“I know what happened to your friend.”, it whispered to my ear, it’s voice so deep and scratchy, it makes the hair on my arms stand and my feet cold, but I continued to pretend. It isn’t the first time it tried to speak to me and manipulate me emotionally. The mention of Minjoo’s name, however, made my stare on the screen falter slightly.

       “Don’t you wanna know what happened to her?”, it continued to whisper. I could feel my chest start to feel heavy with anger as I knew it was trying to use my friend to get me to budge. I didn’t react to what he just said. I already know what happened—she died. What more do I need to know?

       “Don’t you wanna know why?”, he asked like he could read my mind. That’s the part I don’t know, why did she? Why did she do that to herself? I felt like a ty friend for never even noticing that she was suffering inside of her own home. She knew my deepest secret, but I don’t know hers. If only I cared a little more, then perhaps she’d still be here, perhaps she’d still be inside my room with me, laughing, crying, or at least just breathing.

       I felt like crying once again, as the memories I’ve been trying to suppress the past few days of her came flashing back into my mind. I could feel a single tear trickle down my face, a lot more followed, making my face warm but damp. I was so used to being the negative one, I never noticed when she was sad or hurt. She was always laughing and smiling at me and everybody, I never noticed the scars and bruises she tried very hard to hide. I was used to being the one who vent out all of my problems and insecurities, I never got to ask her if she was okay too. Only now did I realize that she wasn’t okay the entire time, only now that she’s gone. Only now did I realize that I’ve been selfish and self-centered the entire time. If only I asked her at least once, then perhaps we’d both still be alive and happy.

       I heard the demon snicker as it knew it was able to get a reaction out of me. I could feel the hold I had on the mouse tighten and my anger slowly consume me as it let go of the chair and started laughing maniacally. I gritted my teeth and continued to stare at the screen again, unconsciously and aggressively shooting every person I see in the game in an attempt to continue pretending that I didn’t hear anything that he said. He abruptly stopped laughing and tightly held the chair again.

       “Don’t you wanna know WHO caused your friend’s death?”, he whispered again, now much closer to my ear, close enough that I could feel its breath, which I found stupid because it’s clearly not alive. I suddenly remembered the bruises that I found all over her body, Minjoo’s father, and the horrible smell of alcohol and cigarettes, making my breathing heavier and quicker.

       “You’ve seen the bruises, haven’t you? Do you really believe that SHE could do “that” to herself?” I paused momentarily because of what he said and almost looked back. I had an idea what he was implying but was still rational enough to not believe a demon. I then remembered how hopeful Minjoo looked when she talked about our dreams and the future, how sure she was. Suddenly, the rational part of me started having doubts.

       “You know it’s partly your fault too, right?” it said making me snap from my thoughts and making my lips quiver. I knew that what it said was right. I knew.

       “I can help give you all the answers you seek. I know you have a lot of questions.”, it said as its hands moved slowly from the chair to my head. It languidly moved his hands up and down across my hair. It hands were rough, giving me fear instead of comfort.

       “I can help you.’’, it whispered once again. I hesitated for a moment but chose to be rational and continued to ignore whatever the demon was saying. I continued playing the game, even though I could not focus at all as my heart felt heavier now and all the questions never left my mind as soon as the demon let out those words. It became silent for quite a while, only the sound of the clicks on the mouse and keyboard could be heard.

       “Once again, you chose to be selfish. Are you just gonna ignore your friend’s feelings like you always did? Are you just gonna let the reason for her death be buried with him 6 feet underground? Are you just gonna continue on with your life while she can’t?” I heard it say with bitterness as it hissed. It finally let go of the chair and stood straight up.

       “Oh well, I guess you’ll just have to go on with your life without knowing then.”, it said as it slowly walked away from me.

       “Such a waste. I could’ve helped you talk to her face-to-face once again.”, it said. My eyes widened at the idea of possibly being be able to talk to Minjoo again. I let my emotions take over me this time.

       “STOP!”, I screamed, shocking both of us. The demon slowly looked back and looked at me. Now that I was completely facing the demon, I could see how black and rough its body is, how its eyes are blinding red and how sharp its teeth and nails are. A smirk was slowly forming on its face, scaring me even more. It suddenly then started laughing maniacally again. It clutched its stomach and fell down on my bed while laughing, leaving me standing there, dumbfounded.

       “You finally budged!”, it looked like a happy little demon as it said so, even though its limbs are long and its body is lanky. It’s even more hideous as it smiled widely.

       “You ing prick! Get off my bed and tell me what you know.”, I screamed then said with gritted teeth making the demon stand up abruptly from my bed and stand in the middle of my room awkwardly.

       “Aren’t I the demon here? What’s with the colorful language, human?”, the demon had the audacity to joke around. I looked at its eyes with furrowed eyebrows to try and look intimidating. I thought that it worked when the demon suddenly shut up but then it suddenly started laughing maniacally again.

       “Do you really think that I can just give you the answers without anything in return?”, it said while it was still laughing like a madman.

       “How do I know that you’re not trying to put my life at risk?”, I asked, it’s a demon, I have absolutely no reason to trust it. It stopped laughing.

       “Is your friend not worth the risk? You can choose not to agree with the deal and just move on with your sad and lonely life then.”, he said and then turned its back to me again. I rolled my eyes at how annoying this hideous creature is.

       “You sick !. Stop turning you’re back on me, it’s very disrespectful.”, I said and then threw the nearest object I could reach— my shoe.

       “Disrespectful? You literally ignored me for years, and the first time you talk to me, you shock me with your very respectful vocabulary and your very kind action of throwing your shoe at my head!”, it said every word clearly as it glared at me, making me gulp loudly with embarrassment this time, no longer fear.

       “Fine, Mr. Demon. What do you want?”, I addressed him sarcastically as I sat on my bed and crossed my arms.

       “You have to help three souls, if you do that, I can help you with your friend.”, he said as he sat down on my chair, closed my monitor, and turned the chair around to face me.

       “Aren’t you a demon? Why would you ask me to help them? And why three, can’t I just help one?”, I asked the first of many questions that came in mind the moment he told me what he wanted me to do. I expected him to want my soul in return, find a human being to sacrifice or something like that.

       “Do you want to see your friend or are you just gonna waste my time with all of your questions?”, the demon said, clearly annoyed. Who knew a demon would be this feisty?

       “Waste your time? You’ve literally been in my room for years now.”, I replied, although not as feisty as him.

       “Oh God, I wish you’d go back to ignoring me and being all quiet.”, the demon rolled his eyes, which was quite an amusing sight to see as his eyes were red. I then realized what he said and could not help but laugh because he’s a demon. If I knew the demon was this fun to tease, then I would’ve talked to him a long time ago and scared him off years ago.

       “Shut up. Soul number one. Your school.”, he said before disappearing into thin air.

       “Wait, now?”, I asked but it was too late as the demon was no longer in my room.

       The school’s a whole different world at night time. Every simple and unnoticed action during the day seems to be amplified when there’s barely any light within the whole school. Every step feels heavy and loud as I walk inside the school’s hallway. Even my uneven breathing could be heard as I get further inside the school. With no other students around, this place feels like a place you’d visit in your nightmares. I have no idea where the ghost is so I have to look inside each classroom, which is quite hard considering how big this place is.

       I paused when I heard footsteps behind me. I could feel cold sweat trickle down my forehead and below my nose as I began to feel nervous. Slowly, I tried to look back even though my feet frozen in place. My eyes were not prepared for the hideous creature behind me.

       “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”, I screamed loudly when I came face to face with the black creature, making him scream loudly too, but immediately stopped when I realized who or what is was. Its scream was almost like a screech as its voice’s pitch was unusually higher than mine today.

       “What? Why are you screaming? Why?”, it asked as it looked at me with widened eyes and in a position that looked like it was ready to punch somebody with its weak and thin arms. I rolled my eyes at the demon as he looked more scared than I was.

       “You can’t just sneak up on me like that! You’re still hideous.”, I scolded the demon in front of me.

       “Was I supposed to call you beforehand then?”, the demon replied. “I was walking as carefully as you were!”, the demon said with the same annoyed tone that I had. Both of us quickly shut up when we suddenly heard a faint sound of what sounds like someone crying. We looked at each other before we continued to walk in the direction of the voice.

       I could hear my heavy breathing as we got closer and as the voice got louder. I was scared that the ghost could hear my breathing and steps even from afar, so I made sure I took lighter steps and closed my mouth tightly, but the sound of heavy breathing was still there. I looked at the demon beside me and realized he was the one making the noise.

       “Why are you breathing so loudly? You’re not even alive!”, I whispered in an attempt to scold the demon. He turned his head to look at me and glared at me with his red eyes.

       “Am I not allowed to feel scared?”, he whispered back. I looked at him incredulously before focusing on what I was supposed to do again. We checked each classroom that we passed by meticulously until we got to a room where we could hear the voice the loudest. I watched the demon hold the door and open it slowly.

       “Go inside. You can do this.”, he looked at me as he said so.

       “Wait. Aren’t you going with me? You’re a demon, why would you-‘’, I was cut off when he pushed me inside the classroom and then slammed the door. I tried to open the door but the demon locked me in with the ghost so I had no choice but to face it alone. I turned around slowly and saw a girl sitting at the corner of the room. I tried to approach slowly it but I almost fainted when the dead student was already standing in front of me. My breath hit