CHAPTER 157: CHAPTER 157: POSSESSED

The driver, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white, spoke in a trembling voice.

"I-I saw a woman... in the backseat. In the rearview mirror. She was right behind us. I swear she was sitting there."

A damp chill settled inside the pale-blue bus, the faint smell of vinyl seats mixing with the cold sweat that clung to everyone’s skin. Hearing the driver’s words, Maya felt her heart drop.

"Something is wrong," she whispered, her voice almost cracking.

She turned around slowly, the dim yellow bus lights flickering above her.

And she froze.

At the very back corner of the bus, in the shadowy row where the last seats were coated with burgundy faux leather, stood the same woman she had seen in the fields... and earlier in the forest.

The woman was draped in pitch-black garments, soft fabric that didn’t sway even with the bus’s subtle vibrations. But the most horrifying part was her face.

She had none. No eyes. No nose. No mouth.

Just smooth, blank skin stretched unnaturally where her face should have been.

Her head tilted slightly as if studying Maya.

Maya’s breath caught; a scream nearly tore out of her throat.

She quickly took out the gloves to stop the woman.

But before she could take action, the woman seemed to realize she had been exposed. The faceless head twitched, turning toward the passenger beside her.

Then she dissolved.

Black smoke seeped into the air, drifting like ink in water, and funneled directly into the body of the man next to her, Blake, a red-haired employee.

Maya’s eyes widened in panic. "Oh, shit! No! Blake," she gasped, but her voice was drowned out by the rising panic.

Blake blinked, confused as he saw Maya’s horrified expression. "Why are you looking at me like..."

He didn’t finish.

A sudden shudder ran through his body. His expression twisted mid-sentence, and he stiffened before collapsing forward, at least from his perspective.

But in reality, Blake did not faint. He stood up abruptly.

And smiled. A wide, unnatural smile that didn’t reach his empty, pale eyes.

Before anyone could react, Blake lunged at the person closest to him, Sasha.

Sasha screamed as Blake’s fingers wrapped around her throat, cold and impossibly strong. The dusty smell of old bus fabric filled her nose as her back slammed against the seat.

"Stop! Blake... please stop!" she sobbed, kicking helplessly.

Employees screamed; others scrambled away.

Naina whipped her head around, her heartbeat pounding painfully.

’He’s possessed. It’s really happening. He’s actually possessed.’

Blake’s white, lifeless eyes glinted with cruelty; there was a sickening triumph in them, as if he were savoring Sasha’s life slipping away.

Oliver reacted first. He grabbed Blake’s arm. "Blake! What the hell are you doing?!"

Blake’s head snapped toward him. With inhuman strength, he shoved Oliver so hard that Oliver flew across the aisle, crashing onto the metal floor with a sickening thud.

He coughed up blood, dazed and terrified. "H-He’s possessed... his eyes... they changed... he’s not Blake anymore..."

His words were shaky, but everyone could see it... Blake’s irises were completely white now.

Sasha clawed at Blake’s wrist, her nails scraping against his skin. Her hands grew weaker by the second. And within that fading consciousness, memories struck her.

In her entire life, her parents had favored boys over girls, and she had survived till now only because she was prudent, worthy, and had value.

But as she started to gain value in the eyes of her mother, her mother often started to scare her and asked her to hand over money directly to herself so that in case Sasha dies, Sasha’s mother could keep the money as compensation.

And Sasha, knowing this fully well, still continued.

It was maybe because in her heart she somehow wished that one day she would be able to gain a place in her mother’s heart, even if it meant after her death.

But now, as death was closing in, and she thought about how her mother might not even care about her at all, she suddenly was filled with unwillingness.

Sometimes, a close call with death indeed wakes a person up, but maybe it was too late.

A sharp, echoing shriek ripped through the bus.

Blake’s grip suddenly loosened.

Sasha collapsed onto the burgundy seat, gasping desperately for air. Spots of light danced before her eyes as she coughed and held her bruised neck.

She looked up, and her eyes widened.

A yellow talisman was stuck to Blake’s hand, burning faintly with mystic energy.

The color yellow suddenly became Sasha’s new favorite color.

Blake clutched his wrist, writhing, his scream distorted and unnatural.

Meanwhile, Naina trembled. Blake’s head snapped toward her; his unnatural gaze landed directly on the talisman in her trembling hand.

For the first time, instead of rage... There was fear.

Employees surged toward her in desperation.

"Naina, please save us! You are our savior!"

"Give us a talisman!"

"Help us, Manager Naina!"

But Naina raised her voice sharply. "Don’t move! Stay where you are!"

She moved forward slowly, her palms sweating, her legs shaky. But she couldn’t forget Sasha gasping for her life.

’We’re similar,’ she thought painfully. ’Both raised by parents who used us. Both want to be loved. But she doesn’t deserve to die like this.’

Heck, no one deserved to die!

She faced Blake, holding two exorcism talismans.

"If you harm anyone else," she warned, "I will use these."

Blake didn’t speak; he only growled, an animalistic sound vibrating through his chest.

A tense silence stretched for long seconds.

When Blake moved again, Naina didn’t hesitate at all and threw two more talismans that directly struck Blake.

Then Blake’s body jerked violently. His neck twisted unnaturally, and his limbs spasmed. Everyone watched in horrified fascination.

Suddenly, a shadow burst out of Blake’s body... A ghost.

Now fully visible, floating above him. Dressed in black. Faceless.

People sucked in sharp breaths.

Without hesitation, Naina flung the talismans again.

A crackling sound filled the air as the talismans struck the ghost, golden light exploding outward.

The ghost shrieked, its form convulsing before it began to crumble, like ash dissolving into the air.