I awoke to a white ceiling. I was in an extremely comfortable bed and my head was resting on a pillow that had just the perfect amount of fluff. I lifted my head forward to see a familiar bookcase.

Oh, I'm in my room, I thought. Last I remember I was talking with the demon Myala. And then the floor disappeared and I was floating in space and then...

Nothing. I couldn't remember anything after that.

I looked over my shoulder to see the mysterious blade in its sheath lying where my morning tea usually was, which I'd actually consider an improvement.

I grabbed the case, unsheathed it and began studying it. Upon close inspection, the blade was beautiful. It was shaped like a sharp kitchen knife, with one side straight and the other curving down. The difference was the blade itself was pitch black, with a royal blue streak covering the ends. The hilt was also different, as it covered most of the blade's width, rather than just a tiny portion. The hilt was made of a refined smooth black leather.

What did she call the blade? Essenia? Essania? Essantia? Umm...Essentia?

Right as I got to the last name, the blade vibrated for a split second in my hand, as if delighted I remembered its name. But that can't be right. I remembered Ms. Myala specifically stating she detested the blade for imprisoning her. She wouldn't be happy I remembered the name of it. I thought about it for a second and then shrugged.

"I'm probably just overthinking it."

"Overthinking what, if I might ask," a voice said.

I looked over to the door where the door used to be, which was now just a hole due to Mr. Reginald obliterating it, to see the head maid standing there. She flashed me the polite smile she gave everyone, although it seemed a bit softer than usual.

I jumped a little, to no one's surprise.

Her expression eased up a little. "Well I was worried, but if you're still able to jump like that it probably means you're alright."

I laughed nervously. "Please don't tease me like that Ms. Cecilia."

Ms. Cecilia is a well endowed woman that embodies the archetype of a maid. Her brown hair was tied up in a large bun and she wore a mop cap over it. She also wears a long maid outfit that goes down to her ankles and always has on black high heel maid shoes and a small bow tie around her neck. If her forest green eyes didn't stand out so much, you'd believe she was born a maid.

She chuckled. "It's hard not to with you."

She clapped her hands together like she was making an announcement." But alright, I should probably report to the others you're awake now."

"Others?"

"Yes. Tucker, Mr. Reginald, and Mary were all very worried about you. Mary even—"

A hand appeared over Ms. Cecilia's mouth. Behind her appeared Mary, looking as apathetic as ever, albeit slightly irritated.

"Not another word," she threatened.

"MhMmmmm." Ms. Cecilia tried to speak but Mary's hand only clasped tighter.

Ms. Cecilia tried fighting it but eventually made a face and put her hands up as if she to say she surrenders. This seemed to be something that's happened at least a few times before because Mary instantly removed her hand from her mouth.

"Sigh. For someone aiming to be head maid, you would think you would be a little nicer to your senior."

"Special treatment is off limits."

She looked at me. "Oh? I guess Arthur is the exception then."

Mary opened her mouth to retaliate, but before she could speak, Tucker barged in, shoving Mary out the way in the process. Almost immediately, she threw her signature kitchen knife at him that she pulled out of seemingly nowhere, although he dodged it instinctively. He ran towards me and gave me a big bear hug, which lasted for a couple seconds before shooting up and voicing his thoughts to the world.

"You're alive! Yo, I thought you were dead! I thought I was dead!"

I smiled. Typical Tucker, I thought.

He raised up a fist. "But we did it, we survived the zombie apocalypse! With the power of cheat codes; I mean Mary."

"Tucker," Mary called.

He put his arm across his chest and bowed. "Yes, our savior. Ask anything of me."

"Shut up."

Ms. Cecilia and I both laughed. Unbeknownst to us, a righteous laugh came from the doorway.

"It's good to see you youngsters are so energetic after all that's happened."

"Ah, Mr. Reginald. How do you feel?"

He looked surprised for a moment before but soon started chuckling. "Me, I'm fine. But what about you, Sir Arthur?"

"Huh, what about me?"

"Bruh, you were out for a day!" Tucker chimed in. "We didn't know if you were wakin' up. It's probably due to that stupid blade you're toyin with. It's cursed. Probably sucking the life out of you. But don't worry, I'll take responsibility and keep it so no one gets hurt."

Tucker reached for the blade but was slapped in the back of the head by Mary. "Do you ever stop fooling around?" She asked.

"No," Ms. Cecilia, Mr. Reginald, and I said in unison, a look of disappointment across all our faces.

Ms. Cecilia clapped her hands again. "Well, we should leave and give Arthur some time to think. We'll have dinner at 8 o' clock as usual. Don't be late."

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Everyone in the room nodded. They exited the room one by one until Ms. Cecilia was the last to leave.

"Umm, Ms. Cecilia? Can I ask you a question?"

She turned around. "If it's about the door, we should have it replaced tomorrow."

I shook my head. "Ah no it's not that."

Although I did wonder how long was I going to have to go without a door.

"I was wondering why you guys left the blade with me. Isn't it supposed to be dangerous?" I had to play dumb. I'd rather not tell everyone the details of my deal with the devil.

Ms. Cecilia sighed. "That's because that blade won't let anyone else hold it."

"What do you mean?"

"When someone else touched the blade, it would possess them and place the blade in your hands. This happened four times before we decided to just leave it with you."

I looked at the blade. That definitely sounds like something the self proclaimed "Queen of Knowledge" would do.

"Well if that's all you needed to know I shall be on my way."

"Wait!" I raised my hand out as she started to turn around."

She turned back around curiously."Yes? Is there something else?" she asked inquisitively.

"Umm, has my fath—"

Ms. Cecilia's caring eyes dropped to the ground, leaving behind a halfhearted smile. "Unfortunately, Mr. Price has been busy and has not had the time to visit you. My apologies."

I laughed nervously. "It's fine. I know he's always busy."

She looked at me, her eyes reflecting a twinge of pity. "Well, if you'll excuse me."

She bowed, turned around and walked out.

I rested my head back on my bed, finally dropping the knife that's been in my hand all this time onto the covers.

Ah, of course he wouldn't visit me. He has too much to do to be worrying about me. I know he's always busy, but it still kind of hurt that he won't visit his own son. It made me feel kind of happy...happy? Shouldn't I be upset?

I slapped both cheeks on my face. Clearly I'm not thinking straight. Maybe the blade is sucking out my sanity instead. My father is an amazing person. There's no reason to dislike him, I thought. I slapped my face again for good measure.

I decided to take a shower after realizing I'm still wearing the same shirt and jeans I changed into after the maid attack. I got up and noticed that there was a chair between my window and my bed that was facing the bed. Huh, when did that get there, I thought. Was someone sitting there?

I looked outside the window to see the purple haze from before was gone, replaced by an orange sun. I grabbed a shirt and pajama bottoms from my dresser at random and headed for the bathroom door, which was on the right of my bookcase.

The bathroom was quite spacious, with porcelain marble tile that covered the floor and most of the wall. A built-in tub that doubled as a hot tub hugged the right wall and a bath mat was laid out in front of the tub. Candles, bath salts and beads that were stacked in a glass container sat atop the end of the tub. Behind the tub was a spotless glass door that was as tall as the ceiling.

The left side of the bathroom featured the bathroom counter where the sinks and hand towels hung. Right above the sink was the mirror that was the same length as the counter. The counter was whitish gray, which contrasted the black cabinets under the sinks.

I walked to the back room, which had hand towels, face towels, and large towels each folded and stacked up on racks. The only other things back here were two hampers and a window with the view of the garden out front.

I grabbed the towels, threw them and my clothes in the sink and quickly took a shower. I was never really a fan of long showers. I got dressed and threw my clothes and towels in the hamper. I exited the bathroom to see Tucker standing at the door hole. I was going to tell him to knock but quickly realized how stupid that would've been.

He waved his hand up. "Yo." The typical Tucker greeting he gave everyone. He must've taken his shower while I took mine because he was dressed in pajamas just like I was, except his pants had stripes in comparison to my simple gray bottoms. And instead of them being tied up, his dreads were hanging down.

"Yo," I replied back, but it sounded completely unnatural and uncool when I said it.

Tucker laughed. "It doesn't sound like you at all."

"It really doesn't," I agreed.

"Luckily you're cool enough to where you don't have to fake it. You can just be yourself."

"I think you're giving me too much credit. I don't really do anything special."

He pointed a finger at me. "Exactly! It's rare to find someone just being themselves."

"What do you want Tucker? I doubt you came to my room just to give me a pep talk."

I expected him to joke about how cold I was to accuse him of an ulterior motive, but to my surprise he didn't.

"I just want to talk for a second," he said nonchalantly. He gestured towards my bed. "May I?"

"S-sure." It's kind of worrying whenever Tucker drops his goofy facade.

Tucker and I sat down on opposite ends of my bed.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "I'm glad to see everyone actin' normal, but I don't wanna act like nothin' happened."

"What do you mean?"

Tucker smiled, but it didn't hide how dejected he looked. "Like I mentioned when I met up with you guys, the maids in the front attacked me. Some I could just knock out, but others kept getting up. There were times when it came to life and death. I still remember clearly how limp one of the maid's bodies were as I snapped her neck. Her eyes drained of any color as she lied still on the floor."

I wanted to speak; to comfort Tucker, but I couldn't find the words.

"And after I met up with you guys," he continued, "it only got worse. In the bunker under the basement, it was truly kill or be killed. With all the maids and butlers surrounding us, it was sometimes just easier to snap their neck than to carefully knock them unconscious."

"But Tucker, they were—"

"Possessed? Yea, I'm aware. But it doesn't change the fact that they were people. Human beings who had their own families; their own dreams. To take that away from them feels wrong."

Tucker's right. Even if we act like nothing happened, there were a lot of innocent casualties. Mary, Mr. Reginald, and Tucker all had to kill to protect themselves and me. Even I...killed someone. Whether it was for self defense or not doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I took someone's life from them. And what's worse is I acted like it didn't even happen.

Maybe Ms. Myala was right. Maybe I am just a monster. I felt lighter as I let the toxic thoughts consume me. That is until I felt a large jolt of pain from my back and I nearly jumped off the bed.

"Ow!" I looked at Tucker, as he was the only suspect in the room. "What was that for?"

"For gettin' all depressed on me. I can't have ya actin all mopey and crap."

"But you were doing the same thing!"

Tucker thought about it for a second. "Hmm, you right. Ok Arthur, slap me in the back."

"Excuse me?"

He gestured towards his back. "Ya heard me. Hard as ya can. Don't ya dare hold back either," he warned me.

My right hand charged up as I cranked it back and then shot it forward with as much force as my weak arms could muster. You could hear it make contact as Tucker's body jolted on impact.

"Jeez that hurt. You really didn't hold back, did ya?"

I looked at him with a straight face. "You told me not to."

He looked at me with an irritated expression. "Yeah, but who do you think I am? Are you tryna kill me?"

Silence filled the room, which didn't last long as we both burst out laughing. We laughed for a good thirty seconds before we caught our breaths.

Tucker scooted over and rested his arm on my head. "You know, I said we shouldn't forget what's happened these past few days and I stand by that. But I also don't think it's good to dwell over it, as it stops you from moving forward."

I let out a genuine smile. This is why it's cool to have Tucker as a brother. He always knows what to say in times such as this.

I looked up at him. "Careful. Keep talking like that and Ms. Cecilia may start to think you're actually smart," I joked.

He grinned. "Hah, you right. If that happens she'll double my workload."

Tucker raised out his fist and I matched him.

Tucker jumped up. "Well, it's almost eight," Tucker said, looking out the window. "We should probably head downstairs for dinner. Wouldn't want that demonic maid hunting us down."

I laughed. "She only does it to you though."

"It's not my fault! Something's wrong with that woman!" He exclaimed. "Well whatever, I'ma head out. You better come down soon too," he said as he started walking out.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second."

I looked down at Essentia, which was now back in its sheath. She would probably be upset If I didn't bring her, I thought. I grabbed the sheath and slid it into my side under my pajama pants and pulled my shirt over it. The blade vibrated again, but I had no idea what it meant so I ignored it. Then I headed downstairs for dinner.