Ashanti

Chapter 11

Ashanti violently cries in her apartment, she hasn't been to church in weeks, she hasn't seen or spoke to Kai, or even left her apartment. She talks to her online therapist, since she couldn't face the outside world yet, but it was official. Ashanti not only has REM Sleep Behavior disorder, but she also has mid-functioning schizophrenia. The Sleep behavior disorder explains waking up in random places not knowing how she got there, the mid-functioning schizophrenia explains the constant delusions, paranoia, and the false memory flare-ups.

Ashanti types frantically, begging her therapist to approve the psychiatry department's decision to send her medication to Ashant's address. He finally gives in, and ends their meeting, letting Ashanti take a huge sigh of relief.

Lately Ashanti has been fighting the urge to check on Kai through his security cameras, she never deleted the app because she didn't have the courage to do so.

She takes a deep breath and scrolls through her downloaded apps until she gets to the last page, Ashanti taps on said app and immediately sees Kai in the kitchen.

She smiles and watches him wash the dishes, he abruptly raises his head while looking at the balcony. Kai slowly backs away and grabs a knife from behind him, Ashanti sees that no one's trying to hurt him, so she turns on the audio.

"Look, okay... I don't know who you are...But...please..." Kai pleads as he backs up against his refrigerator. The entity that was terrorizing Kai was speaking pure latin, its shadow hits the wall, chills slide and poke down Ashanti's spine.

Two puffy braids stick out, Ashanti automatically knows that it's Mary Grace. What she doesn't know is why she's doing this. Kai continues to plead as Mary Grace stands over him, "Look, I didn't want to lie. I really didn't! I had to! And since she was imagining some of the things she asked about, I thought it would make sense to lie about all of it!"

"Lie?" Ashanti whispers, hovering her finger over the footage from the previous days. She gets interrupted by a bang at her apartment door, her medicine. "Oddly quick," She thinks as she goes to open the door. It's not her medicine after all. It's Esther, Esther hears Kai pleading in the background, she also sees the shadow but doesn't know who it is.

"Ashanti. I hope you're doing well. I brought you some of the transcriptions from past Sunday services, bible studies, I just figured you'd want them to-" Esther stops her greeting and looks out Ashanti's window. Mary Grace stood outside, on a fire escape across the street. Esther stares back at Ashanti who's thanking her for the wordings, she looks back out the window, Mary Grace slowly crawls inside Ashanti's apartment from her fire escape, she slams the window shut.

"I should be back in about another week or so...In the meantime, how is everyone?" Ashanti asks, tossing each transcription on the bed. She sees Kai's body, completely separate from his head. His head lies on his kitchen counter, nearly faceless, his mouth was nowhere close. Ashanti stares at her phone in horror, completely turning her back on Esther, Esther was too frozen in fear to even notice.

Mary Grace took the opportunity to lunge at Esther, causing Ashanti's door to slam shut. Ashanti notices the loud noise and practically flies to the door so she could try to open it, but to no avail. Ashanti slams her fist on the closed door one more time before jolting back from an unknown force, she plops onto her bed and hears her therapist's voice.

"Ashanti? Ashanti? Are you alright?" He repeats until Ashanti looks at her phone screen. "There you are, as I was saying..Yes, the delivery is approved from me, but be careful, alright? The medicine your psychiatrist recommended has intense side effects."

Ashanti nods her head and ends the call, she lays back and stares at the ceiling until she realizes that this is a time loop. Ashanti jumps up and rushes to the security app, she sees Kai debating on doing the dishes, "No! Don't go anywhere near that...thing...Don't go anywhere near the balcony...Just get your coat and leave." Ashanti shouts, Kai looks up at his security camera, immediately recognizing Ashanti's voice.

"Were you...watching me?" Kai crosses his arms, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No, but-..." Ashanti lies, she's interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Kai... Who are you talking to?" A woman walks out of the hallway and into the main area where Kai was standing, zipping up the exact same jacket Ashanti told Kai to put on.

"Who's she? We've only been over for like a month..." Ashanti feels herself start to tear up, Kai pushes the unknown woman back into the hallway.

"She's no one-...None of your business, actually." Kai snaps, Ashanti's shocked by his attitude, so shocked that she knows it isn't really him.

"I don't know what you are....But I know you aren't the real Kai..." Ashanti watches the camera start to glitch when she recites Esther's exorcism speech that she memorized by heart. "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Luke 11. You nasty demon, on behalf of our lord and savior, I condemn you back to hell!" Ashanti finishes shouting Esther's routine, but it only makes Kai's head tilt to the side in the same demonic way.

"Oh dear, I'm just trying to help you...When you were born, I vowed to protect you, but destroy those who hurt you...That's what I'm doing.." Kai smiles, his voice went up a few octaves.

"Who are you?" Ashanti shouts again, feeling a presence in her peripheral vision.

Funnily enough, Kai disappears and the app shuts down, the voice continues, "You know me..." Ashanti turns to this presence, and sees Mary Grace standing there. "He was a bad one anyway, I promise you'll find a better one soon baby."

Ashanti opens the app again, and sees Kai's remains spread apart, covered in his blood. The unknown woman wasn't seen again, so Ashanti assumes it was another hallucination.

She calls the police and runs as fast as she could to his apartment so she could try and open his apartment door.

Ashanti watches law enforcement carry Kai's remains into an ambulance, he had no chance of survival. His organs were spread everywhere, his entire head went missing, but somehow, Ashanti still hasn't processed the loss.