Malefic [BOOK 2]

Let Me Tell You a Story

Sometime in the past in a different universe...

November 2009

An eight-year-old boy sat on his little bed with his puffed-up cheeks resting on his cupped hands. He was sulking because his parents had given him a good lecture about what he had done in school today.

Liu Chen's actions may have been violent but he had good intentions behind them.

His ears perked up as soon as heard soft knocks against his windows. His room was on the first floor of his house. The only one who would climb up his window at this hour was his one and only best friend.

The boy stumbled out of his bed and quickly ran to the window to open it. A little girl with a head full of wild brown locks and a missing tooth stared at him with a guilty smile. He offered her his hand which she took gratefully and jumped inside the room.

She sat on the messy bed and gestured for her friend to sit beside her.

"Chen, I told you not to hit him. Now you are grounded," Leo scolded her friend.

"They deserved it! They were calling you stupid names," Chen protested still looking angry.

His lower lip was swollen with dried blood. He also had a black eye. His knuckles were raw from punching the bullies.

"Then you could have called me. I wanted to punch them too," Leo exclaimed while shaking her head in disappointment.

That made Chen giggle, "Then you would be grounded too."

"I love staying at home," Leo pointed out.

"Chen! Who are you talking to? Is it Leona?!" Chen's mother screamed from downstairs.

The kids gasped in horror.

"Quick! HIDE!" Chen pulled Leo out of his bed and shoved her inside the closet.

January 2013.

"Are you sure about this?" Chen asked with his voice barely above a whisper.

Leo nodded confidently. She didn't bother to look at him. She was rather busy tying a pretty bow with the blue string on the main door of their school. It was nearly time for the teachers to arrive and Chen was growing anxious.

"Why are we doing this again?" He mumbled nervously.

Leo admired her work with a proud smile and stood up straight. The hallways were filled with crisscrossed strings. She made sure to swap every board marker with permanent markers. She used plastic wrap to cover all the doors to the classrooms. And lastly, she took out two screws from each and every teacher's desk.

"We are doing this because we are finally leaving this town and I hate humans in general," Leo explained.

Chen stared at her thinking why he was even friends with the weird girl.

"We should leave," he said with a sigh.

Leo send him a salute and the kids ran back to their houses, one laughing like the little devil she was and another praying to god that they would not get caught. At that moment none of them knew what was waiting for them at home.

Chen offered to walk Leo home. Although she insisted she could go alone, Chen wanted to make sure she was safe. He had always been the overprotective kind. Not that Leo would ever admit it out loud, but she appreciated his efforts. Chen was a kind boy and Leo was glad to have him as her friend.

As soon as they reached their home, they were met with Leo's parents who were standing in front of the car looking a bit dazed. Their dresses were dishevelled and her mother's eyes were red. Leo immediately knew that something was wrong.