Chapter 7

Kathleen only stared at Takumi who's eyeing his moon milk tea for almost five minutes now. He looks really dumbfounded and he’s not talking ever since they arrived at the coffee shop. She doesn't know what he’s up to either, but she has this hunch that he knows something—something related to Samantha’s disappearance. She cleared her throat to break his silence. His eyes bated and looked at her.

“Well?” She finally decided to talk, crossing her arms. “What are you gonna tell me?”

“Oh, y-yeah,” he looked back down and heaved a deep sigh.

“I-I don’t know if you’re gonna believe me or not or will I make any sense but—I saw everything.”

Kathleen’s brows met. “And when you say everything, everything like what?”

“I talked to her before she left that day you two got into the accident. She has that weird aura surrounding her when she rushed inside the elevator and before it closed, I saw someone—no—something’s standing behind her.”

Kathleen’s lips opened; she wanted to ask, but chose to listen anyway. Suddenly, Takumi took his lower lip between his teeth. “I was worried, so I followed her that day. She was driving on a high speed when I arrived at the parking lot but I still chased after her anyways. I vividly remembered seeing a black miasma hit her wheels all at once sending the car, you two are in, tumbling countless of times. I only sat inside my car appalled. My heart was racing by the thought of her being dead so, it took me couple of seconds to process what happened until she stepped out, bleeding to death.”

Takumi breathed out. “I quickly went out the car to help her, but what I saw next pinned my feet down the floor,” his brow twitched. “S-She’s talking to a monster and the two of them were slowly devoured by a dark smoke. I tried running after her but she already vanished and there, I saw you inside her car, unconscious.”

“He must be the one who called the ambulance,” Kathleen thought to herself.

“The monster you saw, what does it looks like?" She stuttered.

“H-He’s tremendously tall with long moving hair. I haven’t seen it clearly, but I think… the creature doesn’t have a face.”

“Just the one in my dream,” she muttered and he looked at her.

“You've seen it, too?!”

“I think so, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s the one Shane is referring to as the personification of her curse—,” Kathleen cut herself off and looked at Takumi whose aura changed on the spur of the moment. He calmly rested his back on the couch and crossed his arms, eyes still locked on her.

“So, she’s indeed cursed, ah?” Takumi’s words came too great of a question to her that she had to lean closer to read his expressions. Takumi is now acting like a different person. There were dozens of questions running through her mind but nothing will come into words. She watched him shrug into his leather jacket as she moved a bit backward. She could feel her heartbeat tremble the air between them. She placed her hands on the table, fingers intertwined, and waited for Takumi to ease her confusion.

“W-Who are you, really? What do you know?!" Takumi watched lips thin into a grim line.

“I told you I am Takumi Takahashi: Shane’s senior psy—.”

“I mean...You exactly! How did you know about the curse?"

“Ahh because I used to be cursed,” he answered right away as if it’s the most normal thing to hear. “That’s why when I saw Shane for the first time, I had a hunch that she might be cursed as well,” his voice had dropped back to normal, but it was flat and emotionless.

“So, you know where she has been taken then? Please tell me! I-I have to save her!”

“Even if I tell you, you still won’t be able to cross the other realm.”

“But, why?! I need to save her. I can’t imagine the terrible things that could be happening to her right now!”

“Neither do I, but it takes for one person to be cursed to enter the other real or—.”

“Or what?”

“I’d tell you if you’d just let me finish.”

Kathleen saw Takumi’s eyes flared that her lips tighten.

“I’m sorry, go on.”

“As I was saying,” he cleared his throat. “It takes of an alive individual to be cursed or dead to enter the other realm.”

Kathleen ended up staring into nothingness as Takumi shifted his eyes to the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall. Her eyes wandered down the table.

“What should I do then? C-Can you help me?”

He sighed, pressing his lips together. “I really don’t want to get involved with the curses anymore. It was hell, but Shane is my colleague and my conscience will probably devour me if I let her die in there knowing I could do something to help.”

“Then we should hurry! What should I do?”

“We have to know every piece of her curse, so we’ll know how to summon her back. I just have to warn you one thing: there's no room for errors here. If we fail, we might end up trapping her soul in the other realm to which we could never ever bring her back again.”

Kathleen tapped her chin in frustration. She had too much information for the day. She felt her brain is shutting down for good.

“We should go to her house then. She must have hidden something or might be everything in there.”

Takumi nodded to agree. Kathleen excused herself to check the crews in the kitchen to make sure everything is under control before she leaves.

“How about the Ethiopian dark roast?” She asked.

“We still have ten more boxes, ma’am,” Jade, one of their baristas, answered.

“So, everything’s cool now? Just drop me a message if you still need anything, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Alright, that’s it. I’ll go ahead.”

The staffs waved her goodbye and just when she was about to go back to where Takumi is, she came face to face with Scott near the cashier. Kathleen wasn’t able to react right away. She felt as though her lungs rose up to her throat and she just wanna strangle him to death but tried her best to regain composure.

“A-And you really have the guts to show up after what you have done, ah?”

Scott looked rather frustrated, depressed, or ashamed. “I-I just wanna talk to S-Samantha if—.”

“Talk to her?!” Kathleen scoffed in disbelief. “She’s no longer here and neither be your business so, please! Get the hell out of my shop.”

His eyes wobbled and pulled his lower lip. He calmed down, enough for him to think of what he’s going say next.

“I-I just need to talk to her.”

“Will you please just go back to where you came from and rot in hell?!” Kathleen low-key yelled to avoid making a scene. She was about to walk pass by him when he blocked the way.

“No! I need to know where she is!” He insisted.

“Back off or so help me,” she threatened through grinded teeth but he doesn't seem to falter.

“I-I know you’re already aware I did something unforgivable but please tell me where she is! I badly need to see her one more time before—before I... get married.”

Scott looked down and pulled Kathleen outside the shop and all the way to the parking lot. They stopped near his car that’s when he finally breaks the silence. She only watched him brushing his hair with his fingers in frustration, waiting for his “acceptable” explanation to at least convince even a single nerve in her body.

It took him couple of seconds to finally settle in one pace and face her. “I-I didn't know she’s pregnant and her parents wants us to get married right away! I just don’t know how to tell her, so I posted it as a status. We might have broken up but I still love her, so please! Let me at least see her.”

Kathleen smirked. “You don’t destroy people you love, Scott. That’s basic human decency or logic, perhaps. The Samantha you are talking about is a very kind and thoughtful woman, I know she will forgive you. But you, telling her those horrible things after what you did, is not something I could forgive,” she heaved a sigh to contain her anger. “You know me. I’m not as kind as her so, I assume you’ll understand that I might be able to murder you next time you show that bullshit face of yours in front of me.”

Scott fell out of words, but ‘twas only few moments when he got them back and said, “I-I was just so frustrated back then. I didn't know what to do. I really loved her, so please!”

“Oh, please. Do I look like I’m gonna believe that? Do you think I’m stupid? I never liked you to begin with but, I gave you my trust because Shane loved you and I want her to be happy,” Kathleen’s jaw clenched. “You’re heartless, Scott. You’re nothing but a rotten soul in a form of a human!”

She drummed her fingers on her arm. “Don't worry, Shane only looks stupid, but she's way smarter than you think. Just don’t ever show yourself to her again. Have I made myself clear?”

Before Scott could even talk, Kathleen had already made her way back to the shop. “He can just die, actually, for all I care,” a quick swipe on her cheeks dried the tears that trickled rolled down.

“Please take care of him for me,” she held her head when she heard Shane’s voice again.

“At this rate, forgive me, Shane. I might be the one to end him if our paths crossed again,” she calmed herself a bit before she entering the shop. With heavy steps, she approached Takumi who’s already sitting on a cardinal bergère near the bookshelf, half athwart the door. He’s busy shuffling cards and didn’t seem to notice her sit in front of him.

“So, that’s the person she’s protecting?”

Kathleen’s brows cocked. “So, he noticed after all.”

His question came so backassward in such a coherent tone that took her an infinity and beyond to think of what to say that she hoped would be a decisive response.

“You think?” Her lips twitched. “Great! That’s just straight-ass stupid.”

Takumi sniggered. “No matter how stupid that guy is, he is still one of Shane’s greatest possessions—I’ll say. We’ll be needing him to summon her back.”

Kathleen’s eyes went sideways. “He must have known a lot than I thought,” she thought.

***

Time slipped so fast, leaving Takumi and Kathleen staring at Samantha’s enormous old house outside her old, rugged huge gate. Takumi shifted his grip on the handle of the lock to open it. He let Kathleen went in first and followed straight away but before she could head inside the house, something stopped her in the middle of the slippery ground and looked up.

The setting sun is already hanging in the tangerine-hued sky, turning everything into a mysterious rusting shadow. Kathleen sighed, feeling the eerie atmosphere embracing her whole body as she turns to look at Takumi who had already knocked the door off, literally.

His pale face went even paler; he looked at Kathleen and back at the door. “I-I didn’t mean to! I wasn’t expecting it was this—.”

“Don’t mind that,” she cut him off in a soft chuckle. “This house is years older than us. It has never been renovated before.”

Kathleen walked pass by him who’s still struggling putting the door back into its original place. She stopped at the hall and stared at the fireplace. She was standing at the same spot she was in—in that dream and how she wishes her best friend is also there.

“I-Is this really her house?” Takumi asked, eyeing everything his eyes could reach. “I mean, she came from a wealthy family... well, it’s really huge but I wasn’t just expecting it to be like this o-old,” he cleared his throat.

“This house is owned by her family ancestors. Memories resides in this place. I think that’s the main reason why she doesn’t want renovation.”

Takumi stopped beside her. “Shane has gone missing for days now. This house should be closed for investigation, but I think no one even filed a proper investigation for her case.”

“It’s because I am all she has,” she said through gritted teeth. “And I was at the hospital for days. Did you come and visit?” She looked at Takumi, but he only blinked. “Shit, I think his humor’s dead.”

Takumi stroked one finger along the curve of his fine glasses. “Don't worry. We’ll get her back. Let’s just search what we came here for and leave. We have to move fast. We don’t have all the time.”

Kathleen could only nod. “Yep, definitely dead.”

The two headed upstairs straightway to where they discovered huge rooms of different door styles. They don’t seem to look old at all. It’s way too different from what’s downstairs.

They searched every corner of those rooms but found nothing but plain rooms—medieval designed rooms—until they came face to face with a huge two-faced door.

“Let’s get in,” Kathleen marked and was about to open the door, but Takumi was just right on time to hold her arm before she could even touch the knob. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sensing a very demonic aura coming from the inside,” he whispered in a groaning tone as he slowly reached towards the doorknob himself and pushed it open. “Stay here.”

Takumi peered inside and what he saw lifted his fine brows and brought a lump into his throat almost too big to swallow. It’s a wide library and from not very far away, headed above the glassed roof, came an answer; two moons were shinning down on him, swathing each other in a faint brightness. The light from the two moons, even though they weren’t strong enough to banish shadows from far corners, helped him see the streak written all over the room which is, in fact, dripping blood.

“We have to leave now!” Takumi grabbed Kathleen’s arm, dragging her out of the house. He ain’t sure how they left exactly and now he’s already staring at the cup of coffee in front of him. They’re now back at the coffee shop with different distorted moods. Takumi stayed silent the whole time while Kathleen watched him in confusion.

“Just what the hell did you see inside that room?" She growled.

Takumi glanced at her and back down. “Hell itself,” his voice had become frantic.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I-I can’t seem to wrap my head around to what’s really happening...” Takumi muttered, spitting discordant words into the air. “I’ve never seen such evilness before.”

With awareness of what’s happening came a confusion. His eyes darted back to Kathleen.

“We can’t do this on our own. The personification of Shane’s curse is far more dangerous than I thought.”