2 The Looming Presence

Emilia wakes up from a very loud noise coming from downstairs. "Tim.. what happened?" Emilia worried. She got no response. "Tim? Are you there?" She asked again. She stood up from her bed, still looking messy. The loud noise continued on. She opens her drawer, and grabs a pocket knife. She proceeds to leave her room, and walk down the hallway. Every step she takes, the noise gets louder and louder. She slowly creeps down the stairs, to not gather any attention. As she approaches the kitchen, she peeked from a nearby wall. She could see her friend Tim, lying silently in the floor. "Tim!" She puts her pocket knife in her pocket, and runs towards him. She kneels beside him, and flips him over. He was asleep. "Oh.. he's asleep." Emilia took a sigh of relief. She then slaps him to wake him up. Tim slowly opens his eyes. It seems that he was still sleepy. "Emilia...? Is.. that you?" He asks. "Of course it is me, you big dummy!" She replies back. "Oh... sorry for waking you up.. I was looking for a frying pan to cook my eggs." He chuckled. "Oh, jeez. They're in the basement." She laughs. "Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and prepare for work." She adds.

A few minutes later, she is fully dressed, and is about to go to the retirement home. As she leaves the door, Tim stops her to ask something. "Hey Emilia, can you get more eggs on the way home? We just ran out!" Tim called from the kitchen. "Sure, no problem!" She called back with a giggle. She gets out of her house, and gets her bike. She proceeds to ride in the sidewalk. She passes by the houses in her block, waving at her neighbors, as usual. However, things seem to be a little different today for her, she could feel as if something is watching her. She just shook it off, since she thinks it is because of her anxiety. A few minutes later, as she is about to chain her bike, she feels it again. This time, she didn't shake it off. She looked around her, just to make sure. Nothing was there. She began to be a little bit suspicious, but went on to continue her daily routine. She checked in, and everything went fine... for a while. A man approaches her while she is sitting in the chair. "Excuse me, ma'am." The man asks whilst tapping her shoulder. Emilia turns around and looks at the man. She could see a black robe covering everything but the man's yellow eyes. "Have you seen them?" The man queried. "Excuse me?" Emilia replied. "Never mind... You'll understand soon." The man replied as a grin appeared in his face. Emilia just stared at the man, wondering who was he talking about. The moment she blinked, the man disappeared. "What the.." She thinks to herself as she slowly moves back. "What is happening with me?" She pondered. "First, the feeling of someone watching me, and now this?" She moaned. She stood up from her seat, and took a deep breath. "What the hell is happening to me?!?" She exclaimed. Everyone around looked towards her, seemingly confused on what is wrong with her. "Is she okay?" A tenant asked a co-worker of hers. "I don't know, probably going insane.." Her co-worker grumbled. Emilia then ran out of the building, crying like a baby.

She hides in an alleyway, crying in the ground again, whilst repeating "Happy thoughts.." over, and over again. As she was crying, she could feel something tapping her in the shoulder. She stopped sobbing, and slowly turned around, to see a dark entity looming over her. She couldn't make out what it fully looked like, all she could see is a huge shadow of herself, with glowing, ruby eyes. It kept staring at her... Emilia started to cry again, and the entity grew bigger. The more she cried, the more it grew bigger. "Go away! Go away!" Emilia begged. It just stood there, with a grin growing bigger every second. Emilia started to nauseate, and the urge to vomit grew quickly, after a few seconds, she fell to the ground, and became unconscious. The entity then faded away from Emilia. It was silent for two hours, until a vortex opened again. The man comes out from the vortex, with his top hat in his hand. "It seems as if your 'Other' has triumphed over you, Miss Mingreto." The man droned. "Perhaps, I'll let this one slide for now." He added. He kneels down to Emilia, and flips her over. He grabs a vial out of his top hat, and opened it. It had a glowing blue liquid in it, with a label that says "AX-140". He pours the blue liquid inside Emilia's mouth, and throws the vial away. He grabs her head, and whisper into her ears.

"Prepare for consequences, Miss Mingreto."

A few hours later, her eyes began to open. "Emilia? Where are you?" A voice faintly shouted.. She could see someone stopping by her, and looked at her. The person began to approach her. She could not see who the person is due to nausea. "Emilia! Finally, there you are!" Tim shouted as he kneels down to her. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!" He babbled, as tears fall from his eyes. "I just... fainted..." She coughed. "Come on, let's go home." Tim carried her arm in his shoulders.

A few minutes later, they finally arrived at their home. Tim carefully drops Emilia on the stairs. "Wait here, I'm going to unlock the door." He said, and went to look for the keys in his bag. Emilia takes a sigh of relief, and enjoys the cool breeze. However, from across the street, he sees the man again. The man stared into Emilia's eyes, and the words rang in her head. "Prepare for consequences, Miss Mingreto." The words kept echoing in her head for a few seconds. The man smiles, and as a car passed by, he disappeared. Emilia was shocked, and moved back a little bit. Tim turns around, seemingly confused. "Are.. you okay Emilia?" He asked. "Huh? Uh.. yeah. I am." She replied while sweating profusely. Tim just smiles, and unlocks the door. "Oh hey, it's open now. Come on, Emilia." He said. He then carries Emilia in his back, and places her on their couch. "Stay here, I'll go ahead and cook us dinner." Tim said with a smile. Emilia responded with a thumbs up. "Well, time to watch my favorite show.." She drawled, as she grabs the remote on top of the table. She switches through channel, but all she gets static. She turns around and looks at Tim. "Hey, uh.. Tim? Did you pay the bills for the cable?" She asked. "Huh? Yeah, we paid it a few days ago, what's wrong?" He replied as he flips fish. "Oh, uh... nevermind." She replied. She then kept on switching through the different channels, but then it stopped at one channel. Emilia kept pushing the "Next Channel" button, but it wasn't responding. Slowly, she could see a figure appearing in the static. A few subtitles then appeared. Emilia looked at it, and read it to herself. "Prepare.. for consequences..?" She whispered. She then realized that the man is on the TV. She looked up again, and could see the man staring at her. She then turned off the TV quickly. Her heart was rushing fast, as she thought she was in danger. "Dinner's ready!" Tim shouted. "Uh... I'll be there in a few seconds!" Emilia replied back. She took a few breaths, before finally standing up and going to the kitchen.

15 minutes later...

In her bed, she couldn't sleep due to the words being stuck in her head. "Man, today was crazy.." She said to herself. "Well, I guess I have to force my self to sleep now.." She added. She put a pillow over her head, in an attempt to lower down the volume of the words. It was silent, but then she could her footsteps approaching her. She held the pillow even tighter to be able to sleep, but then she decided to take a little peek to as who it may be. She opened a little hole in the left side of the pillow, it was foggy, but after a few seconds, it was clear. She looked, and it was the man. She jumped out of her bed, running to the corner. She was breathing heavily, her heart rushing even faster. "Why are you here?" She yelled. "Oh, Miss Mingreto. How could one be so naive? You know as to why I am here already." The man replied while slowly approaching her. "Stay back!" She yelled again. "We had a deal Miss Mingreto, and you have to fulfill it." The man points at her. "Otherwise, I'll have to wipe your face off this Earth." He added, while his goggles begin to crack, revealing his yellow eyes. Emilia rushes to open her drawer, and grabs a gun. She shoots him, but the man catches the bullet. She begins to shoot even more, but every bullet she fired was caught by him. The man laughs, and drops all the bullets in the ground. "I adore your hesitation Miss Mingreto, which is why I chose you over your friend, Tim." He snickered, he approaches Emilia, and grabs her collar. "Find the truth." He whispered, Emilia tried to fight back, but she couldn't move any of her muscles. "Well then, I must take my leave. We'll see more of each other soon... Miss Mingreto." The man then drops her into the ground, and opens up a vortex. He leaves a note in her bed, and leaves. Emilia was able to move again, but she trips on her bed, and ends up falling unconscious.

The next morning..

She slowly wakes up, but doesn't remember anything that happened last night. "Ack... my head.." She grumbled. She sees her room all messed up, except for her bed. She stands up, and sees the note the man left. She picked it up, and read it.

"Find the truth."