Chapter 4

  I don't know how long I was out. When I woke up, I was still lying on top of the broken mirror. This time, with two dead bodies in front of me.

  The horrible woman was standing there smiling at me. Today, she was wearing a Japanese kimono, very expensive and well tailored but a bit on the risqué side, showing far too much cleavage than would be appropriate in traditional Japan. I knew she did that just to mess with me. Because it irritated me. Because I couldn’t hide my thoughts from her and she liked playing with me like a cat plays with a mouse.

  Our thoughts. You can’t hide our thoughts from me. Anyway, how are you darling? My little pet got a little hurty-wurty?

  “I ain't your pet. Or anyone's pet.”

  I looked around and saw the mess I had made. There was shattered glass everywhere, the other mirrors had been darkened like they had been burned, and the new dead body had bled all over my shoes. I was 100% sure that my DNA and fingerprints were now all over the place. I would have a hard time explaining this to the police.

  “How long have I been out?”

  It was a stupid question-- she didn’t understand the concept of time.

  You mean the little thing that goes around and around and controls you human’s lives? How should I know? I don’t wear a tick tock on my hand.

  “It’s called a watch. And it doesn’t control my life.”

  It was fully dark now, but that didn't tell me much. It had already been starting to get dark when I was coming here, so I could have been out for 5 minutes or 5 hours and I would have no way of telling.

  I walked out and saw that the stars were not out yet, so it should have been minutes, not hours, which was good. I needed to get out of here; I needed to get back.

  That's when I saw them. Hundreds of birds lying on the floor, their eyes bleeding. Also a few dogs and cats similarly passed out. Just lying on the floor like they had fainted. It was lucky this place was deserted of humans or else the same would have happened to them.

  I looked at anger at the woman.

  They are alive, she smiled at me just a little. I love animals, Senpai! I would never hurt them, like I would never hurt my favourite pet she said with fake sympathy.

  They will return to consciousness in a few minutes. Don't worry about them, worry about yourself. By the way, how does the world look?

  Hell! I should have been paying attention. Strange things happened when my mind shattered.

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  I realised now, too late, that the world was in black and white. I could see no colours. Calling the woman in the mirror always had side effects. I needed to know what had changed. So, I rushed back towards the main city. And as I ran, I could feel my mind collapsing more and more into insanity.

  I hoped the side effects weren’t too bad. They could last from hours to days, and they made my reputation as a crazy person even worse.

  When I reached the city, I saw I could no longer see human beings or even animals. They were all skeletons now, skeletons talking to each other, drinking beer in their skeleton tummies, skeletons sitting outside a bar laughing and chatting with other skeletons. A few saw me and quickly looked away. This was another side effect. Most normal people would avoid me now. They would either avoid looking at me or cross the street to get away from me. Worse would be animals. It was lucky those birds and animals had passed out, or they would have been terrified of me.

  I heard someone say, “What the hell is wrong with him? Why is he walking like that?”

  It was a skeleton woman talking to her skeleton boyfriend. I just knew they were talking about me and realised I had been walking bent over like a hunchback, but it wasn't my fault - I was in extreme pain. I had to get home. That's when I saw the two idiots, the two drug dealers.

  “Oi! You back again? I thought we told you to stay out of our territory.”

  “Get away from me! You are in danger!” I shouted.

  The skeletons blocked my way. “Oh, is the pretty boy threatening us?” said idiot number one.

  “I think he needs a beating,” said idiot number two. “Good manners are so hard to find these days.”

  They should have been paying more attention to their dog, who was getting extremely agitated by looking at me. He was trying to break away and run but was being held very strongly by the thick chains around his neck. He finally snapped and attacked the two brothers, ripping the testicles of one and going for the stomach of the other. Both were left screaming in pain and crying out loudly.

  I saw a few skeletons nearby starting to get up to see what was happening. They would be calling the police soon. When the two brothers were down and slowly bleeding to death, the dog finally ran away. I didn't blame him. Animals usually reacted to me this way when my mind had shattered.

  I didn't have time to explain this to the police. I started running home and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the Chinese take away below my home. The TV in the shop was still running. It was a news programme now. A handsome man in a suit was reading the news. When he saw me, he stopped speaking and looked at me.

  “And in the latest news,” the TV presenter said, “Royce, the infamous local private detective, known for his bouts of insanity, has just murdered two people and is now running home, thinking he can outrun the police. Is this man a stupid idiot or what?”

  “I only killed one of them.” I said, “The other one was already dead.”

  “And now, the idiot is talking to a TV. Man, this guy is really insane. Brother, you need to see a psychiatrist. I can recommend a few good ones if you want, being a famous TV presenter and all?”

  “Piss off,” I said. “You’re not real.”

  “As real as you, buddy. And not half as crazy”

  A raven came and sat on my shoulder. I think I knew him. Certainly, we had talked before. He was a friendly chap. “Hey Royce,” he said. “The police are coming for you; hide buddy, leave the city if you can.”

  “No thanks, I have nowhere to run.”

  “At least hide. Your insanity’s getting worse. The people are starting to notice.”

  And he flew off.

  He was right. My mind was starting to shatter even more. Pretty soon, the world would start changing around me, and other people would start noticing. It led to bad things when the normies started seeing the effects of the invisible ghost world.

  I ran up to my room but the world went black before I could even reach the stairs.