1 Chapter 1: The Possessed Son

It was a quiet night in April. The night was so quiet, that the only sound that one could hear was the sound of a wind passing by. But the wind made a gloomy sound, which no one could interrupt. If one looks around, one could easily see a street filled with light. Near the street, there was a house. A house not too big, nor not too small. The house was very dark as if everyone in the house were gone. Inside the house, there was an old ceiling with many light bulbs attached to it. And under the light bulbs, a man and a woman were standing face to face with each other.

"You sure you can fix my son, right?" Asked a woman. As she looked up, she could see a tall man in his middle 20s. He was wearing a black jacket, and his hand was holding a suitcase with a zipper on. There was a name tag on the suitcase, written: James.

"I can't fix your son ma'am, but I can help him. Do you have the things that I've asked you to place in front of your son's room?" Replied the man.

"You mean a paintbrush with some red paint and a jar of garlic salt?" Answered the woman with doubt in her voice.

"Yes, I meant those," said the man as he walked toward a room. As he was in front of the door, he could see that the handle of the door was strangled with a rope. As the man kneeled, he glanced at the woman's face once, then picked a bottle of red paint up. Then he poured the paint at the door of the room. He soon grabbed a paintbrush and started to draw a semi-circle as if he was drawing a border between two worlds. A border between a world of horror and a world of comfort.

After that, he warned the woman, "please don't cross this red line. Also, whatever happens, stay still."

"Of course! If that would save my poor boy!" Replied the woman. Her concerns about her son were most visible by looking at her eyes.

After the woman desperately replied, the man poured the garlic salt on the red paint. He breathed once deeply, then opened his suitcase. He took out 3 talismans made of yellow paper in his suitcase and glued them left side of the door, the right side of the door, and on the ground right in front of the door. He glanced at the clock, which showed him that the time is now midnight. Then he untangled the rope, opened the door quickly, and closed the door right after.

"Who is it?" asked a small figure on a bed with an annoyed tone of voice. However, the man did not reply, for he could not see anything in the room since there was no light. He placed 6 candles on a desk in the room. Then as he lighted all of them up with a lighter, the boy started to scream. He screamed so loudly that a flame on a candle started to shake. The man could hear the boy's mother cry in front of the room. The man took a deep breath as if he was calming himself down.

"Are you done?" Asked the man. Then he reached his hands to his pocket and drew out another talisman. Then he looked at the boy. The man could see that the boy is tied up in chains and shackles. The man asked, "poor boy. What have you done to him?"

"Hah, it's his fault since he made a deal with me. Kids are so easy to fool! They trust anyone! It's not my fault that this boy wanted his goldfish to live again, right? All I did was just make a fair deal with this boy! I gave his fish another life, you see? But in exchange, I "rented" his body to myself. How foolish of this boy!"

As the man looked at the boy with anger in his eyes. He started to remember a memory from the past when he saw his brother kill himself right in front of him. Back then, when the man was still a teenager, he couldn't do anything to stop his brother, whom a devil was possessing. All he could do was just watch the devil kill his beloved brother.

The man closed his eyes, trying to stay calm. "What's your name?" asked the man.

"You think I am so stupid to tell you my name? You fool! I will break these chains and…"

"What is your name?" The man asked him a second time. This time, the man lifted his talisman in his right hand and touched the boy's forehead with it.

The boy's eyes started to shiver in fear. As he was shivering, he looked directly at the man's face. He knew that the man possessed some sort of spiritual power… maybe overpowering his own. The boy stayed silent for a minute then replied, "my name is Basofa, a devil from the Northern kingdom of hell."

The man started to smile in relief. He was worried that the devil possessing the boy could have been too powerful for him to handle. Then the man asked, "how long have you been possessing this boy?"

"I've started to possess him when he was 6." answered the boy.

"I have asked you how long, not when you started possessing this boy." Commented the man.

"For… for 3 years! No… For 1 day, my position on this boy's spirit was weak, so you can say… no… I possessed him for… 2 years!" answered the boy in fear. Anyone could notice that the boy wasn't as calm as he was before.

The man placed his talisman on the boy's forehead. As he did that, the boy started to move violently. The chains started to break, and the boy was once again "free".

"You little human! How dare you treat me like this!" Yelled the boy as he started to run at the man.

The man smiled as if he knew that the devil was going to attack him. Then he grabbed the boy's arm and his shirt near his neck, then kicked the boy's leg lightly. As the boy started to fall, the man placed his talisman by the boy's heart. As the boy fell, he started to yell at the man. Even though the boy was moving, the talismans did not fall off.

"You goddamn thing! I will revenge! I remembered your face! After years of hard work… you ruined it!" Then the devil started to speak in an untranslatable language but stopped very soon. It was clear that the devil left the boy's spirit since the mood in the atmosphere differed greatly. As the boy was sleeping not knowing anything, the man picked his talisman up from the boy and burned it into ashes. Then, he lifted the boy onto his bed and placed him there. Then, the man walked outside.

"Ma'am, the job is done. Your boy is safe now." Said the man.

The woman started to run into the boy's room with great astonishment. She cried tears of happiness. Then, she gave him a bag full of money. Then, she said crying, "how did this happen? How did you save my boy?"

"Don't blame your boy for this, he suffered enough." Replied the man.

"Yes, yes. But how did this happen?" The woman asked again.

"Well, ever since the birth of mankind, everyone has been carrying a devil along with their soul. The devil always finds its timing to tempt a person and grant a person's wish in exchange for their body. Your boy exchanged his body with the redemption of his goldfish which died since nobody took care of it after the boy was possessed by the devil." The man said as he looked at the goldfish's tank. The tank was filled with water, but other than water, the tank was empty.

"Thank you so much." Said the woman as she cried once again.

The man held his suitcase and his bag of money. Then he bowed to the woman and started to leave the house.

"Before you go," said the woman in gratefulness, "what's your name?"

"My name is David, David Song." The man replied.

David walked out of the house and walked for 10 minutes. Soon, he walked into the bright street, then sat down on a bench. "Another one clear," whispered David, "another one clear."