Chapter 40
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I eventually decided to work part-time at Mrs. Lewis’s café along with Leonard.
If Raven continued to avoid me like this, I had no choice but to stay at school and observe the situation. That meant I needed to work part-time.
Mrs. Lewis hired me without hesitation, welcoming the perfect scorer from the transfer exam.
Meow.
When Erica and I returned to our room, Blackie greeted us. I’m not sure how it got into the room.
At least, judging by its yellow eyes, it was an ordinary Blackie.
While watching Erica roll around with Blackie in the living room, I sat down at the desk.
“Melody, are you studying?”
“Yes. I need to thoroughly prepare and review.”
Erica made a disgusted expression as she watched me take out my writing materials and organize the desk.
“I’m a good student too, but the top student is really different. Different indeed.”
She clicked her tongue and moved away with Blackie. I started studying without minding her.
If I had to continue attending this school and observing the situation, I needed to study.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of pencil dancing on paper was pleasant to hear.
I finished reviewing the lessons I missed on the day I was with the student council president and prepared for tomorrow’s subjects.
Erica, who had been rolling around with Blackie in the living room, seemed to have gone to bed long ago.
‘I should sleep too.’
After finishing all my studies, I felt more at ease. Perhaps because of this, I suddenly noticed the layout of the dormitory room I was staying in.
‘It’s big.’
If there were a worldwide ranking of private schools, Saint Gloria Private School would probably be number one.
That’s why the school had a lot of money. Its influence on society was also enormous.
‘Even so, how can a student dormitory room be this big…?’
I hadn’t realized it until now because my mind was occupied with other things, but the interior of the dormitory was as large as all the houses in Chesswind Village combined.
Well, poor commoners’ houses are all like that, I suppose.
Anyway, there was a sofa and table in the middle of the living room.
With the living room window behind, there was a fireplace on the left and two desks with a bookshelf on the right.
The toilet was at the entrance, separate from the bathroom.
Also, there were stairs at the right and left ends of the living room. Going up, there were bedrooms on the 1.5th floor.
It’s an interesting structure. It had an atmosphere that seemed to come straight out of a fantasy adventure novel.
Yawn.
The involuntary yawn suggested I was at my limit. Checking the clock, it was 1:55 AM.
After looking around the room once, my eyes suddenly fell on the Bible quietly placed on the desk.
‘Come to think of it, the priest recited a prayer when exorcising ghosts in the cathedral.’
For some reason, I felt like I absolutely had to memorize this prayer today.
I opened the Bible and carefully scanned for any content related to exorcism prayers.
Although we don’t learn about exorcism in doctrine class, related content was mentioned in the Bible.
‘Found it.’
I found a section titled <Liberation Prayer for Exorcism Ritual> at the very end of the Bible.
[You descendants of Abaddon, you shall not receive salvation from Kritovan, for even the god of Klutha will not help.]
This is it. The prayer Father Cerasio recited.
‘Maybe I should memorize it just in case.’
It never hurts to be prepared.
I quietly sat at the desk and recited the prayer repeatedly before going up to sleep.
‘It’s already 9 o’clock.’
After checking the time, I tidied up and went up the stairs.
Since the left bed was mine, I decided to go up the left stairs.
And just as I stepped on the first stair.
Creak—
A faint noise came from somewhere.
It was similar to the sound of the wooden stairs I stepped on. But it definitely wasn’t the sound I made.
I turned my head towards the direction of the sound. Then I saw someone standing on the right stairs.
The person on the opposite stairs was also standing on the first step, just like me.
‘Is it Erica?’
I couldn’t see clearly, but it didn’t seem to be Erica. The figure was slightly taller than her.
Having turned off all the lights in the living room downstairs, only the faint glow of my flashlight and the shadows it cast were visible.
Even when I extended the flashlight forward, I could only see a dark shape on the opposite side, with no discernible facial features.
I took one more step up. The dark figure on the other side also took a step up.
I gripped the flashlight tighter. This is bad.
I need to quickly get up to the bed and wake Erica. With that thought, I climbed two or three steps, and the figure across from me did the same.
Feeling a bit creeped out, I stopped.
If we continued at this pace, it would reach Erica before me.
Sweat trickled down my temple. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
This time, I’m going to run up. Faster than it.
Just as I made that decision and lifted my foot, it happened.
As if reading my mind, the dark figure on the opposite staircase suddenly began crawling up the stairs at an incredible speed.
Tadadadadadadadadadadada—!
It reached the second floor at an astonishing speed, spun around once, and came down to the staircase where I was standing.
Just as I was about to turn back and run down the stairs, I heard an eerily cold and low, bizarre voice right by my ear.
“Why aren’t you going to sleep.”
When I came to my senses, I saw the dark figure crouched on the step just below me.
Wasn’t it just above me on the stairs?
I collapsed to the floor in shock, and a continuous giggling sound echoed in my ears.
“Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe”
It was bizarrely crouched on the stairs a couple of steps below, looking up at me.
I was too shocked to say anything, and it quickly passed by me and went up the stairs again.
I picked up a shard of glass from the broken flashlight and followed it up the stairs.
I saw it crawling onto Erica’s bed where she was sleeping.
“Get away from there!”
I rushed towards it, but it was faster.
It seemed to be absorbed into Erica’s body and disappeared.
Oh no, what should I do!
“Erica! Wake up! Erica!”
I shook Erica’s body to wake her up.
But no matter how much I shook her, she wouldn’t wake up.
Just as I was sitting down with a desperate look on my face, suddenly Erica sat up abruptly and looked at me with a chilling grin.
“You can’t do anything.”
I got goosebumps at the feeling that it seemed to know something as it spoke. The hair on my skin stood on end.
It started banging Erica’s head against the wall while possessing her body.
Seeing her repeatedly hitting her head, I quickly moved to embrace her.
“Stop it!”
“You can’t do anything.”
“You can’t do anything.”
It kept muttering the same words while banging her head against the wall.
I need to find a solution.
A solution…
That’s right!
‘Come to think of it, the window was open.’
It seemed Erica had fallen asleep with the window open above her bed because she was hot.
‘The holy water I received from Father Cesario…’
I had just left the glass bottle containing the holy water on the desk. Damn it!
But I couldn’t leave Erica in this state and go back down the stairs.
That’s when it happened.
As if appearing like a savior while I was in trouble, Blackie showed up.
Tap tap tap.
Meow—
I heard the sound of Blackie, who had been sleeping on the living room carpet, climbing up the stairs.
The cat came running up, holding the string of the glass bottle containing the holy water in its mouth as it climbed the stairs.
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Thank you for reading! ♡
