The girl in black

A Chapter by Spoinkeru

It was over and the rusty tinge of the sky was indicative of my mood. Losing that job is one thing but the lack of payment for the rent is another.

The landlord, who is mostly chin and flaps, is going to be happy to see me pack my things and leave. Now, I can endure a lot of things but imagining him, imagining me suffering on the streets, isn’t one of them.

That rude son of a gun who takes pride in making people’s day miserable is the last man I want to have a satisfaction for, so instead of leaving quietly, I’d rather go out with a bang.

I’ve recently learned about a spell, something about summoning an entity from another dimension that can curse people in exchange for a part of your soul or some nonsense. I don’t usually believe in this type of stuff but when s**t hits the fan, even the most vigilant person gets scammed.

I’m no vigilant and I’m just drunk enough to do it.

I sat down on the floor of my cramped apartment, sweeping away clothes and loose underwear, and began writing a collection of triangles, inverted stars of David, and whatnot. The ritual goes like this: Draw some figures, utter some polish sounding phrases, believe in the heart of the cards, and then it will come.

For a spell that is meant to summon a being from another dimension, it’s fairly convenient and simple, as if someone on the internet just wrote in down for s**t and giggles.

What’s another thirty-minutes of time wasted? I might as well do something worthy with my life and destroy the room’s floor to get back at the m**********r. I’ll just leave a note to the future occupant and he’ll understand.

After completing the lousy symbols of uneven circles, I took out my phone and read the passage made by the internet troll:

Just the luck of the draw, she’ll say.

But I knew from the beginning, she is lady luck and she is always smiling.

Shiny gold, bloody ready, and clarity blue.

No one can hide from her sight.

And definitely not from her skippity steps.

No matter how much I look at it, the passage is just a collection of dialogue lines from a famous MOBA game and a meme about a toilet.

After completing the badly written monologue, nothing happened.

“Damn it…”

I looked at the out-of-place ritual circle carved on the middle of the room.

It looked good at least, enough to annoy the landlord once he sees it.

I thought about submerging it in clothes and leaving it as a nasty surprise however when I tried placing one on top of it, the t-shirt just flew away as if repelled by some magnetic force.

Was I seeing things?

I threw another cloth at the circle but the results are the same.

Then something came out of the pentagram, as if a drip of water coming out of a faucet, it bulged and mulched until it formed a coherent figure, a woman wrapped in black.

“Greetings”

She spoke.

“You have summoned me, state your wish; summoner.”

“What the hell…”

It was hard to control my jaw from sagging, the ritual worked? And even if it worked, how come it’s a cyan-eyed brunette instead of a horned demon? Is that ritual really meant to summon a demon and not a Latin succubus?

“Not what you expected? No worries, you aren’t the first to speculate but make no mistake, I am definitely a demon.”

I almost scoffed at her words but I don’t wanna look rude in front of a demon.

“Yeah… I was expecting something more… Intense?”

“Intense? Are you perhaps thinking about red skin, wings on the back, and a pitch fork?”

“Uh…”

That’s definitely what demons looked like in cartoons.

“I guess?”

I answered.

“My apologies then, I for one am not a fan of such outfit, I’m more of a modest type you see.”

The held her long skirt and pat her long-sleeved shirt to emphasize her point.

“Does that mean there’s more of you?”

“Of course... We operate twenty-four hours shift and seven days a week to cater to the needs of our summoners.”

Damn… Even demons have it tough in hell huh?

“But enough about me… Let’s talk about you. Why have you summoned me?”

“Well… I uh.. I have someone I want to curse.”

“Oh? And what curse do you have in mind?”

“I-I don’t know… I just want him to be cursed and have a hard time.”

Why is a demon asking me about curses.

“Understood.”

The girl closed her eyes, clapped her hands together.

“It is done. The man is now cursed.”

“That’s it?”

“Indeed, if you wish to confirm then go.”

Confirm? How can I confirm it? It’s not like I can just go to him and ask him: Hey… Feeling cursed yet?

I was about to ask when I felt something moving inside my mouth. It felt blocky, almost familiar, and when I opened my mouth to take one, I found a tooth sitting between my fingers.

“What Dzah..”

The skin wrapped around my fingers started to fall off like chunks of meat, revealing underdeveloped muscles and cream-colored bones.

I am melting.

It was hard to move my body, it’s like I’m sub-merged deep in some liquid. I struggled to turn my head towards to girl but after some grueling effort, I finally found her, the same as before, standing above the pentagram and wrapped in darkness.

“Y-you…”

Something came out of my mouth, it’s probably my voice but I’m not sure… It sounds squishy.

“Your ignorance knows no boundary, not only did you summon without any precaution, you also didn’t show a modicum of respect.”

“Alas, I’ll be sure to add you to my collection so take comfort in that.”

“…”

Memories about me started to fade away, about my first action figure, about my scariest moment, and about my first love. Then, a sharp screeching noise began blowing inside my head as if trying to replace my mind.

I want it to stop! It hurts! T-This is not what I-

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I observed the trembling sludge before me, it stank of death, fear, and manure.

The remnants of my summoner, the remnants of an ignorant man, and the remnants of a consequence.

If I may be so disrespectful, he is the first to call me in such insignificant fashion to the point where I thought about annihilating him at first glance.

But in zeal, I held myself back and listened to his request.

However, it was a waste. I suppose that is to be expected considering the setting where he called me. This non-Euclidian place is not somewhere an entity should live, if anything, I’m surprised he managed to hold on to his life this long.

After all, what is within reflects outward appearance hence I find it fitting to turn him into a smudge just like his garment infested lodging.

Alas, the venture’s result is unsatisfactory but the woman is right. It is possible to invade this plane given the presence of a conduit.

Perhaps with this knowledge… I can win the war.