Killing the Possessor - Chapter 49

The only light came from the small window on the ceiling, with the sunlight slowly fading as the day turned to night, leaving only a small sliver of visibility.

Muttering to myself, I scanned my surroundings as thoroughly as I could.

“The strawberry fairy wears a red cloak…”

A high-pitched voice, still too young to have gone through puberty, sang the gloomy tune. From how far away it sounded, it seemed like the basement was larger than I had expected.

But even so, I couldn’t afford to relax until the spirit killed me. I needed to find even the smallest clue.

“Is it full names again?”

It was definitely the case with Beth Coreldi. When her full name was spoken, the spirit stopped its actions and transported me back to a past scene. The trigger must be the full name.

“The problem is, I don’t know Tommy’s last name.”

Even when the Head Nun introduced the children along with their portraits, there was no last name listed. In my growing frustration, I swept my hand over the dusty shelves. What should I do…?

“The orange fairy wears an orange cone hat…”

I still had no clue how to find out Tommy’s last name, but the song was much closer now. Worse, an indistinct figure darted across the dark, empty space, sending a cold sweat dripping down my back.

“Ugh, I really hate this kind of stuff!”

This was exactly why I never played VR games! But this isn’t even 3D, it’s 4D! And it’s a horror genre too!

“Ugh, don’t they have any albums or something?”

In a desperate panic, I started feeling around for things that were barely visible. I found something that looked like a book, but there was so little light that I couldn’t even read the text.

“I’m going crazy…”

I gritted my teeth, heading toward the table filled with various tools. Desperate to grab any weapon I could find, I thought maybe I could use an axe or something…

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Just as I reached for the axe’s handle, an unknown force threw me sideways. Fortunately, the tools were scattered far from me, and I managed to avoid the sharp blades.

But before I could even sigh in relief, someone stood in front of me, blocking the little light that had been shining down on me.

A chilling voice pierced my ear.

“So, what should the banana fairy wear? Yellow clothes? White clothes?”

With an eerie presence, a black silhouette whispered directly in front of me. Unable to lift my head, I swallowed hard and stared at the scattered objects below me.

I had to do something quickly, or else…

“What should the banana fairy wear?”

The child’s voice, now a tone lower, echoed slowly. Just as I thought that, the open address book caught my eye.

“Tommy…”

The light you see before you die was likely a result of the brain quickly scanning past memories, trying to find a way to overcome the present danger, as I had heard somewhere before.

Although I didn’t see the typical ‘life flash before your eyes’ moment, it felt like my brain went through something similar. As soon as I saw the address book, I was reminded of a classic novel.

In that novel, the orphaned lead doesn’t particularly like her name because it was hastily chosen from the front pages of a phone book.

It suddenly occurred to me—could Tommy’s last name have been taken from the address book too?

“Yellow? White?”

Just then, a shadowy, smoke-like arm stretched toward me.

I tightly closed my eyes, quickly scanning the first few pages of the address book, and shouted out the faintly visible name.

“Abbott! Tommy Abbott! Thomas Abbott!”

I added Thomas subtly, just in case the name “Tommy” was a nickname, as the Head Nun had told me. Whether or not that was the right assumption, the black arm stretching toward me stopped dramatically.

“Is it really Abbott?”

I stared up in shock, unsure if I had guessed the last name correctly. Just then, I met Tommy’s eyes, which had blended into the darkness around him.

“Banana…”

Soon after, I was engulfed by the same disorienting sensation I had felt when I called out Beth Coreldi’s full name. It was like being sucked into an unknown vortex.

Ah, where am I falling to this time?

Could it be another point in my memory?

“<Hey, monkey!>”