|| Arabella ||
I just got back from my first day at work in the late evening. Although they said I could start working from the start of November, I didn't see the point of wasting a good Sunday to start earning.
It was the night before Halloween. Something called the Mischief Night or Devil's Night. The kids and teenagers were going crazy and some 'cool' parents even let them loose, so the kitchen was really busy. I was bone-tired.
'I'm home," I announced after I opened the door.
The apartment was dead silent. I couldn't tell if anyone was home. Maybe Theo and Wyatt were out or sleeping in their rooms. However, I still got the creeps from remembering the stories Theo told me about this building being haunted on this night.
Before freshening up, I went to the kitchen to drink some juice. I noticed Clover licking her paw on the kitchen counter with a bowl of red liquid in front of her—what the fuck did Theo give her to drink? That looked like blood. I tried to peek, but she snarled at me.
'Seriously, you need anger management classes, cat."
I stuck my tongue out at Clover and opened the fridge. I blindly reached out for the juice bottle inside, only for my hand to land on something soft, skinish.
'What the—" I cut myself off when my eyes fell on what my hand was touching. It was a severed hand with blood dripping from its wrist. 'Holy Christ!" I instantly backed off.
My back collided with the counter, my hand flipping Clover's bowl, spilling its red content. 'Oh, God, blood!" I screamed and ran to the bathroom.
Closing the door, I breathed in and out, murmuring to myself, 'I must be going crazy due to exhaustion, or it's all Theo's doing. Whatever. Stay positive. It's not any evil spirit."
Sighing, I turned on the shower first. Just as I started to strip off my top, I noticed the red liquid hitting the bathroom floor and let out another scream. I dashed out of there.
I knocked on Theo's door desperately, then tried turning his doorknob, but it was locked. 'Theo, are you in there? Come out. This is all your plan, isn't it?" I hollered.
Just then the calling bell rang up.
Who came so late?
Taking baby steps, I went to get the door, my heart beating crazy fast. It was a delivery man with an ice cooler, his face oddly covered with a red cap. 'What is it?" I inquired.
'There's a party upstairs. They send this," he said in a creepy voice and handed me the container.
'Excuse me. Wait—" I tried to say but the man was already walking away.
Frowning, I closed the door and opened the cooler with shivering hands. I hoped it wasn't anyone's severed head that Theo sent for me.
Instead, it was something scarier. A snake jumped out.
I dropped the cooler from my hand and jumped a few feet away.
'Annabelle?" I flinched and almost got a heart attack at the sudden voice and looked behind me to find Theo standing at his doorway while rubbing his eyes with his hair mused.
'You were in there this whole time?" I asked, closing our distance.
'Yeah, I fell asleep while studying," he said. 'What's going on? Why are you shaking?" He put a hand on my shoulder to stabilize me.
I took a deep breath and asked, 'It's all your doing, isn't it?"
'What doing?" He raised an eyebrow.
'Don't kid with me right now. The blood in the shower, severed hand in the fridge, bowl with blood, the snake in the cooler—"
'Hold on. I just pranked with the severed hand and Clove's bowl," he said.
'What? You're kidding, right?"
'No." He looked dead serious.
Oh, my God.
'Is this building haunted?" I asked.
'I told you it was."
My eyes widened and I started to shiver again, starting to feel like I was being stared at like prey.
'Hey, I was joking. Don't freak out. It's just the kids from the building pulling pranks on everyone," Theo said, but I was already too psyched to believe him anymore. He started walking towards the living room, and I followed closely behind him. He turned on the lights and TV.
'The snake—"
'It's a toy snake. Can't you see or do you want me to get you a magnifying glass?" He sat on the couch and pointed at the cooler on the floor, and indeed, it was fake. 'Last year, the kids from upstairs pranked Wyatt with that too."
'What about the blood in the shower?" I asked.
'The kids do this every year by involving the watchmen. They add red color in the water tank."
I sighed in relief after finding all the logic behind the incidents, then I glared at Theo. 'You're cleaning the bloody mess in the kitchen."
He flashed me a sheepish grin. 'Were you scared?"
'Out of mind," I huffed and plopped down on the couch beside him. I wouldn't be able to take a shower because the water was all red. But I was still too scared to stay in my room alone. 'Why are all the kids doing this?"
'It's Mischief Night, duh. They can go around vandalizing, and still, no one can scold them tonight," Theo said.
'I would never go out on this night." I frowned.
'Why not?"
'I don't find it morally right to trouble other people, no matter what day it is. Someone could be sick or going through some problems while some kids will just increase their burden," I explained.
'I see."
'So why aren't you out pranking other people? You love annoying others, right?"
He chuckled. 'Do you think I go around pranking random people who mean nothing to me?"
'Still, you prank me all the time."
'Dummy," he muttered under his breath.
'Hey, what?" What did he mean by that? I meant nothing to him, yet he still pranks me.
'Wanna order pizza for dinner?" He diverted the conversation.
I decided to let it go and grunted, 'As long as the delivery guy doesn't give us human flesh pizza."
'Wouldn't that be an interesting flavor to try out?" he commented, already dialing the number of the nearby pizzeria, while I made a gagging reaction.
I crossed my legs on the couch and made myself comfortable. 'Where's Wyatt?"
'At a friend's house for a study marathon," Theo informed.
I hummed and watched the news that was going on about some teenagers egging and toilet-papering their teachers' houses.
After a while, the pizza arrived.
Theo and I were engrossed in some rom-com movie where the female lead had cancer. We were eager to see the ending. Just then, the screen went black, so did the entire apartment.
'Is there a power cut?" I asked, panicking. I could see nothing around.
'Ugh, not again this year," Theo grumbled beside me.
I scooted closer to him, blindly reaching out to grab his sleeve. But I ended up placing it on what felt like his abdomen, and damn, he has got some muscles. 'What, they do this every year?"
'Yeah," he sighed, placing his hand on my wrist and guiding it to his shoulder.
Right then there was a knock on the balcony sliding door.
I flinched and inched farther closer to Theo, curling my fingers over his shoulders. 'Wha-what was that noise?" I stuttered out.
Theo hummed and said, 'Some kids throwing rocks?"
'We are on the ninth floor, Theo," I hissed.
'And there's a building just as tall right beside ours," he retorted.
'But—"
I wanted to speak more, but Theo cut me short. 'Let's just finish our pizza and go to bed." He reached forward to grab his cell phone and turn on the flashlight, almost giving me a fright at the sudden brightness. 'Wow, you're such a scaredy cat."
I puffed my cheeks and scooted away from him, grabbing the last slice of my pizza. 'I'm usually not."
'Sure, whatever, Ms. Macho-woman."
After finishing our pizza, both of us headed towards our bedroom. But as I placed my hand on my doorknob, my heart started beating faster at the thought of seeing something scary when I opened it.
I didn't want to die yet.
And no matter what reasonings Theo had given me, my mind was running in a circle. It only believed what it wanted to—which was supernatural and there were some evil spirits lurking around.
God knows what exactly was awaiting me inside.
Stay calm. Think positive. There's nothing behind the doors.
But heck, it was hard to stay positive when fear was blocking my mind.
So I turned around and hugged Theo from the back to stop him from entering his room. 'Please don't leave me alone," I murmured, my voice was shakier than I expected it to be. But I was really, really scared. So I didn't care. I just wanted to be protected.
'Annabelle?" His voice was soft, laced with both confusion and concern.
'I-I'm scared." I tightened my grip around his middle, pressing my face into his shoulder blades, afraid that he would force himself out of my hold and leave me. Much to my surprise, he rather placed a hand on top of mine.
'It's okay. There's nothing to be scared of. I'm not leaving," he whispered.
I nodded my head, still not letting go of him.
'You… uh, want to go in my room?" he asked after a moment of reluctance.
Without thinking, I said, 'O-okay." I loosened my arms around him, but he clutched my hand and guided me into his bedroom with his flashlight.
I had never been inside his room before, but I had seen glimpses from outside. It was red and black shaded. From what I had noticed, Theo loved red.
I was about to sit on the beanbag near his study table, but he motioned me to sit on the bed. 'I have some candles. I'll light them up," he said and opened the top drawer of a shelf, starting to light up candles.
Once it was done, the room looked beautiful and… somewhat romantic?
I was starting to get cold, so I didn't ask for permission as I wrapped his comforter around me. I saw him giving me a flat look when he noticed, which I returned with a sheepish grin.
Just as I started to relax, loud desperate knocks came from the front door. Fear crept in again. I was about to jump up when Theo motioned me to stop with his hand.
'It's just the kids," he said.
'What if it's an evil spirit?" I asked with wide eyes.
'Then, do you want me to invite them for some tea?" he mock-asked.
I shook my head instantly.
'There's no need to open the door. You stay there and I'll study," he instructed and went to sit on his study table where books and notes were already spread out.
'So you do actually study, huh?" I mused.
'And I see that you don't."
I sweat-dropped. I actually haven't studied seriously for a long time. 'I get by."
'Yeah, by cramming up before the weekly class tests in the locker room," he said with an eye roll.
'I still pass!" I talked, ignoring the loud banging on the front door.
'Sure," he responded sarcastically. 'Can you solve this math problem?" He flashed me a page of his note copy where a math problem was written.
I couldn't see it clearly due to the orangish glow of the candles, so I got up and went closer. 'Hey, I know this one. I can do it," I jostled. The question looked fairly easy, even though I was terrible at math.
I took his pen and started to scribble down the solution after plopping down on the beanbag beside him.
And before I knew it, I engrossed myself in solving the math problem, which turned out to be a pain in the ass. It looked easy at first glance, but it was as complex as a human mind.
I sighed, giving up. 'I can't do this."
Theo chuckled. 'It was a tricky one. I don't blame you for not being able to do it."
'Tricky or not, I'm terrible at math," I let out. By this time, the banging on the door was like white noise.
'I knew so from the moment you used this formula to start the solution," he said, pointing at the second line of the equation I had written. But I didn't understand what was wrong there.
'You're great at math, right? Make me understand it," I urged, flashing him my big pleading eyes.
He looked at me skeptically for a moment before letting his shoulders slump. 'Fine," he grunted.
In the end, Theo explained just not one but ten math problems to me, and damn, was he good at it. He would make a fine statistical… statistician… mathematician... ugh, whatever he wanted to be.
The power returned around midnight when we were still doing math.
When a yawn escaped my mouth, Theo said, 'I think that's enough for today. Time to get rid of you."
I grinned lopsidedly at him and got up, stretching my arms. 'I wonder when Wyatt is coming back."
'He should have been back a few hours ago," Theo said.
'Maybe he came back already. We just didn't notice."
'No, he forgot his key home. He would have to ring the bell—" Theo stopped midway as realization started sinking in both of us.
There was no power, so the calling bell wouldn't work. And there has been knocking on the door for hours now...
Both of our eyes widened.
'Shit," we let out and ran to the front door. 'We are so sorry!" we hollered, opening the door, finding Wyatt sitting on the floor beside the door with a book open.
'About time you guys opened up," Wyatt said weakly.
'Why didn't you just call us, idiot?" Theo scolded, helping Wyatt up.
'My phone died."
Poor Wyatt.
'We are getting payback from those kids next year," I muttered begrudgingly.
Theo smirked at me. 'Count me in."
