Chapter 5

I looked like a madman in the surveillance video, talking to thin air by myself and even fainting on the spot without any visible trigger.

Even though Tony had seen quite a lot of things, he was still at a loss for words.

The place was so quiet I could hear a pin drop. The clock continued ticking loudly on the wall, reminding me of the creaky sound of "Mabel's" joints last night, making my skin crawl.

It was the middle of summer right now, but I could feel waves of cold air blowing around me. The scent of the amulet around my neck was faint, but even so, I didn't feel safe or secure at all.

"Let's call the police!" I exclaimed, gritting my teeth.

"You can't!" Tony said firmly. He gave me a look. "Did you really think that the police would believe your hocus-pocus? And on what grounds are you even calling the police?"

I shuddered hard. This was something that I hadn't considered. What was the point of me calling the police with my current predicament like this?

Was I expecting the police to turn into a ghostbuster and exorcise the ghost or something?

Wait, exorcise?

I suddenly looked at Tony abruptly, a thought flashing in my mind. He looked at my expression and smiled at me.

I knew then that we had a similar thought.

"I know of someone. Maybe she'll be able to help you," he said, lighting up a cigarette. He then began telling me that he'd once tried using a spell on himself to attract wealth, but for some reason, things went wrong, and he would always suffer after making a lot of money, nearly losing his life in the process.

"There's this shaman witch who helped me break the curse. If it weren't for her, I'd have already been dead by now," Tony said, tapping on his phone and showing me a TikTok account.

I took the phone from him and saw from her bio that she was a shamanic practitioner, specializing in resolving various paranormal events.

I read the comments on her videos and saw that there was nothing but praise for her, suggesting that she knew exactly what she was doing and had some skill.

"Does she cost a lot?" I asked Tony.

"Not too expensive, but she doesn't take all cases. She believes in fate. You also have to tell her the whole story and make sure it's nothing but the truth," he replied, looking me in the eye.

At that, I suddenly felt intimidated and didn't want to speak anymore.

Tony saw the change in my state and didn't push again. He just told me that the shaman would be having another live stream that night, and that I could watch her if I wanted to.

Then, he got up and left.

I sat alone in the living room in a blank daze, lost in thought, my mind in turmoil.

As darkness fell, I finally made up my mind. Since things had already turned out like this, I might as well just try to subdue or exorcise this ghost by myself.

I checked the circuit breaker in the place and turned on all of the lights. Then, I brought out a bottle of whiskey and finished everything in one go.

I even placed an order of fresh pig's blood online. I'd read somewhere that ghosts were extremely afraid of pig's blood. And since I wasn't able to rid myself of Mabel's ghost, I would just go all out and fight her instead.

I held the bowl of blood in my hands, feeling comforted by its presence. Then, I waited patiently in the living room for the ghost to appear again.

Just as the clock struck 9:00 pm, all of the lights in the house went out all of a sudden.

My heart thumped loudly against its cage like a drum. Then, the room door was slowly pushed open.

"Honey…"

The strange yet familiar voice sounded like it came from the ceiling, cold and utterly devoid of any warmth.

"Mabel" was standing at the door once again, looking as familiar as ever.

She kept coming closer and closer to me, her joints creaking loudly with each step she took.

A few steps later, she suddenly vanished before my eyes. A split second later, I felt her suddenly blowing against the back of my ear.

"Did you miss me, honey?"