The Figure

CHAPTER 1: "The Haunting"

     10 years later, Lucius has become quite a man. He has a beard, a muscular physique, and black short hair on his head. His occupation is a writer and he is quite popular. "Hey, Lucius!" A Fair-skinned woman with long blonde hair, a slender physique, and a beautiful appearance calls out for him as he walks along the streets.

     "Oh, hey, Anna!" he replies. Anna laughs and says, "You seem happy." Lucius says that he had quite a life. They both laugh until Anna's face becomes more saddened. "Have you gotten over his death?" she asks. Lucius starts to look sad and replies, "I want to but it's hard." "After all, I caused his death," he adds.

     The atmosphere around them starts to feel dark as the sun no longer feels bright despite its light and as the chirping birds around them sound quiet despite their chirping. "Hey, at least you changed," Anna says. Lucius wants to imply that he caused David's Death but she cuts him off and tells him that he needs to let go. In the end, they agree in ending their conversation as they proceed to eat out.

     After eating, Lucius and Anna proceed to go back to their respective homes. When Lucius reaches his home, he looks at it. He sees his house looking modern but less colorful. He sighs and proceeds to his home. Inside, he begins to work. He starts to write stories, to evaluate the reviews of his published books, and his financial status. Everything is going smoothly until he hears a noise around his house.

     "What is that?" he says to himself. He stands up and walks toward the noise despite his mind telling him that this feels like a cliché in a horror movie. As he follows the noise, he passes by different paintings and even a photo of his high school year. He starts to feel scared as he starts to hear the noise louder. "Is anyone there?" he asks despite his mind reminding him how his action feels dumb. Eventually, he opens the door where the noise is located but finds no one there. He sighs but then he feels breathing behind him.

     He slowly moves forward and looks back to see a figure standing by the door. The figure has tainted skin, an appearance of a high school student, and blood dripping down his head. "It can't be," Lucius says to himself. The figure suddenly screams and charges towards him but then Lucius opens his eyes and sees no one there.

     "That's... the fourth time this day," he says implying that the figure appeared in front of him even before that day. He sits down in fear as he recounts the times when he saw the ghost. He sighs and decides to work again. As he writes his story, he hears another noise but this time in his kitchen. He wants to ignore it and continue his daily tasks but his fear controls him to the point that he decides to follow the noise again. He follows the noise as he passes by his living room which has a big television, a coffee table, a couch set, and a vase. When he reaches the kitchen, he finds only kitchen tools placed in drawers, a sink, a refrigerator, and many more but the noise is no longer there. He sighs and turns back but sees the figure standing right there.

     He flinches backward and falls to the ground. "What do you want from me?!" Lucius screams. The figure looks at him and screams, "You killed me!" the figure starts to scream more which leads Lucius to cover his ears as he closes his eyes while screaming, "Make it stop!" and many more. Eventually, the screaming stops and the figure is no longer in front of him when he opens his eyes. "I'm sorry, David," Lucius says in a scared tone as he proceeds to go back to do his work. The figure turns out to be David Lee, the student who killed himself on school grounds.

     As time passes, the ghost stops appearing which relieves Lucius. He finishes his tasks and proceeds to eat his dinner, take a bath, and go to bed. He tries to sleep but he could not. He closes his eyes but he sees David which makes him open his eyes. After some time, Lucius gets to a sitting position and starts to pray the same prayer he prays every night after David's death which is about his haunting. After the prayer, he feels slightly relieved and manages to sleep.

     Lucius narrates to himself while he slowly falls to a night of deep sleep of how his life has been doing after that day. He only has 2 motives after that day and that is to survive and to live. Every day, he always put these 2 motives on his head as he encounters the ghost every day. He tries to stay positive but he mentions how the ghost seems to be much more frequent and seems to be much more aggressive as time passes. He says, "I know I can't amend my past which is why I try to forget it but the past just does not want to leave me." "I only know 1 thing but it is to survive and live until the next day," he adds. "Hopefully, one day, I'll understand why this is happening to me because I know that there is something I'm refusing to understand," he adds once more.