Chapter 11
The cluster of tin shacks looked small from the outside, but inside it stretched deep.
We walked for several minutes before the man in front finally stopped and pointed.
“There.”
My best friend’s boyfriend immediately understood.
A dark shadow slid off him and disappeared ahead.
A few seconds later, a scream tore out from inside one of the shacks.
I walked closer and saw several crooked talismans stuck outside the door.
I laughed softly.
“So now you’re scared of ghosts?”
I tore the papers off and ripped them apart.
Then I reached into my pocket, pulled out a few of my own talismans, and flicked them into the air.
They caught fire without wind.
The others stared.
“What did you do?” he asked.
I answered simply, “He’s afraid of being haunted by the souls of the animals he killed. So I gave him a few more to worry about.”
The instant the words left my mouth, the whole area seemed to dim.
The temperature dropped so sharply the air bit into my skin.
Inside the shack, the owner started shrieking.
“Don’t come over here! Get away! Get away from me!”
But it wasn’t just his voice.
There were other sounds too.
Thin yowls.
Broken barks.
A hundred cries layered together.
The cold wind slammed against the tin walls over and over until the whole structure started rattling hard.
Then harder.
Then harder.
The roof seemed to sag under some invisible pressure.
And with one horrible crash, it collapsed.
We rushed forward.
The inside was chaos.
Cages.
Tools.
Bloodstained restraints.
Streaming equipment.
Cameras.
Tripods.
Lights.
The man beside me swore.
“This isn’t one animal. This is a whole group of monsters.”
The restaurant owner was sprawled on the ground covered in scratches. His padded jacket had been shredded open. Both legs were trapped under twisted metal and cabinets. He was crying, begging, half-insane already.
“Don’t kill me! Please! Animal gods, please spare me! I was wrong! I won’t do it again!”
My best friend held up her phone.
“I already called the police. They’re on the way.”
Not long after, sirens cut through the distance.
Red and blue lights flashed over the heavy clouds above us.
And just like that, the pressure in the air began to ease.
The cold touch on my cheek came one last time.
Light.
Fleeting.
A goodbye.
While the police flooded the area, the four of us slipped away and hid nearby until we saw them drag the owner out.
His legs were badly mangled.
My best friend’s boyfriend muttered, “He probably won’t be walking normally again.”
“Good,” my best friend snapped. “He hurt that many animals. Two broken legs are getting off easy.”
She was right.
Still, I looked at the police cars and the scene behind them and thought about how little the law could sometimes do.
Not enough.
Not yet.
Maybe someday it would be better.
Maybe someday people like that would not need ghosts, spirits, and the weight of heaven pressing down on them before justice found them.
Because every life on this earth was still a life.
And no one had the right to take it lightly.