Prologue (4): Eliza

Oh My God, that was Erika. With her brutal looks, she really looked like a vengeful ghost. Forgetting our hostility, I went straight to the window.

“Psst, Erika”

Erika turned her head. Her face looked weird when she saw me. 

“What?”

“What are you doing?!” I asked despite her rude glaring. “Are you the one who destroyed Marty’s house?”

“Who else if not me?” Erika smiled mischievously. “Let that kid give up having a party. What are you even doing here? If you weren’t here, the other kids would go home.”

Offended by the accusing tone in her voice, I answered, “Well, I do what I want to do.”

Erika looked at me with narrowed eyes, “What the heck is your game this time?”

I clicked my tongue. My sister always thought I had an ulterior motive. Even though everyone else knew that it was her who actually had hidden intentions. Well, she wasn’t totally wrong, but i just wanted to keep what was mine — and that was not wrong, right?

“Is it wrong for me to come to my own friend’s party?”

“You even want to befriend a worm? Disgusting.”

Okay, I was getting even more annoyed.

“I have no problem even sharing blood with a snake, why should I be afraid to befriend worms?”

Erika looked at me full of hate. “Alright. Whatever. I’ll go home. I’m bored wandering around without purpose here.”

In an instant, she disappeared from my sight.

Good, it meant she would not make my plan fail. But by the way, where was Ferly? The plan could not go well without him. I tried to find him among the crowd that filled Marty’s house, but he was nowhere to be found. When I finally met Marty, I was very angry. 

“Marty, you actually didn’t invite Ferly, right?” I asked to the point.

“Well, of course not,” Marty said without feeling guilty. “If he were here, how could I get close to you?”

“Well, even if there is no him, you could never get close to me!” I said curtly.

Without paying attention to the babble that Marty did to defend himself, I left the house.

Shit! My plan could fail miserably. But, it probably won’t. Maybe I could make a few changes. Maybe…

As I pondered, I walked away from Marty’s house. I thought about the mysterious disappearance of people in Jakarta and surrounding areas some time ago, including two of our school students —a girl and a boy from senior grade, who were reportedly dating. Until now, those people haven’t still been found, alive or dead. Thinking about what happened gave me goosebumps. But I still continued my steps. I’ve always been lucky all my life, and I was sure tonight the luck will also be on my side.

While approaching a building halfway to a zinc fence, suddenly I felt something was amiss. 

It looked like someone was following me.

I walked faster as I sharpened my ears. There was no mistake, there were footsteps following me.

Who was it? Was it that annoying Marty? Was it Erika who always picks a fight with me? Or was it Ferly who finally decided to catch up with me even though it was too late? 

I wanted to look back, to find out who was following me, but I knew I shouldn’t be reckless. It could be one of people who was being mean to me. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have followed me secretly, would they? I’d rather turn into this building, then hide and find out who they are. After that, I’ll decide what to do with all this.

I entered the dark, lonely, and horrid-looking half-finished building. In a normal situation, I would not be willing to go in there and make myself dirty. But girls must be able to defend themselves. At times like this, I had to be brave to do everything that I didn’t like for my own good.

Many piles of building material were strewn about in the building, and I immediately hid behind a stack of blocks. I watched the entrance, wondering who had followed me.

After a while, no one entered, and I began to get impatient. Did I guess wrong? Maybe they were the sounds of my own steps echoing? I got up and got out of my hiding place and turned my head outside the entrance.

No one is there.

Okay, all of this is really weird.

I suddenly realized something. I had another shadow under my feet. I turned around quickly, but I thought I’d lost already. My eyes widened at the sight of a blood-stained figure. The fear was haunting my heart.

“Now, it’s your turn.”

And just like that, the perfect life I had lived so far ended. 

Turn around, right now!

But I remained foolishly determined and walked on.

At that moment, a figure emerged from the darkness and pounced on me.