The Figure

CHAPTER 2: "Death's call"

     The next morning, He wakes up and goes to the kitchen to eat. He cooks his breakfast and brings it to the table. He is about to eat but his phone starts to ring. He sees the name of the caller and sees that it is Anna. "Hey Lucius, what happened to you?" Anna asks. "Pardon?" he says. Anna sighs and says, "I heard you screaming something yesterday." Anna says. You're lucky that we are the only people who live in these parts," she adds. Lucius sighs and says, "Don't worry, it is nothing." Anna says, "You are having troubles with David perhaps?" Lucius stays silent and Anna decides to say, "If something's wrong, please tell me." Anna ends the call and Lucius decides to eat his breakfast. After eating, he takes a bath, dresses up, and proceeds to walk outside.

     When he walks outside, he sees only trees surrounding his house. He lives somewhere that is isolated within the forest. He looks around and sees many deciduous trees of different kinds, birds that can fly, and the house of Anna that is close by his house. He sighs and breathes in and out before thinking of proceeding inside his house. Before he is about to enter, he hears an ominous voice saying, "I see you." He immediately turns around but sees nothing. He tries to go back in but the same voice calls out his name. He keeps on turning his back and sees nothing and whenever he tries to enter the voice calls him and says many things like "I know what you've done.", "I know who you have killed.", "I know who you were.", and many more. It eventually drives Lucius to be frozen in fear but then a hand taps on his shoulder which makes him flinch.

     "Hey, are you okay?" Anna says after she taps his shoulder. "Sorry for sneaking up to you but you seem off," She adds. "I'm fine," he replies. "I can tell that you're not," she says. "I said I'm fine!" Lucius angrily says to her. She stays silent and Lucius realizes what he has done. "I'm sorry," Lucius says. "Dude, stop acting like you're fine if you're not," she replies. "What in the world is wrong with you," she adds.

     Lucius sighs and says, "I have been haunted by David for a while." "Pardon?" she says. Lucius proceeds to explain how David is appearing in his life. He tells her how he always lived in fear because of him. He tells many more while Anna listens. The birds around them are no longer there and no sounds can be heard anywhere except them two. "I see," Anna says. She remains silent which makes Lucius assume that she does not believe in him. He is about to say something but Anna says, "Take this," Anna says while handing over a USB to him.

     "What's this?" Lucius asks. "This might help you in knowing more about David's ghost," she replies. "This contains other information about other people," she says. "Who are these other people?" Lucius says. Anna then explains that 3 deaths happened long ago. She also says that these 3 died of suicide but other speculates that the ghost of David killed them. She also expresses that every single one of them had treated David harshly when he was alive. He also exposes that these 3 people are the close friends of Lucius when they were in high school.

     "I have heard that they died but I was never given an explanation of how they died," he says. "How did you even get this?" he adds. Anna says that these files were given to her by some unknown stranger. She also says that the stranger asks her to give this USB to you. Hesitant, Lucius tells that he'll keep the USB, and then, Anna bids him farewell for she needs to go to work. Lucius sighs and decides to go back inside and investigate the files.

     Inside, he sits in front of his computer and turns it on. He looks at the USB and plugs it in. He opens the USB and finds 3 different pieces of information about 3 people who are his closest friends. "Here we go," Lucius says as he starts to analyze each piece of information. He starts with the first one which is Rebecca Wells. The file says, "Rebecca Wells was a nurse in a hospital. She had been known to be kindhearted and friendly towards everyone. Despite her career, she had a dark past. She had bullied someone in different ways by physical beating, name-calling, tampering with the personal objects of her victims, and many more. Her bullying led to the suicide of David Lee. She decided to change after she caused someone's death to become a better person but she could not forget about David's lifeless body. She tried to place it only on her past but suddenly out of nowhere, her best friend found her dead body hanging by a noose and a suicide note that says "I can't take it anymore. I'm sorry, David. If you want me to die, I'll do it so stop haunting me!"