Arya ran as fast as he could, plunging through the thick fog that blanketed the street. Around him, old, empty shophouses stood like silent witnesses to a time long gone. Weeds and brambles had begun to creep up the crumbling walls. Arya gasped for air, his body drenched in sweat even though the air was so cold.
In the middle of the fog, faint shadows began to appear. A small figure, like a child with a bald head and gray skin, darted across the edge of his vision. Not far from there, a tall, lanky creature with arms so long they touched the ground stood motionless near an electric pole. Its face was hard to make out, but its presence was crushing. Arya also heard a woman's soft laughter, cutting through the cold air like a song calling out from behind the doors of the empty shophouses.
I feel like I've seen them before, Arya thought. But he ignored the sense of familiarity. There was no time to think about strange things. He had to keep running and get past those old buildings.
At last, Arya's steps came to a stop in front of an old house in the Dutch colonial style. Its walls looked dull, with paint peeling in patches, and wild brambles had overrun the yard and crawled up parts of the building. Some of the roof tiles looked rotten, yet the house still stood upright despite years of neglect.
Its dark wooden windows looked like empty sockets staring back at him. Arya felt the hair on his neck rise. Something about the house made him unwilling to step any closer, as if the building held something he was never meant to find. From inside the house came a thin but clear voice, like a whisper of wind turning into words.
"Are you a child of man?" asked an old woman's voice, hoarse and low, yet perfectly clear in Arya's ears.
Arya swallowed hard. Fear and confusion mixed together in his mind. "Of course. Do I look like a ghost?" he muttered softly, trying to comfort himself, though his voice sounded unconvincing.
Before he could take a step back, the gate of the house suddenly swung open by itself. Its iron hinges let out a long creak that broke the silence. Arya instinctively stepped back, but before he could get away, he felt his body being pulled toward the yard. The invisible pull grew stronger, as if something inside the house were forcing him to come in.
"What's happening?!" Arya tried to fight it, digging his feet into the ground.
But no matter how hard he tried to hold himself in place, the pull was too strong to resist. His feet lost their grip, and he slipped and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, his body began to be dragged across the yard toward the inside of the house. Arya didn't know what or who was pulling him, but he could feel himself moving without any way to stop it. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as panic took over.
"Hey... would you like to be my friend?" A woman's voice suddenly sounded very close. At once, the pull dragging Arya stopped, leaving him frozen in confusion.
Arya slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still a little blurry as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. Right in front of him, a woman was crouching calmly, as if nothing strange had just happened. Her copper-red hair fell neatly around a beautiful face, and the dark blue dress she wore stood out against its color. She met Arya's gaze with a wide smile.
Her golden-brown eyes sparkled brightly, glowing with the joy of someone who had just found something she had been searching for a long time.
"W-who are you? Aren't you the woman I saw jump from the campus building?" Arya stammered. His voice was still shaking, and his eyes never left her face. His memory went back to the figure he had seen leap from the top of the building.
The sight was still vivid in his mind, which made it even harder to understand how she could now be sitting calmly in front of him.
"Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? I'm Alena. Rika Alena. And you are?" she replied cheerfully. Her tone was relaxed and friendly, as if they were meeting under perfectly ordinary circumstances. Strangely, her friendliness eased some of the tension that had been wrapped around Arya all this time.
Rika then reached out her hand to help him up. But Arya was still sitting on the ground. He looked at the outstretched hand for a moment before looking back at Rika's face. Her bright smile only made him more puzzled.
How long has she been there? Wasn't there no one here a moment ago? Arya thought. He tried to recall everything that had happened since he was first dragged into the house. But the harder he tried to piece it together, the harder it was to find any explanation that made sense. It was as if she had simply appeared in front of him, and he had no idea when or how she had arrived.
"How did you sneak into my place, you cursed creature?" An old woman's shrill voice suddenly rang out, full of rage, and it was clearly aimed at Rika. But Rika ignored it completely. Her eyes were still on Arya, and her smile held, her hand still stretched out toward him.
"So, what do you say? Will you be my friend?" Rika asked again, full of hope. Arya let out a long breath, trying to get past his confusion, and Rika pulled her hand back.
"Hmm... let me think. First, popping up in front of someone like that is rude, because it startles them. And second, what was that all about? You jumped off a building? I clearly saw you lying on the ground floor. You had me worried, you know!" Arya replied, half teasing, half annoyed.
Rika frowned and tilted her head, puzzled by Arya's reaction.
What's with this guy? she thought.
"Ignoring an elder while she is speaking is terribly rude," the old woman's voice came again, sharper this time.
The faint sound of rustling cloth reached them, followed by the noise of several objects falling somewhere inside the house. At once, Rika and Arya turned toward the source of the sound. They both looked into the house, which was still wrapped in fog. Before long, the figure of an old woman began to appear among the shadows. At first, she looked like nothing more than a faint silhouette slowly moving closer. Little by little, she became clearer as her steps carried her out of the darkness.
As she stepped out, her body changed. The shadow stretched longer, her skin turned glossy, and her body became a huge white snake. The snake's eyes glowed red with fury as it glared sharply at Rika and Arya.
"Sadly, we're only stopping by, so we can't stay for this feast. I hope—"
Rika hadn't finished speaking when Arya suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her away. The sudden movement startled her, and she nearly lost her balance before managing to follow his lead. But Arya paid no attention to her shock.
In a hurry, he kept pulling Rika away from the old house. His pace grew faster and faster, as if the only thing on his mind was to get away from that place as quickly as possible.
Behind them, a long hiss rose and grew louder. It echoed among the trees and the fog that wrapped the yard, making Arya even more certain that something was chasing them.