I hurriedly went down the stairs step by step. It's unusual for me to feel this thirsty. My mouth feels like a leaf in autumn waiting to be blown away by the wind.

Shit, I forgot to turn on the lights, and it turns out my mom hasn't come back yet. I took a moment to peek out of the window when I reached the bottom of the last stair. It's nighttime, a very dark night.

I opened some curtains to at least get a bit of light so I could reach the switch and turn on the lights.

If you're wondering why I didn't use voice commands like everyone else, the answer is because my mom refuses it. According to her, ghosts can mimic voices and play pranks using voice commands. So, in our house, everything is still manual, like going back a few decades.

I navigated through the moonlit path in the middle of the quiet night, even quieter than usual. Usually, I could still hear kids playing. But now, it's creepily silent, as if I'm an abandoned graveyard in the middle of a forest in a remote village in a country with few population, even on the moon might have been noisier than here.

Finally, I reached the location of the switch and flicked it. Click.

The lights instantly illuminated the entire room in my house.

I made my way back to the kitchen, my original destination.

I opened the refrigerator to get a drink. Somehow, something seemed off with my fridge's settings, because I found everything frozen.

I checked the settings screen but didn't notice any error or configuration changes.

I tried to stay calm. Yet, I just realized something odd. It all started with excessive thirst, then the pitch darkness, followed by silence, and now this freezing cold. The only thing left from the death aura described by Yarn or Ryan was the stink.

My body was still under my control, but I was too afraid to move it.

My mind continued to conflict.

Was this really the death aura given off by the phantom? But how could the phantom know my house?

Did they follow me? Why now? Why didn't they reveal themselves when I spent days in the hospital?

Is this a dream or the curse again? But I used the ghost salt Desmon gave me, didn't it work?

Is this just a coincidence? But four signs of the death aura happened in a row, or am I just paranoid?

In the middle of the chaos in my mind and my body frozen in fear, I could only hope that Desmon would come here soon to help me. At least, if this is just my fear, Desmon's presence is significant to dispel it.

"Creak...."

I quickly turned my body towards the suddenly open door of the house.

There stood someone right before my eyes. That person managed to dispel my fear. Her presence brightened all the lights in my house, shattered the silence of the night, warmed and defrosted everything, and strangely enough, my thirst disappeared.

"Robert, you're not sleeping yet?" The person asked, now standing right at the door inside my house.

I was safe.

"Not yet. Mom just got home?"

"Yes, by the way, Dr. Klio is here. Mom got a call from him earlier, and he said he wanted to check on your condition." My mom approached me.

Every step she took brought warmth to my heart.

"Where?" I tried to look for Dr. Klio by stretching my head out, but I couldn't find him.

Before my mom could answer, Dr. Klio revealed himself. Unlike at the hospital, Dr. Klio was now dressed more casually.

"Hey, Robert. How's your condition?" His face was full of smiles, but I could sense something amiss behind that smile. Something that hinted that he had successfully overcome or dispelled an extraordinary fear.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Good." I replied briefly.

"Do you still feel scared?"

"A bit."

"That's good. Do you know how to overcome fear?"

"Sorry for interrupting both of you. But, I need to go to my room to change." My mom cut me off right before I could say my first word, "Sorry, Doc."

I could understand why my mom wanted to rush to change clothes, it seemed that way because of her soaking wet clothes. Did it rain earlier? Perhaps there was a heavy downpour, that's why the air felt colder and the streets felt silent without kids playing outside.

"Sure, ma'am. I apologize for coming late at night because I've been busy, so I only managed to check on your child's condition now." Dr. Klio replied.

I nodded without saying a word. But I'm sure my mom knew I permitted it because she immediately hurried off to her room.

"So, Robert. Do you know how to overcome fear?" Dr. Klio asked again.

"I don't know, Doc. What's the way?"

"Life aura," her immediate response startled me. As if Dr. Klio knew about the death aura that scared me, logically to eliminate it, we must create a life aura.

However, his next words made much more scientific sense, "So let me check your body's condition, whether it exhibits a life aura or not."

Dr. Klio didn't say much while checking my body's condition except asking a few related questions. It didn't take long, even my mom hadn't come down yet when Dr. Klio's check-up was done. Dr. Klio quickly said goodbye to me and sent his regards to my mom, then he went home.

My mom came when the sound of a vehicle, likely driven by Dr. Klio, was leaving our house.

"Is it done?" my mom asked, looking more refreshed. My mom said she only changed clothes, but it seemed she had also taken a shower.

"It's done. Doctor Klio said he was in a hurry, so he left right away. Besides, mom said to changing clothes but why also taking a shower."

"Sorry... I got caught in a heavy rain earlier, so I took a quick shower to avoid getting sick. I'm so sorry, but the doctor said you're okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm heading back to my room."

"Me too, I'll sleep in the room. Remember not to stay up late, as the doctor said..."

I knew that listening to my mom's advice would take another half-hour, especially if it's about health. So, I just nodded and hurried back to my room.

###

"Shit!!!" This was the first time Desmon had startled me since we became friends. It wasn't typical of him to try and scare me like he did now, standing right behind my bedroom door.

"You felt it, right?" Desmon asked, his eyebrows furrowed, waiting for confirmation of something he sensed from me.

"The death aura?" I asked back to confirm it.

"Yup. You too?"

"Yeah." I gestured for Desmon to step aside from in front of me. After that, I entered, closed, and locked the door.

"But everything disappeared after someone's arrival. Because I was curious, I peeked out of the window. It seems you know that person, as I heard you both chatting in the living room."

"Yes. He's my doctor. Do you know him?"

"No, but I felt as though he was dispelling that death aura, bringing life into this house."

"So, you felt it too."

I sat back in my chair. Too much had happened in such a short time that I forgot to get a drink, but it wasn't a big deal now as my thirst had disappeared.

"Actually, he also mentioned about the life aura that could overcome fear. I was suspicious before he finally explained the meaning of that life aura is to check my body" I continued, now leaning back against the chair.

"It reminded me of what the Ghostube anonymous user said. Do you remember someone presumed to be Ryan meeting a man around thirty years old?"

"Of course, I remember, but that man could be anyone, right? I mean, there are plenty of thirty-something-year-old men."

"You have a point, but you need to know that not just anyone can enter the morgue room except for hospital staff, such as doctors."

"Interesting, but there are still many male doctors around thirty."

"Nevertheless, I suspect him, especially since he mentioned the life aura, and he glanced in my direction when I was peeping."

I got up from the chair and leaned forward. I fell silent for a few seconds, as did Desmon.

"It seems he does know something, just like Ryan," I said.

"Both of them are indeed suspicious, and if they indeed met in the morgue, it's even more suspicious. Do you know the doctor's name?"

"Doctor Klio." my reply, "But you know, Desmon, there's one thing that confuses me more."

"What is it?"

"Why did the death aura come and disappear as soon as Dr. Klio arrived?"

"If I had to guess, the death aura came because of the Phantom. But I don't know how the phantom found us here. And why did the death aura disappear, indicating the Phantom had left just as Doctor Klio arrived? I'm puzzled too."

We remained silent for a few moments.

During that silence, there were several moments when either I or Desmon had wanted to say something, throw out an idea or thought about the possibilities of what was happening, but we had swallowed those back, keeping them to ourselves.

We ended that night with big question marks that we couldn't yet solve. However, we were confident that we would find the answers the next day.

####