Prologue: The Girl Who Started It All

Mal

"Malieka! Wake up."

I woke up inside my aunt's van with my sister on my right side and my mom on my left. Behind the wheel was my cousin Lianne with her sister Lauren sitting in the front seat.

"Nicole… could you please not wake me up when I'm in my beauty sleep…" I complained to my sister while rubbing my face yawning.

My sister, Nicole looked at me with a smirk, "Why? Were you dreaming about kissing your man again?" She teased. I immediately blushed at the question because my sister knows I'm a huge anime nerd and knows I would have a crush on anime characters. Most of the time she would tease and brag about it.

Even though Nicole knew me that well, she didn't know everything. I looked away from her smug face, trying to hide my blushy expression, "S-shut up! I wasn't dreaming about any of that… D-dumbass…"

Lianne sees my pinkish face through the mirror in front of the windshield, "Those blushy cheeks of yours says otherwise, Mal." She joked. Embarrassed how Lianne pointed out that my face was turning pink, I covered my face trying to hide it.

Lauren then stops typing on her phone, "Come on, y'all. We're here." And gets out of the van. Lianne asks, "Hey Mal, are you gonna help me with the bags?" I nodded yes and we both got out to take the luggage out from the back of the van. My sister and my mom got inside my aunt's house. When I looked at my aunt's home, it looked almost like a luxury home.

I couldn't help but admire how amazing it looked, "Ho.ly Stars. Who knew Waterfront houses looked so stylish?" and Lianne replied, "I don't know, you tell me.".

As we both carried the luggage into the house, the inside of my aunt's home looked amazing. Almost reminded me of how those luxury houses looked from one of those Top-Billing shows. Stylish and well furnished.

My jaw hangs open in surprise as I examine the whole house, "My gosh…" until my aunt Eliane then calls out. "Hey, Mal.G! I thought you were never gonna come visit.".

My aunt always liked stylish things, which I never had a problem with. Except her taste in fashion. I replied, "I guess I had nothing better to do at home.".

As my sister and my mom carry our luggage to the guest room, Lianne then taps my shoulder, "Hey, Mal. Come, there's something I wanna show you.".

I followed her to a room that looked like no one slept in. The only thing that was in the room was five huge stacks of blank paper and in front of me was a typewriter on a table.

"Is that… a typewriter?" I asked as I walked a bit closer towards the table. Lianne replies, "Yeah. No ones ever been here in this room since my mom bought the house. But it's yours if you want to draw somewhere quiet."

As I looked at the typewriter, I could tell by the looks of it, it was pretty old. I never really used a typewriter before but something about this thing felt strangely odd. When I trace my fingers on the small letters, I swore I felt the object vibrate as if it was alive.

I immediately pulled my hand away and stepped back, frightened by what I just felt inside that thing. Lianne then asks confusedly, "And now? What's up, Mal?".

I didn't want her to think I was overreacting or being paranoid, so I just decided to ignore it and said, "I… I almost forgot, I wanted to go see how the ocean looks outside.".

I left the room but now for a brief moment, I felt like I was being followed by someone. Not Lianne. But something else. As I headed to the backyard, my worries were then washed away by an amazing ocean view.

"This looks awesome." I thought to myself as I leaned over the glass rail where below the cliff was the waves crashing into the stone shear wall. My sister warns me, "Hey, careful. Don't lean forward too much. You'll fall off."

When I move away, Ash then asks, "So did you see that weird looking typewriter in that room?" And I nodded. The thought that I felt something strange come from that thing then came back to me. "Did you touch the typewriter?" When I asked Nicole if she touched it, she replied, "No. Why?"

I didn't want to tell her but I had to because even if she didn't believe me, at least she'll know that there's something off about the typewriter. "Something about that typewriter just creeps me out. Earlier I swore I felt that thing move." My sister looked confused at first when I said this, "Move? What do you mean move?"

"I think that thing is alive, Nicole. Sorry if I'm being crazy but I swear. That thing is creepy." When I spilled this out, Nicole paused for a moment and then snickered, "I see what's the problem.".

I looked at her confused, "You do?" And she replied, "You're only saying this because you wanna go home and be in your happy place. In your room just playing on your phone all day." I grunted when she said this.

"No… that's not it." I sighed.

"Then what is it?" When Nicole asked, I looked over her shoulder and saw her boyfriend behind her, holding baby Trinity.

"I…" The thought of dating guys then came to my head. The truth is I always had trouble dating guys. I got cheated on once and it felt like a sledgehammer hitting my chest. Ever since I left school, I always stayed at home, since it was lockdown due to the Covid Pandemic.

I blushed, "I wanted to ask for some dating advice." It became quiet for a moment until my sister then laughed, "I knew it! You want a boyfriend." I nodded to her answer. Embarrassed by what I just said, I instantly regretted asking her.

"Girl… You do not want a boyfriend, trust me. Don't have a boyfriend." It wasn't really the advice I wanted to hear from her but at least I told Nicole about the typewriter, since that was the only thing that I wanted to talk to her about, besides from the whole dating thing.

A Few Hours Later (Nighttime)

It was 7PM and I sat in the room where the typewriter was, drawing random sketches of my character Maliza who I loved drawing. I made her look almost like me but with a shy and innocent like persona with a diamond on her belly, which was like the core of her power. I stopped and checked my phone. As I scroll through the app Pinterest for a pose reference, I then stop at a photo of a character I had been simping over for a while. I didn't understand how men could be so perfect in the anime world yet here in reality, guys are such fools.

For a moment, I drifted off into my thoughts, thinking about how it would actually be like to live in the anime world. The food, the studying, even the magic. I had so many thoughts about going to that place. It was like a dream playing on loop in my head. Being with my anime crush and actually living the dream. I really wished it would be real.

"Malieka! Malieka! Hey!" I snap back into reality when I hear my mom's voice call out to me. She walked in the room and stood in front of me frustrated as if she'd been calling me forever. Even though I wasn't wearing earphones, I guess I got so lost in thought that I forgot my mom was calling me.

"Malieka, this is like the 100th time I've been calling you!" My mom yelled. Most of the time, mom would get like this. Always angry and frustrated with me and my sister twenty four seven. But I didn't blame her. My mom has a lot of issues when it comes to my sister and me.

"Mom, you do realize I don't have earphones on, right?" I asked. My mom sees my phone along with my earphones right next to me on the floor with my drawing equipment.

My mom replied, "Then why didn't you reply the first time I called!?..." I didn't want to start an argument with her because I knew how aggressive mom can be when she's stressed out like this. Sometimes I thought that maybe there was something wrong with mom. No one gets this aggressive when it comes to small things. When I was a child, she was ten times worse.

I sighed, "What is it, mom?" Before my mom could answer, Nicole then pokes her head out by the door. "Hey y'all, food is ready."

As my aunt placed the food down on the table in the living room, everyone came and sat down. Lianne hands out the plates to everyone and Lauren places the bowls of food in the middle of the table along with the glass cups for the drinks.

While sitting down next to my sister, I felt my phone buzz in one of my pockets. When I took out my phone, my mom then snatched my phone away. "Not at the table when everyone's eating…" She said with a serious look on her face, which annoyed me.

"We didn't even start eating yet…" I complained. As soon as the drinks were poured, we all started digging in the bowls of food. The first bowl had a lot of fried chicken, the second had rice, the third had baked potatoes, the fourth had cheese sauce with broccoli and the fifth was a small bowl with baked beans.

I got done dishing out some food and started eating. The food tasted heavenly. Aunt Eliane always made the best chicken along with the baked potato which tasted crispy.

"Mommy! Mommy! Nana…" Trinity pulls my sister's top and points at the baby bottle next to her. Nicole smiles, "You wanna sleep now? Are you done eating?" Trinity nods when she asks. "Auntie… sleep." Trinity looks at me and smiles, showing her cute baby teeth.

I chuckle, "Naw… You tried?" Trinity nods again and Nicole picks her up and gives her the bottle. "Excuse me, when was the last time you worked out?" When I was about to take another wing from the bowl of chicken, my mom immediately asked me that question, which made me pull my hand away.

"I told you, mom. Yesterday." I worked almost everyday trying to lose some of the weight which my mom kept complaining and shaming me for. "You're not taking another wing, you've had enough." My mom moves the bowl away from my reach.

"Adele, let the child eat. Why ar-"

"No, it's fine. I'm full anyways. Thank you." I try to play it okay as if it didn't bother me but the fact that my mom shamed me in front of everyone made me want to cry. This isn't the first time my mom embarrassed me in public or talked bad about me in front of guests, this happens almost every time I make small mistakes.

As I walked away back into the room with the typewriter, I sat back on the floor and continued drawing. I put my earphones on and put on a song called Addict from my favorite web serise called Hazbin Hotel.

The music sounded like rock music which was the best part, everytime the beat dropped I would go crazy.

"I'm addicted. To the madness. This hotel is. My atlantis. We're forever gonna have a f*ckin reason to sin, let me leave my soul to burn and I'll be breathin it in. I'm addicted. To the feeling. Gettin higher. Then the ceiling. And we're never gonna want this f*ckin feeling to end, just coincide and give into your inner demons again! Wooh!"

As I was jamming to my music while drawing, my mom suddenly walked in, annoyed by me singing along, "Do you know how loud you are with those earphones on? Can you please not sing that Djinn stuff when there's people here!?"

I couldn't take it anymore, my mom had the nerve to spoil the weekend and complain every time I'm doing something or just minding my own business. "Well, you're one to talk. You always sing that Christian music everytime we're on weekends."

My mom yells, "You know, you're just like your sister!" And I immediately stood up with frustration. "Really, how so!?" I asked.

"You're lazy, you sleep the whole day, you're on that cursed phone twenty four seven and you're always disrespectful to me!" She was getting on my nerves when she said.

"Okay, first of all. I did laundry for you everyday while you and dad were at work! I vacuum the coaches almost every time the cats slept on them, I do the dishes for you everyday and worked out twenty four seven just so I could lose the weight that you kept nagging about everyday! And I guess the only reason why I'm disrespectful to you, despite me doing everything for you, maybe it's because… your mean and you don't appreciate anything I do for you!" I could tell by the look on my mom's face, she didn't like what I said but it was true.

I had to keep the house clean almost everyday just so my mom and dad could rest and not have the need to stress out about anything dirty in the house. I looked at the door and saw my sister standing there, watching the confrontation while holding Trinity in her arms.

Even though it was wrong for me to talk back to my mom like that, she knew I was right.

"But you never clean your room, why's that!?" My mom refused to back down on my words. "Because I always do the tasks first before I can clean my room, mom! You know that! I had to work out twice a day, just so I could lose weight!" I started to cry when I said this. Even though I was right, my mom refused to give it up and just say 'Alright, you've proved a point'. She always made me think that I was always wrong and that I couldn't do anything right. It made me feel bad about myself almost everyday.

"Mom, please can we not do this now. We're on vacation, remember?" My sister then comes into the room. "Nikki, please don't start." My mom didn't want to involve Nicole in her problems but ever since she was still living with us, mom would always take her anger out on my sister.

My sister puts Trinity down, "Mommy. You know Malieka's right. Stop trying to start an argument." She tries to stop her but my mom continues.

I couldn't take it anymore, tears ran down my face as they argued. Suddenly, I felt something touch my shoulder. I look next to me and I see the typewriter, this time I swear something is inside that thing that began to scare me.

"I can't do this anymore!" I immediately left the room and went outside in front for air. It didn't take long for my sister to then find me outside the front door, crying like a baby.

Nicole sighs, "Mal, c'mon. Stop, you know crying won't help."

I couldn't help it, crying was like a way of trying to cry the stress away. But this time, it felt as if I was drowning in sadness. Sadness I could push out.

"I know… I just… it's just… Why does she hate me so much?... I do everything for her. Why does she get tired of me? Am I… not good enough?" I couldn't stop crying. I tried to stop myself but my tears came down my cheeks like a waterfall. My voice was shaking, I couldn't talk. It felt like I was drowning, like water was going inside me and my lungs felt like they were screaming for air.

Suddenly, we both heard what sounded like our mom screaming along with the sound of a water splash. My sister turns her back, "What the f*ck?"

Worried that something might have happened to my mom, I opened the front but when I got in the house, there was no one there. The lights were out and my aunt, along with the rest of my relatives were nowhere to be found. "Mal!" Nicole calls out my name when all of this sudden, the door behind me slammed shut on it's own. Hearing my mom's cry for help made me ignore my sister's calls behind the front door of the house.

As I went to the backyard, everything looked different. The pool was empty and the air felt cold. When I looked over the glass rail and saw my mom into the ocean down below us. "Shit!... shit, shit, shit!" I muttered.

I climbed over the glass and hung on to the handle tightly. "God, Malieka… what are you doing!?" I thought as I was getting myself ready to jump in after my mom.

"I swear this is crazy…" I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and then jumped.

Everything went black at that moment until I then woke up on shore near the house above me. I coughed and gasped for air as I slowly got on my knees. As I looked at the water, I realized that my mom didn't make it. The thought that she drowned got into my head. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe it.

I started crying, mourning the death of the woman that was my mother. "I'm… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I couldn't… save you… I'm sorry." My voice felt like it was breaking as my tears came running down my face and onto the ground. The water in front of me looked black, and the sand under me felt dry.

Suddenly, I heard my mom's voice. I looked up and I saw two shadow figures through the window where the typewriter was. I immediately wiped my tears away and went up to go see if it was really them. "Was I hallucinating? Did I imagine what just happened?" I thought this as I got inside the house. When I looked around and saw no one was there, I heard my mom's voice again. It sounded sad. I couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm here! Mom… I'm here. Where are you!?" I went into the room and… no one was there.

It then came to me. No one was there. I wasn't hallucinating. It really did happen. My mom was gone. All that there was… was just the room with the typewriter.

"No… No… Hello?... Mom… are you there?" My voice was shaking. It was like my world was falling apart and all I wanted to do at this point was cry. Suddenly, a dark power slowly begins to emerge from the typewriter and at that moment I felt it force it's way into my head.

I groaned, "Uh! What is that!?" I put my hands on my head and dug my nails in, trying to fight back but the pain and the sadness I felt took over me. I could hear my mom's hurtful words in my head repeating the same things over and over again.

"You can't do anything right! Your so stupid! You're worthless! Why can't you be normal!?" Those hurtful things were enough to make me shutter. When the pain suddenly stopped, I could feel that there's someone behind me. I turned around slowly and saw another version of me but with dark shadows floating behind her.

She breathes and chuckles wickedly, "Feels so good to be back." When she smiles ear to ear, I fall backwards, frightened by her evil grin. "Wh-what… are you?" I asked nervously.

"Stop being so scared. I'm here because you freed me. Remember, that old typewriter over there?" I look back at the typewriter behind me then back at her but she's gone.

"Gettin' the hint yet?" I jump when she speaks in my ear from behind me. As I crawl towards the door, my shadowy self looks at me with amusement across her face. She then picks up a paper of Maliza that I recently finished. She then pouts as she examines the drawing and then looks at me.

"She looks just like you… Is she your daughter?" I couldn't answer her question. Even though she wore my face, I was still terrified seeing the dark shadows clinging on to her.

"Hmph… your quiet. But since we just met, I guess I can't blame you for being stunned." When she placed the drawing down on the table, I then asked, "Are you some kind of genie or something?"

There was silence for a moment until the dark clone started laughing, "Genie!?... You must be joking!..."

I frowned as she laughed, "Don't make fun of me! I was… just asking." The dark presence then stops laughing and touches the typewriter.

"You know… 20 years, I've been trapped inside this stupid typewriter. All because of that old sack of sh*t author! Ugh!" She banged her fist against the table, frustratedly before turning towards me.

She then touches the typewriter again, "This time, I will be free. But first… I need a story…"

"A story?... What do you mean… like a book?" I asked. As her fingers tap the small letters, the typewriter all then suddenly changes from old to brand new. The letters we now wiped clean and the surface on its sides were polished.

"Yes. You see, this typewriter is very powerful. Anything you write on a simple blank page, that story you create… will come true. Once that story is complete, your mom will be brought back along with the book you've created." As she moved the chair away from the table, I got up on my feet and walked closer towards the typewriter.

I look back at her, "So you're saying… if I write your story, will my mom be free?" And she nodded yes.

As I sat down, I then thought, "How do I start this?" Until my shadow self in the darkness then touched my shoulder. "Remember, once it's written… it can't be unwritten. What's done is done. So please… choose your decisions wisely."

I sighed, "Alright… I'll write. I'll do whatever it takes to bring my mom back."

As I began typing, the dark shadow behind me then started making an evil laugh which then became louder and more hysterical then any laugh I've ever heard before.

The darkness around me consumed my thoughts, my mind slowly faded away and my own free will was now taken away by the evils that consumed the house. Little did I realize, my story had only just begun.