Chapter 11

A Dark Prescence

A moment like this could be easily somewhat soothed with a simple goddamn cigarette, she knew, like all the other times she had felt resentful while she was still alive, but this was just one more thing that was being denied from her. Sure, why the fuck not, she thought bitterly to herself. Like there hadn't been enough things taken away from her on the night where she had met her end.

Of course, no construction worker would ever sense her presence, be it the clacking of her high heels touching the concrete floor that had recently been poured or the intensely cold air that had radiated all around her from the moment she had become chained to this world, since she was bound only to appear as soon as night would fall and all work on what would eventually become a new apart complex that would house anybody who thought it would be a great idea to settle down in a town like Wattson was ceased for the day. Being alone until the first rays of sunshine would peek over the horizon, without anybody having the ability to see her and perhaps having enough kindness in their heart to hear out her venting, didn't make it any easier for her to lay the turmoil that was keeping her from moving on to the afterlife to rest. How much longer was this going to last? How much longer was she going to remain here? Letting go of the bitterness of your hopes and dreams being stolen by some murderous bastard would so much easier said than done; it would only be that easy if you happened to be a character in a book or movie with a happy ending, and she knew like no other that for some people in real life, there was no such thing as a happy ending, let alone a happy life. But still, she could remember that desire. She could still remember it so clearly, despite the fact that most of her brains had been reduced into a gory, repulsive slush mixed with blood and bone chips and would often come this close to leaking out of the gaping hole on the back of her ruined head if she didn't move it carefully enough; the desire to escape the life she had once, to never have to look back on it and enjoy her new life to the fullest.

Wearing nothing more but a dark red crop top, short denim skirt and a pair of black high heels would hardly do anything to protect someone from the cold of the night, but to the female ghost of a woman who had used the somewhat tacky pseudonym of Kandy while doing her work during the time she had been alive, the cooling temperature didn't bother her in the slightest. After all, she had been dead for… damn, how long had it been now? A month? Yeah, that had to be it. It felt like she was already stuck here for what felt like an eternity by now, but she had been dead for only a month… damn.

It would almost appear that a section of her bleached, short, curly hair had been dyed red, but it wasn't dye that resulted in this color; no matter how much time had passed, it never dried, always glistening whenever she would get close to a source of light. Leaning against one of the many concrete pillars that had been build at some point during the construction with folded arms, Kandy quietly stared to the infinite number of stars shining in the night sky, but even this didn't do much to put her resentfulness at ease. It could have been the anger clouding her mind (or what was left of it, anyway), but to her, it was almost like the stars were mocking her in a sense. While they decorated the otherwise vast, dark, frightening night sky with their shine and their simplistic yet beautiful form, she was bound with invisible chains to this empty, desolate construction site. How could a place like this have ever become her goddamn final resting place, she thought to herself. This is where she had screamed for help at the top of her lungs, this is where her life was snuffed out like it was nothing, this is where her body was left until a group of horrified construction workers discovered her remains in the morning when their shift started and called the police.

This is where her hope of ever getting a better life was taken from her… and it was all because of that filthy, fucking bastard who couldn't take 'no' for an answer; Kandy had the strong opinion that she had every right to be resentful towards him.

Wattson could try all it wanted to make itself appear as an absolutely lovely town to live in with the flower baskets hanging from the main street's lampposts during the spring and summer time, the many shops and the peaceful suburbs, but no resident could possibly ever deny that there was a part of this town which most people would prefer to tuck away and pretend it's not there, even though there were plenty of men who gravitated towards it, be it local married men, truckers who needed a break from the endless stretch of road, groups of bachelors who simply wanted a good time or businessmen from the big cities, finding the temptation of it way too strong to resist; that place would be a strip club called Red Lips, which was located far away from the main shops, like it was some sort of black sheep in the family of businesses. Various decisions in her life Kandy rather wished not to recall had all lead up to her finding employment there. There was no other choice, she had to earn some money, one way or another. Night after night after night, she danced her heart out around a pole, undressed and exposed herself to every man who was willing to tip her some extra cash. It was a job that would make many women blush in shame, but Kandy had managed to cast her emotions away every single night, knowing that she needed this job. She was only there to earn some much-needed money, she gave those men what they paid to see, she had absolutely no problem with giving them the lap dance of their dreams if they coughed up another hundred-dollar bill, and by the end of her shift, she was going home with everything that she had rightfully earned that night. Countless pairs of eyes hungrily staring at her like she was some sort of snack, grubby hands touching her body, the occasional whiff of strong booze that would nearly make her dizzy during a lap dance; none of these were part of the life she was secretly dreaming of. As much as she absolutely loathed doing this, Kandy knew that there was still light at the end of the tunnel. She had heard the stories from her fellow strippers; girls being lucky enough to greatly fall into the favors of rich guys dropping by Red Lips and ending up moving in with them, sometimes even marrying them, living a life of being showered with money, gifts and everything else they could ever wish for. And yes, there were plenty of men who had incredibly thick wallets and a spending habit that was beyond generous who frequented the club from time to time. If she would manage to enamor one of these men, it could be her ticket out of this life, Kandy had realized. She would never have to degrade herself in front of an audience ever again, instead lounging and sipping margaritas near the sparkling, squeaky clean, delightfully cold pool of the mansion she would live in on warm days and go on holiday trips to countries like the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the United Arab Emirates during the winter times. This was the life she wanted, the life she deserved after all the shit she had gone through. This wish gave her the hope she so desperately needed. It was that very same hope she clung onto, day in and day out, hoping that this fateful day would come sooner rather than later.

And then that man entered the club that night. A stranger who she had never seen before. That bastard. That goddamn bastard.

'Come on, don't be such a bitch…' he had said to Kandy while grinning from ear to ear, exposing every single rotten tooth he had in his mouth; this was right after it became apparent to her that he did not even have a dime in his empty, old, ratty wallet when he asked her to things to him that would go much, much further than a simple lap dance. The disgusted stripper immediately made it clear to him that she wasn't going to do anything if he wasn't going to pay for it, telling him to leave otherwise, but all of this fell on deaf ears when that asshole continued to ask her to 'entertain' him in the VIP section. Again, she told him to fuck off, but when he suddenly grabbed one of her breasts with such viciousness that nearly made her believe he was going to rip it clean off, she slapped him across the face hard enough to leave an actual mark and yelled at him to leave. He must have seen the seven-feet tall, balding security guard that lingered near the entrance each night approaching him from the corner of his eye, because without saying anything, he turned around and quickly left the premise, much to Kandy's relief.

Roughly two hours later, she had finished her shift and was more than ready to go home and try to forget this encounter as soon as possible. But before she could even realize it while she was about to open her car, a pair of hands reached out from behind, one grabbing her hair hard enough to make her see stars and the other covering her mouth, successfully muffling her scream of terror. A certain voice she had heard during her shift ordered her to get into the trunk unless she wanted her neck to be snapped on the spot.

'You shouldn't have been such a bitch to me.' that bastard with the rotten teeth told her after he was done dragging her to the construction site. Kandy could have screamed and plead for her life as much as she would have wanted, even hysterically promising that she wouldn't go to the cops if he would let her go. None of it mattered. It only took a few swings from a rusted, iron, L-shaped pipe to silence her forever.

Her body had been found, but that's all that she had going for her. She had no idea if her killer had been caught during this month, but even if this were the case, Kandy highly doubted that this would give her peace. Spending his whole life behind bars or receiving the injection all death row prisoners would eventually receive didn't take away the fact that he had stolen the future she had dreamed of, the one hope that had kept her going. He was the cause of the rage that kept her from moving on. And she would fucking hate him forever for this.

Then, for the first time during this whole month, something caused her to snap out of her bitter thoughts, her eyes wide with shock as she looked up and softly gasped. It happened so suddenly that a few drops of the liquid that was once a part of her brains trickled down her deadly pale neck. The air around her had changed… but not for the better. Having been dead for a while, the ghost of the murdered stripper was well aware of the cold air her presence produced. The natural chill of a summer night hadn't bothered her at all, but this sudden, unnatural cold, felt like it was piercing right through her. It felt similar to the same freezing temperature that lingered around her, but there was something else mixed in there. Something that felt… wrong. Kandy's eyes remained wide open as they darted from left to right in an attempt to catch a glimpse of whoever, or rather, whatever, was creating this strange sensation. Nothing that came close to being a source of light found in this prison of half-darkness that was this construction site; the limited amount of faint light that revealed some of the pillars, machinery, tools and concrete was that from the lampposts on the other side of the street.

Peering into the shadows behind her, Kandy was convinced that whatever was getting close was watching her. And she was right.

No sound of footsteps had echoed through the air, yet it still appeared that figure that manifested itself from the darkness had just calmly stepped out of the shadows. Despite the faint light, she could clearly see that the source of the unsettling energy that had filled up her entire surroundings was a man who seemed to be close to approaching the end of his thirties, and his appearance helped him to seamlessly blend into the blackness. Not one wrinkle could be spotted on his vest, tie, blouse, long pair of trousers and polished shoes, all of them completely void of color aside from deep black. The fingertips of his hands rested against each other, connecting his hands, the left showing a tattoo of what resembled a snarling tiger and the fingers decorated with lettering and the right having a smiling, semi-realistic face gracing the skin and more lettering on the other fingers, that rested against the front of his lower body, as if he was in some sort of prayer. His head was shaved on both sides, save from the long, brown locks in the middle of his head, which were neatly slicked back; the black tattoo of an oriental-styled beast occupied a large amount of space on the right side. A trimmed beard framed his jawline. His nose was noticeably narrow, and the flat, emotionless line that was his mouth perfectly complemented his collected yet sinister demeanor. A tiny amount of black ink was used for the small, crescent-shaped moon that had been tattooed on his right cheekbone. The eyes that were staring straight at her possessed the sharpest shade of blue-grey a human being could ever have, because that's what the energy around him indicated him to be. She had seen that energy around the humans who would walk across the street, completely unaware of her haunting the grounds on the other side. That's what she had felt, mixed into the coldness she was so familiar with. But then again, this was only the freezing air only a ghost could produce…

So then… why… what…?

'My God…' Kandy whispered, a small tremble audible in her voice. 'What… What are you?'

The man took two more steps towards the frightened specter.

'I am a man who simply prefers to watch the world being reduced to ashes.' he calmly spoke. He then fell silent for a few seconds, letting his eyes trail all over Kandy's body, though in anything but a lustful manner, like she had been used to get from men, as if he was… studying her. Living on a diet of mostly cigarettes and cheap noodles throughout most of her life had resulted into her skin tightly wrapping around her bones, hardly showing any muscle. 'And you look good enough to make me keep going for a while.'

Perhaps it was because of him getting to her and thus exposing him a bit more to the light, because it was only then when Kandy saw pitch black blotches crumbling most of the left side of his head, like he was slowly rotting away.

The same fear she had felt on the same night where she met her end instantly crashed over her, maybe even stronger compared to that. Everything inside her told her to run. And that's what she did. Letting out a horrified scream, Kandy ran away as hard as she could, feeling whatever remained of her brains sloshing around in her broken head and trickling down her neck. She could not escape from this place, but if she could head deeper into the shadows, then maybe she could hide from this monster, maybe he would-

The stream of frightened, frantic thoughts came to an abrupt end when something hard and wet wrapped around her chest, legs and mouth, causing her to fall over and stifle another scream escaping from her lips. Chains that were completely made of pitch-black, glistening liquid, closely resembling black tar, had effectively ensnared her, having launched themselves from the open palms of the hands of the man, who hadn't even moved an inch when his prey had made her desperate attempt to escape. Muffled sounds of panic and fright continued to emerge from Kandy as she helplessly struggled in one last effort to break away. What she felt next made the fear increase by tenfold. Slowly but surely, her body appeared to be melting before coloring into the same shade of black the chains possessed, creeping up from her legs, to her arms, then to her back and eventually, to her face; only when it reached her mouth, did she cease making any sound.

The realization that she wasn't even spared from cruelty in death made one single, miserable tear roll down whatever was left of Kandy's face before her entire body was consumed.

The massive pool of liquid was quickly absorbed into the chains before they retreated back into the hands of their user in the blink of an eye.

Fresh, evening air was deeply and slowly breathed in through his nose as he rested the back of his head against his neck and closed his eyes. It never took long, he knew. Within a few seconds, he was able to keep on going until this was needed again. And he was proven right about this; within less than ten seconds after he had retrieved his chains, he could feel the soothing sensation of the corruption leaving the skin on the side of his head, restoring it back to its normal, albeit pale shade. There would be one day where this wouldn't be needed anymore. But until then, he didn't care how many ghosts like this weak, pathetic mess had to be used as fuel to keep his body functioning; that was all they were good for.

All of a sudden, he felt it, causing him to fully opening his eyes and look up. This was it, wasn't it? This energy that was reaching him, having emerged from several blocks away to get in contact with him, telling him that the presence he had been looking for all this time was close. It reminded him of a prey being within the reach of a predator, urging him to come find it. The prey he had been searching for as long as he could remember… and perhaps the key to his mission.

The presence of a ghost who had died more than a hundred deaths.

It was enough to spark some curiosity inside of the man. How strong could this ghost become after he would infect it with his powers? Maybe even strong enough to open the gates to the afterlife? There was only one way to find out about this… and he was more than willing to go after it.

The man who went by the name of Malakai Black allowed his body to be engulfed into a dark, thick mist he created, before vanishing without a trace.