Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 35

Asher rushed into the bathroom and took his shower.

Feeling refreshed afterward, he came out and decided to toss his bedsheet and blanket into the laundry.

Slipping into his casual wear, he sat back down on his bed with his laptop resting on his lap.

Turning it on, he quickly connected it to the family’s WiFi and waited for the laptop to sync properly.

Since he had bought it, he hadn’t used it much.

But with his phone damaged, he had no choice but to use the laptop for what he wanted to do.

Several seconds passed in tense silence.

The seconds turned into minutes before his social media account finally opened.

The icon of a telephone used in the olden days appeared on his screen, yellow in colour, and soon, his chats began appearing one by one.

’Good thing I backed up my chatapp before my phone got damaged.’

In a few more minutes, he realised that a lot of messages had been sent to him by Rick.

And by the looks of it, his friend was greatly worried about his well-being.

About thirty messages had continuously appeared on his screen.

From just looking at the small notification number on the side, Asher was already feeling nauseous.

Heaving a sigh, he decided to go into the chat and typed:

"Heya. I’m fine, bro. My phone just got damaged in an incident and that’s all."

He sent the message and breathed a sigh.

There was no need to tell Rick everything about the whole Nightmare issue and Vespers.

Knowing that there was a crazy presence that stopped information from spreading, he feared for his precious laptop’s life.

Hence, he refrained.

His message was marked blue.

Then, a microphone icon appeared.

’Oh boy. I’m toast. I won’t hear the end of this today.’

A notification sound rang out, and Asher looked at the two-minute voice note sent to him by Rick.

Gulping, Asher clicked on it to listen.

{Bastard, Idiot, Fool! You kept me worried for how many days and you have the balls to come here and send me that message? You didn’t even read my other messages? Fool.

How on earth did I even befriend you? You are one crazy, annoying dude. You should have gotten damaged along with that silly phone of yours.

You see why you can never have a girlfriend in this life? If I was your girlfriend, I would have broken up with you by now, thinking that you have ghosted me. Dumbass.}

Asher heard a brief pause in the voice note, accompanied by the faint sound of Rick panting in the background after ranting out in one breath.

Then, the message continued.

{... But are you fine, though? And how are you chatting with me if your phone got damaged?}

Then, the message ended there.

Asher sighed.

A faint smile crossed his lips as he began typing.

"Yeah, I’m fine. And bro, you don’t have to rub the fact that I don’t have a girlfriend in. For your information, I could have one if I wanted to."

He paused, then added,

"... And yeah. I forgot to tell you that my dad bought me a new laptop as a present for a good job in the exams. That’s what I’m using at the moment.

And I’m sorry for worrying you. Things have been pretty hectic here, and that didn’t give me the chance to contact you. My apologies."

And then he clicked send.

Not waiting for Rick to reply, Asher closed the laptop.

He dropped it aside and began walking outside.

....

A few minutes later, he could be seen standing in front of their neighbour’s door.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!

He gave it a firm knock before turning to press the doorbell.

Buzz—!

The doorbell rang loudly.

Then he waited for a few moments.

Soon, the door swung open, and the woman from the day before was seen staring at him.

Cigarette in hand, she smoked casually.

Asher’s brows knit.

"Isn’t it too early to be smoking?"

The woman frowned.

"And isn’t it too early to be bothering a beautiful, single neighbour? What do you want?"

Asher glared at the woman for a few moments.

But then he shook his head with a sigh.

"I want to talk some more."

The woman shook her head and reached out for the door, but Asher rushed forward immediately.

"If you dare pretend to faint again and use that opportunity to lay on my boobs, I will shove this cigarette stick up your ass!"

"...."

Asher halted in his tracks with a stunned look on his face.

Then his expression twisted into one of embarrassment, his face heating up around the sides.

"Er... about that? I’m deeply sorry. It wasn’t intentional. I honestly thought that you really were a stalker, hence I needed to gain access into your house. I apologise for my misbehaviour."

Asher lightly lowered his head.

The woman stared at him for several seconds.

Turning towards her cigarette, she inhaled, then pursed her lips into an ’O’ shape before exhaling the smoke in the same shape.

"Please. I honestly really have something important to speak to you about, ma’am. It’s a matter of life and death. Please."

Asher pleaded as he lowered himself some more.

His hands gripped tightly at his sides, while his teeth remained gritted in anticipation of the woman’s answer.

Several moments passed before she exhaled, smoke curling upward from her lips.

"Mia."

Asher blinked in confusion as he slowly stood upright.

"Pardon?"

The woman puffed her cigarette again.

"You called me ’ma’am’ just now. I don’t like it. It makes me feel old. Call me, Mia."

Asher blinked once, then nodded.

"Okay."

"And you are pardoned of your misbehaviour, so come in." Mia added as she took a few steps away from the door, giving the boy free access to walk inside.

Bowing slightly to her, he smiled.

"Thank you."

And then he walked in calmly and confidently.

Mia hesitated for several seconds before blowing out another puff of smoke and then closing her door.

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