Chapter 216 - Mirror & Water (2)
Hurry up!
….
He is standing in the middle of a long corridor where a single door lies at the end. It is a small suburban house which has been completely sealed with red tapes on the walls. The windows are shut tight; not even a small ray of light can enter the house.
Everything was shrouded in darkness except for the one room through which the cries of a girl is coming through.
"AHHHHHH!" The screams echo through the house, shattering the silence of the night. It is midnight and the screams do not stop. Inside the room was a grim atmosphere.
Like the rest of the house, the room is also sealed with red tapes. But it is a chaotic mess inside. Four people are standing in the middle of the room, overseeing a girl who has been tied to the bed posts. The whole place is trashed with papers and upturned furniture. Glass and china lie all over the floor. Water is leaking from the bathroom, almost flooding the area while the papers are flying here and there, swirling like a tornado. The temperature inside the room is freezing to the point that everyone is shivering but they are still trying to keep their focus on the girl.
The girl…
Her whole face is contorted into something inhuman. Blisters are sprouting all over her skin and her eyes are glowing red. The once black, shiny hair is dull and tangled while a green goo oozes out of her mouth as she stares at the people around her, hissing.
"YOU ROTTEN MOTHERFURCKERS!" She screams in a strange voice which is almost like a grown man's. The girl is hardly ten years old but her tone is thick and heavy. Her parents are standing next to her, horrified at the daughter.
"Ira!" her mother cries. "Ira, snap out of it! I'm your mom!"
The girl snarls and tries to kick the woman but her limbs are tied to the posts. But her strength is inhuman, shaking the bed violently as she struggles. A shaman in strange clothes is standing next to her bed. The shaman is Bomi and the other man standing next to him is Junho. Both of them are looking at the girl with worry and fear. They have never faced anything like this before and are at a loss on what to do.
"Mr. Bomi…" the girl's father calls him. "Please, heal our daughter! I...I don't know what to do!"
The father's name is Yang Jason while his wife's name is Jung Mira. They are desperate to save their daughter Ira who has been acting strange for months. They had taken her to doctors who are perplexed by the behavior of the seemingly normal child. She has been acting strange ever since she played with some kind of strange card which she found in the garden.
It started slowly at first. Ira was experiencing mood swings. She started to become easily irritated and lashed out at her parents. At first, Jason and Mira thought she was going through hormonal changes at that age but later, Ira began to hurt small animals. Mira once found dead rats in Ira's bathroom, all of which had their throats ripped apart. They told themselves that it was probably a cat that did it but that was not the end.
Soon, Ira began to attack people as well. She pushed one child off the second floor's window, injuring the child so severely that he can never walk again. The school suspended Ira and the Yang's had to pay a lot of money to the child's parents who wanted to throw Ira into juvenile prison.
After the doctors announced it is impossible to treat her, her parents had to resort to a shaman. Bomi and Junho arrived upon hearing of her condition. Junho, who has encountered a spirit once, instantly knew the symptoms.
He is holding a book as he chants the spell to cast the spirit out.
"Oh you who have lost his way in the world, leave this girl and go back to your realm!" he chants. Junho sprinkles holy water on the girl who hisses in annoyance. Her skin burns at the places where the holy water touches her and she growls like a wild animal.
"You fucking twat!" she curses. "You think you're so great and mighty? Ha ha ha! I'm not gonna leave until I take this girl's body! She's mine! I have a deal with her! You can't break a deal, ya fucking-"
Bomi throws salt on her, making her scream in agony. Her limbs are red with blood and she is cursing violently at them. Jason and Mira are crying, hopelessly watching their daughter's state. Their sweet Ira has turned into a monster.
"Ira…" Mira sobs and hugs her husband. Jason is also teary but keeps up a strong front. It is impossible to see their child suffering so much.
"Go back to your realm!" Junho chants. "You who have lost your way, I command you to go back to your-"
A strong gust of wind throws the book away from Junho's hands but he does not stop chanting. The girl screams in pain. Her body twists and contorts as she tries to fight off the effects of the spell but the spirit in her is not leaving. She thrashes on the bed, almost breaking it. Her parents jump in and hold down her limbs.
"You motherfucking shaman!" she curses in the manly voice. "You basta-"
Bomi throws more salt and peach powder at her. The girl curses at him more, spewing slangs which are too crude to even speak of. The spirit in her is too powerful and adamant. By using the card, it has taken over her mind completely and is refusing to leave.
"Shaman, what do we do?" Mira yells as she tries to keep her daughter steady. The bed is shaking very violently and they are unable to control her anymore. Jason is thrown backwards by the brute force of the spirit. The spirit spits at them, glaring at the two men who are trying to get rid of it.
The exorcism lasts for hours but the spirit does not leave. Junho and Bomi try everything to take him out but they are unable to do so. They do not know the spirit's name nor its origins. The girl is still trapped in her mind, unable to escape.
Finally, Junho closes his book and sighs.
"We can't," he said sadly to the parents. "We have never faced a ghost like this before."
"But…" Jason begins. "There must be something you can do!"
Behind him, the girl curses at the shamans.
"Ghost?" she wheezes as if taunting them. "Is that what you think I am?"
She laughs hard at their stupidity. Humans are so naive. They really do not want to accept anything else as an answer.
"Shut it!" Bomi snaps at the entity. "Why are you possessing the girl? What harm did she do to you?"
"It's a contract, you fucker!" she gloats. "You can't break this contract! I'll not let her go until I take her soul with me to Hell!"
She laughs a bone chilling laughter which makes even Junho's blood go cold. Contract? What contract?
"Once a contract is made, you can't break it!" the entity reveals. "And you'll never be able to make me leave her! You don't even know my name…"
The entity in the girl laughs again at the foolishness of the men. Do they really think holy objects and spells are enough to cast out something like him? They are really fools!
"You don't have time, old man," the entity says. "It'll be 1 am soon and once the clock strikes 1, I'll take her with me!"
"What do you mean?" Junho asks sharply. But the entity only smirks at him. Her parents are also fearful.
"1 am?" Mira gasps. "That...that is the same time when Ira found the card!"
"Where is the card?" Bomi asks.
"I ate it!" the entity chortles. "And shat it out! You can't cast me out, moron…"
Behind them, the clock struck 1 am. Everyone freezes in their spot as the girl lets out a roaring laughter.
"You failed, shamans!" she laughs. A light was beginning to engulf her. Unbeknownst to the silly humans, an invisible gate is opening up nearby. All they can feel is a strong wind which is blowing from somewhere, almost sweeping them off their feet. Junho holds on to one of the posts while the others seek shelter under the furniture. The wind is too strong to resist but they are more horrified by the sight of what is happening to the girl.
Her body is being twisted and mangled by the entity. Blood gushes out of her mouth mixed with the green goon and she is convulsing hard. Junho tries to reach her but the wind sweeps him away. Things are flying all around them, forcing them to hide but the girl is still thrashing around on the bed in pain. She is in a catatonic state as the light overtakes her body.
They watch helplessly as a loud roar thunders the room and everything goes silent. Mira and Jason come out of their hiding places only to be devastated at the sight of their daughter's lifeless body.
She is dead.
….
Hobin pulled himself out of Bomi's memories. The shaman was studying him intently.
"A girl named Ira died that night," Hobin whispered, shook by what he had just witnessed. "It was a demon that killed her."
Junho and Bomi looked at each other. He was correct. Siwan froze in his spot, shocked by the news of the girl's death. A demon possessed her? He was confused by the revelation but there was no time to dwell on that.
"What happened...what happened to the parents?" Hobin asked.
"They knew what killed their daughter and didn't blame us," Bomi said in a hoarse tone. "They moved away from the country."
These powers...he had never seen something like this before. Hobin was a strange case and they must find out the origins of his abilities. Was he human or something else?
He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"I've seen enough proof," he declared. "Now, it's time for the ritual."
Bomi turned to the brothers. "Are you two ready?" he asked them.
Hobin gulped but nodded while Siwan also did the same.. They were ready.