“Damien, I came to pick up the article I assigned to you.” My senior at work came to my office cubicle.

“Here is the hardcopy sir, I already sent the file through e-mail.” I said as I handed him a folder containing what he requested. 

I was working on it since this morning, I was just glad that I was able to submit it on time since it was a task that came out of the blue.

“You certainly work quite efficiently, nice job.” He responded with a slight smile as he took the folder off my hand.

“Thank you sir. If you’ll excuse me, I told Sheena I would be going home early today.”

“Your niece, huh. It seems like you are really close to her.”

“I am the only one she got after all so I should at least do my best not to break my promise.” 

“Sure, you can go now. You have already done what you need to do for today anyways.” He told me as he left.

“Thank you sir.” I packed up my things then I left the office.

Boy am I tired. If I knew that being a journalist was this hard then I should not have chosen this as my profession. Always on the rush, sudden tasks during day-offs, and the pay check was not as high as I expected either. All the grinding made my neck and back stiff. I was just glad to be able to get out of there earlier than usual.

I drove straight home with my second hand black car. The traffic was still light since it was not the rush hour yet. Should I skip lunch break more often? If I did, I will always be able to go home early then I will not be trapped by an hour in these roads again.

I reached my place so I parked the car in the garage and got off. I grabbed my key from my pocket to open the door to the house. I was still looking for the key when my niece opened the door for me.

“Wow, you really are early!” Sheena uttered with surprise. 

She was wearing a white dress that compliments with her unique silver hair and green eyes.

“Hey, don’t tell me you didn’t actually trust me?” I replied as I went inside, removed my coat then closed the door.

“You can’t blame me, can you? You always do overtime work after all.”

“Yeah but I do let you know whenever I will be late, right? The thing is, I did what I promised so maybe you will trust me a bit more next time?”

“I’ll think about it.” She replied while looking away, she must really have no faith in me.

“Sure, sure. I’ll be happier though if you’ll just greet me like you did before when you were little.”

“No way! Seriously! Forget about it! That was embarrassing.” She replied in a mix of irritation and embarrassment.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of by saying “Welcome back uncle, I missed you so much” then jumping at me with a hug.”

“I was like five or seven years old back then. You can’t expect a grown up girl to be saying that! I will be going to attend a University soon!” She pouted.

“Grown up? You will be always a little girl to me!” I teased with a smile as I mess up her hair.

“A little girl? Then don’t you think it is embarrassing for a grown up man to have no wins against a little girl after fifteen matches in Golden Knuckle?”

“What? That was just a video game! Games are for little girls!”

“But you were the one who introduced it to me in the first place! You are just too scared to admit that I am more of an adult than you now!”

“Fine! Then I’ll beat you in that game of yours and show you who’s boss.” I went straight to the living room where the game console is found.

“Sounds good!” She replied as she followed me.

The hierarchy in the household was on the line. I tried to focus as much as I can so I can make her feel my power. We spent some time to do a couple of rounds in a row.

“I won!” I shouted with joy as I stood up.

“That’s right. You won only once after those fifteen matches.”

“I still did win so that still makes you a little girl!”

“What? Are your brain screws loose or someting? I won fourteen times and you only won once!”

“That’s right! I still won!”

“Come on, you can’t fool anybody around here.”

“Listen Sheena, I am the adult here so what I say is justice.”

“The adult card... Fine, have it your way.”

Now that the series of matches were over, I can finally relax myself. I gazed at the window and I noticed that it was already evening. That was when I realized...

“Crap! I totally forgot to make dinner!” I was so focused on winning that it totally slipped off my mind.

“I knew it. Don’t worry, I already ordered pizza. It should arrive anytime soon.”

“What? When did you do that?”

“While you were so focused on beating me up in the game.”

“So that was the reason why I won?”

She looked away then covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed.

I couldn’t help but laugh either. She was just toying with me all along. I did not want to accept it but she really is a grown up already. Mature enough that she might be able to handle herself without me.

The pizza arrived, we had dinner then we head to our respective rooms to go to bed. I still have work tomorrow so I needed to get to sleep early. I lied down on my bed then closed my eyes.

“Ow!” What’s that? I suddenly felt a stinging sensation at the back of my right hand. 

I quickly got up and I checked my hand but nothing was there. I grabbed my phone to check the time and it was three o’clock.

“Nggggh!” The pain got much worse but I was trying to suppress my voice because I might wake Sheena up. 

I couldn’t move my fingers at all then it suddenly felt hot. A dark violet glow emerged from my hand, illuminating the dimly lit room. The excruciating pain grew that I bit off my pillow to suppress my voice.

The dark glow slowly spread along with the immense pain to my arms, my torso then to my whole body. It was a nightmare, that once in my life I wished I was dead for a second. I did not really know if it lasted for a few seconds or a few minutes but it felt like the longest time in my life. The pain slowly lessened until it was gone.

“Haaaa...” I breathed out as I relaxed myself. 

I do not know what it was but I am just glad it was already gone. I looked at the back of my hand again just to see a weird sprouting like pattern of a tattoo. I tried to rub it off but it won’t disappear.

“Just what is going on?” My head then felt heavy, as if it was overloaded from the inside. 

I felt like someone was talking to me but there wasn’t any kind of voice. It was like fragments of memories were being forcefully inserted into my head. I was already getting drowsy yet my body refused to fall asleep. It was like my brain would explode anytime soon. 

Without realizing it, I felt perfectly fine again. It is as if I just woke up from a bad dream just to arrive at another nightmare.

I now knew what happened to me. I was now possessed by a demon named Forcas. I have to kill others like me in order to earn the right to control the power or else I will go out of my mind and rampage needlessly? 

What the heck! I am not in a movie or anything so stop giving me this annoying plot! Yet no matter how I convince myself for it be a lie, I just couldn’t. My body knew that it was all real.

“This can’t be happening...” I whispered in disbelief. 

It can’t be true! I do not want any part of this! I just want to live my life as usual. Just what would happen to Sheena if I suddenly disappear? Her parents already left her so there is now way I can just leave her as well! 

There should be a way out. There is gotta be another way out aside from that! As a journalist, I have never failed to uncover the truth. I’m sure this case is no different from those that I have covered before.

I took an indefinite leave at work. They forced me to tell them the reason but I insisted that I can’t. My senior even told me to cut it out or else I will no longer be a candidate for the promotion I have been working hard for in the past month. I told him to just fire me instead if they won’t let me have my way. In the end, they let me leave work for a while. I left my house and rented a small room instead so I can keep Sheena out of harm.

I made sure that she was asleep the night that I left. I was afraid that I might lose my will to go if I tried to say goodbye. I don’t think she would believe me either if I told her about how all of this is happening to me right now. I just left her a letter saying that I’ll be back when everything is fine again.

I researched day and night for every lead that I can find. I browsed through the net for any rumors that may be a clue but they were all dead ends. I did find fellow demons but they were just interested in killing one another that I almost died a lot of times.

I tried to sleep from time to time but my brain was still running wild that I couldn’t. I was just lying down and my mind was still thinking ways on how to get out of this mess that just got more tired. In the end, I end up springing back to my laptop to search for leads.

Several months have passed and I had minimal progress at all. My savings were getting slimmer so I had to eat less to stretch my budget a little longer. My body felt weak but my mind was just working non-stop that I consider myself lucky if I can at least sleep thrice a week. 

My phone rang. Sheena never failed to call my cell every day since I left. It was always so hard to resist picking it up. I want to hear her voice. 

I want to know if she is eating right. How is her new life in the university, does she have new friends? What is the latest news about her? I want to know it all, but I can’t possibly let her see my miserable state. I can’t drag her in my despair. It is mine alone, she should be kept out from it, I shall do my best not to get her involved.

Yet no matter how long or hard I worked, there was nothing to be found. I can’t see a cure or an exit ticket, just a bunch of clueless people like me. The only difference between us is that they already submitted to their fate and did as they were bid to do.    

There were instances that I kind of lost control over myself and partially transform into a demon against my will. It was like something else was taking over my body. I guess that is what they called going berserk, is there really nothing I can do to stop it? I had to hurry even more or else it will be the end of me. 

There was an easy way to prevent one’s body to go berserk but I refused to do it. I would rather die than succumb to that solution. What I need is a way to end the suffering and not to prolong it.

But reality strikes in. My time was slowly ticking away. I don’t want to die yet!

I will roam the streets to beg for information or help if I have to. I don’t want to die! I just need to do everything that I can to break out from this curse. I still have to get back to my niece! Maybe there are things that I missed during my investigation. There are still a lot of things I want to do! I’ll review everything I gathered before and rethink from square one. I still have to beat her seriously in that game! I just need to push myself a little harder. I still need to fulfil my promise! I’ll do all I can while I still have the time. I don’t want to die!

I did everything that I could. I kind of knew from the start that I could accomplish nothing but I tried to cling on to hope. I wanted to think that I can do something to defeat even destiny if I tried. It was so immature of me to think so. I guess Sheena was actually the mature one all along. I thought that if I tried my all to escape this curse then I will have no regrets even if I died.

I did have a single regret. I wish I could have just spent my remaining time with Sheena instead.

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I woke up then tears suddenly came from my eyes. I just witnessed the memories of the one that I killed. Not just witnessed, I felt as if I lived his life. I did nothing wrong. I was the victim. But he was the victim as well. We both did not want any part of this. What could I have done differently to evade this fate? It just... hurts.