AB Chapter 31: Swimming Pool
Later on.
Michel, in order to earn money through part-time jobs, rarely went to school anymore since he had few mandatory courses left.
Eric also realized he had been clinging to a single tree for far too long. Driven by a mix of pride and unwillingness to lose face, he returned to his nights of debauchery instead of looking for Michel.
Until one day, he found out that the young Asian he wanted to raise was actually a member of the alien race he loathed the most.
Like discovering a pile of shit inside a delicate gift box, Eric felt utterly deceived! He cursed Michel as a "mongrel" and a "whore," scratching his face out in every photo!
The Ellis family prided themselves on blood purity.
Marriage and children had to be with proper Americans—at the very least, a French person.
To him, the fact that Michel was Asian was already a strike against him. And now—he turned out to be a deformed creature with flowers growing from his head!
A raging fire burned in Eric’s chest. He was breathing like a crazed bull.
He immediately made a move—sending people to wait for Michel outside the school gate.
He brought scissors.
As punishment for daring to deceive him, he would humiliate Michel in front of everyone—cutting off the flower on his head!
He didn’t care if Michel was some rare alien plant type.
In Eric’s eyes, the once cute, shy black-haired youth had now become a grotesque monster in human skin.
But he failed...
Because of a damned alien!
Eric's face twisted in rage as he recalled that day’s humiliation and the person who had thwarted him. His heart felt like it might explode, driving him to destroy something just to vent.
Tonight, he thought, I’ll pick a skinnier guy from here and play with him.
Torture him, fuck him, make him cry and beg for mercy, sobbing uncontrollably...
“Hahaha!” He laughed out loud, taking a swig of beer, eyes narrowing as he scanned the crowd of “sheep” he'd rounded up, selecting his desired type.
Soon, he locked onto his target.
...
The party raged on until early morning.
The villa had many rooms. Some people passed out by the pool; some threw up in the bathroom and fell asleep there.
Others with ulterior motives dragged drunken, dazed people into rooms for their own ends.
The music still blared, tireless. Yet the young men and women, seemingly full of endless energy, had all collapsed. They lay scattered like empty bottles, white foam around their mouths, yellowish liquor staining the floor.
In the master bedroom, Eric, freshly satisfied, tossed a motionless person—either dead drunk or in pain—onto the bed. He wiped himself with two tissues, fished out underwear from under the bed and put it on, then pulled out a cigarette, lighting it with a flick.
The glowing tip flared red; he exhaled a smoke ring.
Eric let out a sigh of satisfaction.
His body relaxed, he decided to take a swim—if those bastards hadn’t vomited in the pool—and then retrieve his phone.
With a cigarette in his right hand, a cigarette pack and lighter in his left, wearing only underwear and slippers, he leisurely walked downstairs, through the living room, and stepped out the glass doors into the large indoor pool area.
He kicked aside a person sleeping beside the pool, shut off the still-playing music, walked to a lounge chair, and picked up his phone from the table.
Unsurprisingly, he saw the reply:
[Wash yourself clean. Tonight, I’ll show you what true fear is, little insect.]
“Wow~ I’m sooo scared~ Hahaha!” Eric rolled his eyes and laughed mockingly, deleting the message. “Poor little Michel, scared like a cornered rabbit, and yet still trying to threaten me?”
“Even if you’re angry, what can you do to me?”
“You powerless, insignificant thing—do you even know who I am? I’m Eric Ellis! What a joke!”
He flicked the spent cigarette onto the floor. Ssss— the glowing ember fizzled out in the beer and pool water on the ground.
He tossed the phone back onto the table.
Looking over the pool, Eric saw no filth, just a couple of bras left behind by some drunk girls.
He stretched, did a half-hearted warm-up, and jumped into the pool.
“Splash!”
Water splashed everywhere...
Above him, the tall transparent glass dome revealed the vast, dark night.
Those passed out near the pool made no sound.
With the music off, the air grew eerily quiet. The tall, round building amplified every sound.
Despite the bright lights, the indoor pool area felt more like a sterile morgue—strangely dead and chilling...
“Splash…”
“Splash…”
“Splash…”
The spacious pool’s blue water shimmered, light rippling onto the walls.
Eric, swimming alone, noticed nothing amiss. He paddled hard, splashing cold, transparent water that remained icy despite the heaters.
He pushed through the water.
The waves he created crashed against the pool walls.
“Splash…”
“Splash…”
The acoustics magnified every sound.
After a few laps, Eric got bored. He surfaced, wiped his face, took deep breaths, and lazily leaned his arms on the pool edge, tilting his head back to rest.
As he squinted in satisfaction, he suddenly felt like something was watching him. He frowned and opened his eyes, irritation etched on his brow.
The dark sky revealed scattered stars. The faint moonlight barely illuminated the space—mediocre weather for Chicago, but not bad.
Using that faint glow, he looked up—and froze.
A humanoid figure was crouched on the glass dome above him, staring directly at him!
Its eyes reflected the light. Its face was too dark to see clearly, like a ghost grinning at him. Who knew how long it had been watching?
Eric: “!!!”
“Who’s there!!”
Eyes wide in shock, he stood up quickly. The uncooperative water made him stumble. Regaining his balance, he looked up again.
The figure was gone.
Instead, a white plastic bag hung from above, soon fluttering down.
“A plastic bag?”
How could a bag like that show up near a villa halfway up a mountain?
Maybe one of the drunk guests had tossed it outside carelessly.
Eric was sure he wasn’t drunk—he’d had a lot of beer, but not enough to get him wasted. Besides, he still had energy to screw someone...
Something felt wrong.
He immediately climbed out of the pool. The wet tiles nearly made him slip as he grabbed the edge and hauled himself up. The splashing water echoed through the large, quiet space.
When a room is that silent, even the smallest sound becomes sharp and jarring.
The people on the floor didn’t wake. They lay scattered.
Eric glanced at them—and had the creeping thought that they didn’t look asleep...
More like... dead.
Damn it.
What the hell!
These pigs!
Unease and irritation surged in him. He kicked one of them hard, flipping them over. With that kind of pain, even a passed-out drunk should groan or twitch.
But nothing.
Not a sound.
The body rolled like a sandbag—and didn’t move again.
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