10. Vengeful Spirit: Strange things keep happened, don't you think so?

Izzat keeps tapping his fingers on his study table. His thought is floating elsewhere, and no one could guess what is he thinking right now.

While Fakhrul is sitting at the opposite side of his friend, waiting nervously for Izzat's following action. He wanted to apologize to Izzat for his childish behavior in those two days, but the words got stuck in his throat. Is Izzat still angry at him? Why didn't he said anything else? His face is stony and emotionless. What is he thinking? Will he get a punch on his face if he interrupted Izzat's thinking process?

"Err...Izzat?" Fakhrul decided to be brave and speak out his mind.

"Hmm?"

"I...I am sorry, okay?"

"Okay."

"I just...wait, you're not angry?" Fakhrul was baffled by his friend's detached and casual response.

Izzat sighed.

"Why should I be angry? I am the one who lashed out to you. I started the fight, and I should be the first one to apologize. Well, I am sorry for my previous action."

"But, I am also at fault. I..." Fakhrul rubbed his face. "I don't know why but I felt irritated and annoyed at you for no reason. I felt you treated me unjustifiably."

"Oh, it's okay. I also felt the same. I had this urged to punch your face for no particular reason. Your existence makes me angry, so, yeah, I said those mean words accidentally." Izzat replied.

Izzat's earnest confession perplexed him.

"Seriously? Am I that annoying that you feel the need to hit me that much?"

"Well, regrettably, sometimes, you do."

"I never took you as a short-tempered person before. You usually are more docile than a lazy cat. Since when did you change?"

Izzat stopped tapping his fingers.

"You do realize that you're annoying. Right? Always, and always nagging me to go outside and socializing with another person. I hate that kind of thing so much, and yet you forced me to follow you around. That's why I took my sweet revenge on you during the time we went into the abandoned hospital. I intentionally led you there. Oh, I did." He added when Fakhrul's staring at him in disbelief. "With your curiosity, you will never let the chance to explore passed by just like that. Well, serve you right."

"You shouldn't lock me in those dark rooms! I even climbed out from the third level. I am lucky that I didn't fall out!"

Izzat chuckles. He is smiling, but one could sense his annoyance level is rose, and the atmosphere becomes frigid and tense.

"You ran away alone and left me behind, remember? I stayed overnight at that place! Besides, I am not the one who locked you up! Do you think I am a heartless bastard?! And, can you imagine the kind of things I witnessed while wandering around at that place?! No signal, and my phone is shutting down so suddenly! Do you think I am a superman, like you? I cannot fly, nor I could jump down! I trapped in that place, surrounded by a horde of grotesque monsters!"

"I already apologized for that! I am sorry, okay!"

Both of them are glaring at each other. Stood up, with bodies facing one another, they both are fuming in anger. Their chest heaving in and out wildly as rage started to consume their dissatisfaction. The ambiance in the room becomes rigid and strained as if someone turns up the thermostat.

A while later, knocking sounds interrupted their intense glaring.

Lee, Zhou Wei, and Asyraf peeked out from behind the door with confused expressions on their faces.

"Are you guys fighting again?" Lee asked.

"No! We're not fighting!" Izzat and Fakhrul said in a unison voice.

"Calm down, okay? Fakhrul, didn't you said you wanted to apologize? Why would you go into another round of argument? I know close friend tends to fight more, but, this is weird. You guys are not the type to fight in the first place." Zhou Wei tried to appease these two friends. If this fight is prolonging, the peace and tranquility of the house will be doomed!

Izzat had this kind of supernatural power that will be affecting his surrounding depending on his mood. If he is angry, the air around them will be turned cold and chilly. The first two weeks they are together, Fakhrul accidentally broke Izzat's favorite mug to pieces. Izzat went into a cold war for three days with Fakhrul. Those three days are the worse days in their life. He remembered the chilling feeling he felt during those days. As if they lived in the igloo. So cold, and he even gets a slight fever due to the freezing atmosphere.

Izzat pinched his temples in distress. He did it again! Why? Why would they suddenly fight over such a simple matter? He usually will ignore Fakhrul's dumb remarks and acted like he never heard them. Something is wrong. The impulse to hit Fakhrul comes again. Why would he? He is not a violent type of person.

"Just...just stopped talking back to me. I am sorry."

Fakhrul face is also red from withholding his anger. He turned around and left the room in silence.

Lee and Asyraf are exchanging stupefied looks. They followed Fakhrul to the living room.

Zhou Wei is approaching Izzat whose sprawling on his bed in a sullen mood. He hides his face behind his arms. Izzat even out his breathing, calmly reeling his composure.

"Are you okay?" Zhou Wei probed.

"Maybe?" Izzat replied. He is also not sure about his feeling right now. That feeling disappeared as fast as it comes. "I am not sure. When I had a conversation with Fakhrul, the urge to put him in his deserved place just come uninvited. The suppressed feeling of annoyance just bubbled out unannounced. Why?"

"I also find this kind of thing as weird. Do you guys easily get into a verbal fight like that?"

"No. We rarely fight. Because, if we fight, thing tends to get very ugly. The last time we fight was during our primary school years. Something is fishy, senior."

"Fishy?" Fakhrul appeared in the room with a raised eyebrows. He acted as if the fight from before never occurred in the first place. "What kind of fishy smell? Can you describe it to me? I smell nothing. You probably should recheck your nostril."

Izzat rolled his eyes while Zhou Wei patted his forehead.

"Do you see his reaction? I always had this urge to strangle him in his sleep. I didn't know whether he did this intentionally or accidentally. The main point is he's irritating. Annoying. And, always riling up my nerve."

"Yes, he also frustrating me sometimes."

"Oh, come on. Do you still want to continue our fight from before?"

"No, and please shut up your mouth. Just listen to my explanation." Izzat quickly put a stop to the foreboding fight. He turned his focus on Zhou Wei. "Had anything weird happened in the college during this past two or three weeks?"

"I am not sure. Probably no. I haven't heard anything yet." Zhou Wei answered.

"What about Lee?"

"Ah, Lee mentioned that a couple of first-year students got into a physical yesterday. Those guys from level one. A minor reason. Nothing worthy to take note of."

"What is the reason?"

"These three peoples are friends living in the same house. They fought because of the bathroom turn. Boy A took a shower first, and his friend, boy B wanted to shower after him. But, after boy A finished his shower, boy B went into the laundry room to fetch his clothes. After he came back, his other friend, let's name him as boy C, had shamelessly seized his turn. Boy B got angry, and he kicked the bathroom door. From shouting and yelling, the fight then turned into a physical one. Boy A tried to stop them but get dragged into the fight. Unfortunately, the fight gets even bigger."

Izzat scoffed.

"What are they? Girls?"

"Do girls fight like that?" Fakhrul asked. He suddenly thought of his older sister. His body trembled when he remembered how fierce his older sister was when they fought in the past. From Silat Gayung to wrestling, he never once win when he fought her.

"Your sister must be scary, huh?" Izzat couldn't hold back his sarcastic remarks. "Even my brother couldn't hold a candle when confronting her."

"Your sister had an interesting character. I would love to meet her and had a friendly chat with her." Zhou Wei felt intrigued to meet such a woman who could suppress Fakhrul. He knows Fakhrul is a master in martial arts, but to think there is someone more capable than he existed out there, isn't it incredible?

"I will never pick a fight with her again. The trauma is etched deeper inside my brain."

"So, what's happened to them?"

"No serious injuries, but they got heavily punished. Is that an odd thing?"

"Yeah. Normally, no matter how angry you are towards your friend, you never used violence on them for such a minor reason. Like me, I am not a person with a violent tendency, so, at most, I will ignore Fakhrul for a couple of hours and, then, we acted as nothing happen. But, the fact that I wanted to punch him for a silly reason, it's unsettling. At that time, I had an intense hatred towards him."

"You find me that annoying?" Fakhrul asked in a pitiful voice.

"That's not the main point! Can you grasp the thing I tried to conveyed to you?"

Fakhrul is hesitant to say anything.

"Well, I do felt you are a jerk and meany. Although I can understand your point of view, however, at that time, you're too much for me to handle?"

"Thank goodness! If you said you didn't understand, we might have another round of a silly fight." Izzat exhaled a heavy sigh.

"But, this doesn't explain anything. What is the correlation between those events with anything fishy you spoke about?"

"There is the connection between them. And, someone orchestrating the whole incident in an undisguised but discreet way."

Fakhrul tilted his head.

"They do?"

"Ah, I see what you are hinting about, Izzat. That's quite true." Zhou Wei claps his hands in exclamation. "It's brilliantly done."

"What? What did you guys mean?" Fakhrul is still shrouded in blankness.

"There's someone that despised the term friendship out there. And, someone preferred to see people fought with each other than be reconciled. The intention is transparently delivered. It's like they are asking a childish and simple question. 'Friendship? What bullshit.' Like this."

Fakhrul eyes widen.

"What an absurd conspiracy!" He exclaimed. "Who is it?"

"A girl that couldn't let go of her past grudge," Izzat replied mysteriously. "The girl is still out there, unable to move on. She couldn't forgive, nor could forget."

"How come an ordinary girl had the power to disturb others' thoughts?"

"Huh? I never mention her as ordinary? Besides, she is not even a human being. Right, Senior?" Izzat glances at Zhou Wei.

His senior's face turned pale.