Hannah had no courage to face what was behind her and remained plastered onto the door as she tried to force it open to no avail.
It felt as though she could hear someone weeping behind her, and yet nothing was there when she turned around.
She was scared silly. What could a child like her understand? She didn't hesitate to dive under the bed to hide.
It was quiet outside.
That was when she noticed a pair of feet pattering about her room before stopping in front of her…
The child stilled her breaths and covered her pinched lips.
The 'person' seemed to hear it. She slowly bent over with one hand propped up on the bed, causing a creak to reverberate around the room.
It noticed her.
That was when the door to her room was thrown open. Lilly's voice rang loud and clear. "%$^&#!"
Hannah had no idea what she was saying.
All she saw was a ball of fire slamming into the figure!
A shrill scream sounded, and the pair of feet that were so firmly planted to the ground lifted as it tried to make its escape.
Lilly chased after her with a determined expression. The fireball whirred in her hand before being pelted at the ghost.
Pablo narrowed his eyes. "That's a malignant spirit…"
Ghosts were divided into classes.
Wandering spirits were the ones who roamed the world of the living. They don't do anything but wander.
Wandering spirits were typically souls who died of illnesses, car accidents, or old age and failed to reach the gates of heaven.
Souls who died an unnatural death and carry great resentment are aptly named resentful spirits.
They were often aggressive. When time and place aligned, it could manifest and take lives.
Malignant spirits were the most vicious and ranked above resentful spirits. They died tragic and abnormal deaths. They carried a paranoid obsession and were capable of absorbing negative energy to 'upgrade' themselves and attach themselves to the living.
Just like how unlucky ghosts could attach themselves to a human and cause severe bad luck or even accidental death as a result.
Malignant spirits were unable to accept their deaths and wandered in search of hosts to live again.
Lilly failed to suppress the evil and allowed the female spirit to escape.
Before the female spirit ran away, she turned and glared viciously at Lilly before disappearing into the night in a blink of an eye.
Lilly turned to ask, "What's a malignant spirit, Master?"
Pablo took his time to explain the intricacies to her and at the end said, "There are many kinds of malignant spirits. At the end of the day, they're all made up of various negative emotions that stem from love, hate, greed, anger, and ignorance. Examples can range from crying ghosts, cowardly ghosts, petty ghosts, and perverted ghosts…"
Lilly pointed out the window. "What kind of ghost was that?"
He narrowed his eyes. "A crying ghost."
Lilly blinked and turned to look at Hannah.
It seemed she had an epiphany!
"Was the crying ghost here because Hannah likes crying?"
Pablo praised her, "That's right. Extremely gluttonous people tend to attract gluttonous ghosts. Crybabies tend to attract crying ghosts."
Lilly nodded in understanding.
She did say children shouldn't cry for no reason.
Hannah was completely out of it.
She couldn't hear what Lilly was saying even though the younger girl had turned around to speak to her. When calm finally washed over her, she stood up and stumbled toward Lilly.
"Okay. Don't be scared. I chased the ghost away."
Hannah suddenly threw herself onto Lilly and burst into a fresh wave of tears.
She was so scared,
Lilly announcing her arrival with a fireball reminded her of the superhero Ultraman.
Ultraman was exactly like that in the animated cartoons her brother watched.
She cried till she was out of breath and refused to let go of Lilly.
Lilly patted her. "Cry it out. You're a good girl!"
She was a child herself, and yet she was placating another.
That was when she seemed to recall something. "Wait for me, Hannah! I'll get you a cup!"
She hadn't yet forgotten her task to collect tears!
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Anyone Dares Bully you, Call Uncles!