The Demon’s Bride

Elise had gotten close to the vicinity of the forest when she saw a fast silhouette running in the forest. Accompanying the shadow, a child's giggled sounded from deep of the forest. It was the same voice that she saw when she was about to leave the forest with Ian. Taking a step down to the forest, Elise called. "Is there anyone there?" After her question, the cherry giggles died down.

"Hello?" Elise Called again for a confirmation but for a full minute no one replied to her. Thinking that perhaps she wasn't too close, she stepped deeper to the forest. Her feet that stomped over the old branches made a crisp voice. "Hello?" She called again. "If there is anyone there, please reply to me. I'm not a bad person." She cooed gently. If the shadow that had been running in the forest was a child then, he must had quited down out of fear, she thought. And soon enough a small voice meekly asked. "Will you not hurt me?"

"Of course I wouldn't." Elise replied spreading her arms lightly. "Look I don't bring anything with me didn't I?"

"Uh, that's true." The child's voice replied again and a giggle passed after his words.

Seeing that she still couldn't see his physical body, Elise knew better that the child was a ghost. Judging from his voice, he must have been only seven years old in a human's age. How pitiful, Elise thought he was still a young boy to meet death but death wasn't kind and had always chose for the most unpredictable time ever. "Have you been here for a long time, boy?"

"Yes!" The boy confirmed hurriedly. "Since thirty years ago."

"Thirty years ago." Elise repeated. "Then you must have been here when the accident that happened in that village?"

"I did." The boy whispered his voice turn to a hushed one. "Hey, sister do you want to play with me?" He persuaded unsurely, sounding fearful of Elise would reject him.

"Of course, but would you promise to talk with me if you play once with me?"

The ghost boy took a good moment of silence, weighing the choices. "Alright then! But I will be the one to choose the game."

"Sure." Elise gave her words, feeling slightly nostalgic as in the past she would often accompany William to pay in the garden.

"Let's see, what game should we play?" The ghost boy hummed and she heard something like a finger snap echoing in the forest. "How about sheep and wolves? As sister is now the nearest in the tree trunk, I will become the sheep and sister as the wolf."

A game of sheep of wolf is a game that was played with one person acting as a wolf facing their back to the people who act as the sheep. As the wolf ended their chants, they would turn their body to have the sheep stopped their actions. However, if the sheep moved, they would lose. On the other hand, if the sheep was able to touch the wolf's back without being touched by the wolves when they ran back to their first position, the wolf would lose.

"Okay." Elise agreed and turned her back to the tree trunk, she chanted. "Wolf, Wolf, coming for a sheep." When she turned her back, her blue eyes fixed over the boy. As the boy was a ghost and due her experience last time when she saw the ghosts in the cemetery, she expected for the worse when she saw the boy's face. Unexpectedly, the boy had a human's face with a wide smile over his lips. His curly hair was slightly golden and his eyes was in a color of black. If it wasn't due to the fact that Elise knew he was a ghost, she don't think she would be able to see him as anything other than a normal human.

Turning her face again, Elise chanted again. "Wolf, Wolf, coming for the sheep." This time, after she turned her body, Elise took a step back in surprise. She had just spoke for a few second yet the long distance between them had been cut for more than twenty steps. The boy didn't move, patiently waiting for Elise to turn her eyes again to the trunk. It doesn't make sense for a human but Elise was reminded again with the truth that the boy was a ghost and moving that fast was something normal to him. She turned her head again slowly, waiting for the boy to touch her back. However, no matter how long she waited, the boy never did touch him. Confused, she turn her face to see the boy gloomily look down on his feet.

"What's wrong, boy?" She asked to bent her knees into a crouching position in front of the boy. "I can't touch you too." He sulked and tears began to dribbled down down from his eyes. "I thought as you can talk to me you and see me, I can also touch you, but I can't."

Elise was at lost to what she should say. In sympathy, she reached out her hand to rub the boy's head but his presence was too weak that she can't touch him too. "Don't worry." She tried to cheer the little boy up. "I can still talk to you, don't I? While we still have time, we can talk."

"But wouldn't you go after I told you what happened in the village?" The boy's black eyes turned quizzical.

Elise hummed. "I can't promise I will stay, however, I can talk to you until my time is up." Hearing her words, the boy felt happy and sat beside her to dust his almost transparent body. "Then, what should we talk about?" He heard her question and inclined her head to muster a question. "How old are you sister?"

"Seventeen this year."

"Seventeen?" He repeated and giggled. "I'm older than you if I'm still alive then. Do you have any siblings?"

"I did." The end of her words turned breezy with the wind. The clever boy caught up her words that used a past tense and spoke in turn. "I also had one. A younger one and an older cousin that's a year older than me. But I didn't get to see them again."

"Is that so?" Elise saw him nodding his head. "I died out of sickness, you see and so my entire family left the village because they couldn't stay here again. So all of them move and I was alone, but today I get to speak to you sister and I felt happy." He stood up from his place. "You asked me about the incident that happened a few days ago to the village, didn't you? I also don't understand much but I remember having many people in a black cloak surging to the forest and buried something."

"Buried something? Can you show me where they buried it?"

"I don't really remember, but I roughly know the place." The boy spoke with a gentle smile and waved his hand. Elise stood up when she saw his hand beckoning her to follow him.

On the way the boy asked again, "Say sister, how can you see ghosts?"

"I also don't know." Elise replied, her only memory was her mother cursing her due to her ability to see ghosts, so it must have had happened since she was five years old. The boy hummed and hopped over his feet to see they had come to the place near where he remembered to have seen the people buried a thing. However, before he could speak the boy suddenly collapse to the ground. Elise bent her knees in a hurry. "Boy?-"

The ghost boy saw Elise getting closer and rose his hand immediately while clutching to his chest. He shouted his warning, "Don't come near me!"

Elise stopped her hand but still reached out in a worry. The boy stood up, his one hand clutching his chest to weave a heavy breaths while the other one trying to cover his right eyes. The left eyes of his had turned pitch black, almost as if he had no eyes at all. Surprised, Elise was taken aback. "Are you alright?" She doesn't know anything about ghosts even though she could see them and seeing one in such a painful state was in more the first for her.

"Run." The boy uttered between his gritted teeth. Feeling his heart twisted in and out and his souls filled with a black magic that corrupted him he keened. "It's a corruption, sister. RUN!" He exclaimed with all he could.

Elise couldn't bare to leave him alone in the state however, she saw the boy covered in a black shadow. "RUN!" He howled again for Elise to turn her back and run away. Dashing out from the place, she didn't know what had come to chase her but she could hear a definite sounds of large rustling and sounds of something large crashing into the trees.

The muddy road wasn't helping her and instead made her situation even worse. With the steps constantly slipping out here and there, she felt the skin of her knees sharply cut by the old branch that stuck out of place. Panic filled her mind, a panic that was created out of her anxiety whether the ghost boy was alright and what had been chasing her without a rest.

She saw the forest dived into two paths and chose to turn at a very narrow path, hoping the creature would be stuck there. She slipped her small body to a small hole made out of the trees branches and when she thought she had taken a great distance, Elise turn to see that the ghost boy had disappeared and what chased her was a large coal spider six legs protruding out and eight golden eyes lurking around to chase her.