The bloody devil
~The mind is an intricate maze, meant to be explored by your true self in order to find the purpose of your existence, to find the balance you've been yearning for all this time. Although, the more you'll adventure inside your own mind, the more you'll get lost in your thoughts you will find, in a dark yet visible corner, the things that you fear the most. The terrifying monster that you yourself can become once you choose not to fight those fears but get lured into the illusion of feeling pleasure while sinning, is one of the things that you should be aware of when you travel through the psychic realm.~
Speaking of monsters, as you're walking among the crowded halls of Selene Academy, you'll often hear rumors about a cold blooded criminal that's been lurking through the campus. The authorities have tried to capture him but to no avail; the criminal seems to vanish into thin air as soon as the victims drew their last breath. Such occurrence instilled an immense amount of fear in people's hearts as they found themselves in a moment of complete solitude, which led them into avoiding loneliness at all costs. They call him the "Bloody Devil", the one who bathes in the blood of its victims but leaves no trace, the one who engraved his name into the flesh and bone of his victims, the one who lacks a human heart.
If you glanced down upon the vast sea of uncertain, distrustful and deceitful people, you'd spot a girl who perceived the kindness of every single person she met eyes with. She was young, somewhat fragile, with long curly red hair, green emerald eyes, her face was seemingly splashed with small freckles and her skin so pale that you'd think she was a porcelain doll. An elite student and surely a daughter who reached the expectations that her family had set for her. Being confident, communicative, cheerful and brave; those are the traits that favored her to be assigned as the new class president. After she was elected, everyone was expecting her to conduct herself in this very same manner at all times; they wished for her to simply portray perfection itself, to give up on her human nature and reach the peak of excellence. This lasted for some time but she was bound to reach her limit. The allusion of human flawlessness turned into an ephemeral dream once she started showing any sogn of weakness. To them that ideal was no longer palpable, no longer existent as soon as the star stopped shining as bright as they intended it to do.
Some people have picked up on her change quicker than expected and began analyzing her every move:
- You've seen how strange she's been behaving recently? Something's going on with her for sure; one of the girls whispered to the other one.
-Ella, I don't know what you're talking about. She may seem a little stressed but that comes along with her position as the new class president. She'll get used to her new responsibilities after some time; she replied in an oblivious tone.
- Well I heard from the others that she's been elected only be- she stopped as soon as she turned around and realized that someone else was behind them. She grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her two steps away from the stranger that was standing beside them.
- Please continue ladies, I did not mean to interrupt; spoke the slender figure that frightened them.
-Well, my friend was probably going to say that Zora; she stopped and glanced at her friend for a split second but did not finish the sentence.
- Oh so her name's Zora, one of a kind isn't that right? My apologies, I seem to have interrupted you guys a second time; laughed the strange one.
- No, no, you're fine; they replied in embarrassment.
None of them were willing to confront the stranger that squeezed into the conversation but with a stroke of luck, they were saved by the bell.
- Would you look at that, it looks like we have to go now or we'll be late for class. Sorry about that. Maybe we'll get to talk about it another time; laughed Ella while continuing to drag her friend away.
- That sounds like a plan; spoke the unknown passer-by with a gentle tone.
The strange omen kept silent and looked at the two girls as they were drifting into the crowd of people. A few moments of stillness were followed by a smile, then he went on his way towards something else that piqued his interest as if nothing odd just happened.
Zora was about to enter the classroom but something held her back as everyone seemed to pay no mind to the little detail. As she tried to make her way into the room she gets pushed aside by 2 guys, she tried to get up without making any fuss but she noticed that she dropped something. Due to the chaotic environment she was exhaustingly trying to keep her eyes on it but the people that were walking inside in a hurry made it hard for her to actually get to the metal object in time. She reached her hands towards it in desperation but in that very moment someone kicked the ring further away. The object bounced back and forth tumultuously to the point where she had lost sight of it. Panic seeped in a matter of seconds but to everyone's surprise it diminished as fast as it initially set in. After the area cleared out, she sighed in sadness, slowly composed herself and took her seat. To her it seemed pointless to even pursue the treasured trinket for more than 5 minutes, even if it seemed to be of great importance to her a few moments ago.
She started to stare blankly after the teacher made her appearance and started elaborating today's subject. This lasted for a good while until someone tapped their finger against her cheek and quietly asked:
- Hey, earlier before miss Hecklesbury came in you seemed to be looking for something. What was it?
- Oh, it was just my eraser, pay no mind to that. I'll get a new one after classes are over; she brushed it off and started taking notes to what the missus was saying.
- You can have mine until then. I actually have a couple funky ones; offered her desk-mate.
- Thanks a bunch, I'll hold onto it until the classes are over; she promised as she picked one randomly from the handful of cartoonish erasers.
She then turned her attention back to what was explained by the teacher, slightly losing the spark in her eyes and her smile melting off of her face but keeping her composure as she wrote down some more notes. This state went on for a few hours until everyone started to slowly pack their stuff and leave, she was still writing.
- Hey.... Zora, classes are over if you still need the eraser I'll let you have it for good. As I said I got a bunch of them already.
Zora didn't bother to elevate her gaze for even one second she nodded and shortly replied:
- Got it, see you tomorrow...
-Aren't you going home now? It's getting quite late, asked the girl concerned.
-I'm not done yet; she replied with the same cold tone as if she was a different person.
-Okay then, see you tomorrow; voiced out Ella with a flustered expression on her face then left the classroom.
Zora stood in complete silence for 2 more hours until she realized classes were really over, she turned around out of habit only to find that she was obviously the only one left.
She got up and started looking around for her ring once more but still couldn't find it, it was like the void swallowed it whole. She stood on the dusted floor for 5 more minutes.
-The janitor.... she whispered as she quickly ran to her desk, shoved her notebook in her bag and sprung out of the classroom, hoping to find the janitor and request him to return the ring to her if he happens to find it .
She kept running around the empty hallways until she abruptly stopped and backed away quietly.
The silence was slowly shadowed by the irregular breath and heartbeats, the sound of heavy footsteps and the sound of something being dragged and tossed into one of the lockers. She quietly hid around the corner and peeked only to see a horrid scene. The Bloody Devil was steps away from her, he was a young man of slender figure, he had black boots and was wearing a grey hoodie drenched in blood. Upon realizing the danger she was in, she backed away, covered her mouth in panic and attempted to make a soundless escape. On the other side you could hear a soft, melodious humming and the blood dripping off of his latest victim. In a split second she looked to her right out of caution only to find that she had clumsily dropped the eraser inches away from the killer. Her mind went blank again, she thought of retrieving it but then again, her survival instincts stopped her from throwing herself on a silverplate to the renounced monster. He finished carving out the face of his victim and was about to leave but suddenly stopped from his joyous shanty; it seems that he stepped on something... the eraser.... he looked towards where Zora was.
She turned her back towards the exit in hopes of getting out in time, she was only a few feet away when she felt a cold hand touching her shoulder; her heart skipped a beat. Nothing could have ever prepared her for this moment, not even if she lived a hundred lives prior to this one. Fear is the most primordial state one can tap into during such events.
-There you were. I knew you were still around; spoke a soft, familiar voice.
Zora held her breath and glanced towards the person behind her. To her relief it was only her teacher.
- Oh, hello sir... Were you looking for me?
-Yes I've been meaning to give you some extra materials that might help you with your personal project. I know you're very passionate about psychology so I though it would be good to have a more suitable nook to work with; justified the man while placing the heavy book in her possession.
-That's too kind of you, sir, I couldn't possibly accept it; she denied while trying to hold the book properly.
-No, no, it's fine. I had it laying around in my study, then remembered that you mentioned needing one; insisted the gentleman.
-Thank you; smiled the girl innocently.
-I see great potential in you young lady. Please use the contents of the book responsibly; he pointed while taking his leave.
Will do, sir; she said with an upbeat tone and proceeded to leave the premises of the high school.
-How am I supposed to carry this heavy thing all the way home now? It's like dragging a boulder; she added while attempting to keep the gift wrapped in her arms.
The girl stopped for a moment then tried not to look back, she felt as if someone was watching her, analyzing her every move. If she will turn around now there will be 2 outcomes: either the person watching her will know she acknowledged their presence or there's actually no one there and she's just paranoid. The incident she witnessed in the hallway still makes her skin crawl so she decides to play it safe and not turn around the whole way home. She tries to speed up the pace after crossing the gates of the school grounds and takes a few wrong turns just to be sure she's not being followed by anyone. She sprinted to a dark steep alley and took her last wrong turn then finally got to walk her usual trail. Her heart never beat so fast in her life, she was absolutely terrified of looking back still but she did, both out of curiosity and concern.... thank God there was no one behind.