His oppression

Cleansing

Chapter Fifteen: CLEANSING

I was getting impatient. It’s a frequent occurrence but I just couldn’t contain myself this time. Wasting time is just not in my vocabulary and it probably never will. Just every single time I look at Radcliff then he smiles at me, it makes me feel guilty even though I’ve yet to do something wrong or f**k it up and whatever. I wouldn’t know a single thing about hope but as a gut feeling, I could see it in his eyes. So what did I do?

What did I do? What I did was went to the drugstore to pick up that Epsom salt. If it doesn’t work then it doesn’t work. At least we tried a way and not just wait for a full moon like the lady said. Because I’m not just going to sit on my arse for the whole way round when I could do something else of importance.

The Epsom salt was not as expensive as I thought they were. Because you only needed a minimal amount to let it sink in the tub. About from one to two cups is sufficient enough and fortunately, there is a small tub that I don’t ever use in the bathroom because I don’t like to waste my water bill. The bill for water is significantly lower than electricity but that doesn’t mean I have to take advantage of that when the shower is a thing.

For this one thing, I’m going to be filling up the tub just so he could bathe in it. If he could. If he can’t, then the bathtub is all on me now.

The salt bath, but just having the right type of salt, is a common way to get rid of bad elements and negativity in your life so I’ve been pondering if I need that. And I’ve come to conclude that I’m the only negativity in my life so how was this bath going to remove me? I think there was always a demon and an angel both sitting on either of my shoulders and I’ve just been ignoring the angel all along. So whatever comes out of my mouth isn't what I really intended, you know?

It's the demon's fault that I have been like it since I was a child.

Oh who am I kiddin’? I just don’t have a great personality.

“You’ve been going out a lot by yourself lately, are you meeting new people?” Radcliff asked out of nowhere when neither of us were speaking up whilst I was reading something on my phone.

I snorted. “Meeting new people? If I were, I wouldn’t go home so easily. Wait, that’s something I’ll probably do when my give a f**k meter goes down.”

“That’s too bad. How about that girl you work with? Aren’t you two close?” he just questioned with a small smile.

I recalled the girl he’s speaking about before coming into realisation. “Oh you mean Diane?” I asked, one of my eyebrows raised. “She comes to me but lately, she hasn’t been coming to work.”

“You’ve never sent her a mail or letter of some sort to ask how she’s doing?”

“Oh that’s cute. You think we’re still sending each other letters and owls come pecking on your windows.” I laughed at that before putting my phone down. “No, it feels like a bothersome to do so.”

“How so? If you truly care for the person, you will do your best and try to know their wellbeing.”

“Well I do not care enough,” I told him, exhaling. “We’ve only hung out once and that’s it. Though she’s nice and all at work, it really does take me some time to care.”

“I understand,” he nodded his head. “What did you buy?”

“Oh.. the salt that we needed initially.” I lifted up the bag from the plastic. “I can’t wait without doing anything else so here we are. If it doesn’t work then that’s fine.”

“What happened with wasting money?” he cheekily asked, tilting his head to the side to tease me even more.

“It’s your money,” I smiled before pulling him towards the bathroom so we could start. “I don’t know if you can bathe or not.”

“Can you smell me?”

I sniffed his outer clothes before looking at him. “You smell like nothing.”

He chuckled. “I just think you’re insisting I bathe because my scent is probably horrendous. That would be understandable as I have been around for so many decades.”

“Oh no, no!” I laughed at that, shaking my hands in the air. “That’s not my reason. I told you I just can’t sit around and do nothing. It’s just not me. And it’s worth a try. We’re both clueless on what to do but if we can believe hard enough to make this work, we’re on the right track.”

“Who are you and what did you do to Aria?” he asked, crossing his arms against his chest. “Aria doesn’t believe.”

“Aria has been thinking,” I said before turning on the hot water. “and Aria wants to help Radcliff.”

“Is that so? Does Aria care about Radcliff enough that she really wants to help him?”

“You’re pushing it!” I laughed, giving his body a slight push. “Could you get your body wet?”

“There are certain substances that may soak my body but I still have yet to discover them.”

“Wait, salts are to keep demons away, it’s something from an article I’ve read. And ghosts too, you’re a ghost.” I pointed out before putting salt into a measuring cup.

“I don’t think I am.”

“But you’re-- huh, that’s weird. You’re not even transparent and you could be seen in the sunlight.” I looked at him for a second. “That’s really weird.”

“I don’t think we’ve come to terms on what I really am.”

I put the salt to his face to see if he had any reaction to it but all that I saw was him looking at the salt and his eyes were cross eyed at how close it was to the perimeter. 

“You don’t seem reactive.” I closed the tap when the bath was filled up with both cold and hot water before pouring the salt in. “So give it a try. And let me know what you think.”

“Okay.. should I take off my attire?” he asked, taking off his outer clothing.

“On second thought, I’ll be outside.” I let him be and exited out of the bathroom and breathed out.

Why did I think about what his body looked like under all those clothes? Why has that crossed my mind all of a sudden? I acknowledge the fact that Radcliff is very attractive, at least in my preference, but what goes through my mind right now is something that seemed so illegal per se. And when he didn’t even bother letting me out of that room.

The flirt he is!

I fanned myself with my hand before going to the kitchen again to grab a glass of water. My body and face felt hot and it’s not normal. I feel like I’m going through puberty again with all these hormones acting up.

Grabbing my phone to distract myself, I looked at articles again that inform how bathing with epsom salt helps with curses to further educate myself on this matter. It was a few minutes later before Radcliff went out of the bathroom, gearing up with his clothes.

“Did it work?”

“Did not even feel the water,” he scratched the back of his head. “I apologise for wasting water.”

“Oh no it’s fine, I told myself if it didn’t work then I’ll bathe with it.” I smiled up at him before tapping his chest since it would be awkward to reach for his shoulder.

“Really?” he smiled before nodding his head. “Great. It can help with your stress.”

“I’m not stressed.”

“Sure, you aren’t.” he sarcastically said before pushing me towards the direction where the bathroom was. “Your body is really stiff.”

“What does that have to do with stress?”

“You’re not relaxed so therefore you’re stressed.”

“That’s an odd way to put it,” I pouted before stopping once we reached the bathroom. “You can’t be here, old guy. It’s illegal.”

He wheezed at me saying he’s an old guy. Technically he is and that would be weird considering I never had a boyfriend before, never dated anyone, and here he was.. going to see my body? Hell no.

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” he patted my hair before closing the door behind him as soon as he got out.

I locked the door and dipped my hand in the water to feel its temperature. When I figured it was just right, I took off my clothes, letting them slide down my body. I was a little reluctant but once my foot got in, the next thing I knew my eyes were closed and my body was engulfed by the warm water.

“Hmm..” I moaned in relaxation, my arms out to the sides as a smile reached upon my lips.

If I knew that baths were like these in the first place, I would have done it every single night. Showers are okay but baths give you a different sensation and I think it’s the salt taking effect but I just don’t care to explain entirely how my body feels loosened right now. It felt like I was floating on top of clouds and the noise from the background seemed to blur out.

Total silence overtook my surroundings as I sank deeper to the water until it got half my face submerged.

‘Aria...’

Huh?

‘Aria…’

What is that?

I tried to open my eyes to fail in the end. My eyes refused to open and that gave me a slight panic. Not even slight, I’m already totally panicking and I tried to feel the tub I was in. But somehow I couldn’t feel them. The force of the water was all discernible and it appeared not looking too good at the moment. I lost it when I felt massive hands force me further down. Their fingers were wrapping around my neck and I couldn’t do anything or even have the strength to fight back when I was under water.

The grip was tight and it got tighter by the second.

I attempted to pry my eyes open again and I ended up regretting that decision when I saw what was trying to drown me.

A mist of black cloud hovered over my figure. The eyes were unsettling and I really couldn’t tell what it was even if I had looked at it for as long as I could.

I screamed and screamed but that only made my situation worse when I started choking on the water and I could taste its saltiness. The saltiness of the salt and perhaps the tears that were coming out. The thread that I cling into for hope was gradually getting thinner as I was still fighting back for my life.

“Aria? Aria!”

That voice sounded so familiar.

Help me…

“Aria!”

My body was declining all the control I tried to give it and everything was numb. Eyes wide open, I could see how Radcliff was worried when he pulled me out.

I couldn’t hold it anymore… the shock, the fright. I fell into unconsciousness.