Kurai stood outside the shower curtain, her towel firmly grasped around her body.
She picked up her phone and watched as the blue glow hit her eyes.
Tempted to block Gengyo so he could never text her again, her finger reached for the block button but paused.
"Whatever," Kurai said.
She opened her bedroom door and locked it and changed into a red jersey and blue pants.
"I'm bored!" Kurai groaned, dropping herself onto her bed "There's nothing good to do in this stupid house! I hate it here!"
Ever since Kurai had come back home, the same gloomy cycle repeated itself again.
Wake up, bathe, study, text online friends, sleep.
So it wasn't much of a surprise that Kurai was beginning to get bored.
Wait a minute...
Kurai glanced about her room, even though there was no one in the house but her, then proceeded to open her browser on her phone to search for the anime she had been wanting to watch but she used to be busy with highschool.
Her fingers landed on 'Chronicles of the Sovereign', a dark, action-fantasy series.
She binge-watched the first two episodes.
The story featured a disillusioned young royal named Zaron, who inherited a cursed artifact that allowed him to see how others would die and just by holding this cursed artifact and speaking the words,"You will die at.." and whatever age he decided to call, whether he was telling the truth to them or not, as a result, the victim would always die in a gruesome manner just as he told them.
Corrupt nobles and ineffective government officials came to him for advice because they wanted to be able to manipulate events before that time by making alliances and hide secrets.
But it was all for nothing.
With the magic he earned from the cursed artifact called The Psychic's Ball, he would hold it up high and proud and everyone who ran to him for answers all dropped dead the very next day.
Kurai leaned forward, invested in the anime.
Her eyes followed the screen as Zaron got sick of a tax collector who preyed on the poor, and when he was caught in his act, he executed him instantly.
Kurai squealed in dark satisfaction as the tax collector's body became lifeless.
Serves them right, who in their right mind abuses their power like that?
Lenieve and his minions observed and smiled eerily.
The dark satisfaction that was blooming in Kurai's heart was a rich, complex negative energy.
She was willingly giving into the violence, justifiying it with the concept of "justice".
Then, Kurai, reached the climax of the third episode, the voice over narration delivered a grave pronouncement about Zaron's cursed artifact, 'The Psychic's Ball.'
Kurai's eyes widened, the air in her room got thin, causing her and the demons watching her to stop breathing for a second.
She kept re-reading the subtitle over and over again on her phone.
"Whoever owns and even dares to use The Psychic's Ball has fallen under God's judgement because dark magic displeases the LORD. He or she may only be forgiven once they repent and change their wicked ways since the souls of the dead cry out to him and He will punish the children of darkness."
Tap, tap, tap!
A faint tapping sound was persistently coming from the corner of the ceiling that was a short distance from Kurai's bed.
Kurai tilted her head slightly to one side, and her eyes opened wide, scanning the ceiling relentlessly for what could be causing the noise.
The understanding of what was happening hadn't sprouted in her mind, it resided in her spirit due to her spiritual discernment that God planted in her since she was in her mother's womb.
The faint, high pitched tap from the ceiling wasn't startling, it was just irritating.
She didn't have time to play games with that demon, the anime she had so wanted to watch had unknowingly opened a door for that demon and she needed to find a way to get rid of it fast.
And she needed to stand her ground.
But how am I supposed to do that?
With her phone still gripped tightly in her hand, she read quickly in her mind the Old Testament from a Bible app she had installed, hoping that demons flee at the sight of a Christian reading the Bible but this only intensified the tapping.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
If I keep reading my Bible would it go away???
Kurai gripped her phone tighter, her knuckles white, determined to find a way to get rid of the demon(while literally reading the Old Testament).
She ran her eyes over the text.
The tapping noise escalated from the corner of the ceiling near her bed, becoming frantic, aggressive, like a woodpecker hitting wood.
It was irritating, persistent, and entirely focused on her.
Don't demons leave when they see you reading the word of God?
God has left us!
Shut up! I don't believe that!
Lenieve, hovering near the ceiling, felt a wave of profound annoyance wash over him.
She wasn't affecting him in any sort of way so he stopped trying to get her attention and just stood there with his unseen presence, thirsting for her spiritual vitality, waiting for a perfect moment to strike.
Kurai, sensing that the tapping had vanished, settled herself.
The room was once again dead silent.
"Gone?" She whispered.
The conviction she gained from the anime was a wake up call that even the simplest of things like watching anime opened a door and she just sat on her bed, overwhelmed by what just happened.
I think I need to have a talk with Teruna when she's back home
The heat flared unto her arm and vanished.
Though Kurai was patient, Lenieve wasn't.
For fallen angels are stripped entirely of the fruits of the spirit, possessing no room for love, joy, peace, or patience.
What remains within them is a pure, corrupted spirit.
Kurai's phone dimmed in her hand.
Chronicles of the Sovereign paused on the last paused frame: Zaron silhouette in cold blue light, the Soul Shredder Scepter glimmering with a judgement no human was meant to touch.
Kurai shook her head.
That whole "barred from the Light and the Abyss" thing sounded like it was referencing those who so desired to play God and punish those who they deemed were wicked.
She slowly switched off her phone and set it down beside her thigh.
The screen went black and her reflection stared back at her.
"I'm not reading that again," she whispered, fighting the urge to continue watching the anime, curious to see how the anime ends.
Lenieve drifted above, arms loosely folded, observing her the way a wolf watches their unexpected prey while his minions hissed at her with frustration.
Kurai rubbed her hands and let them fall into her lap.
No one had prepared her for situations like this, I mean, no one expects for an actual demon to be like,"What a nice house you have! Hope you don't mind I ruin your life!" and rampage around your house.
All her life she told her mother about the demon she had seen but each time her mother would say it was a hallucination from staying up too late and from all the stress she kept inside.
Kurai didn't even dare tell her father and Teruna when the demons bothered her.
Knowing her father, he would accuse her of using witchcraft and that's why so many demons were after her or just like her mother, tell her that it was all a figment of her imagination from stress.
And her past school friends didn't even bother batting her an eye.
They all snorted and called her mean names like schizophrenic and weird all because they didn't understand what was happening with her and behind her back would engage in lots of gossip about her.
Thankfully for Kurai, she managed to find the true friend in their toxic friend group named Fumie.
What am I supposed to do? Pray? Eachtime I try I for some reason feel embarrassed so am I supposed to pretend like nothing happened?
She stood up, her knees stiff, and walked about her room.
Each step felt like she was walking into the jaws of death.
She opened her windows to let the fresh breeze come in and somehow the air from outside felt less suffocating.
Her mind kept spinning about, skipping between verses and the anime scenes, trying to make sense of things.
What if the tapping is just noise?
What if I am just stressed?
What if I really am hallucinating?
Kurai gritted her teeth.
"That's what they want me to think," Kurai muttered, grabbing her pillow and hugging it close.
Her thoughts fell back to Teruna.
Teruna had a her blunt honesty that prevented her from sheltered others from the harsh truth, Teruna didn't get scared easily, the Teruna who that one time picked up a lizard in her hand and threw it in Kurai's face and received an ass whooping from Kurai.
Kurai exhaled shakily.
"I'll wait," she murmured, "I'll wait until Teruna comes home."
As if offended, Lenieve shivered with disgust, expecting her to fall apart.
Now she's going to tell her little sister about me, oh great heavens!
Kurai curled back onto her bed, pulled her quilt around her shoulders, and locked her eyes on her door.
She was caught off guard, like any normal person would.