8 Night of Horror

James and Alika were putting their belongings in a hotel just next to this neighborhood. They went outside to calm their minds after their 12 hours train ride. The two of them crossed this lonely road in silence until Alika stopped in front of a cafe with a dark green wall and a black glass door where James could see the reflection of Alika. She took a deep breath and sighed in desperation.

James didn't remember the last time he entered this kind of place but, his eyes automatically spotted a very unusual view inside this place as soon as they both entered the cafe. He spotted two creepy ghosts whose eyes were all on him; both were not a friendly gazed. James started thinking about Helena. Did she brought up a news to all the spirits who are bound by this cursed agreement? James continued to follow Alika to sit very near to the corner.

Alika still looked exhausted and frightened of what she might face. She began to cast her eyes on James and clasped her hands together.

"I'm afraid," Alika whispered. James brought his face closer to her and squeezed both of her hands.

"It will be all right. Enjoy your coffee. " Alika smiled briefly and took a breath of relief. James could sense these cursed spirits were very disturbed by their intimacy.

"Can you see them?" James asked out of sudden.

"Who?" He realized Alika could not possibly aware of their presence. She only connected to a spirit who had saved her life. James smiled and shook his head.

One Cursed Spirit clad in bandages splashed with blood staring at James from the corner of the stairs with one of his nearly comes-off eyes rotten that keep dripping blood to his body. James shot him with a cold gaze and held her hand even tighter. Just a few seats away from Alika, a girl in disheveled clothes sits with all her tangled hair covering her face. She sipped her coffee in silence as if feeling threatened by one cursed spirit beside her swinging her long filthy nails in the middle of her brown hair. She seemed more terrified by Her fangs that came out of her ripped mouth and Torn nostrils.

That cursed spirits softly scratch her face while she froze in with he eyes looks vacant and her lips stuttering a few words nobody could hear due to the music playing along within the cafe. They both were having a quite conversation.

"The agreement has destroyed human life." James mumbled and shift his focus back to Alika.

"Are you okay?" James asked softly. With a slight grouchy expression, Alika nodded as she continuously sipped her coffee. James Still kept his eyes on those cursed spirits that couldn't take their eyes off of them as if they were ready to jump on Alika and kill her right away. As soon as he saw Alika finished her last sip of coffee, he fond a way to bring her out from this place.

"You want to get out of here? The night is starting to get darker. The sooner we find the answer, the better. "

Alika nodded and stood up. James grabbed her shoulders from behind and pushed her to walk a little bit faster to stay away from the vengeful glances of these cursed spirits that were getting more and more suspicious.

"Should we sneak in?" James asked after they came out of the cafe. It was almost midnight; The streets were silent while the wind blew freezing and humid air. They were walking through empty streets surrounded by big and luxurious houses.

"Unfortunately, Yes. We will sneak through the kitchen window which is completely untouched by my father or brother." She Explained.

They finally arrived at a large gray house with a Sharp fence shot up as tall as the Old Banyan Tree in its front yard. James took a few steps back to look at the whole picture of this huge creepy house.

"How do we get in? "Asked James while he looking up to the tip of the pointed fence that appears more like a spear. Alika started to duck and lay on the crawling through the small gap in between. Alika was not a very small girl, but the gap is pretty spacious for her to slide in carefully.

"Awh!" Alika moaned as she forced her body to go deeper through the gap. She needs to lower her head to be as close as possible to the ground to get flat and drag her body in slowly. James closed his eyes for a moment because he could not bear to see how Alika struggled to enter that tiny gap. Half of her body succeeded to passed then, she curled her body like a cobra to pull her butt through carefully.

"AAAAH !! JAMES!! " Alika screamed as soon as a woman suddenly grabbed her ankles and pulled her body out of the fence. Her head hit the bars and bumped to the ground several times as the lady harshly pulled her out of that small gap she entered with a lot of focus and patience. James gasped after he realized it was the girl he saw at the cafe. The girl harshly dragged Alika's body as if she had lost her consciousness; behind her was the cursed spirit with the long filthy nails bust out laughing in satisfaction.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Alika Crying in pain and asking for help. James immediately ran towards the spirit and hit her right in the face while Alika was painfully scratching the road while this girl dragged her away on the ground.

"LET HER GO! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" James grabbed her hair and yelled right in front of her face. Instead, she smiled and laughed when James pulled her hair as if he was trying to rip it off of her head.

"I want her. That crazy lady over there will break her to the bones and bring her to the agony. After the angel of death was on his way here, she will be mine and help me to reach heaven!" The spirit burst into laughter. All his veins tightened; his eyes become fully raged in anger. James stared at her face in disgust. Alika Cried harder; begging for help. Her hands locked behind her waist and her face was facing the ground. She pulled her hair to the back; tempted to break her neck. Alika could barely breathe, her throat was suffocating, her sobs changed into a cough in just a few minutes.

"DON'T KILL HER! YOU STUPID!" The cursed spirits Screamed to her while James pulled her hair even harder. She stopped and turned her head with an empty gazed and obeyed. Alika choked and heavily cough after she finally got enough oxygen.

"That useless girl can be yours. She would do anything to escape me but too afraid to kill herself and set me free. I've stuck with her for years! I need a brave and fearless woman like yours. This is the only way we could escape each other." She pointed her nails towards his nose. James could not believe what he just heard. It never comes up to his mind that going out in public with Alika would be this dangerous. He didn't realize if there were a lot of cursed spirits out there having the same purpose as him.

James harshly tossed her to the ground and immediately ran towards Alika whose body stuck in a helpless locked position. That girl was sitting on Alika's waist and twisted both of her hands on the back with her left hands while her right hand was slamming Alika's head repeatedly to the ground. She cried, whined, and struggled to make a move and make this girl fall. However, Alika was too strong and had excellent survival skills. She had been hit by rocks many times and is still alive.

"Alika!" James shouted while he was running towards her; She answered with a cry of despair. James just realized he couldn't be touched or seen by another human. He only connected to Alika and her world.

He immediately pulled Alika from the ground and helped her to get rid of that mentally ill lady sitting on top of her. She was thrown off quite far from Alika and had her body bumped to Alika's house Fence quite hard. She was Startled to see Alika floated in the air when James carried her while running as hard as he could.

"CHASE HER IF YOU WANT YOUR LIFE BACK!" The cursed spirit got up and shouted at her. She immediately ran towards the two of them. James ran with Alika whose face was all covered in blood.

"Alika, hang on." Said James as he kept running. A rock was thrown and passed through his body. He looked back and watched as the girl staggered with her eyes vacant. She was still trying to injure Alika by throwing off everything to her. James became fully aware of his direction while Alika nearly passed out on his arms. His collar had soaked in blood already. James thought of an idea to hide but, It's a residential area. They had a big road, with the slightest amount of trees or alleys. The only place to hide is someone else's house although, it won't be easy for Alika who is currently helpless. James could hear the ghost laugh very hard while witnessing the moment of fear. He Realized one thing.

"Alika tell me, can you see her? Can you hear her voice?" James Asked to make sure she wasn't very close to death. If she was able to hear the ghost, it means the angels of death were on his way to took her soul.

"Alika! CAN YOU HEAR IT?!" James shouted at her and rocked his arms a little bit. But Alika was still close her eyes and just grabbed his body tighter. Trying not to fall from his arms.

James sprinted faster and found a little hope when there was a sharp turn ahead. He hugged Alika tighter and increased his speed as much as possible while looking for a right hiding spot. Finally, James found an empty house with an open fence he immediately ran into and heading to its corner.

"Alika, wake up." James rubbed all her hair aside and wiped the blood from her face. She moaned in pain and slowly opened her eyes.

"I am fine." James smiled in relief and buried his face down within her shoulders.

"However, that lady was hesitating and didn't seem like she had the heart to bang my head too hard onto the ground. I could feel her hands were shaking and sweaty. Although she still managed to try her best to kill me for no reason." She grunts a little after explaining the good side of her. She didn't hear anything. She's not dying. She's fine. The voice within James finally got the answer but, seeing blood flowing from her head, he couldn't help but recall her nearly dead moments. James cried and buried his face on her chest. Crying. Alika Stared at him and asked an innocent question.

"James, Why Do you think everyone is trying to kill me?" James stared at her gleaming brown eyes amidst her little smirk of pain. His hands were trembling and brought Alika even deeper into his arms.

"Forgive me. This is all because of my presence." Alika felt James's body turned hot and trembling because his sobs exploded. She reached the top of his head to caress him and tried to calm him down.

"Don't say that. None of us knows who she was. "

"I know. I've seen that girl at the cafe earlier. She accompanied by a cursed spirit with long fangs, a half-torn mouth, and a set of filthy sharp nails. Looks like that girl is very frustrated and has lost her mind. " Alika paused to hear James's explanation. James lifted his face and looked Alika straight in the eyes as he continued.

"The thing she had done to you was under her order. She aimed to make you dying and help you so that he can be by your side. "

"Wh ... Why?"

"Because you are brave, Alika. You don't escape one bit from your destiny. you can accept me unconditionally. There are too many desperate spirits out there who couldn't even find humans who can accept their existence in their lives even after they saved them from death. " Alika put her arms around James's neck and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for saving me." Said Alika with her face pressed in between his neck and collar bones.

"Thank you for being brave too, Alika. Don't be afraid, I will protect you no matter what the situation is. Even when that brings me to hell. " James tightened his arms again. His statement once again had made Alika's heart feel so warm and calm as the Universe blew its coldest wind that night.

Alika slowly released herself from James's arms and tried to sit on the ground. She chuckled and murmured.

"This is the 2nd time I had my head heavily wounded."

"Your skull is made of steel." James threw a smirk while Alika was busy cleaning her clothes. Her hands are full of scars and bruises.

"Are you still planning to continue your plan tonight?" James Asked in worry.

Alika was silent for a moment and shook her head. There's a sense of relief blooming on his chest that she still has her mind and cares about her safety.

"Let's go back to the hotel. There's no guarantee that the girl won't attack me a second time." Alika took out her cell phone and ordered an online taxi.

***

After cleaning his body, Alika took out a first aid kit from her bag to treat wounds on her head and all over her body. James watched her being very independent and responsible for herself. She put the bandage on her wound without whining or asking for help. Even though James would do anything to spoil her, he realized that Alika was too independent to consciously ask for help with such a small thing. She was even aware to take several pills from the box to cure her headache and add some pain relievers.

"Alika" Called James out of sudden. Alika, who was about to swallow her pain reliever, just responded with a single glance at James from the tail of her eyes and proceeded to swallow her medicine.

"yes?" She wiped her mouth and turned her head to him.

"Why did you come out of the house?" asked James reluctantly. Alika was not bothered by the question, but she chose not to answer his question.

"My head is very dizzy tonight." replied Alika as she laid on the bed and adjusted her head position with a soft pillow that looked very comfortable. James immediately understood that she did not want to answer the questions in a situation like this. He laid down beside Alika. He stared at her back for a while before he also turned his back on her.

James thought about how to make sure this situation would not happen for the 2nd time to Alika. She hasn't even tackled her problem yet. At least, today he just realized that Alika's life was truly threatened and they both needed to be more careful in public since James was the only one that was able to see the presence of other cursed spirits. James was mad at himself for not being able to save Alika a second time. If he insists on doing that, he would be thrown into hell. James felt a little frightened just imagining it happening.

James regretted his decision to just give up on his life. Suicide neither answer nor solve anything.

"I wish I was alive ..." He muttered softly and suddenly he felt a hand wrapped around his body from behind.

"Alika.." James turned around and saw her face only a few inches from his. She peacefully hugged him.

"You're awake?" James asked quietly. Alika smiled and nodded slightly without opening her eyes.

"Don't be afraid. I will return you to heaven. " She opened her eyes and looked straight into James's eyes that once looked so frightening. It felt warm and sad at the same time. He wasn't sure that he would be ready to leave this woman.

"Thank you. "James squeezed her on his chest and let her rest while Alika seemed very comfortable with that.