Palinoia

Chapter 7

I sat by myself in the coffee shop where there were usually a few people. That day I was the only one there and the employees took note of it.

The waitress, who I saw often, approached me with a polite smile. "This is a surprise," she noted. "We weren't expecting any customers."

I nodded at her, not replying to her statement. "Black coffee please," I informed. She gave me a nod and went away.

I glanced out the window and watched the quiet city. Every house I saw was locked, making the place look more and more like a barbarian wasteland. Geez, they heard only three Demolishers were present and immediately they lost their mind. I had no idea what they would've done if this place was a frequent Demolisher zone.

But that's the thing.

Whenever people got scared, the first thing that came up in their mind was to run away. That was one of the reasons Tekuni was in so much chaos. Nobody settled down and everyone just wanted to get away and escape. Those kind of situations made me wonder what the TSN were useful for but it was too late to turn back around. I had made my choice and was going to stand my ground.

"Here you go Mr," the waitress informed, giving me my coffee. I thanked her and began to take a few sips. I stared at the dark brown liquid and swirled it around with my spoon. It moved in a nice circular motion that matched the quiet atmosphere. All seemed peaceful until someone made a surprise visit.

The entrance bell rang and a figure stepped in. The footsteps of the person caused my table to shake and interrupted the motion of my coffee. This caused me to stare up at a black-haired girl who looked no older than I did.

"Ah. More customers. I guess people are coming out of their shells," the waitress noted.

For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at her. There was something strange about her that I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. And it definitely wasn't because of her alluring appearance.

She turned her view towards me and set her gaze straight on me. She shifted some of her hair away from her face to get a better view on me.

I stared into her eyes and I couldn't believe I was saying this but it was the most attractive feature she had. They were different. A bit too different. Her iris was a deep auburn colour which complimented her pupil.

It was when the waitress returned that I realised I had been staring at her for too long. Even when I had turned my gaze away, I could still feel hers fixated on me.

I drank my coffee quickly and stared up again without meaning to. When I did, the mysterious woman stood up and paid for her coffee before leaving. For some reason, I was urged to follow where she was going.

And no, I wasn't trying to stalk her like some love-sick puppy, I was just very curious about the type of person she was. The way she stared at me made it look like she was trying to communicate with me through her eyes.

I left the café and quietly followed her. I noticed that she moved quite fast as if she was in a rush. The question kept repeating in my head: Why was I following her?

She was a stranger. I knew nothing of this girl and she knew nothing of me. If she turned around, I wouldn't be surprised if she started calling the police.

Then, I was suddenly caught off guard. She had taken a right and went down a pathway and when I followed that path, she was completely out of sight. I stood still and frowned as I stared straight ahead.

There was nothing visible ahead apart from fog which made it hard to see. I walked down the fog and looked around. The area was eerily quiet and I didn't like the feeling that something up ahead was not going to be pleasant.

I don't know what sort of courage I was trying to sum up but for some reason I kept walking forward. I guess my gut wanted to tell me 'I told you so' because I soon started to hear low grumbles and muffled growls as I headed deeper down.

The only positive side was that the fog was clearing away but it meant I was able to see what was causing the strange sounds.

My eyes widened as big as saucers as it stared at me menacingly. Never had I ever come so close to one before so as I was, I had no idea how to react.

It looked exactly like three that were captured on camera. It's back was arched making it have an unbearable hunchback, its eyes were pitch black that it almost looked hallow, the skin was ten times paler then anything I've ever seen and of course, it had the signature Demolisher claws.

I took slow steps back as it crawled towards me. My heartbeat was racing faster than a sports car but I remained calm. I didn't know what they reacted to but fear might have been one of them.

It growled and continued crawling towards me. I kept walking backwards until I stepped on something hard. I looked down and saw a brick. How fortunate.

I quickly picked it up and threw it at the face of the Demolisher. Needless to say, it didn't do much but made it rage even more. I glared at it and stepped back. I was unarmed and had no sorts of weaponry on me. If it went in for the kill or an attack, I'd be screwed.

Suddenly, the Demolisher's rage ceased and it stopped stalking towards me. In fact, it began to whimper like a dog that just got told by its owner. Of course I was confused as to why it did so but I didn't care enough to question. As long as I was able to escape.

The Demolisher began to shake in terror and scrambled away. I stared at it as it ran off into the distant. It fascinated me but I used the sense I had and took off.

I frowned as I ran home, realising two things: There could be more Demolishers in the city than I'd actually imagined and I never found the mysterious woman.