Preprations [2]

Ding, Ding—!!!

"Huaa," I yawned, lazily opening my eyes when the melodious yet loud sound of my doorbell reached my ears.

I looked around and was stunned to see all the salt circles and crudely drawn paper talismans all around my studio apartment.

But then I remembered I was going to summon a demon today. Yes, all of this was preparation. From the looks of it, it seemed I had dozed off while waiting for my parcel.

Thankfully, I didn't have a nightmare, so this short nap was at least peaceful. I'm not usually the one to take naps, so I guess I was more tired than I thought.

Well, naturally, aside from having that nightmare last night, I was also way too excited for today. It ought to have put a stroll on my mind.

Lethargically, I got up and headed to answer the door while rubbing my still somewhat sleepy eyes.

"Parcel for Kael Livingrail!" I heard a man calling from outside the entrance of my apartment when I was late to answer the doorbell.

"Coming!" I yelled back before reaching for the door and swinging it open. There, a middle-aged man was standing in wait for me in the hallway with a large cardboard box in his hand.

Now, maybe it was because I was still a little sleepy, but I swear to god I noticed him give me a weird look before he practically shoved the box at me.

"Two-fifty," he said curtly, extending over a hand.

I frowned. What's with that rude undertone? Ignoring the delivery man's visibly impolite behavior, I nodded and spun around. "Sure, give me a second–"

But as soon as I turned around, I understood what the problem was. The thing was, from the main door through the foyer, one could see my bedroom and hall since I lived in a studio apartment.

That meant all the decorations I had inside right now – the runic circles, candles, and paper talismans – were totally visible to the delivery man!

God, he must've thought I was a Satan worshiper or some occult weirdo or something! That was why he was giving me those strange looks! And that rude tone!

Argh! Makes sense!

Internally cursing myself, I dropped the package on the ground and quickly turned to shut the door. I then rushed to get my phone and stepped outside the apartment to pay the delivery guy online.

After receiving the payment, he shook his head at me, stared dead into my eyes, and said, "Seek God."

With that, he walked away, but not before mumbling something like, "Kids these days!" or "That's what listening to that satanic metal music all day does!"

All the while, I couldn't help but grit my teeth in cringe. I mean, he wasn't totally wrong about me practicing occult. I was going to perform a demonic ritual, after all.

But still, being judged hurts!

Shaking my head, I was about to head back in when the door to the apartment in front of me clicked open. Before I had the chance to take even a step, the person living adjacent to me, my neighbor, walked out.

She was a tall young woman with slightly curly brunette locks that framed her face and fell past her shoulders. Her face itself could only be described as a weird mix of hot and cute at the same time, even now when she barely had any makeup on – just a bit of dark eyeshadow and dark red lipstick.

She was slim and lean, evident that she had done some kind of sport in high school, with a perfectly captivating figure that she did not shy away from showing off in a light-fitting black cocktail dress.

When her light brown eyes found me, a warm smile quickly lit up on her face that seemingly only enhanced her already intense beauty.

That was Elyse Blake.

"Kael," she called out to me in a pleasantly surprised tone as if she didn't see me every other day. "What are you doing here?"

I raised my eyebrows to consider her question momentarily before pointing a thumb back at my apartment door. "I moved in here last year."

Elyse looked at me bewildered before elegantly covering her mouth to laugh like she had heard the funniest joke of the century.

"I mean, what are you doing here instead of being at school at this hour, silly!" she chirped after calming down.

"Ahh," I shrugged, my mind forming an excuse. "I ordered something online last night, so I took a day off from school today to receive the package."

"Kael," Elyse furrowed her brows in a concerned way. "You should've asked me. I had no classes today, so I could have received it in your stead."

"It's fine," I waved my hand dismissively. "I didn't want to be a bother."

At my response, the frown on her face deepened. I knew instantly she didn't like what I said. So, when she began to open her mouth to lecture me about how I was, in fact, not a bother to her, I changed topics.

"Besides, it looks to me like your schedule is already very busy. Going somewhere fancy?" I asked, pointing at her, or rather pointing at how lavishly she was dressed.

She stopped for a moment, then looked down at herself before looking back up and letting out another cute giggle.

"Oh, right. Mark invited me on a date to that club that just opened up a few days–" she stopped her sentence midway as if remembering something.

In a hurry, she took out her phone from her purse and quickly looked at the time, only to smack herself on the forehead. "Damn! I'm already late!''

She turned her gaze back to me and asked with an excited grin on her cute face, "How do I look?"

I pretended to scrutinize her for a moment as if I hadn't already checked her out a thousand times and put my thumbs up. "Great as always."

"Aww! Such a good little boy you are," Elyse beamed with joy and patted my head while walking past me. She left me a few parting words before hurriedly taking the elevator. "Sorry, I gotta run! Ttyl!"

Did she just use TTYL in a real-life conversation?

I couldn't help but silently sigh as she exited my view. And what does she mean, good little boy?! She was a junior in uni while I was a senior in high school.

She was merely two to three years older than me at most!

"Whatever," I sighed again and entered my apartment.

Elyse helped me a lot when I moved in here last year.

She helped me unpack and settle in. Since I didn't have all the regular necessities, she also helped me with shopping. And I also didn't know how to properly cook at first, so she taught me that, too.

She did all that for a stranger. She was the first to show me so much affection – after Claire, of course. But Claire does not count as she has known me since childhood.

For Elyse, however, I was no one. She didn't have to help me. And still, she did. She had been nothing to me if not a generous and helpful neighbor for the past year.

I couldn't imagine how many difficulties I would've had if not for her. So, even though she only sees me as a helpless little boy, I value her a great deal.

Unfortunately, like so many girls before her in their late teens and early twenties, she had a thing for the worst breed of guys.

Since I had first met her, she had been with an absolute shit-stain of a boyfriend who was lazy, uninspired, unaware of the things that seemed most important to her, and at times could be completely dismissive.

He drove a restored vintage sports car that made him look like a bully from a nineties movie, of which he acted the part as well.

He was a jerk in every sense of the word. Sometimes, Elyse would come out of her apartment with light bruises, not the kinky or playful kind, indicating that he hits her.

They would fight and break up, but for some reason, this young woman would always return to him like a nail to a magnet. It was baffling, honestly. It was as if he had her under some kind of spell.

His only saving grace was that he was rich. So, yeah, his parents seemed to have firmly lodged a silver spoon up both of his ends from a very early age… which was an explanation enough why he was the way he was.

But whatever. Her love life doesn't have anything to do with me. I certainly wasn't going to stick my nose where it didn't belong even though, as I said before, I value her a great deal.

So, telling myself to mind my own business, I picked up the box from the entryway and brought it to my desk to unbox the items inside.