There is a saying that goes, “one person’s craziness is another person’s reality.” Of course, that quote came from the great Tim Burton, the crazy Hollywood director whose movies were nothing but wacky and of course inspirational and heart-warming.

The thing is, I am no Tim Burton. I am definitely not crazed with many ideas in my little head, I am glad I wasn’t blessed with it either. I am a sane and rational person, an average, ordinary, hard-working, good willed person who wishes she could be as big as Tim Burton.

But today, today I wished that I was the crazy chick down the street whose reality is probably looked down upon by many other normal souls like me.

I frowned as my eyes laid upon my wrist. There it was, a clear stain on my pale skin. A tattoo. It was in the shape of a pentagram, and of course, I had freaked out at first in the morning when I saw that.

A pentagram of all things! A symbol of occult and Satanism.

Did Francesca came back from the dead to haunt me?

Probably not.

Or probably not a good idea to be thinking of at 9am on a Saturday.

But the stain was so vivid, that it felt as though the pentagram had a life on its’ own; as though it has been given life. You see, the situation itself had been so strange, and though I was freaked out, I got over it quickly.

It amazed me that I was capable of such things because I’m that person you know who wouldn’t get over a lizard she saw in her sink. Strange world, huh?

“Tiff?” My door swung open, my sister’s tiny head popping up at the side of it. “You heading down for breakfast? I made pancakes.”

“Yeah. I’ll be there in a jiffy.” I answered half distractedly.

“Okay?” Krystal raised an eyebrow before closing my door shut to give me privacy.

I wouldn’t blame her for thinking that I was being weird. I mean, I had been staring at my wrist pretty intensely if I may say so myself. It was hard not to of course, because the pentagram was something on its’ own.

“So what’s the deal?” Krystal suddenly circled me as soon as I reached the kitchen. “A tattoo, really? Doesn’t seem to be your kind of thing.”

“Uh, well you know what they say. You only live once.” I tried my best to cover up but it must have been obvious that I was lying.

Krystal had rolled her eyes at me, smirking even. She must have seen right through me but I didn’t intend to falter so easily. Who in their right mind would believe me even if I insisted that the tattoo appeared out of nowhere? No one.

Not a single person.

“Yeah, sure.” Wow, sarcasm right there. “And what? A pentagram of all things? Are you trying to embody Francesca into your inner soul?’

“Don’t be mean.” I snapped. I mean, hey, the lady might be dead but with all these weird things taking place, maybe her soul was still lingering somewhere in this apartment.

“You and I both know that as lovely as she was, she’s still wack.” Krystal popped a piece of waffle into . “May she rest in peace, by the way.”

“Krystal!” I practically shouted. The girl certainly didn’t help in soothing my already nervous nerves. “Hush!”

“Or what?” Amusement laced in her eyes. “Or she’ll put us to bed earlier? If I may so kindly recall your memory, big sister, she’s dead. And she has been for a couple of years.”

“I know that, stupid.”

“Then?” She practically giggled. “Are you afraid that her satanic ghostly presence will come devour your soul?”

“As if!” Oh boy, she was definitely right this time, not that I’ll even tell her that.

“Ooh, Tiffany’s scared.” Yeah, being mocked by my younger sister was definitely annoying. “Maybe she needs her Sen in shining armour to save her.”

“You’re ridiculous.” I tried to be fierce but ended up laughing instead. “Who said Sen was my knight in shining armour, anyway?”

“Who said he wasn’t?” Krystal smirked again before adding indifferently. “But it was Chaerin.”

Wasn’t it just like Chaerin to snoop her nose into others affairs? I could understand if I and Sen were an official couple but at last, we’re nothing more than just colleagues. Correction; we just have an employer and employee relationship.

“Tiff?” Krystal’s sudden change in tone peaked my interest. That was her ‘I’m-serious-and-you-can’t-lie-to-me-tone’. “Why did you get a tattoo? I mean, you’re not that sort of person who’s into it for art, I know.”

I contemplated an answer before heaving a sigh. “I didn’t.”

“Then what’s that?” She asked warily, her fingers tracing the outline of the pentagram.

“I don’t know, okay.” I answered hesitantly. “It just appeared this morning. I know it sounds crazy but-”

“Nah.” A smile was now evident on her face. “I believe you.”

“You do?!” I exclaimed. “I mean, wow. Really? You believe me?”

This time she bore a frown on her face. “Do I have a reason not to? You’re my sister, Tiff. The goody two shoes. You’ll never lie, not to me anyway.”

It was definitely a heartwarming moment. It has been a long time since we actually had a heart to heart talk like this, what not with Krystal actually being really concerned for me instead of the other way round. It was definitely a nice change.

“Oh, and Tiff?” Krystal pursed her lips nervously. “Is it okay if I stay over at Kai’s place tonight? I mean, I did promised him.”

“Krystal…” I sighed. Actually, it may have sounded more like a whine. “Seriously? You know I’m not a big fan of him.”

“But I am.” She pouted and I knew again that I had to give in to her.

“I’ve practically just told you that a satanic tattoo appeared out of nowhere on my arm. And you still want to leave me alone?”

“Oh.” My sister paused as she took in my words. “You’re right. I should stay with you since you’re so scared of Francesca returning back from the dead.”

“I am not!” I huffed before adding meekly. “Maybe just a little bit. But anyway, she’s not returning from the dead, okay. At least I hope not.”

“Wait! I got it!” The sudden excitement in her eyes cannot be missed. “What about I bring Kai over instead?”

“Krystal…”

“Think about it.’ She pleaded. I do not like where this is going. “Kai’s a guy. Don’t you feel a sense of comfort around him?”

“The opposite, actually.” I rolled my eyes before raising my hands in defeat. “Fine, fine. He can come over but no funny teenage things okay?”

“Don’t worry, Tiff.” Krystal laughed as she hugged me. “We won’t be making out with you probably eavesdropping on us.”

--

Time seemed to be moving fast for nightfall came quickly, the moon clearly seen from outside our window. I shuddered as the cold air pass by before swiftly latching the windows close. The weather forecast had predicted rain for the night, the first we’ll have in the month. Closing the windows is a good thing because then the rain wouldn’t drizzle its’ way into our apartment.

And the fact that it’ll keep weird supernatural satanic creatures away.

I hope.

“Hey.” A voice startled me from behind and I turned around immediately. “Thanks for letting me stay the night.”

“Yeah, sure.” I forced out a reply. I swore I tried to be nicer.

“Look.” Kai ran his hands through his hair. “I know I’m not your favourite person or anything but I’d just like to say that Krystal is important to me. I’ll risk my life for her and I’d like you to know that.”

This dude was going somewhere, I admit it.

“Isn’t it a bit too early for you to be promising Krystal of such things?” I looked at him with an amused expression. “You’ve only just known her.”

“I know.” He looked at me with such earnest eyes. “But my stand remains the same. It’s hard for me to explain it… I…”

“You really like my younger sister, don’t you?”

The young man nodded his head eagerly, and a smile crept onto my face unknowingly. It was nice to see young love blooming like how it’s meant to. I supposed I may have been a little too overprotective of Krystal but that was only because I had her best interest at heart. Seeing a sincere Kai right before me definitely change my mind a little bit, not that Krystal nor Kai should know or anything.

“If you ever hurt her,” I warned him lightly. “I’ll come after your sorry . Got it?”

Kai grinned widely upon hearing my words before awkwardly hugging me with joy. “Thank you, thank you!”

Talk about awkward.

He then ran off back to the living room, probably continuing to watch the movie Twilight with my sister. I grabbed a hold of my glass of chocolate milk, my eyes just gazing into the nothingness as I pondered if I had been too easy on Kai. What would Aunt Francesca have done regarding boy issues? Would she have been strict?

As soon as the thought passed through my mind, the lights from the kitchen started to flicker violently and I froze in my spot, my heart beating fast like lightning. The lights came off, leaving me to total darkness and time to recompose myself that there was probably a malfunction somewhere with the electric wirings.

“Tiff!” I heard Krystal’s voice coming from the living room. “The light’s out!”

“Y-Yeah! I know.” I shouted, hoping she’d hear me. Of course she would.

“Kai went to see what’s wrong.” I saw her silhouette coming towards me. I may or may not have mentioned that my eyesight was kinda bad when it gets dark. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” My breath started to quicken and I hiccupped on my words as Krystal came right beside me.

“Tiff? What’s wrong?” Krystal frowned as she pulled me in closer to her. “You’re sweating nervously.”

My voice was urging to come out but throat remained stuck, unable to function as my mind tried to steady itself. Right behind Krystal was another silhouette, and I could make it out to be that of a man. At first I had thought of it to be Kai’s but there was no mistaking it.

It belonged to the devil; it’s bright red eyes staring right through my soul.

I had wanted to scream but all I could hear were the echoes of Krystal’s voice in my ears.

The light came on suddenly, and the red eyes disappeared, as though it had never been there in the first place.

“Hey! I fixed it!” I head Kai’s voice coming from the living room. I knew he was coming closer to the kitchen. “I fixed it-“

“Tiff?” Krystal’s worried tone snapped me out of trance like fear. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” I managed. “I just…”

“You up for popcorn?” Kai suddenly interrupted our conversation and I could see that he was worried for me as well. “I mean, we’re not sleeping tonight right? Twilight marathon, remember?”

“Kai.” Krystal chided the young man. “Not now. Tiff’s-”

“Popcorn sounds great.” I mouthed a quick thank you to the man. “No one is allowed to leave the couch until Breaking Dawn part 2 ends, okay?”

“A dare I see!” It seems that I and Kai had better teamwork than we imagined. “It’s on, big sister.”

Noticing that Krystal had wanted to protest, I interrupted the conversation quickly. “Now, now, Kai. Hadn’t people told you before that it’s rude to call someone their sister when the guy’s not even married to the girl?”

“Nope.” He chuckled. “Come on. Let’s go.”

The awkward eye contact didn’t went unnoticed, and I pulled her with me all the way to the living room. It wasn’t that I didn’t trusted Krystal to tell her what I saw, but instead, it was fear.

I was afraid that by bringing up what I’ve saw, I might endanger not only Krystal but Kai as well.

For what I saw wasn’t just a silhouette with red eyes, I knew that it was something much more. Its’ aura reeked of evil, one that could bring a mere human being like me to mercy. As afraid as I was, it was better for the pair to not be in the known.

“Fine.” Krystal finally spoke up as she plopped herself onto the couch. “But we’re talking about this in the morning, okay?”

For the first time in a while, I dreaded for the morning to come.