The Spirit Forms!

Ominous smoke swirled within the cubicles of the company building.

The people who were closest to the exit ran away. They knew what the smoke entailed.

“It’s a cursed spirit!”

“Run for it!”

“Call a spirit hunter!”

The black smoke took shape into its previous form—a tired and slouching man in his late twenties.

Some folks recognized the evil spirit. One woman, with shiny black hair, even whispered his name, though the name didn’t ring a bell to its original owner.

The spirit sighed.

“All I wanted was a decent life…” he groaned. “A job to pay the bills, some friends to drink with after work, and—”

The spirit glanced at the woman who said his name.

“Maybe even a girlfriend,” the spirit went on.

He dropped his shoulders as the woman shivered and stepped back. He didn’t recognize her. He didn’t even know her name, and yet, he knew her.

Every part of his being told him so.

She must’ve been special to him. And he must’ve been special to her. That was what ran through the spirit’s mind. To him, there was no other explanation. Why else would that pretty lady look so concerned for him?

But the spirit knew deep down that there was nothing deeper to unfold. There were mutual feelings between the two of them, but feelings that were never acted upon.

How sad…the spirit thought.

“I’m a simple guy, really. I’m not asking for much. But now…I can’t have those things anymore, because...”

The spirit clenched his fists. He remembered his cruel and boring life from before.

“The constant overtime, the stress of bills, and the scarce amount of free time that I had…”

A tear ran down the spirit’s face.

“I’m tired. So, so tired…”

“…”

The remaining workers watched as a tear dripped to the floor. They all knew what he was talking about. They had all experienced it firsthand.

There were days when I’d return to my apartment, eat a quick meal, and then realize I needed to sleep quickly to be well rested for work the next day. But I couldn’t ever fall asleep. I tossed and turned. My eyes were heavy. My body screamed for me to sleep and yet…I couldn’t.”

The spirit clenched his teeth. The muscles in his body bubbled and ballooned with rage.

The spirit grunted. There was so much pain. Everywhere, there was pain.

“I’m tired of it!” the spirit screamed. “I’m tired of it all! I’m tired of this company! This city! This society! I’m tired! I’m freaking tired, damn it!”

The spirit’s voice dropped. His words were becoming more like grunts.

The spirit’s body continued to balloon and grow. His form could be considered humanoid but never human. He was much taller, much wider, and much, much stronger.

The spirit slammed his gigantic fists onto the cubicles, not once feeling the sparks of splintered wood and computer parts underneath.

The people screamed. There weren't many of them. About ten in total.

They wanted to run. To get away and go home, perhaps to sleep the day away and brush this moment off as a demented dream.

But the spirit stood in their way.

A few people in the group wanted to curl up and cry.

At first, when the spirit’s body materialized, they didn’t dare ‌run past him.

They feared that the spirit would attack and injure them if they did so—or worse.

But now it seemed clear that the cursed-spirit would not take mercy on anyone here.

All it wanted was to bring this establishment crashing down under its giant physique.

The group trembled and couldn’t stop.

Within the group was the previous manager of this cursed-spirit. The man glanced at the window and thought about jumping. He didn’t care if it was a three-story fall, and he didn’t care if he broke every bone in his body.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to run. He wanted to flee.

Any escape plan would’ve been fine as long as he didn’t have to face the cursed-spirit any longer.

“Agh, screw it!”

The man broke from the group and got ‌hold of a chair.

He looked towards the window. It was a large wall of glass, comfortable for any person to jump through.

With all his strength, the man threw the heavy chair.

But it didn’t break the window.

In fact, the chair never reached it.

The cursed-spirit smacked the chair with his giant hands and continued swinging through until it slammed against the manager.

The group watched the manager’s body fly through the air and screamed.

His body rolled across the floor. So did bits of wood.

“Ah…ack.”

Every part of the manager’s body was in pain. In fact, it was so painful that the manager couldn’t scream, but instead, held his breath in hopes that by doing so, the pain would subside quickly.

But it didn’t.

The group looked on in horror. Blood trickled down the side of their manager’s face.

If any of them tried running, they were sure to face the same consequence.

It brought tears to their eyes, both the men and women.

The angry spirit turned to them. There was a specific sniffling that caught his ear. It was the sniffling of two women.

They were hugging each other, huddled up in the corner of the office room at the front of the group. Their eyes widened once it glazed over the spirit’s hateful eyes.

“Ah, please! Spare us!” screamed one of them.

“Please! We didn’t do anything wrong!” said the other. It was the same lady with shiny black hair that the spirit felt a connection with.

The spirit stood still and stared at her.

He didn’t have a heart, and yet, his chest ached for her.

I don’t want to see you sad, the spirit thought.

He didn’t care about smacking the manager, nor did he care about how he planned on breaking every part of this building with everyone in it.

But he cared about this woman.

He cared deeply.

Could they have been lovers if he were still alive? The question lingered at the back of the spirit’s mind.

He stretched his hand towards the pretty lady.

The lady watched as his hand came closer and closer. Her knees were on the verge of giving out.

Why is this happening to me? She thought. What did I do to deserve this?

Tears emerged from the corners of her eyes. The lady tried scooting further back into the corner, but couldn’t.

There were people behind her. And it didn’t seem likely that they would move to protect her.

The spirit was going to reach her first. The lady wanted to scream at her coworkers and maybe even shove them to the side.

But she didn’t have the courage, the strength, nor the morale for that. She was always a kind person and was never the type to lash out, no matter how strong the urge was.

So she continued weeping. This was it for her. The end of the line.

Or so she thought.

The spirit’s hand drew closer and closer until he felt something.

Something powerful.

And in the shape of a person.

No.

Not just one person.

But two.

And the two powers carved a command within the spirit’s very being.

A command that was simplified into one word…

Dodge!