//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Cursed Blood Of Lust 
// Story: Game Quest: Home Sweet Home episode 1 
// by Phantom-Dragon 
//------------------------------//

Darkness…

At first, ‘darkness’ was all Tim and Sunset Shimmer could see before their eyes. Shortly after falling through a puddle of blood, upon discovering they’ve returned to Tim and Jane’s house, both man and teenage girl began to come to their senses. Tim slowly got up first, with Sunset joining in. The girl herself struggled to wipe the blood off her very person.

“Ugh, where are we now?” Tim asked.

“Ew!” Sunset shivered in disgust. “Maybe someplace where a shower is nearby?”

Brushing Sunset’s squeamish whining aside, Tim turned on his flashlight as he walked to the nearest door on the left. As Sunset followed slowly behind, Tim proceeded to open the door… only to find himself, and Sunset, walking through a dusty hallway. Garbage bags littered across the floor, pictures were torn off from the side, and all the paint seemed to flake off.

Sunset and Tim turned the next corner, passing a window on the left, to which Sunset was certain she’d seen a figure dashing inside. Sunset rubbed her arm against the dusty window, peering closer for a clearer look.

“Hmmm?” Sunset pondered, squinting her eyes.

“What is it?” Tim asked.

“I thought I saw someone,” Sunset replied. “ Probably my imagination. This place is really getting to me—”

At that moment, a squeaking was heard. Both humans drew their attention to the creaky open door on the right. Swallowing lumps down their throats, Sunset and Tim shuddered as they cautiously entered the room. But when they peered inside… it was empty, the whole room completely devoid of life. Just as they were about to approach the nearest door, it was then Sunset noticed a piece of paper on the table. And sure enough, the paper had some familiar handwriting and drawings.

“Hey Tim!” Sunset called, presenting the paper. “Look at this!”



Front
February 1, 2013

I waited until the break of dawn, Tim!! You didn’t stray, did you? … I know he was so caught up with his job, I didn’t want to be overthinking… He did mention that he would be working harder… Oh Tim, my dear…

Back

Well, Tim still sent me a picture as usual. This time he stood next to Dew… Tim told me once that Dew was his childhood best friend. They look so adorable next to one another. I wonder if they are still close friends?!



After reading the paper, Tim stuffed the page into his binder. Resuming the task at hand, he and Sunset emerged from the room and out into another hallway.

“What do you think this place is?” Sunset asked, looking around. “Or was?”

“My guess is that this place used to be some kind of workshop… or a university,” He pointed toward the student-designated desks. “Buy why would Jane come here?”

“Maybe… she went to this school?”

Soon the man and girl turned left, walking down the end of the hall until they reached the second door on the right. Tim opened the door and, as both he and Sunset stepped in, something flicked from the corner of her eyes. To her left, barely visible in the shadows (Courtesy of the flickering lights), Sunset spotted a figure in a white dress, racing toward a door.

“Look! It’s Jane!” Sunset pointed, as she and Tim gave chase.

“Jane! Wait!” Tim insisted.

But just as he and Sunset arrived, the door closed right in front of them. Tim immediately opened the door, but immediately regretted it. A loud, bloodcurdling shriek pierced the air, startling the pair as they immediately recognized the ghost before them.

“Crap! Not you again!” Tim moaned.

Tim quickly closed the door upon the ghost. But then, the door swung open. Just as the ghost was about to walk in, the spirit was forced back by Sunset, who slammed the door on her.

“Get out!” Sunset grunted.

The teen forced her whole weight against the door, while the ghost fought on her side. Sunset barely dodged when the ghost’s arm came through the door gap, thrusting her boxcutter knife at the fiery girl aimlessly. Tim immediately rushed to help Sunset, latching his hand upon the ghost girl’s wrist, preventing her from attacking Sunset.

“Wow! You’re a lot stronger than you look!” Tim grunted, struggling to pry the knife from the ghost’s cold iron grip. “C’mon! Let’s have it!”

The ghost, too distracted on Tim, forgot about Sunset, who immediately slammed the door on her arm. The ghost screamed in painful agony, causing her to drop the knife as she pulled her arm back thereby allowing Sunset to close the door. As an added measure, Tim and Sunset pulled a table, barring the door to prevent the ghost from getting through.

“That won’t hold her much longer,” Tim panted, spotting a locker. “C’mon! We’ll hide in here.”

“Right!” Sunset agreed.

They dove into the locker and once inside both Sunset and Tim hugged each other to compose themselves. All they could see was darkness, and they could hardly hear the sound of the ghost’s raspy breathing, her mournful moaning, all complete with the clicking of the boxcutter knife. The man and girl leaned further back against the locker, struggling to steady their breathing as the noises outside turned faint.

“Is she gone?” Sunset whispered.

“I don’t know,” Tim replied. “I can’t see.”

Turned out the locker they were hiding in lacked a vent to peek through.

“Wait! This is completely different.”

As Tim walked out, with Sunset following closely, they found themselves in a new area.

“What the… how did… aw forget it!” Sunset sighed.

At this point, Sunset’s seen more than enough paranormal activity to realize there’d be no rational explanation for any of it. Both Tim and Sunset turned right, stumbling upon a couple closed doors. On one of the door knobs, there was a rusty key stuck inside the socket. Sunset tried to twist the key out, but it wouldn’t budge, and the door knob remained locked in place.

“Locked!” Sunset grunted.

Upon peering through the windows of the door, Tim exclaimed the moment he saw his wife.

“Jane?” Tim shouted, to his frightened wife. “Jane! Wait! Please…”

Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears when the woman turned around and left.

“JANE!!!!”

All the man could do was watch helplessly, as his wife disappeared into the hallway ahead.

<”Fuckkk!!!”> He cursed in Thai.

“How could she have gotten in?” Sunset asked.

“I don’t know,” Tim shook his head. “But we must go after her.”

“Well, I managed to get this key out!”

Sunset held said key in the palm of her hand, observing it deeply.

“Hmm… if we can get this key cleaned, we might be able to use it to unlock these doors,” Sunset surmised.

“Sounds like a plan,” Tim nodded in agreement. “But how are we going to clean this thing? Where would we go?”

“Let’s take a look around. Maybe we’ll find a janitor’s office, or even a restroom. There must be a spare key lying around somewhere in this place.”

Both Tim and Sunset turned and headed toward a nearby flight of stairs. Hanging upon the wall, just along the right, there was a sign written in Thai and English which read: Lab.

“A lab?” Sunset read, when her eyes lit up. “A lab! Maybe we can find some chemicals in there, and I get a formula together!”

“You… know a formula for cleaning rust?” Tim asked, surprised.

“Sure do! Back in school, my friend Twilight and I were lab partners for several science projects. One of them happened to be a formula for rust removal! I can definitely whip up a batch to clean this rusty key, then we can find Jane!”

<”Alright, Sunset!> Tim spoke in Thai, climbing the stairs. “Let’s find that lab and get to work!”

Once they reached the top of the stairs, onto the next floor, both Tim and Sunset ducked their heads to crawl beneath an upturned locker. Eventually, they rounded the next corner in search for the lab. Just ahead of them laid a pile of desks and chairs stacked together, as if to block their path before them. However, it wasn’t the obstacle that stopped them in their tracks. Rather, it was a family, haunting clicking sound ringing in the air.

“Uh oh!” Sunset groaned.

“Shh!” Tim shushed.

Looking around, Tim pointed toward the open door on their right.

“In there!” He whispered.

Cautiously opening the door to the side, both man and teenage girl stepped into the room, casting cautious looks left and right in search for any sign of the boxcutter ghost hounding them down. At first, neither man nor girl saw the ghost. But the bloodcurdling rattle of the boxcutter from various directions didn’t help calm their nerves.

“Great!” Sunset muttered. “It’s Brenda Song’s bloodthirsty cousin. What does that ghost even want with us anyway?”

“As I recall… you did give her a strong whack to the head,” Tim pointed out.

“Because she was stabbing you! I was saving your life! Seriously, what’s she even got against you to begin with?”

“That’s what I’d like to know…” Tim pondered, scratching his chin. “Although, now that I think about it… our ghost reminds me of a ghost story me and Dew once told each other…”

“What ghost story?” Sunset asked curiously.

“When we were kids, Dew and I would share scary ghost stories at night. Scare the crap out of each other. And if I have to take a guess, I’d say our ghost girl is a Phi Tai Hong. Very violent and angry spirit, who suffered a brutal and untimely death.”

“Emphasis on ‘violent and angry’…” Sunset whimpered. “But still, even if she is angry, why take it out on us? What’s this… Phi Tai Hong’s problem?”

“Phi Tai Hong will attack anything, or ‘anyone’ they see, indiscriminately, I’m afraid,” Tim answered. “I’m afraid it comes with the territory of angry ghosts. They feel unjust for having their lives ended too soon, against their own will.”

“Hmm…” Sunset pondered, tapping her chin.

To the fiery haired girl, this mystery kept growing bigger by the minute. On one hand, Sunset desired to know how she came to Thailand to begin with (And why). On the other hand, she wondered where both she and Tim are. Why are they being hunted by an angry spirit? How did Jane go missing? Why are all these paranormal activities happening to begin with? And above all… ‘how’ can they stop it?

Still seeking answers, Sunset turned around, when she looked down and happened to notice half a picture, torn off. Carefully, she picked up the torn parchment.

“Hey, what’s this?” Sunset asked.

From the looks of it, half the photo showed what appeared to be a male university student. He smiled at the camera, holding his right arm up, pointing at something to his left – the missing half of the photo.

“It’s just a boy,” Tim commented.

Sunset turned the picture half around, uncovering a name written in Thai along the back.

“Hmmm… who is this?” Sunset pondered.

“Shane…” Tim translated. “His name is ‘Shane’.”

“Shane, huh?”

It was then epiphany struck Sunset, her eyes widening with realization.

“Wait a minute… Shane?! As in… the Shane whose nails and hairs were used in the Cursed Nails Jinx? From the dormitory?”

“… Maybe?” Tim shrugged. “But I don’t think we should jump to conclusions yet. There’re still more clues to uncover. And Jane is still here… somewhere. We must find her. Now where’s that lab?”

Nodding in understanding, Sunset followed Tim on the trail for the lab. They walked toward the other end of the room, departing through a door which took them around the blockage in the hallway. Soon enough they found themselves standing before a double door. Carefully opening the doors, Sunset and Tim found themselves in a room filled with chemicals.

“This must be the place,” Sunset informed Tim.

Both Tim and Sunset Shimmer crept cautiously toward the chemistry lab. They were just passing the shelf corner when they froze in place and quickly backed away. About ten feet away stood a strange dark phantom, with red lights shining from its eyes, standing against a wall, peering through a bloody smear. Shushing to each other, Tim and Sunset quickly hid behind a wall.

“What the hay is that?” Sunset Shimmer whispered.

“I don’t know,” Tim replied. “But let’s not find out what it could do to us. What do we do?”

“Maybe we can sneak around it?” Sunset suggested.

“I don’t think it heard us, so it’s worth a shot,” Tim shrugged. “You stay here and hide. I’ll go first; you watch my back.”

Tim snuck across the floor, careful so as not to alert the phantom. Once he snuck behind it and made it safely across, he turned and ushered Sunset to follow. Sunset was about to crawl across, only to backtrack when the phantom turned its head, nearly catching sight of her. The girl huddled herself into a ball, looking down upon the floor spying an eerie red light shining down. The phantom was onto her, on the hunt.

“’It’s the Preta all over again’,” Sunset thought to herself.

Just before the phantom caught sight of her, the sudden sound of broken glass startled it. Tim had flung a flask, toward the corner of the room. Distracted, the phantom turned and headed off to investigate the noise. Once the danger had passed, Sunset snuck her way across to regroup with Tim.

“Phew! That was way too close for comfort,” Sunset sighed in relief.

“Too close…” Tim panted heavily.

After quickly composing themselves, Sunset and Tim got up to see a whiteboard, with a formula already written.


Fe2O3(S) + 6H2C2O4(aq) ➡2FE(C2O4)3-3(aq) + 3H2O(L) + 6H+(aq)



S=Solid
Aq=aqueous (dissolved in water)
L=Liquid


“Yes! This is the formula I was talking about!” Sunset confirmed, facing the chemistry set. “Hmm… looks like we have everything here, except for… the oxalic.”

<”Dammit!”> Tim cursed in Thai. “Can’t you make a… a substitute, with the chemicals you’ve got here?”

“Sorry, Tim,” Sunset shook her head. “I don’t think it’s possible… wait! I do remember seeing a closet full of oxalic chemicals in that last room before coming here. We’ll just need to make a quick run towards it and grab one.”

“Then that’s where we’ll go next,” Tim nodded.

Tim quickly picked up the Chemistry Closet key off the desk. However, just as Tim and Sunset turned to leave, the phantom from before appeared right before them. It released a loud scream upon seeing the two before it disappeared in puffs of smoke.

“AAAAHH!!! OOF!” Tim screamed, falling to the floor.

“Mr. Tim!” Sunset shouted, aiding the man. “Are you okay?”

Before Tim could answer, a familiar bloodcurdling scream rang through the air outside the lab, followed by the sound of running footsteps.

“Here she comes!” Sunset shouted.

“Quick! IN HERE!” Tim pointed to a locker.

Both Tim and Sunset Shimmer immediately jumped into a locker. Unfortunately, the locker had a large hole on the door. Tim and Sunset tried scooting themselves down, but the narrow interior of the locker made it difficult for them both. With no other choice, Sunset leapt out of the locker, hiding herself under a desk, silently praying not to be discovered.

At that moment, the boxcutter ghost came running into the room. The ghost breathed heavily, sobbing…

“Come back…” She cried. “Come back to me!”

Sunset could feel her entire body, clamoring and covered in goosebumps, just from hearing the ghostly voice. The ghost walked past the desk Sunset hid under, and peered into the locker Tim hid in. Sunset quietly prayed to herself, praying that the ghost wouldn’t spot the man. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, as the ghost turned and walked away. Soon as the danger passed, both Tim and Sunset got out from their hiding spots.

“Phew! That was close!” Tim muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Sunset agreed. “As if one psychotic ghost wasn’t bad enough, now she’s got friends! They’ll alert her if they spot us.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t run into any more of them…”

Both Sunset and Tim resumed sneaking back to the other room, to pick up the oxalic acid from the locker cabinet. Using the key from the chemistry lab, they unlocked the cabinet, before they snuck back to the chemistry lab, where Sunset went to work. Mixing the oxalic acid with water, Sunset Shimmer carefully dipped the rusty key into the solution, before holding a now shinier key.

“Presto! Rusty no more!” Sunset declared.

“Alright, Sunset!” Tim smiled, taking the key. “Let’s get back to the doors and go after Jane.”

With that, both man and girl snuck from the chemistry lab, avoiding the ghost girl, navigating around the blockage. They headed back down the stairs, where to their triumph, the key unlocked the double doors, granting them entry through the hallway so the search for Jane could continue.

“This place is big,” Tim spoke. “Where could Jane be?”

“It’s like a maze here,” Sunset commented. “She could be anywhere.”

“I guess the logical thing to do is split up. We’ll cover more—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa Tim! No way! Sunset exclaimed. “We’re not splitting up! Don’t you know your horror movies? When you split up, that’s what—”

Sunset drew a line across her neck, while making a creaking noise.

“That… happens! I don’t need a reminder that there’s a psychopathic girl on the loose! Shh! You hear that?”

Tim looked around the area. But there was hardly any sound at all. Just the eerie silence.

“I don’t hear anything,” Tim answered.

“Exactly!” Sunset confirmed. “It’s too quiet… I don’t like it…”

Just then, Sunset looked toward the left and spotted a piece of paper on the third table. Picking it up, she realized it was another page from Jane’s diary. She gave it to Tim, who began to read it.



Front
February 18, 2013

Tim got home so late recently… most of the time was when I was already asleep. How could you take care of our family if you keep this up?? I know being patient is what I could do. Tim said that he would be more flexible with his job next year. We would have had started our lovely family then… aww that would be so sweet.

Back

We haven’t talked much lately but he was truly the only person who listened to me. No matter what it was about, he was very supportive. Sometimes I was being annoying with my writing, but he was there for me… giving me his dull ideas… but he was there, that counted.



After collecting the page, Sunset and Tim turned to resume walking down the hall.

“LOOK!”

Sunset pointed to a door at the end of the hall, where Jane could be seen in the window.

“Jane!” Tim shouted.

He and Sunset ran after the woman, who once more disappeared into the darkness, behind the window.

“Jane! Wait!”

But it was no use. By the time they reached the door, the woman was gone. To hinder their progress further, even the door was locked.

“Argh! It’s always one door after another!” Sunset moaned in frustration.

“There’s got to be a way to open this!” Tim huffed, banging the door in frustration.

It was then both Tim and Sunset noticed a note written in Thai, right next to the door. Tim translated it for Sunset to understand:



“’Students who don’t have key cards yet but desire to use the lab room. Please contact A.J. Warin in the teacher’s waiting room on the second floor’.”



Turning to the right, Sunset found the nearest elevator. Stepping inside, they pressed the button to take them to the second floor. However, much to their dismay, there wasn’t any power to run the lift.

“Elevator’s out!” Sunset frowned.

Turning around, Tim spotted a glowing red light at the end of the hallway.

“Not for long! Follow me!” Tim ushered.

Tim led Sunset down to the end of the hallway, to find the maintenance room. Switches and levers for the power to run the whole building were all around them. Once he found the switch he sought for, Tim wasted little time to flip it on.

“Alright, that should do it,” Tim declared, facing Sunset. “Now let’s—”

*CRRRR-KKKK*

“SHH!” Sunset shushed.

To the man and girl’s shared horror, the eerie creaking rattle of a boxcutter knife was heard outside the door. Tim was the first to peek his head out, while Sunset waited behind him.

“She’s here,” Tim whispered to Sunset. “But she doesn’t know we’re here…”

“… Can we still sneak past her, without her noticing?” Sunset asked hopefully.

“Like we have another choice, but it’s probable. Come on. Follow my lead…”

Both Tim and Sunset poked their heads out to see the angry ghost girl patrolling the hallway, searching for her quarries. The ghost girl crossed from one door to the next, searching the rooms only to turn up nothing. Sunset and Tim hid behind some shelves, the chairs, and the doors, all across the hall trying to avoid detection.

The ghost girl took a turn to the right, while behind a couple whiteboards Tim and Sunset used them to keep themselves shielded from the ghost’s field of vision. They occasionally peeked out, anticipating for the ghost’s next steps. They crawled along the floor, hid beneath the tables, and even behind a few benches until they were close enough to reach the elevator. They immediately stood up and bolted for the lift before the ghost realized they were there.

By the time the ghost looked, it was too late. Sunset immediately pressed the number ‘2’ on the elevator’s indoor dials, taking them down from the third floor to the second.

“That was intense!” Sunset gasped.

“Too close for comfort,” Tim added. “Just… why in the hell is this happening?”

“I’m sure we’ll find out later. Right now, we must get ourselves a key card, find Jane, and get out of here while the getting’s good.”

“You make it sound so easy…”

Once they reached the second level, Tim and Sunset turned left and walked toward another door, which they opened and entered. Without warning, the door slammed shut behind them.

“AAAH!!!”

Both Tim and Sunset screamed, almost jumping out of their skins. Then, to further their horror, intensifying their beating hearts, the familiar creaking sounds of a boxcutter knife filled the air.

*CRRR-KKKK*

“Uh oh…” They bother muttered.

With nowhere to hide, Tim and Sunset took their chance with the first door on the right. They bolted inside and closed the door behind them, hiding themselves behind the desks and bookshelves. Sure enough, the ghost girl opened the door and stepped into the room. Both man and teenager remained hidden, watching the ghost girl’s legs, predicting her next moves before anticipating their own.

Eventually, Sunset and Tim escaped the room and into another. They looked through the bookshelves and desks, searching for the computer to make a key card. When their searched turned up nothing, just as Tim and Sunset were about to leave, it was then the girl noticed something strange about the desk she was passing.

“What’s this?”

Sunset looked down on the desk, picking up what appeared to be a photograph of an unknown ritual.

In the photo, it appeared to be a monk trying to save a possessed woman, with two people standing on the left and right of the picture, as if witnessing the event. The said woman in the photograph appeared to be in a great deal of pain, indicated by the splotches of blood on the front of her shirt. Sunset looked intently at the photo, trying to figure out the story.

“What the hay?” Sunset asked herself.

<”Hey!”> Tim called to Sunset, in Thai. “What are you doing? Let’s go!”

Putting the photo away, Sunset followed Tim into another room across the hall. Inside, the room was layered with bookshelves and computer modems, even printers. Thankfully, at the end of the room, they found the computer they sought for.

“Here we are!” Tim sighed in relief.

He went straight to work, typing on the computer. But to Sunset’s eyes, it resembled more of a white box than a piece of technology.

“Wow… uh, no offense, Tim…” Sunset began to comment. “But this computer’s a dinosaur!”

“Not every country has your American advanced Apples, Windows, or whatever,” Tim replied.

“I… stand corrected. So, what do we do now?”

“Hmm…”

Tim picked up a piece of paper, type in Thai, reading to translate:


ID Card Instructions


1. Insert your card in the machine.
2. Insert your password.
3. Swipe the card once the password is entered.

The man soon noticed a sticky note at the bottom of the keyboard, written in Thai, translated to read:

A.J. Warin’s memo

<”Do not forget 1_ _ _ _ 6”>

“What does that even mean?” Sunset asked.

“It must be the password,” Tim deduced. “It begins with ‘1’ and ends with ‘6’…”

Looking across the desk, Tim picked up another piece of paper, which translated to read:


A.J. Warin’s Salary Receipt


Khan Na Yao University
ID Number: 183476
Name: Mister Warin Gannalak
Department: Engineering Faculty
Affiliation …
August 1996
Income List
Salary: 25,000
…

Wait a minute!” Sunset interrupted. “What was that about the ID Number again?”

“The numbers reads ‘183476’… oh!” Tim exclaimed.

Catching onto that detail, Sunset grabbed for a nearby pencil. Quickly, she wrote down the numbers on the sticky note to test out her theory.


18 3 4 7 6


“That must be our password,” Sunset whispered.

“Let’s try it out,” Tim whispered in response.

But before Tim and Sunset could type in the numbers, the door to the room suddenly flung open, coupled with the ambient sound of footsteps.

“Uh oh! We have a visitor!” Sunset yelped.

She and Tim crouched down, beneath the desk, and pulled the chair in front of them to hide. The ghost girl proceeded to patrol the room, sobbing nonstop as she’d been doing. Sunset trembled hard, scared out of her wits, as the raspy sound of the weeping ghost drew ever closer.

“Come back…” The ghost cried hoarsely. “COME BACK to me…”

For a weeping Thai ghost, Sunset Shimmer seemed to understand her pretty well. Though, come to think of it, Sunset couldn’t help but wonder about several questions plaguing her mind. How is it she can understand the ghost girl in perfect English, yet had trouble understanding Tim in his Thai language? Could it be the ghost girl can speak English? If so, how? Could there even be another form of magic at play?

Sunset couldn’t dwell on these questions for long. She needed to figure out how to help Tim escape this place, find his wife, and, if they were lucky, save their own skins (Hopefully in one piece).

“You said together we would be forever…” The ghost girl moaned. “Why is this happening?”

At this point, the ghost girl stood right in front of them, her moaning sounded as though she were speaking to their faces. Sunset and Tim had to cover each other’s mouths just to prevent one another from screaming. This lasted merely a few seconds before the ghost turned around and walked out of the room.

Once it was safe again, Sunset and Tim crawled from under the desk and turned their attention to the computer typing away along the keypad. After pressing the numbers, Tim pressed the ‘Enter’ Button, and proceeded to swipe the key card as instructed, receiving a green light in the process. Soon, a new keycard had just been activated.

“Keycard activated!” Tim informed Sunset, who gave a thumbs up. “Now let’s get back to the third floor and go after Jane!”

Sunset and Tim backtracked to the hallway, while keeping watch for the prowling ghost girl. They hid behind some chairs as they snuck through the hallway, heading back to the door they came from. They didn’t get far, however, when the ghost girl appeared in front of them, her back turned.

“Shh!” Sunset and Tim shushed to each other.

The ghost girl patrolled the hallway for a bit, before she turned and was about to head in their direction. Thinking fast, and to avoid being discovered, Sunset removed one of her shoes, and secretly tossed it above the ghost girl’s head, striking a nearby locker with a loud *CLANG!*. The ghost girl snapped her head in the direction of the ruckus and proceeded to investigate, walking away from Tim and Sunset.

Both man and teenage girl watched as the ghost inspected the lockers, then the discarded shoe on the floor. Eventually she turned and entered another room to investigate. Sighing with relief, Sunset slowly made for her shoe (the right one) and once reclaimed she slipped her foot back into it. Tim stepped behind her, lightly patting the girl’s shoulder.

“Smart move, Sunset!” Tim complimented.

“Didn’t think it would work for a moment!” Sunset replied. “But thanks!”

Soon the pair raced back into the elevator, riding it back to the third floor. Once there, they slid the keycard through the slot beside the locked door, unlocking it. Pulling the door open, Tim, with Sunset behind him, walked across a bridge through the dark of night before reaching the next building. There they entered another hallway with two doors on both sides of the hall, a stack of desks and chairs laid out in the center. Passed the stack was an eerie red light, which reminded Tim and Sunset of sneaking by the Preta ghost of Mr. Pichai.

Tim and Sunset opened the second door on the right and immediately crouched down. Through an open window, in the room, stood a shadowy ghost with glowing red lights, staring off in the direction of the hall. Luckily for Sunset and Tim, the ghost didn’t notice them… yet.

Silent as mice, Tim and Sunset snuck into the room in search for clues. One turn and they saw a table with lit candles, and together they picked up a role of scented incense – with only one strand left – then retreated for the exit before the ghost saw them.

“So… what kind of ghost do you call that?” Sunset asked nervously.

“I don’t know,” Tim replied. “I was never big on ghost stories; frankly, I wished it could’ve just stayed that way. C’mon, let’s concentrate on finding Jane.”

Sunset and Tim entered the next room, across the hall, only to find an empty window. In the room stood a table with more lit candles, and a piece of parchment sitting in the center. Tim picked it up and read the written Thai inscriptions:



Descriptions to Ghost Summoning

Scented incense is the main tool used in every religious ritual. By lighting scented incense in different amounts will result in different outcomes. However, if one is lit, it’s meant as a means to summon spirits to you. Those who…



“What? Those who what?” Sunset asked anxiously.

“I don’t know,” Tim shook his head, turning the page. “It just… ended…”

“Well… we’ve got a scented incense,” Sunset confirmed, holding said item. “Let’s light it up and see what happens.”

Sunset took a strand from the roll, using one of the lit candles to light up the incense before planting it into the pot on the table. Together they watched as the lit incense attracted the ghost from before to approach. The ghost poked its head through the open window, taking a long whiff. It looked as though it enjoyed the scent, hardly noticing Sunset and Tim in front of it.

“Huh! Who knew ghosts have interesting sense of smells?” Tim asked.

“Go figure,” Sunset shrugged. “Too bad we only had one…”

“Let’s look around. Maybe there’s more lying around. By the look if it, we’re going to need lots.”

Tim and Sunset departed from the room, sneaking past the ghost. They proceeded to search the building, looking for more scented incense that would aid in their fight against the ghosts haunting them.

*CRRR-KKKKK*

Hearing the sound, Sunset and Tim were both in agreement that these shady ghosts weren’t the only ones to contend with.

“She seems to get around real quick…” Sunset muttered.

“At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised,” Tim replied. “All the blood we’ve been seeing, it’s all a dead giveaway that there’s another of her portals nearby…”

“Ugh! I’ll never get used to that…” Sunset cringed in disgust.

She had almost forgotten that their ghost girl travels around through bleeding holes in the wall. Not to mention the bloody puddle they found at Tim and Jane’s ransacked house. But for now, their minds on the present, Sunset and Tim peered into a room, which appeared to be a supply closet, and found another roll with a strand of scented incense. After collecting it, they snuck back the way they came and entered what appeared to be a chemistry lab, only to find shady ghosts guarding the way out.

Using the scented incense in hand, Sunset and Tim lit it up in another pot in the room, which drew the ghosts away like moths to a flame. Like its friend before it, the ghost stayed in place, taking a very long whiff of the scent, not realizing Sunset and Tim sneaking behind it.

Once outside, Tim and Sunset ran left before turning into another hallway on the right. They ran all the way down the hall, the ambient sound of the ghost girl’s boxcutter knife surrounding them throughout the hall. Always the pair were on high alert in the event they ran into the ghost again.

Eventually, they reached the end of the hall to another room on the left. Opening the door, they entered to catch their breath, and if they were lucky they’d find Jane.

“Jane? Are you in here?” Tim called out.

But answer there came none…

“Apparently not…” Sunset sighed.

Suddenly, another white glow caught her left eye.

“Hmmm? What’s this?”

“What is it, Sunset?” Tim asked.

He watched as Sunset approached an old desk, where she discovered a piece of paper. Once in hand, she handed the paper to Tim to read:



Parents’ Letter to Shane’s Academic Advisor

To Shane’s Academic Advisor, September 14, 1996

Shane is now having a severe mental breakdown. The first diagnosis shows that Shane is experiencing hallucinations caused by stress. There are also some neurological problems that cannot be identified yet. He has to be kept under strict and close care of the psychiatrist. On behalf of Shane and as his guardian, I’d like to take an extended leave from now, until he is fully recovered.

Regards,
Shukit Patthanakit



“Shane?” Sunset pondered. “As in...this guy?” She asked, pulling out the torn photo of the young man. "Gosh...what happened to him?"

Sunset and Tim exchanged looks, before shrugging and deciding not to ponder too hard on the subject… for now. After packing the suspicious paper away, Sunset and Tim resumed their search deeper in the darkest parts of the hall till they reached another door at the end. Opening the door, both Sunset and Tim found themselves entering a locker room.

All the lockers were closed, except for one. It’s door hung open to the side, which wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary… had it not been for the fact the interior was coated in dry blood.

“Ick!” They cringed in disgust.

They looked down toward a bench in front of the locker, discovering a newspaper article. Sunset noted it was coated in the same white glow as all the items she and Tim had collected thus far. Thus, without a doubt, another clue was found.

Sunset reached out and the moment she touched the paper, the dim lighting in the locker room flicked rapidly and eerily. It was as though touching the newspaper triggered some form of booby trap. To further the unsettling atmosphere, Sunset and Tim looked up and were horrified to see blood dripping from the ceiling and down the walls.

The pair quickly hugged each other, watching the walls bleed around them. Both Sunset and Tim expected the worst to befall them… but it never came. At least, not yet.

Soon as the lights stopped flashing, the two looked at the newspaper and found a photo of a very familiar girl.

“Hey, Mr. Tim?” Sunset spoke, holding up the paper. “Look at this…”

Tim gazed at the article and began to read:



Missing Girl Found Dead!

October 4, 1996

On October 3, police found the body of Ms. Pattra Srisakul (Belle) in the multipurpose room that was shut down in the Engineering Faculty building of Khan Na Yao University, which is believed to be the reason why the body wasn’t found. The unbearable smell of the body led to this horrifying discovery. The body was still in uniform, submerged in blood. There is no report yet on whether or not this was a suicide or murder, but there were a lot of nails found next to the body. The body was sent to the coroner, and we hope the autopsy will reveal the cause of her death.



“Ugh!” Sunset moaned. “Dude, that’s creepy… wait…”

It was then Sunset thought back to past events surrounding her and Tim, recalling a few clues they picked up along the way.

“Nails… blood… just like… the Cursed Nails Jinx… and if I had to guess… that means our mysterious ghost girl… is Belle!”

Sunset turned to Tim, beckoning for his binder.

“Mr. Tim? Can I look at the clues we’ve picked up so far?”

“Sure,” Tim nodded.

The man handed Sunset his binder, allowing the fiery girl to study the clues they have collected while he shined his flashlight to help her see.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Tim asked curiously.

Sunset looked through the binder’s pages, until she pulled out the three clues she was looking for.

“Hey, Mr. Tim?” Sunset began. “Can you translate for me again? I’m pretty sure these three clues have certain common traits.”

“Certainly,” Tim nodded, as he read:





The Cursed Nails Jinx

:

Do you have hatred towards someone, enough to want them dead? Then you are at the right place! The Cursed Nails Jinx is a spell that can make them suffer from nails piercing through their stomach. The result can be deadly! This jinx has existed and had been passed on for many generations and can still be found today on rare occasions.

Instruction:

You’ll need something from your target, such as a nail or some hair. Next, put them inside the doll made from graveyard clay. Tie up the doll with the thread used for shrouding corpses, not the holy thread used for other occasions and ceremony. Pierce the nails (which were used to seal coffins of those who died unnaturally) right through the doll. Once it’s done, your target will experience an agonizing pain as their stomach is filled with cursed nails. Only skill casters can perform this, it cannot be done by novices.






Note with Aj. Chai’s Number

Bring these to A. Chai.
Shane’s hair and nails.
01-612-2758








The Lechery Jinx

:

The Lechery Jinx is a spell that can forcefully make people fall in love. The noticeable feature of this spell is two dolls tied up in a hugging pose, one male and the other female.

Instruction:

Create two dolls from graveyard clay and put something that belongs to your target inside one of the dolls, it can be either nails or hairs. Then tie up the dolls together with the holy thread used in shrouding corpses. Only skillful casters can perform this, it cannot be done by novices. Once it’s done, put the tied-up dolls under the pillow of your target.



“Oh!” Tim exclaimed, catching onto Sunset’s deduction.

“Bingo!” Sunset snapped her fingers. “According to these two jinxes, they require someone’s nails and/or hairs to work. And judging by this note, this ‘Shane’s nails and hairs’ were used for these jinxes… at least one of them.”

“But who would do such a thing?” Tim asked. “Why would they do it?”

“I don’t know, but I do know this…”

Picking up the newspaper article, Sunset presented the dead girl in the photo.

“Our ghost girl, a.k.a. Belle, is the victim of the Cursed Nails Jinx.”

“Hmm… I see where you’re getting at,” Tim nodded. “It would seem Shane’s become a victim of the Lechery Jinx, while Belle got the Cursed Nails. You’re saying someone was stealing Shane away from Belle, using the Lechery Jinx, and then used the Cursed Nails Jinx to get rid of Belle?”

“Looks that way,” Sunset nodded. “Still… I have a feeling there’s more to this story. But we need to find more clues to fully solve this puzzle.”

“I’ll say. What’s this all got to do with Jane? How does any of this got to do with her? Why would she even get involved?”

“We don’t know if she was even part of this. But we’re going to find out.”

Putting the clues aside, Sunset and Tim resumed the task at hand. Soon as they turned toward the door they came from, pulling it open, they departed the locker and into…

“Looks like we’re back in the dorm room…” Sunset commented, noting the familiar layout.

Sunset Shimmer and Tim exited the locker room, closing the door behind them. They walked across the room, opening another door, and peeked into the hallway. On their left, they saw the same stack of desks and chairs from before. They turned right toward the same direction of the vent they crawled through before. For an added measure of precaution, Sunset removed one of her shoes and waved it in the air for a reaction. When nothing happened, the young girl and man took it as a sign saying, ‘the coast is clear’.

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, however, Sunset and Tim were dismayed to find the vent blocked off by a wall of wooden cardboards hammered into place. Fortunately, there was a crowbar laying upon the floor just in front of them. Unfortunately, when Tim tried prying the boards off, he was immediately repelled by a wave of dark magic.

<”What the hell?!”> Tim exclaimed in Thai.

Sunset crawled up the wooden platforms, inspecting them to discover they were covered in red papers, all written with Thai spells.

“I may not read Thai,” Sunset began. “But I’m betting my money these are spells to protect these boards from us. Hmm… I wonder.”

Sunset soon noticed the web of red strings connected to the red papers, then towards a lit candle nearby. Inspired, Sunset blew out the candle, causing the red strings wrapped around it to disintegrate, which in turn caused one of the red papers to vanish as well.

“Just as I thought,” Sunset deduced. “All we have to do is snuff out two more of these candles, and we’ll clear a way out.”

“Okay then,” Tim nodded. “Let’s go!”

*CRRR-KKKKK*

Sunset and Tim nearly collapsed to the floor, incredulously, at the sound of their assailant. The two poked their heads behind a wall and just as they feared there she was: The Boxcutter Girl a.k.a. Belle. The ghost walked across the hall, entering a room on the right.

“Doesn’t this bitch ever quit?” Sunset asked.

“Watch your mouth, young lady!” Tim scolded.

“Stop treating me like a kid!”

Following the trail of strings along the floor, careful not to make a sound, Sunset and Tim entered a dark room where they found anther candle and quickly snuffed it out. Like the first one, the red strings surrounding the candle disintegrated in a blazing red light. Sunset and Tim were about to leave, when they heard approaching footsteps, and the moaning of Belle, heading in their direction.

Turning to a set of bookshelves on their right, Sunset and Tim ducked behind them to avoid being seen. They both hugged each other close, as Belle entered the room, clicking her boxcutter knife repeatedly until she took her leave. Behind the bookshelves, Sunset felt her hand brushing against what she assumed was paper. Looking down, she saw another piece of a photograph surrounding in a white glow.

Sunset picked it up, placing it into her pocket. Then, she and Tim watched Belle emerge from the room and into another, while said escapees followed the trail to the final candle. They hadn’t gotten very far, however, when pounding fists upon a wooden desk was heard. From the room, Belle entered.

Curiosity taking over, Sunset backtracked and carefully peeked into the room seeing Belle slamming her fists and making angry grunts. The kind of a sound a person makes when they’re really upset, venting their pent-up frustrations. Sunset watched, amazed over Belle’s unleashed fury. It was so great Sunset was certain she could’ve chopped the desk in half. However, upon a closer look, Sunset’s eyes caught sight of something glowing on the desk Belle pounded on.

“Sunset? What’s going on?” Tim asked.

Sunset beckoned to shush, but it was too late. Belle noticed them, and the pair quickly hid behind a bookshelf to escape the ghost girl’s gaze. Eventually, the ghost left the room and into another. With the ghost gone, Sunset entered the room as Tim followed.

“What are you doing?” Tim asked Sunset. “The strings are…”

“I know,” Sunset replied. “But check this out!”

Investigating the beaten desk, Sunset picked up a torn half of a photograph. The photograph Sunset held showed what appeared to be a female student, but the face was cut out.

“What about it?” Tim asked.

“My guess is this is what upset Belle so much,” Sunset answered. “If my intuition is correct…”

Sunset held up the other half of the photo she saved. Piecing them together, her suspicion was confirmed. With the two halves together, it showed a photograph of Shane, the man standing and pointing happily to a female student beside him. By the looks of it, they could be a couple. Upon turning the photo, Sunset and Tim found Thai writing, with hearts written, which when translated read:


.... + Shane



Forever together


“Looks like one more piece of the photo is missing,” Tim acknowledged the hole. “Otherwise, it looks like a photo of Belle and her boyfriend, Shane.”

“I don’t think so,” Sunset shook her head. “If that’s really Belle… and if she and Shane were an item… why tear up this photo and… cut her own face out of the picture?”

“They must’ve broken up?”

“Doubt it. I’ve had a bad experience with a break-up before. I’m one to tear out photos of us, but… even I wouldn’t cut a picture of myself out. There must be something more—”

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, Sunset. But… weren’t we just… hunting for another candle to snuff?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry. Let’s go.”

Putting the two halves of the photo away, Sunset and Tim resumed their search for the last candle. Before leaving, Sunset noticed another white glow coming from a half-opened door. She tried to pry the door open, only for it to remain in place due to a pile of rubbish hindering it on the other side.

“What now?” Tim asked, following the girl.

“There’s a key there,” Sunset strained, trying to reach. “But… I can’t…”

“Stand back.”

Holding up the crowbar from before, Tim was able to hook the key and pulled it towards them. With the key in hand, Sunset and Tim left the room and followed the trail down the hall, the trail leading to another room. The door was locked till both man and girl inserted the key, thus opening the door and upon entry they found the last candle in the bathroom.

With the candle snuffed out, Sunset and Tim knew without a doubt their exit was accessible. Silently celebrating their triumph, just as they were about to leave, approaching footsteps and Belle’s moaning halted them in their tracks.

Sunset and Tim exchanged frantic look. It was clear they were in a state of panic, unable to think clearly. Desperate, Sunset hid under a bed while Tim jumped into a large urn in the bathroom. They waited, anxiously and silently, as Belle entered the room, hissing and moaning, clocking her boxcutter knife.

*CRRR-KKKK*

“I missed you so much…” Belle wept. “I wanted to savor you… where are you?”

Belle walked into the bathroom, where Tim hid. Without a cover, Tim was certain to be discovered and minced like ground pork. Sunset thought frantically, under pressure and out of impulse, she pulled herself out from under the bed and grabbed for a pillow.

“Hey stupid!” Sunset shouted, tossing the pillow at the startled Belle. “Come and get me!”

Turning around and running for her life, Sunset raced down the hall to another room. Belle released a bloodcurdling shriek behind her, pursuing the young teen. Sunset turned and quickly closed the door behind her, before opening a wardrobe and ducked inside.

Inside, Sunset could hear Belle throwing the door open and started turning over several pieces of furniture with such tremendous intensive fury Sunset could feel the wardrobe trembling. She peeked through the gap in a closet door, spotting Belle ripping the fabrics of the bed, pulling down bookshelves, throwing a desk up in the air, all of which just to uncover Sunset. The girl released a gasp, which didn’t go unheard. Belle turned towards the closet and pried the doors open.

Had it not been for the hanging dresses and jackets, she would’ve found Sunset instantly and stabbed the fiery girl on site. Belle pulled down all the fabrics from the hangers, furiously searching for Sunset Shimmer, who cleverly ducked beneath the pile of clothes and slunk away like a mouse. Upon finding a discarded flip-flop on the floor, Sunset tossed the footwear down the hall, and it landed with an audible thud.

Taking the bait, Belle ran out the hall searching for Sunset Shimmer. With the ghost off her back, Sunset quickly tip-toed out of the room, as far from the ghost as possible. Not looking where she was going, Sunset bumped into someone.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! TIM/SUNSET!!!! SHHHH!!!”

But it was too late. Having heard their screams, Belle turned her head and her eyes burned with intensity, like those of a tiger stalking its prey.

“YIPE AGAIN!!!” Sunset screamed.

She and Tim ran away with the ghost in hot pursuit. Sunset looked behind and saw Tim pulled a chair from the stack, causing the entire thing to topple and fall atop of Belle. With the boxcutter girl delayed, Sunset and Tim made a beeline for the blocked vent, finding all the red barriers gone, and revealing a tiny door which they pulled open to escape.

The door disappeared behind them as Sunset and Tim crawled through the vent, till they came across another door which they opened. Upon entering, Sunset and Tim found themselves in a dusty room, graffiti art drawn along the walls.

“I… I… I’m not doing that again…” Sunset panted, chuckling nervously.

“You are the craziest girl I’ve ever met!” Tim shook his head, with a smile. “And… I owe you my life.”

Sunset and Tim looked at each other, exchanging smiles, before breaking out in laughter over how Sunset cheated death (And then some).

“Wow!” Sunset smiled. “After all that… I needed a good laugh!”

“I know, right?” Tim asked rhetorically. “You… have such an… infectious laugh!”

“I wished Pinkie was here to see us now,” Sunset shook her head, remembering her fondly. “She’d be singing her song about ‘Giggling at the Ghosties’.”

After that heartfelt moment, both Tim and Sunset turned their attention toward the task at hand.

“Where is this place?” Tim asked. “Is Jane here?”

“We won’t know till we start looking.”

Holding each other’s hands, Tim and Sunset left the room to search around. Turning left, they found two doors sealed together. Pushing said doors open, Sunset and Tim entered what appeared to be a huge classroom, shelves of paint buckets, busts, and paintbrushes littered the area. The tables were covered in splotches of paints, with stacked up stools, dirty towels with paint color residue printed upon them, even some burning lanterns.

“Hmm,” Sunset pondered. “These lanterns looked like they’ve been recently turned on.”

“Maybe Jane was here,” Tim guessed.

“If she was… why leave all these lanterns on?”

“It’s… likely to leave a trail behind. But we can’t think on that now. We have to find Jane and ask her some questions…”

Sunset nodded in agreement as she and Tim entered another room, finding the room littered with wooden paint trays. Sitting atop a desk, Sunset found another clue, bathed in the same white glow. Picking it up, she uncovered a creepy doll full of nails, a photo of a woman was pinned on it.

“Wait a minute!” Sunset exclaimed.

Reaching her pocket, she pulled out the two halves of the photograph with Shane. Removing the woman’s face from the doll, she inserted it into the hole within the torn photograph.

“A-ha! There’s our girl! It’s not Belle… it’s…”

Sunset turned the completed photo, finding a name written on the cutout piece. The back of the photo now read, in Thai:


Cherry + Shane



Forever together


“Cherry?” Sunset and Tim spoke together.

“So… the Cursed Nails Jinx’s victim… was Cherry?” Tim asked.

“Hmm… OH!”

As if a lightbulb lit up in her head, Sunset pulled out the photo of the unknown ritual she collected from the teachers’ offices. She looked at the woman in the photo of said ritual, then back to Cherry’s face cutout finding a perfect match.

“Yeah, from the looks of it,” Sunset confirmed. “But… it doesn’t make any sense! From what we’ve seen, Belle was the victim of the jinx. We saw her puking bloody nails and everything! There’s even a newspaper about it! Uh… make that two!”

“If Belle’s the victim… how come Cherry’s picture was on it?” Tim countered. “And from the looks of this… this photo you found… she’s definitely the target…”

“This is a mystery…”

Sunset scratched her head, groaning as she felt her head would explode from this growing headache over this mystery.

“This just gets more and more mysterious every second,” Sunset groaned.

“Let’s just… focus on the problems we can solve right now,” Tim suggested. “We still have to find Jane; we can figure this out later.”

Sunset nodded in agreement as she followed Tim out the door and back into the hall of graffiti art and littered paint buckets. Sunset looked around toward all the graffiti.

“Y’know, I happen to be quite the graffiti artist where I came from,” Sunset boasted. “If we weren’t being chased by ghosts, looking for your wife right now, I’d be—”

*CLANG!*

“Huh?”

Sunset and Tim both screeched to a hall, upon hearing the strange sound. They looked around the room, with Tim trying to shine his light on it.

“Did you hear that?” Tim asked.

“Afraid so,” Sunset answered.

Very carefully, they both walked around the dusty halls, past several old paintings drawn and left behind by the students. Sunset passed a whiteboard when she noticed another glowing clue sitting on a table. She went over to investigate and picked up a paper drawn in red markers with lines.

“What?” Sunset asked herself.

As she put the paper away, Sunset followed Tim, who walked into a small room with a portrait of a young girl. The picture looked as though she were staring right back at them. Inside the room, Sunset noticed another glowing paper with lines, this time drawn in yellow markers. She picked it up and tucked it away in her jacket’s pocket when she and Tim heard a clatter right behind them.

They followed the sound toward another room, finding piles of large canvases leaning on the side wall, stacked on top of each other, and another piece of paper with lines (This one drawn in blue markers). Sunset picked up the third paper, reached into her pocket to pull out the other two and when stacked upon each other she could barely see the symbol they created.

“Do you know what it is, Sunset?” Tim asked.

“I was hoping you might know,” Sunset replied.

“I don’t…”

“The lighting around here’s too dim. Let’s look for a better light.”

Sunset and Tim walked out of the room, down the hallway and passed a barely opened door. Peeking in, they found a white desk, the kind animators used to draw moving pictures for transitional values.

“How convenient,” Sunset remarked.

As she and Tim walked over toward the desk, they pieced their latest clues together.

“What’s this?” Sunset murmured.

Sunset passed a desk, when she saw a torn parchment of paper, depicting two clay dolls embracing each other, and more red Thai words.

“Wait a minute…”

Reaching into her jacket’s pocket, Sunset pulled out the hugging dolls in holy thread she’d been carrying. Looking at the dolls, Sunset could see they matched the ones in the parchment.

“Looks like there’s more to the Lechery Jinx we’ve found before,” Sunset deduced. “Tim, can you…?”

“Way ahead of you,” Tim answered, picking up the parchment. “Let’s see what we’ve got now…”

Tim picked up the parchment, and proceeded to read:



Actually, the Lechery Jinx doesn’t bring real affection. The target will be possessed by the spirit that came with the clay. The target will eventually lose his identity. The spirit will follow the caster until the end of the target’s life, because just a small separation will result in great pain. They will always be together.



“So much for true love, huh?” Tim asked.

“Still… the very idea that you’re possessed by a spirit, destroying your identity over time, and forced to follow someone against your own will… it’s unsettling,” Sunset surmised, facing Tim. “Can you imagine… if someone performed such a jinx on you, and… you just… don’t know who you are? Or who you really love? And you’re made into a living puppet?”

“That is disturbing,” Tim agreed. “If I lost Jane to someone else, because of this… I-I don’t know what I would do…”

Deciding to change topic, Sunset and Tim resumed investigating the clues they uncovered. They pressed a switch on the desk, turned on all the lights, and positioned the papers with line drawings. Sunset and Tim started turning, flipping, and switching the pages together until an answer was revealed. The lines were pieces of a three-digit number.

“What does that mean?” Sunset asked.

Tim merely shrugged in response. Resuming their search around the area, they came across a locked door with a three-numbered lock on the latch. Remembering the number they figured via puzzle-solving, Sunset and Tim scrolled the lock’s numbers for a match, eventually unlocking the door.

Sunset and Tim entered another room of the art studio, hearing the familiar sound announcing Belle’s presence.

*CRRR-KKKK*

“Oh, come on…!” Sunset groaned quietly.

Sunset and Tim hid under a desk, watching Belle appear from behind the wall. Once again, the ghost girl patrolled the center of the room, acting as an obstacle between Sunset, Tim, and Jane.

“There’s just no losing this bitch!” Sunset swore, under her breath. “And no… I’m not playing live bait again…”

Both Sunset and Tim waited under the table, watching the ghost’s footsteps, waiting and anticipating another opportunity to sneak away undetected. Thankfully, the whiteboards in the room (Much like before) served as shields to protect Sunset and Tim from Belle’s line of vision.

As the ghost turned in their direction, left of a whiteboard, Sunset and Tim reached across the room from the right to the other side of another whiteboard. There, they hid behind some large canvases, where Sunset found another piece of a photograph, bathed in a white glow and surrounded by lit candlesticks. Picking it up, Sunset put the clue in her pocket, with the other pieces of the photograph she and Tim had been collecting.

Peeking out from their hiding spot, Sunset and Tim watched as Belle walked behind a whiteboard. Sunset and Tim bolted for the hallway she came from, on the right. Sunset went toward the last door at the end of the hallway, which she opened up and entered a dark bathroom. Searching the area, Sunset turned and found that Tim was gone.

“Mr. Tim?” Sunset spoke.

Her heartbeat started to rise suddenly, the frantic anxiety slowly starting to take over.

“Tim?” Sunset’s voice rose. “Dad? Where are you?”

Sunset frantically looked around the bathroom, poking her head out into the hallway when she saw Belle heading her way. Alarmed, Sunset quickly retreated into the bathroom before the ghost had time to notice. Sunset searched for a bathroom stall to hide in but was dismayed to find all the doors destroyed, huge chunks and halves of the doors missing.

“Come back… come back to me…” Belle called.

In her panic, Sunset quickly made her decision and hid inside the first bathroom stall. She hid herself out of sight, praying she wouldn’t be discovered. Outside, Bell’s approaching footsteps grew louder, her shadow neared the doorway, the boxcutter knife clicking, and the raspy hissing echoed all around the room. It deafened the fiery girl’s own breathing.

“Why is this happening?” Belle sobbed. “Why…”

And then… the footsteps stopped. Next came the gut-wrenching sound that made Sunset’s skin clammer. The sound of a person, dry-heaving, wrenching, and puking their guts in agonizing pain was too intense. Sunset had to cover her ears, desperately trying to block the sound out. Worse still, Sunset Shimmer had the misfortune to smell the stinging and foul stench of the bloody puke wafting in the air across her nose. It was so wretched it nearly made Sunset want to puke herself.

Sunset breathed in whatever good air she could suck in; the fiery girl held her breath to keep herself from breathing the foul fragrance. This, unfortunately, was a difficult task. Sunset could feel her face turning red, eventually purple, all from holding her air in so long. She could feel her lungs expanding, threatening to explode, and still she kept it in long enough for Belle to leave.

Peeking through the crack in the doorway, Sunset watched the ghost trudging toward the exit until the spirit disappeared from sight.

With the danger gone, Sunset gasped for air, feeling lightheaded and on the verge of collapse. Finally, after seconds of collecting herself and regaining her composure, Sunset found her footing. Slowly, she stood up on wobbly legs and had to grab hold of an old rusty bar to pull herself upright. Once back on her feet, Sunset gingerly walked out of her stall, when off the corner of her eyes she saw another glowing clue in the corner.

Sunset went over to investigate, cringing in disgust over the foul stench of the recent puke in the bathroom corner.

“Ugh! Gross!” Sunset gagged.

She held her breath long enough for her to pick up the clue. Once she collected her clue, Sunset quickly ran away toward the next room with small lockers. There she found Tim huddling in a corner.

“Mr. Tim!” Sunse exclaimed.

“Ah!” Tim shouted, eventually calming himself. “Oh, thank God, Sunset. It’s just you…”

The man breathed heavily, till he had fully composed himself.

“Don’t scare me like that.”

“I scared you?” Sunset asked, annoyed. “You disappeared all of a sudden! I thought you were behind me when I went into the bathroom. I hid there while she was puking blood! PUKING BLOOD! Oh, and I found this clue! You’re welcome!”

“Sorry, Sunset,” Tim apologized. “But… what kind of clue is it?”

“I’m not really sure…”

Sunset examined the clue in her hand, a whole sheet of stickers… stickers of a couple’s photograph. Specifically, for Shane and the girl who ‘isn’t’ Cherry.

“I’m betting that’s Belle, back when she was alive… and happy,” Sunset commented. “There she is with Shane… who doesn’t appear happy at all.”

“What makes you say that?” Tim asked.

“Look at him,” Sunset gestured. “In all these photos, he seems… dead inside. Now compare this with the photo of him and Cherry. He looks all happy… but in here, the photos with Belle… he’s just… a blank slate, for lack of better words…”

“I guess that’s what it means by… ‘identity being destroyed’,” Tim deduced. “No identity… no ‘you’. Not knowing who you are anymore or what your purpose is. You’re just… dead.”

Sunset nodded, taking in and processing this morbid revelation. She’d hate to imagine how dreary her life would be if she lost any sense of self-identity and become an empty shell of herself, doomed to wander the world aimlessly. The fiery girl shook her head, clearing herself of those unsettling thoughts.

“I think… we should… go,” Sunset spoke slowly. “We have a wife to save.”

Sunset was about to walk toward another door in the room, only to find it rattling in its frame.

“Are you kidding me?” Sunset asked. “Locked again!”

“Actually…”

Tim pointed to a large hole in the wall, barely hidden by the fallen lockers. Sunset and Tim were about to crawl through when the sound of a locker opening was heard. Once again, piqued with curiosity, Sunset backtracked with Tim following behind. They found the doors of a small locker opened, spilling out blood, a student’s ID, and a paper.

Sunset studied the student ID, eyeing a picture of the woman in the photo, with a smiling Shane and in the ritual. Tim took a glance at the student ID and translated the written Thai words of her name.

“According to this, the woman in the photo is ‘Cherry’…” Tim confirmed.

“I thought so,” Sunset nodded. “Then… this locker must’ve been hers…”

Gazing at the paper in the locker, bathed in a white glow, it meant that they had found another clue.

“Yuck!” Sunset cringed, picking up the paper. “So wet and slimy… uh, Mr. Tim… can you still read this?”

Tim took the paper, translating the written Thai language:



Dear Shane’s parents,
This is Cherry. I have to tell you something about Shane. He’s not been doing well lately; I believe he has been jinxed by someone. We should not let them be together, for Shane’s own safety. Please believe me, I’m really worried about him.
Thank you very much.



“Sounds like Cherry was onto something,” Sunset deduced, studying the photo. “She was trying to save her boyfriend. But… looking at this photo, I’d say she got in too deep and bit more than she could chew…”

“Still doesn’t explain how our ghost, a.k.a. Cherry’s rival, became the victim instead,” Tim replied.

“You’re right. There’s more to this mystery; if we can find more clues, we’ll fit all of the pieces together. Let’s go.”

Sunset and Tim departed the room through the secret tunnel in the wall, entering another small room with shelves. There another piece of a photograph was found. Taking a break, Sunset proceeded to put the pieces of the torn photograph together. They started to show an image of a man and woman, standing next to each other.

“Hey… that’s me… and Jane!” Tim exclaimed, seeing the half-finished photo.

“You sure?” Sunset asked.

“Positive. I remember when we had this photo taken. I was really working hard to build our happy future together, with Jane willing to support me every step of the way. It was the happiest day of our life.”

“… If it was so happy… how did it all get torn up like this?”

“That’s what I want to know. When we find Jane, we’ll find out.”

Sunset nodded as she put the pieces away and followed Tim to another hole in the wall, this one covered by a wooden cabinet with stacks of shelves. Tim and Sunset worked together to remove the stack out of the way and crawled into another room, where the definite sound of the boxcutter knife clicking could be heard.

*CRRR-KKKKK*

“You know what?” Sunset spoke dryly. “It’s happened so many times, I’m not even scared anymore…”

At this point, Sunset and Tim knew it’s useless to complain. They crawled along the floor, ducking and hiding behind lockers and desks, all while listening for Belle’s footsteps and her raspy hissing.

“Come back… come back to me!” Belle moaned.

Steeling their nerves, Sunset and Tim crawled across the floor, determined to not let themselves be discovered (Or frightened out of their wits). This proved a difficult task, when Sunset had to crawl across a fresh puddle of blood. She could feel how warm and fresh it was, the slime of blood all over her hands.

“Ugh! Gross!” Sunset groaned, disgusted. “Oy…”

Sunset wiped the blood off of Tim’s shirt, who gave the fiery girl a very displeased (and annoyed) stare. Eventually, they were close to the door stopping only to check back on Belle. They anxiously waited in anticipation, for the ghost to turn and walk in the other direction, until it was finally safe to make a dash for the door.

Once outside, Sunset and Tim turned left and spotted the elevator. They proceeded to walk towards it, passing a table where Sunset noticed a piece of paper sitting on it. Much like all the clues they’ve gathered, this written document had a white glow upon it.

“Hey, Tim?” Sunset called, holding the paper. “Can you read what this says?”

“Sure thing.”

Tim shined his flashlight over the Thai words and began to translate:



Mother… father… I’m deeply sorry… I’m in such terrible pain… I can’t go on without her… I have to be with her… wherever she is… NOTHING can keep us apart… NOT EVEN DEATH!



“Whoa, that’s rough,” Sunset grimaced. “Sounds like someone’s about to commit suicide…”

“That’s because this is a suicide letter,” Tim shuddered.

“’… in such terrible pain…’” Sunset pondered, triggering an epiphany. “… in such terrible pain… like the downside to the Lechery Jinx! It doesn’t bring ‘real’ affection… it just creates a bizarre obsession that is inhuman… even the smallest separation will result in great pain… Shane!”

“I hate to say this… but you might be onto something, Sunset.”

“Oh no… does this mean… Shane’s killed himself… because of… Belle?”

“Whatever happened… happened… I’m afraid it’s all in the past now, Sunset…”

Suddenly, a loud bloodcurdling shriek was heard, to which Sunset and Tim leapt up in alarm seeing Belle had spotted them and she was coming in hot.

“RUN AWAY!!!” They shouted.

Sunset and Tim quickly made a beeline for the elevator, barely getting it open and closing the door before the ghost could reach them. Inside the elevator, Tim and Sunset both breathed heavily to calm their rapid heartbeats.

“A few more seconds and we’d be goners,” Tim commented.

“I thought we were goners for sure…” Sunset added.

“Let’s find Jane and get the hell out of here…”

“Agreed!”

Sunset and Tim pressed the button to the third floor, searching for Jane while staying close to the elevator (In case they needed another getaway).

“Jane? Jane?” Sunset and Tim called out.

They went back into the elevator, going down the second floor. Upon departing, Sunset and Tim turned left and saw the woman they’ve been looking for.

“There!” Sunset shouted.

“Jane!” Tim shouted.

The man raced after the woman, with Sunset following behind. In response, Jane stepped through the two doors to a room, closing them between herself, Tim and Sunset.

“Jane!” Tim called out, banging the door. “Why do you keep running away from me?”

But Jane didn’t answer. She turned and walked away, disappearing into the darkness, while the door was magically covered in a web of red string and Thai spells.

“JANE!” Tim screamed. <FUCCCKKKK!”>

“Great!” Sunset moaned in exasperation. “Now we have to snuff three more candles… again! Easier said than done because the strings… lead all over the building! They could be anywhere!”

Breathing deeply to collect themselves, Sunset and Tim proceeded to follow the red strings. They followed the trail down a hallway to the right, where they happened to pass Room 1203. The door was opened ajar when Sunset noticed the inside coated in a red glow.

With her interests and curiosity piqued again, Sunset entered the room, with Tim following behind. The room was filled with student-designated desks, all stacks in a heaping mess, cluttering the whole room, with a tangled web of red strings strewn across the room hanging from the ceiling. Sunset searched the room, before coming across some clues bathed in the same white aura.

The first clue was a note, which she handed to Tim, who read:



A.J. Wanchai, please cover up that suicide scandal. The director doesn’t want any more bad attention. We became major news last time just because of the death of one student. It must not be the same this time! Thank you.



“Gee, I wonder how that worked out?” Sunset asked, to which she and Tim exchanged shrugs.

They turned toward the next clue on a nearby table; it was a paper with written Thai words which read:



A holy water is one of the sacred items commonly known among people. It has the power to chase away all evil kinds. Holy water must be created by sacred rituals. However, only pure liquid can be used, if it’s contaminated with filthy substances such as blood or urinals: it will lose its holiness attributes.



“Sounds like it could be useful,” Sunset commented. “But where can—Oh!”

Sunset’s hand accidentally brushed against one of the bottles sitting on the table, spilling the contents of said water. The pair watched in horror as all the precious water dripped along the red strings.

“Oh no!” Tim and Sunset exclaimed.

Suddenly, without warning, the door flew open, and Belle unleashed a bloodcurdling scream.

“UH OH!” Tim and Sunset hugged each other.

Suddenly, as the ghost lunged towards them… it stopped. The red strings drenched in holy water turned white and the moment Belle set foot within the strings, she was surrounded in a shower of water that seemed to melt her away into a puddle of blood. Sunset and Tim could hardly believe their eyes.

“Uh… what just happened?” Sunset asked.

“… My guess would be the holy water,” Tim deduced. “Like the paper said, ‘It chased away all evil kinds’!”

“I can see that,” Sunset acknowledged the bloody puddle. “Too bad that bottle was the only one available… we’ll have to find more… unless there’s a recipe on how to make your own…”

Tim sighed, as he turned toward Sunset.

“The best we can do now is make use of what we currently have,” Tim replied. “Jane is here, and we must find and save her before it’s too late.”

Sunset nodded in agreement. Turning to the last clue in the room, both she and Tim picked up the key with the number tag: 11201. Soon Tim and Sunset departed the room in search for the one that matched the designated number on the key. It didn’t take long for them till they found the very door on the far right.

Tim inserted the key, unlocking the door and entered a room covered in papers with written spells by the looks of it. On the left sat a table, with three skulls – two on the left and right with lit wax candles, while the middle was left unlit.

“This just gets creepier and creepier,” Sunset shook her head.

As they searched the room for clues, Sunset walked toward a nearby table and picked up a key with a numbered tag: 11306. She turned around and approached Tim, who stood before the three skulls, reading the paper which when translated read:



‘Hide and Seek is fun… until the dusk falls’… this saying refers to a hidden ghost… whenever the dark creeps in, the hidden ghost will take you to another dimension… this explains why many children disappear when the night comes…



“’Whenever the dark creeps in, the hidden ghost will take you to another dimension…’” Sunset repeated, pondering. “Could that be how I got here in the first place?”

She remembered how she was in her apartment, gaming the night away as usual. She was in the middle of a thunderstorm, when lightning struck, and the power was out. Sunset Shimmer remembered losing consciousness and being in total darkness, until she found herself in Thailand and met Tim. Could it be the hidden ghost brought her to Thailand in the first place? And if that were the case… why?

“Whenever the dark creeps in…”

Sunset looked up at the skulls and their lit candles, dancing in the air, as if beckoning her to come forward.

“… The ghost will take you to another dimension?” Sunset concluded, confused.

Testing it out, Sunset approached the first skull and blew it’s candle out.

“Sunset, what are you—” Tim began.

Suddenly, without warning, Sunset’s vision was blocked out by a pair of mysterious hands. Once again, the familiar feeling of dread consumed her, when she was spirited away to Thailand that first time. Like before, she was immediately seized by an invisible force, capturing her within its grip. Her whole body turned cold as ice, running rapidly through the blood flowing within her veins. Sunset lost her voice, unable to scream due to the cold. The world around her faded into darkness, as Sunset Shimmer was spirited away by the mysterious ghost…





“Sunset? Sunset!”

Sunset opened her eyes, finding herself looking into the eyes of the concerned Tim, who held her in his arms.

“Sunset? Are you alright?” Tim asked.

“Hi… Mr. Tim,” Sunset panted heavily, rubbing her eyes. “Wh… what happened?”

“What happened? One moment you looked as if you zoned out for a minute. You just walked up to one of the skulls, snuffed out its candle, and then… there was darkness. Soon as it was over, here we are.”

Sunset looked around their new surroundings, finding themselves in a dusty lit room. More Thai spells, written on papers, plastered all over the walls much like the previous room.

“I see…” Sunset pondered. “It had to be darkness… ‘When the darkness crept in… the mysterious ghost takes us to another dimension…’”

“Are you alright, Sunset?” Tim asked.

“I’m fine. I think… we just need to be careful. We don’t know where we are. Last thing we need is for this hidden ghost to take us somewhere we wouldn’t want to be…”

Turning toward the side, Sunset saw another key, which she picked up and read the numbers: 8118. After putting away the key, Sunset examined the floor and saw a trail of red string leading away from the skulls and out the room. Turning toward the door, Sunset and Tim walked out to find themselves in a rather familiar hallway.

“We’re back in the art department again,” Sunset observed.

“What gave that away?” Tim asked.

Sunset’s response was pointing toward the large canvases. Sunset and Tim proceeded to walk down the hall, casting frightened glances from left to right, seeking any signs of Belle’s presence. But they heard nothing but the eerie silence and so they kept walking, following the trail of red string until they reached the end of the hall. There they found a locked double door with the numbers above it which read: 8118.

“The strings go in there,” Sunset pointed. “If I had to guess… that would mean, one of our enchanted candles are in there…”

“Like we have any other choice,” Tim muttered.

Taking out the key they collected, Sunset unlocked the doors, granting her and Tim entry into a dimly lit room. More large canvases were stacked on top of one another, along with shelves of busts and paint cans. Sunset turned her head, startled by a portrait of a Thai Dancer.

“Whoa!” Sunset yelped, nearly falling off her feet. “Oh… just a painting… of course…”

Eyeing the portrait, most of the paint was nearly washed off. It looked as if the dancer was as pale as a ghost, with blank eyes and a bloody mascara. After a moment of collecting herself, Sunset looked up and saw one of the candles they were looking for sitting in the right corner of the room.

“Over there!” Sunset pointed.

*CRRR-KKKK*

Shushing to one another, they crawled along the floor with Tim turning off his flashlight to avoid detection. Unfortunately, without a light, they couldn’t see where they were going. They held each other’s hands, while feeling across the floor with their other free hands. All the while listening for the sound of Belle’s footsteps and the clicking boxcutter.

“Where is she?” Sunset whispered. “The sound’s all over the place!”

“I don’t know,” Tim whispered back. “But we need to be very quiet…”

Tim and Sunset crawled along the floor until they happened upon an opening barely illuminated by the candle’s glow and any little lighting the building’s electricity could provide. Before they could progress any closer, they turned and saw another of Belle’s shady accomplices standing guard over the candle. They retreated behind some canvas, hearing the clicking of the angry spirit’s boxcutter nearby.

Both Sunset and Tim watched as the shady ghost shined the red light of its eyes across the floor, searching for the pair. They had to wait till the spotlight turned away, much like a lighthouse, before either one could sneak by undetected. They ducked behind canvases until they were able to reach the candlestick. The moment they snuffed out the light, the enchanted red strings disintegrated.

“One down, two to go,” Sunset stated.

Tim and Sunset turned and snuck out the way they came in. However, they found their only path blocked by Belle, who turned her head to the side seeking her quarries. Sunset Shimmer picked up a discarded paint brush and tossed it at one of the busts, causing it to fall and shatter on the floor. The commotion made Belle walk over to investigate the disturbance.

With the ghost out of the way, Sunset Shimmer and Tim ran out of the room before the Boxcutter Girl realized what happened. By then, both Tim and Sunset made it back to the room with the three skulls. Sunset blew out the candle on the first call, summoning the hidden ghost to teleport herself and Tim to another part of the building.





After the unsettling darkness dissipated, Tim and Sunset found themselves in another room fully decorated with red papers and Thai spells along the wall. They searched around the room for clues yet the only item they found was a single key for a restroom.

“A lavatory key,” Tim clarified, examining the key.

*CRRR-KKKK*

“That girl just won’t quit!” Sunset groaned, exasperated.

At this point, Belle’s persisting pursuit after the two grew rather annoying. That, however, didn’t stop the pair from being afraid, if not weary of running from the Boxcutter Girl. If they hoped to save their skins, they needed to stay quiet and avoid detection to the best of their abilities.

Once getting ahold of themselves, ultimately regaining their composures, Tim and Sunset followed another trail of red string, which lead out the room. Cautiously grabbing the knob, Tim slowly opened it just a crack, as he and Sunset poked their heads out seeking any sign of Belle or her shady helpers. They looked to the right toward some double doors barred by a stack of tables. Then they turned left seeing another stack of desks and tables.

“Wait a minute!” Sunset exclaimed.

“What is it, Sunset?” Tim asked.

“We’re back in the lab room! Th-Th-The one where we needed to activate a teacher’s key card to gain access!”

<”Jesus!”> Tim exclaimed in Thai. “Sunset, you’re right! So… it seems the candles are in places we’ve been before!”

“From the looks of it, a certain someone is trying to keep us from getting out the same way.”

“Well, she’ll have to catch us first…” Tim muttered, looking at the magic charm. “Some protection this charm is… supposed to protect me from evil spirits… supposed to make me attractive.”

“Hmph. I think by attractive, they mean ‘attracting trouble’,” Sunset replied, in a snarky tone.

“… Actually, I think you might be onto something, Sunset,” Tim realized. “This charm was meant to protect its wearer, yet… it also seems to draw our ghosts to us…”

“You mean to tell me we’ve been carrying around a tracking device?”

“That’s one way to sum it up… but we can’t think on this right now. We’ve already come so far. Let’s just… find the next candle, then the third and last, and then we get Jane.”

Tim proceeded to follow the trail of red string on the floor, with Sunset following beside him. The trail lead out of the room and into the other across the hall. Upon entering, the layout of the room confirmed the reality that this was in fact the same room as before. Brushing the realization aside, Sunset and Tim resumed following the strings down the halls and back into the same lab they’ve once snuck in before.

On the way, Tim turned and spotted a shadowy ghost on the other side of a stack that blocked their path in the right hall. They narrowly ducked behind the walls before the ghost could see them and alert Belle of their presence.

*CRRRR-KKKK*

Outside the lab, they heard the ambient sound of the clicking boxcutter knife, together with Belle’s raspy hissing and footsteps. Tim and Sunset listened as the volume of the sounds increased the closer Belle was. Then, came her mournful weep.

“I missed you so much…” Belle vented. “Come back… come back to me…”

Tim waited till the footsteps were away from them, just before it was safe to peek into the lab to see the ghost emerged from the lab through an exit on the other side. Sunset and Tim quietly entered the lab, following the trail which lead them down the same direction Belle walked on. Unfortunately, through an open window, they saw another shadowy ghost standing guard just close to the exit. Before it noticed them, Tim pulled Sunset back as both he and her caught their breaths, panting heavily beneath the desks.

“Now what do we do?” Sunset asked.

“It’s clear we can’t sneak the same way as before,” Tim spoke. “Without any scented incense, we can’t distract them… not to mention they’ll alert our Boxcutter Girl when they see us.”

“Then… let’s go back and look for incense…”

Tim took a deep breath, composing and stilling his shuddering form. For the very life of him, all he wanted was to find his wife and go home. Now, he has grown concerned, but not just for his own safety. But now, for the teenage girl he just met. Tim wondering if this is the stress and trouble that comes with parenthood. Then again, why should Tim feel this way? Sunset wasn’t even his daughter to begin with. Still, as an adult, he knew better than to leave a youth alone and unprotected.

Regaining his resolve, Tim looked toward Sunset and nodded.

“Okay. Let’s find some incense… but stay close and follow me.”

Once he received another nod from Sunset, Tim took the lead as he and Sunset crawled along the floor, making their way towards the exit out into the hallway. A shadow ghost stood as a lookout, aiding Belle in her hunt. Like they’ve been doing before, Tim looked down at the floor and saw an eerie red light from the ghost’s eyes shining across the hall. The spotlight turned in the opposite direction, allowing Tim and Sunset to seize their opportunity to sneak away.

They crawled back into the same supply room they were in before, barely avoiding detection from another shadow ghost in the corresponding hall. Inside the supply room, Tim turned and sealed the double doors, as he and Sunset searched the shelves for a smelling incense.

“There should be some around here somewhere,” Tim spoke, searching around.

“There isn’t anymore…” Sunset replied.

The two kept searching until Sunset discovered something.

“Uh… Mr. Tim?”

“What?”

Sunset pointed in the direction of an open doorway, guiding Tim’s eyes towards a strand of smelling incense sitting on a wooden table, in the hallway, and just across them.

The only trouble was the shadow ghost’s field of vision. Tim looked back at Sunset, the girl removing her shoe and hurdling it into the hall thereby distracting the ghost into turning its attention in the opposite direction. Tim watched as Sunset quickly snatched the smelling incense off its stand before the ghost had time to realize the distraction.

“I got it!” Sunset presented the strand.

“Excellent work, Sunset!” Tim thanked the girl.

He lit the incense with some of the wax candles in the room and stuck it in a convenient pot nearby. Sunset and Tim hid behind a locker, watching the shadow ghost enter the storage room drawn by the smell. The ghost took a long whiff of the smelling incense and stayed in place, without knowing both man and girl were right behind it. With the ghost distracted, Tim took Sunset by the hand as they quietly left the room and into the hallway. There they found the red string’s trail, which lead them into the locked bathroom.

With key in hand, Tim inserted and turned the key to the side to unlock it thereby granting him and Sunset entry. Inside, the bathroom was nearly pitch-black, save for the tiny lit candles in the room. Sunset Shimmer walked towards one of the bathroom stalls on the left, opening the doors to find the next candle.

“A-ha!” She smirked, snuffing out the candle. “Two down; one to go! Huh?”

“What is it?’ Tim asked.

The man followed Sunset’s gaze to the side, discovering a piece of parchment lying on the floor surrounded by three small wax candles.

“What’s this?” Sunset asked, picking up the parchment.

“Let me see,” Tim spoke.

Taking the parchment from Sunset’s hand, he shined his flashlight over a picture of a clay doll, covered in nails, and red Thai words which red:



“Be careful when you’re using this jinx! If the target is aware and can get rid of it, the curse will return to you instead! The suffering will be greater and can result in death!”



Both Tim and Sunset looked to each other, both gulping squeamishly at the description.

“So… the Cursed Nails Jinx…” Sunset began. “It can torture your victim, but the downside is… if the victim knew how to remove it… the curse will come back and kill you?”

“What goes around, comes around,” Tim replied.

He watched as Sunset’s disturbed and fearful expression dissolved into realization. The kind of look a person – most likely a detective – would make when they come upon a realization, successfully piecing together all the clues. It never ceased to amaze Tim of Sunset’s intelligence, the girl deducing the situations with all the clues they’ve gathered.

“Sunset, I know that look,” Tim spoke. “You realize something, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” The girl nodded. “It’s all starting to come together. The newspapers, the jinxes, the photos, everything we know about Belle, Shane, and Cherry.”

“What do you make of it, Sunset?”

“Based on the clues we’ve found, here’s how the story goes,” Sunset began, relaying her theory.

“Once upon a time, a boy (Shane) and a girl (Cherry) were a couple. In other words, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and they pledged to be together forever. Unfortunately, that didn’t sit right with our ghost girl (Belle), who was also in love with Shane at that time. She was willing to do whatever it takes to have Shane all to herself, so she resorted to dark magic. The Lechery Jinx was used on Shane, to make him forget Cherry and more attached to Belle. However, the Lechery Jinx made Shane completely forget about himself, which some other people began to notice.

“Cherry tried to save Shane by informing her concern to Shane’s parents. So, Shane’s parents kept him home from the university. Belle didn’t like that. So she resorted to the Cursed Nails Jinx to kill Cherry. She would’ve gotten away with it too; luckily, Cherry was saved by a monk who managed to remove the curse. In doing so, the curse rebounded onto Belle, cursing her tenfold.

“In the end, Belle was killed by her own curse. All these horrors… it was all just a twisted love story…”

Tim nodded as he found it almost difficult to process every piece of the story. And yet in Sunset’s words, it made sense.

“Sounds about right,” Tim nodded in acknowledgement. “But that still leaves a bigger question: What’s all this got to do with Jane and I… what did we ever do to deserve all this madness?”

“That’s still a bigger mystery, Tim,” Sunset answered. “But that’s all the facts I could gather for now.”

“For what it’s worth, your insight is very… insightful,” Tim complimented. “Are you a detective where you came from?”

“I… I don’t know about that,” Sunset replied modestly. “But… small talks for another time. Let’s get out of here, look for that last candle, and find Jane.”

Tim nodded in agreement. Getting back on their feet, Tim and Sunset turned to the bathroom door and walked outside. Remembering they still had one more shadow ghost and Belle to contend with, they resumed searching for at least one more smelling incense. They walked into another bathroom, which was just across the laboratory bathroom they came from on the left. As if by a stroke of luck, they found another incense in one of the bathroom stalls sitting atop a toilet’s cap.

With the incense in hand, Tim and Sunset returned to the lab where they stuck the incense into a pot in the room, lighting it up, and distracting the shadow ghost from its post. Lastly, for Belle, upon hearing the Boxcutter Ghost’s approaching footsteps and loud raspy hissing, Tim quickly hid inside a locker while Sunset close for protection. From inside, they could hear the bloody ghost moaning as she passed by.

“Don’t you love me anymore?” Belle asked.

After the revelation of the girl’s tragic backstory, based on the gathered clues, Tim couldn’t help but feel a little sympathetic for the ghost. He was sorry over the fact that, in life, she was just a romantic schoolgirl hopelessly in love with a young man already in another relationship. So desperate to win his affection, she resorted to dark magic which resulted in her untimely demise. Now she wandered the ruins of the university she once attended, doomed to forever experience the pain and trauma of her own curse, all while searching aimlessly for her lost love… and threatening to stab and kill anyone in sight.

However, just the fact her ‘lover’ was never hers to begin with, that she intentionally tried to kill her own classmate, a former love rival to steal for herself, doesn’t exactly make her case any better. In fact, the more Tim thought about it, he realized the situation wasn’t exactly black and white. More in between the shade area to some extent.

Back to the moment, Tim and Sunset waited in the locker until the ghost passed, thereby allowing them to safely sneak out of hiding and backtracked to the room with the three skulls. Following Sunset’s example, Tim snuffed out one of the candles on the skulls. Without warning, as if an invisible force captured him within its grip. His whole body turned cold as ice, almost like he was being petrified into a statue. The world around him faded into the darkness, as he and Sunset were spirited away by the mysterious ghost…





After the darkness cleared away, Sunset turned and saw the layout of the room she and Tim appeared in. Turning to a door, Sunset opened it to find herself and Tim back on the second floor of the Engineering Faculty of Khan Na Yao University.

“We’re back to where we started,” Sunset confirmed.

“So where do we go now?” Tim asked.

Sunset Shimmer reached into her pocket to pull out the key with the numbers: 11306.

“We still have this key,” Sunset showed the man. “I’m thinking this is a sign that our last candle will be in there.”

Tim simply nodded in agreement as he and Sunset raced back to the elevator. They found a floor map hanging on the wall, right next to the lift on the left. Sunset looked over for a room labeled 11306; unfortunately, none was found on the second floor.

“It’s on the third floor,” Sunset informed Tim. “Let’s go.”

Entering the elevator and pressing the button numbered ‘three’, Sunset and Tim both casually waited as the elevator took them up. Sunset didn’t know what to think of this situation. On one hand, she thought it’s relieving to know she and Tim will find the last magic candle to snuff. But then again, as her friend, Applejack, once cautioned her, ‘Never count yer chickens before they hatch’. For all Sunset knew, this journey was far from over.

Then a new thought occurred to Sunset. What if ‘all’ this was just the beginning? What if Sunset and Tim were far from finding Jane? What if there’s some bigger force of evil at work, right under their noses?

Unfortunately, Sunset Shimmer didn’t have time to dwell on these troublesome thoughts now. Soon as the elevator’s bell rang, announcing Sunset and Tim’s arrival on the third floor, they left the elevator, then turned a left, and found the room labeled 11306.

With the key in hand, Sunset unlocked the door, granting herself and Tim entry into the room revealing it to be a studio of sorts. The kind that teachers would use to make an announcement. At that moment, a jingle was heard coming from the room followed by a voice of a man (In his thirties or so).

“Attention!” The man spoke, in English. “There are rumors spreading around the campus about a… about a senior committing suicide in the Engineering building. Please be aware that it was a hoax. Everyone please remain calm… and do not spread further rumors. Thank you for your cooperation.”

The announcement sounded off with a jingle, to which Tim shook his head.

<”Bullshit!”>

Tim opened a door, entering another room to find the last candle sitting next to a speaker. With the last candle extinguished, Sunset and Tim watched as the strings disintegrated, thus opening the doorway to find and rescue Jane. Just as Sunset and Tim were about to turn and leave for the elevator, they stopped dead in their tracks, horrified over the sight of a young man, dropping from a balcony, behind the ceilings, and hanging in front of them… with a noose around his neck.

<”SHIT!”> Tim exclaimed.

“SWEET CELESTIA!!!” Sunset Shimmer screamed.

The girl staggered backward, tripping over her foot and falling flat on her back. They watched helplessly as the man writhed in agony, waving his arms and legs about, until with one final gasp, he succumbed and hung lifelessly before their eyes.

Sunset Shimmer hadn’t felt this horrified since her first demonic transformation. Her defeat at the hands of Princess Twilight Sparkle had forever shattered and traumatized her into a different person as opposed to who she was before. The very sight of a person killing themselves, such as this, was entirely different. It was terrifying for anyone in her position to witness a person dying before them, while Sunset was helpless to save them. Her fear turned to sadness over the thought of never being able to save someone in need.

Tim could clearly read the grievance and fear upon her face.

“Do you want a hug?” He asked.

Sunset uttered no words, only a whimper and a nod, she in turn straining to keep her tears from pouring. Both she and Tim wrapped each other in a comforting hug. For Sunset, it brought back memories of her filly days when she needed the comfort and support from her parents, especially Princess Celestia. Back when Sunset Shimmer was that scared little filly who swore never to feel alone or helpless again.

She turned back toward the young man, silently wishing him to be in a better place. In that moment, however, Sunset took a closer look at the dead man’s face. Her grievance immediately burned away into another stroke of realization.

“Wait a minute…” She gasped.

Sunset reached into her pocket, pulled out a picture of Shane and Cherry, and her suspicions were confirmed.

“It’s him! It’s Shane!”

“Really?”

Sunset showed Tim the photo, pointing to the dead man’s face.

<”Oh my God!”> Tim exclaimed in Thai. “Sunset, you’re right! It is him! Hmph!”

Tim turned toward an empty room with the speaker, presumably where the teachers made the announcement. He shook his head in disappointment that these people were attempting to cover up the whole suicide.

“Some hoax, huh?”

“But then… that would mean…”

Sunset reached into her pocket, pulling out the suicide note letter they collected earlier. Unrolling it, Sunset handed it to Tim for a re-read:



Mother....father...I'm deeply sorry...I'm in such terrible pain...I can't go on without her...I have to be with her...wherever she is...NOTHING can keep us apart...NOT EVEN DEATH!



“… In such terrible pain…” Sunset pondered, triggered by an epiphany. “… in such terrible pain… like the downside to the Lechery Jinx! It doesn’t bring real affection… it just creates a bizarre obsession that is inhuman… even a small separation will result in great pain…”

Sunset looked back toward the lifeless Shane hanging before them, then back to the photo of him with Cherry.

“From the looks of it… the monk was able to save Cherry from Belle’s curse, but…” Sunset sighed, looking toward Shane. “They were too late to save Shane from the Lechery Jinx. After Belle died, Shane killed himself to join her… poor guy.”

“Whatever happened… happened…” Tim shared his sympathy. “… I’m afraid it’s all in the past now, Sunset…”

‘All in the past now…’, the words echoed in Sunset’s head as she slowly composed herself and regained her resolve. She had nearly forgotten her exact words, ‘The past is not today’. While it was true she couldn’t save an innocent man from taking his own life, the very least she could do was live on to save others in the near future. She pulled herself away from Tim and led the way into the elevator.

“You’re right Tim. Let’s go save Jane, come hell or high water.”

Sunset pressed the button, activating the elevator doors to open, as she and Tim took the ride down to the second floor. On the way down, Sunset couldn’t keep silent for long.

“Mr. Tim?” Sunset spoke somberly. “I just wanted you to know… if this is the end for us… and if it’s game over… for what it’s worth… I’m glad to have met you. You remind me of my dad, so much… it’s refreshing to have one again.”

“Same here,” Tim replied. “Despite all the ghosts and demons… and all the hell we’ve been through, I’m glad I met you. If me and Jane ever had a daughter, I’d want her to be as special as you.”

“Do you want another hug?”

Tim simply smiled, as he held his arms out and both he and Sunset shared what may possibly be one last embrace. The kind of which a father would give to his child.

Finally, the elevator doors opened up, and the pair stepped out making their way towards the double doors Jane disappeared through. Except now, the doors were unlocked, no longer barred by the web of red strings of the now extinguished candles. Looking to his left, Tim noticed the sign written in which, which translated to: Multipurpose Room.

“Multipurpose room,” Sunset repeated, suddenly recalling. “Oh no…”

“What now?” Tim asked.

“Remember the piece of newspaper we picked up? The one from the locker room? Of Belle’s body being discovered…?”

“… Yes?”

Sunset watched as Tim pulled out his binder, searching through the clues they have collected thus far, before pulling said article and re-read it:



Missing Girl Found Dead!

October 4, 1996

On October 3, police found the body of Ms. Pattra Srisakul (Belle) in the multipurpose room that was shut down in the Engineering Faculty building of Khan Na Yao University, which is believed to be the reason why the body wasn’t found. The unbearable smell of the body led to this horrifying discovery. The body was still in uniform, submerged in blood. There is no report yet on whether or not this was a suicide or murder, but there were a lot of nails found next to the body. The body was sent to the coroner, and we hope the autopsy will reveal the cause of her death.



The expression upon Tim’s face matched as he and Sunset shared their terror.

“Bingo,” Sunset nodded grimly. “That means… if we want to find Jane… we must enter the lion’s den.”

Sunset looked back toward the double-doors, feeling her entire being quivering and shaking in fearful anxiety, just anticipating for what’s to come.

“Well, like you said,” Tim reminded. “Come hell or high water, we have to save Jane. There’s no turning back now.”

“’Me and my big mouth’,” Sunset mentally chastised herself.

However, just as Tim said, she had sworn to help him find Jane no matter what they’d have to do. She mentally pledged that she would do ‘everything’ in her power to save the lives of others, to prevent them from suffering the exact cruel fate as Shane had. Steeling herself, Sunset balled one of her hands into fists, which she then smacked together in an open palm.

“You’re right… let’s do this!”

Tim and Sunset both held the door knobs at the ready, opening them to the side as they entered the room. They looked around the entirety of the Multipurpose room, seeing it was a mess of long benches, with stacks of chairs and desks aligned as columns along certain parts of the room. Columns that touched the ceiling, with more webs of red string dangled like vines of a dense jungle. The floor was painted with splotches of blood, tainting the air with the foul smell of death, like the decaying meat of a rotting corpse.

Sunset groaned at the sight, feeling lightheaded amidst all the cold lifeless air. The smell of death was too overbearing for the girl.

“I don’t feel so well…” Sunset groaned. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Jane?” Tim called out. “Are you in here? Where are you?”

“Shh!” Sunset hushed. “Remember, this is where Belle died!”

“Right… sorry…”

Sunset Shimmer and Tim looked around the room, before they found a piece of paper sitting on the table. Upon a closer look, they realized it was another page from Jane’s diary which Tim translated:



Front
May 26, 2013

I went to see a monk who settled in the forest temple in Ratchaburi. My friend, Parn, once mentioned something about this monk. She said that he had something that can prevent bad spirits or evil energy. I am sad as he refused to help me. He said it would be bad for his karma. It felt worse just to know that he 'completely detached himself from this temporal world' ... and it was no longer his deed.

Back

I was so stressed out! Things had let me down... but maybe I still had luck... the monk introduced me to a novice and the novice had given me a wooden box. He said that this 'would only be my protection and not for intentions to harm'.



“A monk?” Sunset Shimmer repeated. “Like the one from the photo who saved Cherry?”

“Sounds about right,” Tim pondered. “I’ll have to speak to Parn about this, once we get out of this mess.”

“But… what’s this about a wooden box?” Sunset asked. “What’s in it?”

“I… don’t know… but if Jane has it… then, she’ll be alright by the time we find her. Won’t she?”

“I hope so… now let’s figure out what we can do now. Why would Jane ‘ever’ come here?”

Sunset and Tim started looking around the area for clues, hoping to figure out their next move. They searched inside the empty lockers, which appeared to have seen better days. They searched across the floor, the walls, and followed the strings along the ceilings, which led them to spools of the very same material hanging along the wall with lit candles.

“This doesn’t seem suspicious at all,” Sunset commented sarcastically.

“Psst! Sunset! Over here!” Tim called out.

Sunset raced over to Tim, who stood behind a stack of chairs before a shrine. The front was littered with human skulls, candle wax, and a goblet filled to the brim with more skulls, blood, and strings.

“I’m no witch doctor, but this is definitely the work of an occult,” Tim commented.

“I wonder if this room’s like Belle’s personal getaway, back when she was… alive…” Sunset pondered, looking around. “So dreary and unsettling… certainly has the appeal for an occult in dark magic…”

“Hey… what’s this?”

Tim picked up a white bottle, reading the Thai inscriptions written along the side.

“What does it say?” Sunset asked.

“Sunset, we just got ourselves a bottle of holy water,” Tim smiled.

“Score!” Sunset exclaimed joyfully. “Now the next time Belle shows up, she won’t know what hit her!”

Tim and Sunset walked away, when they passed a bloody table where a Bi-Metal hacksaw was resting. Tim picked it up, studying the tool carefully.

“I don’t think a hacksaw’s going to stop her, Mr. Tim,” Sunset voiced her doubt.

“I know,” Tim replied. “But this is only used to cut through various metals… it might come in handy.”

Tim and Sunset searched the room till they came upon a double door with a twisted metal bar wrapped around the handles (Likely preventing the doors from being opened). With hacksaw in hand, Tim proceeded to saw away the metal bar.

In the meantime, Sunset checked behind her, keeping an eye and ear out for any sign of Belle. Her paranoia proved valid when the familiar clicking of the boxcutter knife was heard.

*Crrrr-kkkk*

"Mr. Tim..." Sunset whispered. "We have company..."

"I'm sawing as fast as I can," Tim whispered in fright, as he continued to cut through the bar with all his might.

As the man kept cutting through the bar with all his might, Sunset cringed with gripping fear and anxiety. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long until Belle was onto them unless Sunset did something about it. She looked at all the red string around her, tracing them back to the spools on the wall and formulated a strategy.

"Quick! Give me that bottle of holy water," Sunset requested, to which Tim complied, handing Sunset the bottle.

"What are you going to do?" Tim asked.

"You keep working on the doors," Sunset advised. "I'll take care of Belle..."

Sunset Shimmer slowly and quietly snuck away, prowling behind stacks of doors and chairs, in a twist of becoming a hunter against the hunter. But she didn’t think too much about that. She needed to protect Tim, give him enough time until the man could get the doors open. And this way they could resume their progress on finding Jane.

Sunset peeked behind the corners of a locker; sure enough, there she was in front of her. Stalking the room, like a predator, Belle sheathed and unsheathed her boxcutter knife. Thankfully, the Boxcutter Gril had her back turned from Sunset Shimmer, therefore unaware of the fiery girl’s presence. Unfortunately, the rattling, shrieking, and scratching sounds of metal against Tim’s hacksaw was loud and clear immediately drawing Belle’s attention.

Thinking quick, Sunset spotted Belle walking under a web of red string connected to a spool closest to the fiery girl. Reacting fast, Sunset carefully uncapped the bottle of holy water, pouring the enchanted liquid onto the spools. The strings turned white, racing up the webs along the ceiling, and bathed Belle in a shower of holiness.

Like before, Belle immediately melted into a puddle of blood. For the moment, Timw as saved and the sound of him hacking away the metal bars continued to ring in the air. However, Sunset knew that the task was far from done. She looked around, listening for more eerie clicks of the boxcutter knife.

Sure enough, the eerie clicking confirmed Belle’s return.

*Crrrr-kkkkk*

Sunset strained to listen to the sound of the ghost’s approaching footsteps to pinpoint her precise location. Anticipating her next move, Sunset found herself back at the shrine in the room. The fiery girl picked up one of the skulls and proceeded to resume her hunt for the ghost.

Making sure she wasn’t getting any closer to Tim, Sunset worked her way back to the man. And just in the nick of time, the ghost was stalking him from the right. Before she had time to catch him, Sunset hurled the skull across the room toward Belle. But ultimately Sunset missed her target, and the skull broke upon impact against the wall. Its shattered pieces fell and scattered across the floor.

Looking toward the direction of the flying skull, Belle’s eyes burned with intensive fury when she set her sights on Sunset Shimmer. Sunset watched and observed as Belle held her free hand up to her head, rubbing the spot where the girl first whacked her. If Sunset were to guess, without a shadow of a double, Belle held a grudge against the former for what she did to the latter.

With a great shriek, Belle lunged towards Sunset Shimmer, who quickly turned tail and raced to a nearby spool, drenching it with holy water. Before the water could work its magic, Sunset ducked and dodged behind a pillar to avoid a stab from Belle’s knife.

“Yikes! AH! Whoa!” Sunset yelped.

Eventually the ghost grabbed Sunset by the sleeve of her jacket. But before the ghost could stab her, Sunset slipped free of her jacket which caused the ghost to trip up and fall into the showering holy water. Picking up her jacket, Sunset put it back on, hoping to see Belle melt away into a puddle of blood.

Instead, Belle got up and glared daggered toward Sunset, snarling with hateful eyes. Her teeth bared, Sunset could see they were both yellowed and bloodied. What the Boxcutter Girl did next was most unsettling as she floated in the air with her body writing.

“W-What… what’s happening?” Sunset asked herself.

She soon noticed the lights around her beginning to flicker rapidly. Then, without warning, everything went dark.

“Ah!” Sunset shrieked.

The girl stumbled in the darkness, hitting her head against something hard and metallic. She could feel the cold burning bruise, which she’s certain to have in the coming days.

“OW!” She screamed.

“Sunset?” Tim called from the dark. “Are you okay?”

“Mr. Tim?! Where are you?” Sunset called.

Before she could call again, Sunset was splashed in the face by what she assumed to be water. Instead, it was warm, sticky, and rather sour to the taste. As a matter of fact, it was disgusting! Sunset Shimmer spat it out, working up a drool to spit whatever splashed in her face out of her mouth.

“YUCK!” Sunset Shimmer gagged.

She wiped the substance off when suddenly the lights came back on. To her horror, the entire room was coated in blood from top to bottom. The floor was flooded, almost as if a bloody tsunami washed into the room. The ceilings were also covered in blood, some running across the red strings and dripped onto the floor.

“EW!” Sunset stuck her tongue in disgust.

In her opinion, the room was bad enough without the bloody tsunami. Sunset waded through the bloody flood as she struggled to navigate around the room. The flood itself proved difficult to navigate, the liquid weighed Sunset’s feet down and the foul smell clogged up her nose. The stale, bitter taste of blood was still fresh on her tongue; the droplets stung her eyes. It was so overbearing, Sunset Shimmer felt like puking.

Somewhere, amidst the bloody rain, Sunset heard Tim sawing the bar with the hacksaw (Between the groans and grunts). He sounded just as sick and disgusted with the blood as she. Elsewhere, in the midst of the room, Sunset heard splashing and sloshing footsteps wading in the bloody flood. Belle was once again on the move.

Sunset knew she had to act fast, to get to Tim before the Boxcutter Ghost. She only hoped she knew where she was going, that she could get to Tim in time. Sunset panted heavily, on the verge of collapse when she got to Tim. The man sawed away at the bar like his life depended on it. At that moment, Belle emerged from the bloody flood, closing in on Tim like a psychotic killer out of a slasher-horror movie.

With a loud shriek, Belle raced towards Tim, her knife unsheathed. Before she could reach him, Sunset Shimmer lurched forward, intercepting the ghost with a fierce tackle to the floor. A big splash of blood erupted as both girls wrestled each other across the pool with Sunset trying to keep Belle pinned down while struggling to pry the knife from her hand. Next thing Sunset knew, Belle reared her legs up and kicked into Sunset’s stomach hurling her off.

Sunset Shimmer crashed onto the side of the locker, denting it. With the wind knocked out of her, Sunset struggled to look up. Belle was certainly stronger than she looked, an angry demented Thai spirit going for the kill. The angry spirit stood up, the knife still in her hand which she seethed and hissed. She scratched her knife against the metal side of the locker, sharpening the blade as she drew closer.

<”I should’ve known you would get in my way again, Cherry!”> Belle spoke, in Thai.

“What?!” Sunset exclaimed.

And then somehow, through some form of magic, Belle’s Thai words were translated into English thereby allowing Sunset to understand.

“Killing me to take my Shane away wasn’t enough?” Belle snarled. “You had to come back for more, didn’t you? Just so you can boast in my face?! YOU WON’T WIN THIS TIME!!! AARRRGGH!!!”

“AAAH!!”

Sunset dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the stab from the knife. Drawing her arm back, readying herself for another stab, Belle aimed to jab Sunset when the latter held up a bottle of holy water and splashed some of it against the ghost’s face.

“AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!”

Belle screamed, covering her eyes with her free hand. Smoke bellowed from her face where Sunset splashed her. It appeared the holy water had an acidic effect, rendering the ghost blind and burning away her very being. While the ghost was stunned, Sunset Shimmer quickly went into hiding behind some of the chairs and desks stacked up in the room. Still keeping her eyes on the angry ghost, Sunset watched as Belle recovered, turning her head in search for Sunset.

“Come out!” Belle shrieked. “COME OUT AND FIGHT!!!”

But Sunset Shimmer didn’t comply. Belle turned her head, setting her sights on Tim, who sawed away against the bindings of the door as fast as he could.

“Fine… I’ll take his life, the way you took my Shane away from me!”

Sunset’s eyes widened in horror as Belle advanced towards Tim, clicking her boxcutter knife along the way.

“NOO!!!”

Sunset picked up a metal bar, swinging it toward the Boxcutter Ghost, who quickly blocked the attack. In retaliation, Belle threw a punch, hitting Sunset across the face followed up with a kick to the stomach. Sunset fell into the bloody pool with a splash, just as Belle hurled herself onto the girl with one hand choking Sunset by the throat.

“You can do slow, or you can die fast…” Belle threatened sinisterly.

Sunset struggled to pry the ghost’s hands off her, gasping for air as she was lifted off her feet. She was in such a state of panic, she couldn’t think clearly. In a flash of life, she was certain she saw her life flashing before her eyes. From the moment she was a little foal blowing out her first birthday candle to her acceptance into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Universes, to her descent into the Dark Arts leading to her escape from Canterlot to the Human World, and finally her rise for power as Canterlot High’s Fall Formal Princess to her reformation at the hands of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

In her state of panic, Sunset Shimmer strained to scream, blindly kicking her legs out. Luckily, one of which struck Belle in the stomach.

“Oof!” Belle groaned.

The ghost dropped Sunset back into the bloody puddle, clutching her stomach. Sunset struggled to get up, straining to wipe the blood off her being. She shook her head like a dog caught in a rainstorm as she watched Belle convulse. The ghost fell to her knee, her hands across her stomach until finally exploding so gruesomely. Belle vomited an uproar of blood, with nails from the curse that backfired on her.

Sunset Shimmer backed away in disgust, until the ghost finally stopped. At the end of it, Belle slowly turned her head to look toward Sunset. Tearful eyes that belonged to those of a person desperately pleading for their suffering to stop stared at the girl.

“You… you did this to me!” Belle coughed, struggling to stand. “You… you were… jealous… you cursed me! Took my Shane away… and now… I’m… in so much… pain… BECAUSE OF YOUUUUU!!!”

With a loud angry scream, while clutching her stomach, Belle feebly charged at Sunset and raised her boxcutter knife for a stab. When the ghost wasn’t looking, Sunset poured some holy water into her hand, which she then hurled at the ghost leaving her stunned in her tracks. Sunset jumped up towards Belle, slapping her in the face repeatedly before shoving the ghost into an open locker. She quickly closed it shut, hoping to trap the ghost.

“I’m… not… Cherry!” Sunset spat, grunting from adrenaline. “Shane was never yours to begin with! You stole him away, you used dark magic, and you killed anyone who got in your way! Look at yourself! You suffer because of your selfish desires! This is your karma; deal with it!”

With another shriek, Belle banged against the locker door from the inside. The door suddenly started to bleed; Belle’s knife-wielding hand thrusted from the inside. Sunset watched as the ghost clawed her way out like a horrible parasitic monster bursting from its host. The ghost quickly drew herself out of the locker, reaching for Sunset’s throat.

Sunset tried throwing more holy water at the ghost. But much to her dismay, she realized too late she used up the whole bottle… now she was trapped.

“Oh crud…”

Sunset moaned as she gazed into Belle’s eyes, seeing the lifeless and soulless windows staring deeply into Sunset’s very being.

“If I can’t have Shane in life…” Belle sneered, raising her blade. “No one will…”

Sunset flinched, closing her eyes, bracing herself for the kill. She felt the cold tip of the knife touch her neck, when there was a large splash of blood followed by Tim’s voice.

“Keep your bloody hands off my friend/daughter figure!”

Sunset looked up and witnessed Tim ripping the boxcutter knife from Belle’s hand, before punching the ghost away. The spirit soon disappeared beneath the blood, vanished for the time being.

“Come on, Sunset!” Tim urged. “Get up! We’ve got to go!”

Recovering from her stupor, Sunset picked herself onto her feet and followed the man back to the double doors. They found them wide open, a showcase of his success at sawing all the way through. Before they could leave, however, Belle emerged from the blood. The ghost stood between them and the stairs leading somewhere to where Jane had gone. Belle unleashed another bloodcurdling shriek, which was interrupted when Sunset kicked her in the mouth knocking her back.

“I’ve had just about enough of you!” Sunset spat.

Sunset and Tim trudged through the blood, racing up the stairs, with Belle in hot pursuit. The angry ghost grabbed hold of Tim’s leg, causing him to trip and fall along the steps as the ghost proceeded to stab him with her knife again.

“Keep your bloody hands off my father-figure!” Sunset screamed.

She lunged toward Belle, tackling her off of Tim. Both girls tumbled down the stairs till they finally came to a stop. Sunset gingerly got up, disoriented from the fall. She looked down and saw Belle had lost her knife. The spirit fumbled in search for her missing blade, brushing her hands across the bloody pool. Before anything else happened, a pair of strong arms hoisted Sunset over the shoulder and dragged her up the stairs, away from the ghost.

Sunset looked up and saw it was Tim carrying her up the stairs through a bloodstained hallway. Eventually they reached the door at the end, opened it up and entered the hall of the third floor. Still disoriented from her fall, Sunset slowly recovered to her senses.

“T-T-Tim…” Sunset moaned. “Tim?”

“Easy there, Sunset,” Tim spoke, helping the girl to her feet. “You’re safe now. It’s over…”

“J… Ja… Jane? Where… where is she?”

Before Tim could answer, the door behind them shook with the sound of fists banging aggressively from the other side.

“I think that’s the least of our problems now, Sunset,” Tim spoke, grabbing Sunset by the hand. “Let’s get out of here!”

The pair ran away for dear life. Unfortunately, they could get through the double doors where they first arrived. A stack of tables barred the way.

With no other way out, they ran down the hall when a loud shriek pierced the air. Several items from the side, blocking Sunset and Tim’s path. Tables, benches, lockers, shelves, boxes, and everything flew at the pair. Even worse, the door they came from flew open and Belle emerged, drenched in blood from head-to-toe with her recovered knife in her hand. Once again, the Boxcutter Ghost proceeded to stalk her escapees, scratching the walls with her knife as an added fuel to the nightmare.

Sunset heard the scratching sound of the knife against the wall, increasing in volume the closer Belle drew towards the pair. Finally having enough, Sunset stopped and stood her ground between Belle and Tim.

“Sunset?” Tim asked the girl.

“You want him?” Sunset panted, holding her arms out. “You’ll have to get past me first!”

Belle chuckled sinisterly, raising her blade for the kill. When suddenly, she turned to her left… and stopped. Sunset followed the bloody ghost’s gaze, seeing she had caught sight of Shane’s lifeless body, dangling from the ceiling. Dropping her knife, slowly walking towards the boy she loved, Belle was in utter shock and in complete denial.

“Why is this happening?” She sobbed, falling to her knees. “Why is… this… happening…?”

As the spirit wept into her hands, Sunset watched as the ghost cried louder and shed tears more profusely. Whether or not she finally came to terms with her sins, Sunset may never know. But it was definitely time for her and Tim to go.

With heavy breathing from the near-death experience, Sunset followed Tim out the door which required a key card. Except the door was already open ajar. They left the room, closed the door behind them, and once again found themselves on the bridge. Refreshed to smell the cool, clear air of night, Sunset and Tim took a moment to catch their breaths.

“I thought… I was… a goner… for sure… that… time…” Sunset panted.

“You were… incredible back thee, Sunset,” Tim coughed.

“Yeah… well… my friends… are never… going to… believe this. Still… thanks for saving me.”

“You saved me earlier. So… it’s only fair I returned the favor. What goes around, comes around. Right?”

Sunset Shimmer nodded in agreement, feeling a small smile creeping along her face. Relieved that it was all over, Sunset felt her lips quiver, her own tears welling up in her eyes, washing away any trace of blood off her face.

“I WAS SO SCARED!!!” Sunset Shimmer exploded.

She wrapped her arms around Tim, crying into his chest, bawling her eyes like a scared little girl again. In the meantime, Sunset felt Tim gently stroke his hand across her hair and down her back trying to calm her down.

“It’s okay,” He whispered. “It’s okay. It’s over now…”

And still Sunset kept crying, releasing all her fears and pent-up frustrations she experienced. But she also cried for making herself look foolish, like a blubbering baby before her father-figure of all people. Proving herself a bigger mess than even Belle. If her actual biological father saw her like this, she’d certainly die of embarrassment… if that was even possible.

After a long while, Sunset finally stopped crying. Her eyes burned, a soreness stinging from all the tears she had poured. Not to mention all the blood cascading down her face from the tip of her hair.

“Feeling better now?” Tim asked.

“Yes…” She croaked, nodding her head. “I’m… I’m sorry you had to see that… I…”

“No need to apologize, Sunset,” Tim consoled. “I’m as scared as you are. Come on. Let’s go…”

With a deep breath, Sunset followed Tim as they walked across the bridge.

“We have to find her,” Tim said. “Where are you Jane?”

They kept on walking till they stumbled across another piece of the mysterious photograph before the floor of the bridge. Sunset picked it up, piecing them together with all the other pieces they had collected during this whole trip. Together, in its entirety, the photo revealed Tim and Jane, standing together, smiling the way a happy married couple would.





“I think you two look beautiful together,” Sunset smiled.

Just then, she saw a piece of paper not too far from where they stood. Picking it up, Sunset looked and saw it was another page from Jane’s diary. Handing it to Tim, he began to read and translate it for Sunset to understand:




May 27, 2013

The dagger is the only thing that could help me! The dagger given to me by the novice monk. Tim might have thought that I was being gullible about this! I had to keep it away from him. Behind the cupboard would do! If Tim wouldn't help! Then I'd do it all by myself! I've not gone crazy!



“A dagger?” Sunset asked. “That was in the box?”

“And she kept it hidden from me, worrying I would find it strange…” Tim scratched his chin. “We must get home and find it… fast…”

Sunset didn’t say a word, only nodding in agreement. She and Tim soon turned and walked across the bridge to the other side. They kept walking for a long time, until Sunset noticed something.

“Tim… I don’t remember the bridge being this long…” She observed.

“Yeah… you’re right,” Tim acknowledged in agreement. “Wasn’t there supposed to be a door to another building around here?”

“It’s not ‘where’ it usually is that’s for sure…”

Still Sunset and Tim kept walking for what the former estimated to be ten minutes… or so.

“We’ve been walking forever already!” Sunset frowned. “Where is the door? When does this bridge ever end?!”

“I just hope we don’t run into another bloodthirsty Thai ghost threatening to kill us…” Tim sighed. “I’m getting tired of this…”

“You’re tired?”

“Cut me some slack, Sunset. It’s been a long night for both of us… and still no Jane. Where could she be?”

“We’ll find her… we have to… somehow…”

The man and girl kept walking until at last a door appeared before them. Except, it wasn’t the metal doors seen on campus. This door was made of wood. They recognized this particular door, the door to Tim and Jane’s house.

“There it is!” Tim shouted, dashing for the door. “C’mon Sunset!”

“Hey, wait for me!” Sunset shouted, chuckling.

After a mad dash, they opened the door itself to reveal…





“Ah! Home sweet home…” Tim sighed in relief.

Never did Tim ever imagine the feeling he’d be glad to see his house again, even in such a messy disarray. The house was exactly the way he and Sunset left it. A cluttered mess, webs of red strings tied with certain pieces of furniture in the air or so. But yes… ‘Home Sweet Home’ indeed.

“Okay, Sunset. Let’s…”

Tim lost his voice and suddenly his newfound relief was gone with the wind. For when he turned around… Sunset Shimmer was gone.

“Sunset?” Tim called out, frantically. “Sunset? Sunset?! Where are you? SUNSET!!!”

But no reply came… not a single answer. Not a sign of the girl who was like a daughter to him. The girl who helped him search for clues surrounding his wife’s disappearance; the girl who defended him from the ghosts haunting him at every corner. After a half hour of mournful silence, Tim slumped down onto the floor. He clutched his head, trying to process everything that had transpired all this time.

First his wife went missing, now Sunset Shimmer was gone too. But why did this happen? Where is Sunset? Was she okay? Then another thought came to him:

“Did Sunset Shimer even exist to begin with?” Tim pondered. “Had I been just imagining the girl all this time? Was she… just an imaginary friend I made up to fill in Jane’s absence? Or… Sunset… were you my guardian angel?

<”What the hell is happening?”> He asked in Thai.

Tim searched through the binder, hoping to find at least something to help him confirm Sunset’s existence. But all he found were pages of Jane’s diary, including the photo of him and Jane taped together. He looked at all the items and recalled how he and Sunset went through so much trouble to find them. But could he really have been collecting these items… by himself?

He shook his head, trying to clear it of any questionable thoughts. He had to focus on the task of finding his wife. And it started with finding this mysterious wooden box, containing the aforementioned dagger.

<”Jane said the dagger is hidden behind the cupboard,”> Tim pondered to himself. <”I guess I’m going to need my stepladder then.”>

He entered the kitchen, where he picked up the stepladder while passing the knives still stuck in the refrigerator door. He remembered how he first discovered the knives, after Sunset screamed the last time they were in the house. With his thoughts still concerned over Sunset’s well-being, Tim felt more and more alone than ever. He missed having Sunset in his house; her very presence made him feel more at ease. And now that she’s gone, he felt more lost than usual.

Suddenly, the phone beeped, playing a voice-recorded message in a familiar voice.

<”Tim, it’s me again…”> Dew’s voice greeted hesitantly. <”Since your wife’s disappearance, you seem a bit strange. You haven’t acted like yourself lately. We’re… w-we’re friends aren’t we? If you need to talk to someone, I’m here alright? Please call me back.”>

The message beeped confirming the end. Tim looked at the phone in sadden fondness. He remembered his friend Dew well. He would always talk to him whenever he needed to vent. Tim mentally promised himself he would call Dew back and they’d have their talks again. But first things first, he needed to find the box.

A half hour later, Tim finally found the wooden box Jane referred to in her diary. It was barely hidden out of sight, sitting atop a wardrobe in their room. With his stepladder set in place, Tim walked up to claim the box and opened it to reveal its contents.

<”Okay, this is it…”> Tim said to himself. <”Could it come in handy?”>