Book 1: The Demons Around Me

1.0 - Prologue

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My name is Elizabeth, and I can see ghosts.

It was an annoying thing to have, but fortunately, it's not dangerous or life-threatening. Basically, the things that I can see consists of invisible people, like the dead souls, genies, or other things that I do not know the name of.

One thing that I found to be rather interesting about this ability, was how disadvantageous it truly is for socializing.

I started having the ability when I was only six years old, just when I started elementary school. I was comatose for five whole months before finally waking up and being able to see those things. I got into coma after a certain accident that changed my life, but having the ability was the largest change of it.

I got the ability during my first year of elementary school, but it got public around my third year. There was an incident that involves a female classmate of mine getting possessed by a ghost, and I stupidly told everyone what was going on with her.

The ability to see ghosts weren't exactly a normal thing for the normal people, especially not in this country or region. There were definitely some paranormal experts or genuine masters in the mystical stuff, but those people obtained their ability through effort, unlike me who got it unnaturally after going into a coma.

Most importantly, I am still only a student. And if there's one thing that young students were afraid of, are ghosts.

Ever since the incident that made it public, my school life became a living hell. I got ostracized, made fun of, bullied, just for having the ability to see the fearsome things that normal people wouldn't be able to see. They see my ability as 'creepy' or 'weird', and they aren't quite fond of being close to me. Some even went as far as to hate me, even.

First, elementary school. Then, junior high school. Even until the day I graduated, nobody was there to take my pictures of graduation. Not even the teachers, not even my mother came to my graduation day.

It's almost like… I became a ghost to them.

But, I minded those things no longer. Thinking about the things that I don't have will only hinder my growth, and I won't let myself being stuck on those sad things. I can only move on and move forward, even if I have to be alone.

At least… that was the mindset that I had, until I gone to high school.

The school year has ended, and it is now time for a new chapter. Graduation was over two months ago, and it is time for me to go to high school. The excitement of finally entering a new environment helped me forget about what happened during elementary and junior high, but I did not realize the possibility of experiencing the same thing as before.

Since I do not have the privilege of being born to a rich family, I have to go to a public high school. I chose the high school that is located closest to my home, on the same region as my junior high school. This means that I will be attending the school with the same people who used to be from my junior high.

I will be meeting my old classmates again, how exciting! Except, they probably wouldn't want to be my classmates to begin with.

Coming to the school at the first day, I noticed tons of familiar faces. This is the closest high school to my junior high school, so as expected, there will be tons of my old classmates and schoolmates from my junior high days.

Everyone greeted one another and grouped up as they go through the school's gate, while I went in alone as if I'm from a school that is not around here. Certainly, all those students knows who I am since I am quite famous back during elementary and junior high. Well… infamous. But just because they know who I am doesn't mean they want to get close to me.

Going into the class, I realized that half of the classmates I will be having were actually my old schoolmates. Some were actually my classmates back then, and the others simply came from other classes. The other half classmates came from other junior high schools that were further away, since this high school is one of the really popular ones in the region.

And as expected, I am still left alone by them. Sometimes, I can even hear them talking about me very loudly. It's almost as if they didn't even try to keep their voices hidden.

They probably did that to announce to the world that I'm a weirdo, and to warn the students from other junior high to never go anywhere near me. And thanks to that, their wish became a reality.

One month of being a first year in this school, I was still alone at every moment I spent here. I ate lunch during lunch breaks by myself. On the first team-based project that the biology teacher gave, I was the last pick on the class. The team I ended up joining to didn't even pick me because they wanted to. To top it all, they didn't even bother asking me anything and simply left me be, and they just do the work without bothering me in the slightest.

Occasionally, some annoyances even happen. Sometimes my notebooks gone missing after one of my classmates failed to deliver the stacked books after the teacher was done grading. During high school orientation, I was told to sing the national anthem by myself because I failed to get a team for one of the exercises the seniors were hosting. Many times, some of my old junior high classmates purposely bumped their shoulders on me in the middle of the hallway. Of course, I can't fight back because I know that it will only worsen my situation.

They are afraid of me. They are afraid of the things I can do to them. Fearing the possibility of me summoning demons to haunt them, fearing that they will get possessed if they get anywhere close to me.

But, little do they understand, that the true demons has always been them this whole time. Not just them. The teachers, for turning a blind eye to this ostracization and bullying. My mom, for being the whole reason as to how I am in this situation. My dad for leaving me and getting a new family. Even my grandparents, aunts, and cousins for cutting their relations with me and my mom.

Everything, and everyone that I see in front of me… has all been the demons in my eyes. The ghosts that only I can see were never in any way cruel to me.

Everyone… was a piece of shit.

"Hey, there! You must be Elizabeth, right?"

Very suddenly, the sun emerged from the horizons. Flowers bloomed in the middle of this autumn, and the wind breezes around me ever so peacefully.

Hope… has returned to my poor broken heart.

Exactly one month and one week after the start of high school. Monday, the first day of the week. Five minutes into the lunch break. Episode twelve of the drama that I was watching on my phone at the time.

I remembered… that moment very clearly. When his gorgeous face suddenly appeared in front of me, wearing a wide grin and a really bright expression, only fifteen centimeters away from my face.

There were twelve other students in the room, all doing their own businesses. The sun was being covered by the trays right next to me, but the window was left open to let the wind flow inside. And when his face appeared in front of me, it felt like the air became much colder than before.

"I heard that you can see ghosts! Can you tell me more about what you see!?"

The boy asked me energetically and curiously, as if my whole existence is very interesting to him. Everyone around him, including me, were wide-eyed shocked at his behavior towards me.

That encounter was the beginning of everything. The cause of all effects. The end of my previous hideous chapter, and the beginning to a new brighter one.

Meeting him was the starting point of my path.

"Have you ever hunted ghosts before?"

My path… towards a world much weirder than the one I'm living in.