"I... I forgot."
Seeing Himanshu’s trembling lips and tense eyebrows, even the 5-year-old girl found it funny. She giggled out loud.
’I’m going to lose my mind today,’ Himanshu cursed himself in his head.
Mrs. Emma’s questions and the whole weird situation had completely numbed his brain. The terror of the Demon and now the fear of getting caught in a weird spot by the neighbors—his panic spiked so high that all he could think about was running away.
"Excuse me."
That was all that managed to slip out of his mouth in his nervousness. With trembling hands, he quickly unlocked his door, mumbled "Bye Mrs. Emma," and rushed straight inside. In his fear and panic, his mind went so blank that he completely forgot he had just left that terrifying Queen outside alone with those people!
The Queen just stood out there, staring at him in confusion as he did that.
A little while later, the door opened. Himanshu stepped out wearing a trending t-shirt and jeans.
Looking at the Demon’s eyes right in front of him, it suddenly hit him... he had made a massive mistake again. He had left the Queen alone with those people outside!
Trying to hide his mistake, Himanshu instantly acted totally normal.
"Did they leave?" he asked, looking around.
The Demon paused for a second and said in a very calm tone, "Yes."
Hearing this, Himanshu was absolutely sure he was going to get beaten up brutally again.
’Did they get suspicious or something?
One second... two seconds passed, but no answer came from her.
’What do I do... what do I do? She’s getting mad again. You idiot, how could you make such a mistake!’
Right then, the Demon’s voice came, "No."
Himanshu swallowed a heavy gulp of fear and took a long breath.
’Saved... Oh God, please just handle whatever comes next.’
Praying to God in his head, Himanshu started walking toward the elevator.
The terrifying silence the moment they stepped inside the elevator started eating him alive. Being alone in a small, closed metal box with a terrifying monster who had just broken his bones—just thinking about it made him feel like he was suffocating.
To hide that deadly silence and his own panic, Himanshu started rambling nonsense like a madman. He just wanted to cover up his shaky voice.
He started explaining the elevator buttons to her, like he was teaching a little kid. "This floor is the seventh one..."
And the Queen wasn’t reacting like a kid, but more like someone looking at a brand new toy. Her eyes were staring at every corner of the elevator.
"Sometimes this elevator stops when the power goes out." Himanshu just kept blabbering mindlessly out of nervousness. "They say when this building was being constructed, a guy fell from the eighth floor and died. Now he scares anyone who’s alone in the building."
Holding both his hands against his chest, Himanshu just kept talking, "Because of that, some women, kids... even grown men get scared."
Just then... clank!
Himanshu’s whole body jolted violently. With a hard jerk, the elevator suddenly stopped right in the middle.
Grabbing the elevator railing tightly with both hands, Himanshu somehow stopped himself from falling.
"Are you okay?" he quickly looked toward the Demon and asked.
The Demon was standing exactly like a statue, with her arms crossed over her chest, without a single expression on her face. Not even a single hair on her head had moved.
’Who am I even asking.’ Himanshu was just thinking this when...
Suddenly, the elevator lights went out. Pitch black darkness filled the whole space.
Himanshu quickly reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. But then he remembered the phone was with the Demon.
For the first time, he used her name and asked her to turn on the flashlight. "Veloria... turn the phone on."
But the moment Veloria turned toward him...
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
Himanshu’s terrified scream echoed through the entire elevator.
"Stay away! Stay away from me, elevator ghost!"
Scared to death, he shrunk into a corner of the elevator and put both his hands in front of his face, acting like the ghost was going to eat him alive.
"What happened? Why are you screaming so much?" the Demon’s voice came from the dark.
"No! Stay away... stay away!"
"Idiot, it’s me."
The Demon turned the phone display on. In the phone’s light, Himanshu looked around with wide eyes. Besides the two of them, there was nobody else in the entire elevator.
Trying to control his heavy, ragged breathing, he said in a shaky voice, "He... he was right here. I saw his red eyes. He was getting closer to me."
Staring at him, the Demon said, "Coward, those were my eyes."
"What?"
"Yeah, in the dark, my eyes glow red."
"Oh... so that was you?"
"Yes."
And just then, the elevator lights flickered back on.
"Along with being a loser, you are a massive coward too," the Demon mocked him.
Gathering himself, Himanshu stood up from the floor and tried to save his pride. "I... I just got scared seeing those eyes. Otherwise, I’m not scared of ghosts."
The Demon crossed her arms again and stood there exactly like before. "Stop making excuses. And start the elevator again."
With trembling hands, Himanshu pressed the ground floor button.
’If someone has eyes that scary, anyone would get terrified!’ he started badmouthing the Demon in his mind.
After a while, both of them reached the metro station. Seeing the crowd at the station and inside the metro, the Demon was completely ignoring whatever Himanshu was saying. She was just deeply observing all the things and people around her. Especially when people were talking to each other. She was constantly mimicking everything right in front of Himanshu.
Some time later, they reached the market.
The small food stalls on the footpath were heavily crowded. People walking back and forth from shopping with colorful bags in their hands, office workers walking in a rush, someone laughing loudly, someone eating happily. Someone was dancing on the footpath to earn money, while someone else was clapping along to the beat.
Well, for Himanshu, all this was completely normal, but...
Seeing such a massive crowd of people all at once, sweat appeared on the Demon’s forehead. She just stood there, staring at the people with wide eyes.
For her, this was a world that her people couldn’t even imagine in their wildest dreams. For their whole lives, they only ever dreamed of ’living without the fear of death’.
It was obvious that the only time she had seen this many people together was when a massive war was happening, or some huge announcement was being made. Forget about markets, nobody even owned a shop there. Over there, people just stole food and clothes from each other’s houses just to stay alive.
This freedom, this happiness, this noise... all of it was tearing apart the veins in a brutal Demon’s brain. For her, this wasn’t just a culture shock, it was a terrifying sensory overload.
The voices of thousands of people started echoing all at once in the Demon’s sharp ears. The ear-splitting horns of cars, the sounds of people laughing, the strong smells coming from the food stalls, and the bright neon lights flashing on the shops—all of it was hammering against her brain at the exact same time. A monster who had only ever seen death and dead silence, her brain just couldn’t handle the noise of this new world.
The physically unbeatable Demon was completely breaking down mentally.
"Veloria... Veloria?"
Himanshu kept calling her name, but in that horrifying noise of thousands of voices, the Queen couldn’t hear anything anymore. A deafening noise was just ringing inside her head.
Suddenly, the Demon standing in front of him fell straight to her knees.
Her breathing and heartbeat felt like they were going to explode. She pressed both her hands tightly against her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut in pure pain and confusion.
Seeing this, Himanshu started panicking. To help her up, he tried to place his hand on her shoulder...
But the moment the terror of his bones breaking flashed in his mind, he stopped himself. His hand just froze mid-air, trembling.
And the very next second... the Demon fainted completely and collapsed onto the ground.
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