
A feeling he fell when Jack had bit him.
He runs to the reception.
Suddenly he heard a voice. “MR KEN.”
Ken gazed towards the voice as he saw Greg waving towards him.
He runs up to him and asks.
“Where is he?”
“Follow me.”
He walked behind Greg through the stairs.
“He is in an isolated room per his request… Normally, we wouldn’t allow him to make so many requests, but the problem is… He is going to die.”
Ken’s eyes widened.
As Greg continued.
“He has too much alcohol consumption and the accident has affected his body a lot. His chances of survival are slim to none.”
Ken’s eyes flickered.
“Is he in worse condition than I was?”
“No. You were in a worse condition. It’s a miracle that you even survived, much less… walking. I wanted to research more about you… but looking at your family reminded me of my wife, who isn’t with me anymore.”
Ken spoke with a hint of sorrow.
“I am sorry…”
Greg shook his head.
“Don’t be. I already moved on to that.”
They reached the man’s room.
Greg pointed Ken towards the door. “Here it is… I will take my leave.”
Ken enters the room.
The air felt still.
He looked at the man lying on the hospital bed.
His hair was black, and his eyes brown. He looked at Ken as he jumped towards him.
The man grabs Ken’s arm.
Tears ran down his face.
“Ken… save me… only you can save me.”
Ken looked into his eyes filled with despair.
He softly pushes him away.
“What do you want to talk to me about? And how do you know Lily?”
The man gazed sideways, avoiding Ken’s gaze.
He took a deep breath.
“I was the one who killed her.”
Ken’s gaze snapped.
As he grabs the man’s collar.
His voice shifted, and the room seemed to vibrate with unspoken rage.
“What the fuck do you mean by that?”
He picked him up with one hand.
“EXPLAIN.”
The man gazes towards Ken’s eyes and holds his arm.
He coughs, trying to breathe.
“I know… I-I know it’s hard to… believe.”
He taps Ken’s arm.
“Let me explain.”
Ken drops him on the bed.
As he stands in front of him.
“I saw the driver’s body, he was dead… what do you mean YOU killed him?”
The man breathes rapidly.
“I know, but it wasn’t me. That… was a duplicate of mine.”
Ken grits his teeth.
“You want me to believe that crap? Why do you want to make me believe you are my daughter’s killer? Because if that’s the idea…”
He placed a foot on the bed in front of the man.
“You picked the wrong guy.”
The man gulps.
“I know it’s hard to believe… but trust me… I was possessed—”
Ken tilted his head.
“Now you are going to say bullshit?”
The man shook his head.
“NOOO. Please trust me… Moments before the accident… I was drunk but I also got possessed by something… I couldn’t control myself. I was floating inside the darkness and the next thing I knew, was being strapped.”
Ken looked him in the eyes.
As he thought.
“Darkness…?”
The man sobbed.
“Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone… I was strapped by someone, and he cut off my fingers continuously and kept magically replacing them. I kept trying to resist, but they made me go through that for 5 years. Until a few days ago when they told me to kill you and I could be free… I didn’t have a choice.”
A drop of tear fell from Ken’s eyes as he wiped it away.
“What do you want from me now? Do you want to kill me?”
Tears fell from the man’s eyes.
“I can’t do that… I need you to save me… If they want to kill you… maybe you can save me. Please… I don’t want to suffer again—ghh.”
Suddenly—the man vomited blood.
He fell down on the bed as he grabbed Ken with one arm.
“Ken… save me—”
The man fell unconscious.
Ken’s eyes widen as he screamed.
“GREG!”
Greg came rushing in as a few doctors followed him.
They took him to the ICU room as Ken watched them walk away.
Ken fell to the ground.
As he thought.
“He has suffered enough, so why was I so angry… after being such a bad father, I chose now to be protective?”
He stepped outside the room.
His hand trembling.
He walks towards the ICU room.
He sees the doctor outside the ICU room. His gaze meets Greg’s.
Greg sighed.
“Andrew passed away.”
Ken faced the ICU room.
“His name… was Andrew…”
Greg nodded.
“Don’t feel that you might be the cause of it. He would have died regardless.”
Ken nodded as his mind wandered.
“Why do I feel sad for him?”
Greg took a breath.
“Can I ask what happened inside? I know I probably shouldn’t, but can I know?”
Ken sighed.
“I don’t know myself… it was weird. If I could understand, I would have told you.”
Greg smiled gently.
“No problem.”
He reaches out his hand for a handshake.
“I am glad I could fulfil his last wish.”
Ken appreciated the handshake as he walked towards the stairs.
H
is mind spirals.
“Who are ‘they’? How was he alive? What is even going on here?”
He walked down the stairs slowly. The atmosphere was calm.
The muttering of staff echoed around him.
“He said he was floating in darkness… from last 2 days, Jack is scared of being in the dark.”
He walked towards the main gate.
“What did he say again…?”
Ken’s eyes widened.
As he froze.
The muttering of the surroundings vanished.
His heartbeat raced.
“That wasn’t me… Isn’t that the same thing Jack told me?”
