the silent heartbeat

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

My friends gathered around me, their faces a mixture of concern, relief, and frustration. I could barely process it all—the way their voices sounded like they were coming from far away, how the world felt slightly tilted, and how my pulse still raced with the lingering fear of the encounter. They were asking questions, one after another, their voices layering over each other in a swirl of worry and bewilderment.

"Are you okay, Constance?" Berryl's voice was the first to cut through the haze, her eyes wide with worry. "What happened back there?"

Holland stood nearby, his arms crossed, a deep frown set on his face. "What were you thinking?" he muttered, shaking his head. "Why did you wander off alone?"

Kaleb kneeled beside me, gently taking my hands as he spoke, his tone softer than the others. "We thought something had happened to you when we noticed you were gone," he said, studying my face. "Constance, are you hurt? Did he... do anything to you?"

Their questions hit me like waves, each one pushing me further into the storm of emotions still whirling inside. I opened my mouth, trying to speak, but no words came out. Instead, I felt a lump forming in my throat, the shock rendering me almost numb.

Wallace's voice joined the chorus, his tone sharp but not unkind. "You scared us half to death, Constance!" he said, his eyebrows knitted in worry. "We've been looking for you all over. Didn't you think about what could've happened to you, or how we'd feel?"

"Plus, that man is a vengeful spirit. It can go back anytime now that it hatched on you." Holland interjected. "That man is but a type of spirit that feeds onto the desires of the people at their hearts's base. Now that it attached itself onto you, expect that he will appear to you in any happening. And expect that we would see him constantly, along with its journey."

I felt a pang of guilt. I shouldn't have fell onto the pit. Fuck! He looked like Father and he began speaking like father! Only to realize that its different! That man is different!

And now it latched itself to me, then I have to experience the consequences.

I cursed multiple times in my head, realizing how stupid I was for placing myself and my friends in danger. This is the first time in my life that I have done something bad. I assumed that  something like this will happen in the future so I need to be vigilant.

"We can't protect you if that happens to you because he's more powerful than us, surpassing any of our abilities. If we try to combine our forces against him, we would still be defeated because we can't defeat him. Only you can do that."

"M-Me?"

They nodded. "Yes, you."

My brows furrowed. "Why me? I have no powers! I can't defeat him if I only use my abilities! Did you not know that I'm just an ordinary—"

"You can."

"How?" I asked.

Berryl replied, "You're more powerful than him. You know why? Because that spirit only latch itself onto a person full of desire ang longing. If you learn to control that, then the spirit will detach itself out of you in due time."

I lowered down my head. "I-I'll try."

I heard Kaleb sighed. "Not 'try'. You should do it. It was you who placed us in this situation, we should take responsibility of what we did."

It sounded really serious. Fuck, I can't believe that what the man said a while ago was true. They were just forced to do the right thing because they don't have a choice. I wonder if they were also forced in doing things like this with the people they helped for the previous time before me.