Why do all those monsters have such perfect appearances? It had to be all fake. Right? The world would be too unfair if those fiends were so flawless in every way.

  My car was parked and sun was fully covered by gray clouds. There was no reason to let down that sun visor, or whatever that moving thingy next to the front mirror was called. Except one. To open that little hidden mirror.

  “Do I need to be evil to be that pretty?” I thought, looking at my own reflection, recalling Licho and her spider partner, whose name escaped me. I couldn’t help but compare myself to them. Unlike their human forms, my skin had grayish tint, a sign of perpetual lack of sleep. Not to mention those raccoon eyes of mine. Twisting my head, I saw a horizontal line near my eye, there was a small hint of malar bags forming. Also that acne on my cheeks.

  “Great,” I slammed the mirror shut, dejected. Anger, disappointment, I didn’t know what I was feeling anymore. I was too tired to care. This was a long day. I just wanted to close my eyes, I didn’t even need a bed, anything would have been fine. All I wanted was to sleep. Sleep and forget it all.

  “Can I even fix anything?” This would have been a great time to cry. It could have helped me breathe just that much easier, if only for a bit. I couldn’t. Nothing would have changed if I did. So what was the point?

  “Ugh,” forcefully I pulled my arm from his. It felt so disgusting to be touched by that, “shh,” I breathed out, “breathe Mara, breathe,” I hummed. You bear the witness, I tried my best to calm this emotion. But I COULDN’T HANDLE IT ANYMORE!

  “You have so much facial hair,” he said. My left eye twitched. “Can I touch it?”

  I was losing it. He touched my face before I could reply. I felt goosebumps rise. Simultaneously, his other arm, somehow smaller than his right, was slowly caressing mine. I was feeling nauseous, like I was about to throw up. Leaning in, he got closer to my lips.

  That oily shoulder length hair, touched my face. I shuddered. Immediately, I pressed myself deeper in, becoming one with the cushion, my nails digging into this driver’s seat. That average looking ajusshi, had officially crossed all possible boundaries. My patience snapped.

  “No,no, nooo…I am out,” I said, resolutely. “Do this little experiment of yours with each other.” I stepped out, closing the door behind me, dulling my scream to the two passages within.

  “What have I done in life to deserve this?”

  20 minutes or so prior:

  I looked back. I needed to check the source of that sound. And…I didn’t see a thing. It was an ordinary rear seat with my umbrella, my puffer jacket, that green stone I picked up on the ground and my wallet with my keys. None of those could talk. I was taken aback. “How was this possible?” I thought.

  Phobos had similar reaction to mine. I couldn’t have been mistaken. There was definitely somebody saying that “Hello.” Whoever that might have been, we both clearly heard it. That was no hallucination.

  Was it my phone? No. It was in my backpack, which I kept on my lap. That sound came from behind me. Maybe I was just this tired?

  “This couldn’t have been the beginning of schizophrenia, could it?” I was getting seriously concerned. Technically, there was a chance that all of this was a hallucination. I had no reason to believe it wasn’t. As for reasons it was, there were plenty.

  I saw places I couldn’t have physically reached, I have been hearing and understanding words of a raven, I experienced memory loss, saw two people’s faces and bodies morphing into monsters among other things of similar nature. What was it, if not insanity?

  That theory made sense. I was always next to that raven, who even my family never mentioned seeing, when something supernatural happened and I was the only “normal” human during majority of those instances. There were no witnesses to prove that what I saw was truly reality. Sure, there were some times when other people were present, but their reactions didn’t prove anything. The strange one all this time, might have been me.

  It was time to make that left turn. I did so. Not moving my eyes away from the road, I asked, “Phobos, how do I know you are real?”

  There was no way for me to see his expression, but I didn’t think he was surprised by my question.

  “Nothing I say would be able to give you what you want,” said Phobos.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Then how do I know I am not loosing my mind?”

  I was in the middle was saying the “nd” sound in mind, when he replied:

  “Do you think you are?” That was a quick.

  I myself have done so often, I had to admit, weaseling my way out the question was second nature to me. So was lying, I became very adept at it over years of forced practice. This didn’t mean, I liked the same being done to me.

  “That’s not an answer.” My voice was stern.

  “You see,” he wavered. “Your dad…”

  Phobos’s speech was cut short. “Hello,” it said. It was that voice from before. However, this time both of us had a clear view.

  “Aaaaa,” Phobos screamed, hysterically.

  My hands shook causing the car to sway a bit, but I recovered, regaining my control. The translucent body, blocking my front window, did make driving harder. But nothing could compare to the hindrance that Phobos’s vexing wailing created. My ears were about to rot.

  “Shut up, would you!” I yelled back, in a futile attempt at out-yelling that bird.

  His next move caught me off guard. I understood ghosts can be scary, so I could, no scratch that, I didn’t understand his reaction. This one wasn’t even that scary. It was ugly sure, but also very weak looking and non threatening. Even jellyfish arm person like me could easily K.O. it in one or two hits.

  Phobos was of different opinion than me. He flew, taking over my steering wheel. It all happened so fast.

  Scared as hell, that bird pulled on the steering wheel. Changing course. We were about to crush.

  Next thing I remember was a feeling of static when the ghost’s hand touched mine. We were driving on the opposite lane, I saw the headlights of the car speeding towards us. I closed my eyes, expecting a collision.

  Alive? I was alive. I opened my eyes. I was going against the flow. I was on the wrong side of lane, but I was alive and my car was still intact. How? I was passing through all those cars.

  I moved to the correct lane, not wanting to risk it. I didn’t know how long this unknown buff will last. My thoughts were too jumbled to think any of this through. All I did was drive. Thankfully, for once, the rest of the ride was uneventful.

  As for that ghost, it made a friend, my problem number one, the talking raven. Such a good friend in fact, they both conspired against me.

  The shared desire to torture me brought them together. A torture they called “discovering the inner workings of the ghostly powers”.

  Yeah, right, both of them had their ulterior motives. I wasn’t so sure as to Phobos, but that pervert ghost was definitely enjoying touching me.

  “I should have listened to my grandma,” I thought. I was climbing up the stairs. He, that ghost, followed me.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Jun Liu.” He smiled. “bīng měi rén!” That was some Chinese sounding gibberish. He was looking straight into my eyes. It was creeping me out.

  I didn’t show it, but my mind was screaming within.

  “This is why you never pick up junk from the floor. No wonder my grandma always said not to take it even if looks temping.” My eyes moved up and down, analyzing the translucent body of the ghost.

  “Asian. Male. Age? Maybe in his thirties. He died young,” I thought, “Body…out of shape, but on the slim side. And very, very scrawny.”

  “How did you die, how did you end up in that peridot gem? What is your connection to Licho?” I asked. “Keep in mind, I heard you speak in perfect English with Phobos,” my eyes narrowed, “so don’t try to bullshit your way out of this. Understood!”

  He nodded without giving a response. He seemed happy, unlike me, whose eye started to twitch again.

  “Soooo!” My eyes widened, eyebrows raised, my hand with its palm up moved slightly towards him in unison with my back, waiting for a response.

  (inhaled)…He…(exhaled)…SMILED. The thin thread of my remaining patience snapped.

  “Do you not understand me?” I was mad. “Don’t answer that.” My stretched out hand moved down, violently. “I know you do.” I pointed the index finger of my right hand at him.

  “Calm down!” Phobos interfered. He managed to open the car door himself, very impressive for a raven. Then flew at me, passing through the ghost. “He really doesn’t know.” Phobos sat on the rail next to the stairs of my house. Twisting his head to the side, he added, “he was probably one of the victims.”

  “Sigh,” I wanted to wake up from this nightmare. I was tired from constant, never ending tension. A monster was trying to kill me, I was failing out of uni, probably fired from my job. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I slept peacefully. My life was literally falling apart and yet I had to pretend everything was ok for my family.

  Ok. Fine. Who was I trying to trick? I, better than anyone, knew the truth. I was failing out of uni even before all those mystical events. I didn’t attend classes, missed exams, failed to deliver when I was given multiple opportunities to do so by my professors. I had no excuse. This was my fault. I was the only one to blame. It was all because of me…my inertness and laziness to be precise.

  Also don’t get me wrong. I loved my classes. They were interesting. I loved to study too. My happiness was based on learning. So why? Why, couldn’t I just start doing all that work that I so desperately wanted and needed to do? Why was I constantly getting paralyzed before making the right decision? Why was something so easy, something everyone around me could do without a second thought, so hard for me? Just why? Why? WHY???

  “Squish”

  My body froze. My eyes moved sideways. I saw a hand, a semitransparent hand, touching one of my hair buns. Immediately, my gaze shifted to Phobos. All my face muscles tensed, our gazes met, that moment my eyes were the widest they have ever been. I shifted back and forth between him and the perverted ghost, signaling my clear distress. He didn’t see what my issue was. Like WHAT THE HELL!!!

  “Get away from me!” I screamed, turning my back on both of them, I sprinted up the stairs. They didn’t lose time, both started going after me. I slammed the front door in front of their faces. Must have been quite the force based on those rattling sounds made by the horseshoe above my door. Good thing, it was there to shield me from them.

  I didn’t want to see anyone right now.