One hour passed, followed by another hour, nothing happened. No one came to that house. Winnter asked me on and off if I could see things, but nothing at all. The house was empty I supposed. Even when the clock struck seven at night, there was nothing at all. The street lights were still off. We were about to leave that place after three hours passed when I saw a kind of shadow of humans walking back and forth several times.
That creature's appearance reminded me of Azalea's shadow soldiers that hunted me a long time ago. It was just when I saw it, I didn't feel the weather dropping around me or even fear sensation. A very strong smell of carrion suddenly stung my nose. It was so strong that I needed to breathe in the coffee scent several times to neutralize it and to avoid dizziness.
Apparently, Winnter understood what was happening to me. "You see it?" I just nodded. That horrible scent was so strong that it made my eyes water. Winter no Mirai didn't seem to smell it, though.
"Tha, I can't stand it anymore!" Mickey hid his head behind Mirai's jacket.
"Tha, what do you see?" Winnter shook my body. My head got a terrible headache from the smell as if rotten meat was placed right on my nose.
"He is going inside," I said quickly and rushed myself to go to the café restroom. I threw up all the contents of my stomach.
"Tha!." Winnter called out, banging the bathroom door.
I ignored her. I tried to vomit all the contents of my stomach so that I felt much better. Then, I opened the restroom door.
"Tha, you are as pale as paper!" Winnter voice sounded worried. She checked my body temperature with the back of her hand.
"I saw a shadow resembling a human go into that house, then suddenly I smell a stench, making my stomach got really awful so that I was nauseous. And my head is so dizzy now." I put my head on the table, feeling so heavy.
Winnter called a waiter right away and ordered chamomile tea for me. "How is it now? Feeling better?" She asked after I took one sip of that warm drink.
Before I opened my mouth to reply to her, a voice called out my name loudly. "Sis Tha?!" It was Mirai. That girl went into the café with a pale face and was about to cry. I asked her what had happened, a hysterical scream distracted my attention.
I looked out of the café. At the same time, someone ran out of that house from the side door of that house. He looked in a mess and scream chaotically so that it attracted people's attention to swarm around him. He cried out loudly and profusely, but no words came out of his lips, only his finger pointed at his house.
Everyone looked confused to see what happened. Finally, some of them decided to go into that house. As they went into the house I saw that shadow go out and disappeared so fast. And the horrible scent was gone, too.
The café's waiters also wanted to know what had happened. Some of them went out, Winnter followed them. Mirai chose to sit next to me. "Sis, I feel sick," she said it fast, and then she ran to the restroom.
Seeing what happened to Mirai, Winnter ordered a glass of chamomile tea for her. She sat back again near me, but her eyes were focusing on what happened outside the café.
After some time, an ambulance drove in and someone was carried into that van. On the other side, Mirai came back from the restroom. A waiter showed up in front of us and told us that the café would be closed in fifteen minutes. He asked us to get ready and finish our tea before the café was closed.
"Winnter?" The owner of that name turned her head to me, then she focused back on the scene out there. "Can you guide us to follow that shadow?" I wanted to know what kind of creature was that and where he disappeared, anything about it.
"I am sorry but we have to close the café now," a waiter interrupted us.
Winnter asked Mirai to finish her tea, and then we left that place.
"He is pretty far away now," She suddenly said. "But, I still can follow the trail." She walked and ran ahead of us. "Follow me. Don't be too far behind!" She yelled at us and then added the speed of her paces.
We looked at each other and nodded as if we wanted to say 'Let's go! Let's follow her!' then we ran to catch up Winnter.
I didn't know where exactly we were heading. We walked past old vacant buildings at the west part of the market, which I hardly visited. Most of the buildings here had no tenants, no lights, let alone, the street lights were turned off. Nighttime made things worse. The only light we relied on was the light from our cell phones which ran along with us.
"Hurry up, it's getting so much closer!"Winnter shouted from our front side.
Mirai and I—carrying Mickey—who were far behind Winnter, were trying to walk as fast as we could. Suddenly something like thick fog covered that teenage girl. I almost tripped due to shock. Slowly that fog shaped a white huge bear. Within seconds I realized it was Zent.
Winnter signaled me to walk slowly. We followed the girl who was likely to hide from something. "Sstt! Hurry up, over here! But stay quiet!" She warned us.
I walked slowly behind Winnter and my eyes followed her finger directing to a spot. A shadow was standing under a turned-off lamp post. After I could adjust my eyes to see in such a distance, I saw a lot of black smoke shaped like a human body.
I observed that shadow closely when someone suddenly spoke. "Sis, it smells bad!" Mirai moved back some inches and covered her nose. I also could smell that horrible odor. I looked around to see if there was dirt or dead animals around us.
"Tha, tell me what does it look like?" Winnter pulled my shirt when I moved back due to the awful smell coming to my nose.
"Wait!" I pulled out a handkerchief and put it on my nose. "It is just smoke," I told her after I felt I could bear that rotten smell.
"Ops?!'' There was something that caught my attention. I moved forward to get a better view. That creature was standing still facing the gate of a simple house across the street. In the black smoke, I could see a pair of eyeballs, a pair of kidneys, a tongue, a heart, and some other body organs. Those organs here are stuck in the place they were supposed to be In humans. It was just they were not yet complete.
I was busy guessing what kind of creature that was in front of, but suddenly the dangerous alarm asked me to step back. A whirl of grains of sand was flying around me.
"Back off, Tha!" The Manjis showed up, in the shapes of guardians and stood by my sides. "Back off!'' They warned me again. "Before he knows our presence, we'd better back off." She added.
I listened and adhered to their words. I left Manjis and joined with Winnter again.
We watched that creature from a distance until within some time a strain of melody we were familiar with was heard. That smoky creature wrote something on the gate of that house, until Aras came out of the blue, kicked that creature to dart off.
Aras looked so angry. That horse stomped his feet, grunting and neighing while that smoky creature lay on the street. I could not see clearly what happened with them both but my danger alarm was still on in such a far distance.
"Tha, what do you see?" Winnter sounded urging due to high curiosity.
"He was just like a real human, without flesh and skin. In other words, that's a simple way." I struggled to find the right words to describe that smoky creature.
"What do you mean?" it seemed she didn't get my messages.
"Yeah, he was like a human. You can picture him as a human without flesh, and skin, nor bones covered by black smoke, and," I paused, taking a good look at that creature again. "It looks like even the organs haven't been completed yet," I added.
I turned to Winnter, she was looking at me seriously. "He hasn't got lungs, gutter, and some other organs," I explained.
"And he is rotten as a carcass," Mirai added.
"Yes, a really terrible smell," I agreed with her.
A very loud collision was suddenly heard. I saw Aras was trying to get up after his body hit the fence walls. That creature was certainly something not to be underestimated, that Shadhavar had hard times fighting against him. Then I heard the creak of the door being opened.. The next second both of those creatures disappeared, the Manjis melted into sand and Zent evaporated like boiled water.