• Chapter 1- Dreams

    It that dark and scary place again, a place where no sun has penetrated the dark and gloomy clouds beneath the sky. Dark and scary. Yes, that’s how I describe that strange place.
    I didn’t ask myself how or where am I, but instead I looked around and wondered off. My feet lead me up to a strange but big castle. It was as gloomy and scary as this place, but worse. A lot worse.
    I wondered off too much, I thought but I’m still not satisfied with what I’m seeing. For some strange reason I felt like I still want to see more of this place. Deep in thought, that’s what my current status is when I heard footsteps. And judging by the sound of it, it’s in a hurry. Instead of looking into it, I decided to wait and see.
    Everything happened so fast, I was flabbergasted when a guy has passed by me. It’s to blurry, I didn’t see his face well. Follow him, that’s what I want but I saw that some werewolves and guards are after him. Is he a criminal? A murderer? No way, that would really disappoint me. But still, for some strange reason my urge to help him was stronger.
    So I followed him until he reached an open window of the castle. He was looking down below and at his back, in a few minutes the guard will be catch him. I saw his mouth open, murmuring about something. A prayer maybe? Then he widely open his mouth, now it looked like he was shouting at something.
    I was confused with the stream of events happening all at once. My short attention span can’t process this much scenes, I thought. Then the last thing I saw was him jumping down below. I tried to reach him but…
    I want to help him but unfortunately my alarm clock went off.
    “Darn it, just when the climax was about to happen!” I shouted, annoyed.
    My alarm still went on, I was surprised when I saw that I was almost late now. So I panicked and got up quickly which eventually gave me a head rush. I felt dizzy for a moment but it didn’t stop me from going to the bathroom. I’m such a clumsy girl.
    Well, so much for that, I finished my preparations for school so I hurried to go there now. It’s March, 18th of March to be exact and we still have normal classes. Sometimes, I don’t want to go to school because it’s boring sometimes, but I want to see and hang out with my classmates. Me and my classmates are always doing silly and childish things, you can call it immaturity but it’s fun. After all, we’re still freshmen students.
    It only took only 5 minutes for me to get to school, but just like my classmates, I still find it strange that I’m always late for school. When I arrived at our classroom, it was normal; chairs not in place, some students outside and some have their own agendas. So it means we have no regular class today. At last, I can finally continue the book that I was reading. I sat down at my usual chair which was in the edge of the classroom, I like it there because there aren’t any or too many chairs around me. I’m kind of claustrophobic when it comes to things like that.
    This book is about vampires and other weird creatures, but then, falls in love with a human. It’s a pretty basic kind of story, but even so, I don’t feel the characters thought in it. That’s why I’m reading it, I want to know how it feels. The feeling of being in love or loved. Just when the story was starting to be interesting, my classmates came and interrupted me again with their annoying questions.
    “Hi Fuka” Jin said to me with an enthusiastic tone
    Jin and I have known each other for almost a year now. He just transferred here in our school because of certain complications. But even so, we’ve been really close. He annoys me constantly but he’s really kind when you get to know him. But don’t get me wrong here, I don’t have any special feelings for him. I just like him as a close friend. That’s it and there’s nothing to it.
    “Go away, I’m busy”
    “Your always busy you know, and rude”
    “Well, if you don’t want me to be rude then go away”
    “But what if I don’t want to go” he said
    “Ugh!”
    I closed my book in annoyance. Why is it when I’m on the middle of doing something good, something bad happens.
    “Ok, so you have my full attention. What do you want?”
    He looked puzzled and said, “Huh? I don’t remember saying that I want anything from you”
    “Then why are you here?”
    “I just want to tell you something”
    “Hurry up and tell me then,”
    “Have you read the newspaper this morning?”
    I’m trying to remember when was the last time I read the paper, and it was over a month ago. I don’t like reading it because sometimes the things written in there have nothing to do with me or nothing interesting for me, to be exact.
    “No, I haven’t. Why?”
    “Jun told me that the headline was very strange”
    “Strange as in?”
    He didn’t try to explain, but instead he called Jun; his best friend. Sometimes I find it strange that there name are so alike with each other, like they were meant to be friends but sometimes I find it very cute.
    “What?” Jun asked as he went near us
    “Tell Fuka all about the strange thing you read in the newspaper this morning?”
    “Why should I?” he said in a taunting tone
    I gave him a very bad look even though I know that he’s only joking. He chuckled and told me all about it. Jun has been my classmate since the 3rd grade and since then, he teases me and makes me cry. But I don’t have any hard feelings for what he has done before. Like I always say, forget the past transgressions and move on.
    Apparently it’s about another murder, at first it’s very common. The body was found near our street, that kind of scared me. But as I listened, I found out that the victim’s blood was drained to the last drop. Some of the organs are missing; the heart and the liver. The authorities suspects that an animal might have done this. But we live in the middle of a city for crying out loud. If an animal did this then, it simply means that it’s still on the loose. Oh great, a wild animal is on the loose and I’m all alone in our house since last week. Talk about coincidence.
    For some strange reason that headline bothered me so much during my free time, but I tried to ignore it.
    I don’t want to think about it because it’s almost lunch time and I don’t want to ruin my appetite. Happy thoughts. That’s all the things I should think about. I’m no good at lying to myself so it’s no good at all.
    I walked to the table with a strange look in my face. My friends Naru, Toshiue, Haru, Rika, Ai, Aja, and Aya. There are my closest friend, even though from time to time I’m irritated at what they do. And besides, they are one of the few people that can stand my “attitude”. Some students are afraid of me or something, I don’t know why. I’m just being me after all.
    As usual, there are talking about the new topic of our class. They all like to gossip, including Haru; considering the fact that he’s a guy. Aja and Rika are the biggest newspaper in our group. By newspaper, I meant; the first people to hear the news. I don’t know how it they do it so fast. They know about the newest gossip around here before everyone else does.
    Naru and Toshiue was laughing, I don’t what’s funny about it though. Naru has been here since grade school but we only became good friends this year. She’s really nice and fun to hang with once you get to know her. Toshiue, is a tall and light brown haired girl. She’s really nice, she nothing bad to say about people all the time unlike me.
    Ai, is as usual, not listening to our conversation, mind wondering into the skies and playing with her food. Sometimes I worry about how she can’t keep up or how uninterested she is to listen to our topic.
    Unlike Ai, her cousin; Aya was listening attentively. She’s shock at first then she doesn’t believe it seriously. Well, let’s just say that she doesn’t take all things seriously. She’s a happy go lucky kind of girl.
    And so much for having a nice lunch and happy thoughts. They kept on talking and talking about how gruesome the victim looked like. Aya and Haru even joked about how they were killed, which I didn’t find very funny at all. Even as we were going back to our classroom, they kept on talking about it. And, can you believe it, even during class they talked about it still.
    And at last, my favorite time of the day, going home time.
    That was a long and tiring day (even though I didn’t do anything). Just before I was about to head for the gate and go home, Haru called me. Ok, just great.
    “Hey Fuka!” he shouted as he ran toward me
    “Yea, what is it?”
    “Well, me and the others are going to the mall to hang out and get a bite to eat, want to come with us?”
    “Well… I don’t know, I’m not sure about that”
    “Oh, it will be great. So say you’ll come”
    This is great, I’m stuck between my bad mood and fun. What a great day.
    “So?”
    Say you can’t come because you’re busy, say it, I thought to myself. “Sure, I’ll come”
    “Great, then let’s go. The others are waiting”
    You’re such a great liar Fuka, why the heck did you say that? Now, I’m stuck again. Since there’s no turning back now, I might as well enjoy it. We’re going to the mall so I might as well grab myself something to eat for dinner.
    Aya and I, went for a little window shopping on the way. I found some nice clothes but I didn’t buy anything. It would be rude if I buy something for myself while they’re not. Haru also went for a little window shopping of himself, but I didn’t really understand his taste for clothes. He likes long sleeved clothes and jackets even though its hot. We bought some ice cream after the window shopping and some finger food, we talked about the people in our classroom, which was fun. I wont deny it but I like gossip as much as they did. Especially when it’s about this new girl at our school; Kaoru, she’s very strange and weird. As in weird beyond all reasons. She talks to her self sometimes, and it’s hard to keep up with her especially during a conversation.
    I know she’s not bothering anyone and all, but I can’t help it. I don’t like her because…I don’t know, I just don’t like her.
    Whenever I see her, I feel like there’s something I won’t like about her or rather not nice about her. It’s a very strange feeling and I can’t put my finger on it.
    Haru told that she’s a flirt especially to guys that are not in school. Or she doesn’t show her true color at school. Some says she’s a back stabber because she back stabbed Toshiue once, while some says she’s just plain weird.
    I don’t know which of those things are true, I still don’t like her. Plus, those rumors have made my own impression of her.
    When the sun was starting to set, we all decided its time to go home because they’re parents will get mad if they went home late. It would be nice if that rule still applies to me. We all went our separate ways now, and as usual, I have to go home alone since nobody lives near our school except for me.
    It was a lonely walk to our house, I tried not to think about it to much. I tried not to think about how lonely it was being alone at our house since my brother went to college and since my parents(well, foster parents actually) have left for America.
    I was deep in my thoughts when something great happened, it started to rain. The only day that I forgot my umbrella, and it would have to be now of all days. My day just keeps on getting better and better. Well, since I can’t do anything about it now, I tried not to dwell with it too much. Instead, I ran as fast as I can and took a shortcut. It was raining heavily and I didn’t have any other option. I can’t see clearly because of the heavy rain. I ran as fast as I can. Thinking of the things that I will do when I got home.
    Slam.
    Everything happened so fast that I found myself sitting up on the wet floor.
    “Why don-“ was all I could say
    I was startled by what I have seen. A big ugly man. He wasn’t ugly as in ugly beyond all reasons, I said that because he’s eyes were blood shut, mouth watering with saliva and blood. He was ugly as in scary.
    Blood?
    I searched around to see why the heck did had blood all over his mouth. And then…I saw it.
    A girl, about my age was lying on the cold wet floor with deep wound. She looks like she could almost bathe in her own blood. And apparently it looks like I’ve disrupted his dinner.
    I covered my mouth in shock and disgust when I saw that her heart literally ripped out from her body.
    My body was numb in fear, I can’t even turn my head to face that…that monster. I was terribly shaking with fear when I realized that…I was next.
    This experience is like some crime-investigation movie.
    Someone witnesses a crime going on, and she accidentally interrupts the death scene of the victim, then she realizes that she’s next.
    Next?
    But I’m not ready yet. I don’t want to be next. I don’t want to die yet.
    My body was numb, but I tried my best to get up and ran. I don’t know where but at least far enough to be as far as possible from this monster.
    The monster was looking at me with a creepy smile on his face. Which only means that he wants to eat me.
    But no.
    I have to be strong.
    At least for my sake because no one is going to protect me now.
    I disregard the fear inside of me and stood up. When I got up, I knew that I was going to be safe. I’m going to get out of here unharmed and alive.
    Slam
    My hair was pulled by him and he pinned me on the ground. Any kind of scream didn’t come out of me because he was holding my throat.
    Pathetic.
    I’m going to die like this, without even a slight chance of winning a fight against him. Pathetic.
    But even so, I can’t give up. I have to fight this monster off.
    I tried to lift up my head but it was no good. I felt dizzy all of a sudden.
    When I leaned to my right, I saw blood. A lot of blood.
    But where did it come from?
    I looked around to see if it was coming from his “dinner”, but it’s not.
    It’s coming from my head. That’s why I was feeling dizzy.
    I can’t do anything anymore, he had me pinned hard against the ground and I can’t fight him off. I guess this is it.
    I closed my eyes, and cried for one last time.
    Five, four, three, two, one.
    Huh?
    What is taking him so long. As much as possible I want this to be a quick death.
    I slowly opened my eyes to see what’s happening.
    And there he was, staring straight into the dark street. Scared and startled.
    But why?
    I looked up and saw in the dark street, a silhouette of a person. A man. Just standing there. But I can also see something red.
    The man came out of the dark to reveal himself.
    “I’m sorry to have disturbed your meal” he said in a sarcastic tone.
    I was surprised by the monster’s reaction. He stood up and tumbled onto the ground.
    I got up and saw that the monster was trying to ran.
    Why?
    I looked at the man and saw that his eyes were dark red, and they were glowing. He had dark brown hair. He was wearing a black shirt with black denim pants. There is nothing I find scary about this guy except his eyes, so why is the monster so scared.
    He walked at the monster and said “Honestly, you guys are always causing so much trouble for me,”
    He knows this monster?
    “but I’m going to fix this now, once and for all” he said while holding up his hand in a slashing way
    The monster ran but the guy was far too fast for him. The monster was no match for him.
    He grabbed the monster and slammed him to the solid concrete wall.
    The monster tried to fight him off but the guy was just too strong for him.
    The guy punctured the monster’s chest and literally grabbed its heart out and then crushed it with his own hands. And threw the monster’s body like it was just a piece of can.
    All of it happened in a blink of an eye.
    This guy is trouble, and dangerous.
    His hands were full of blood right now.
    I walked back, trying to escape without him seeing me.
    Slowly, slowly.
    Boom.
    Oh great, I bumped the trash can. Just my luck.
    “Oh shut up you stupid trash can!” I said as I kicked it some more
    I was startled when I saw him looking at me, amused.
    I looked at him, observing everything there is to observe about him.
    Evil.
    That’s the feeling I was getting from him. a dark evil aura. Oh, this is bad, real bad. This guy’s dangerous, I have to get out of here.
    What is he? It feels like he isn’t human.
    Wait.
    “Honestly, you guy are always causing so much trouble for me” that’s what he said to that monster earlier. He said it so casual, which means that he knows what or who that monster is. Could it be that he is also one of that monster? Or maybe the one who created that monster, judging by the scared look on the monster’s face.
    I don’t know what to do so I grabbed the trash can’s lid and said, “Don’t you dare come near me,”
    But he was just looking at me, standing there, amused again.
    “Or else-“
    “Or else what then?” he asked me in a taunting tone
    “Or else, I’ll hit you with this as hard as I can.”
    He started at me then laughed.
    “I’m serious about it, so stop laughing”
    “Do you think that that thing will stand against me? Have you seen what I’ve done to that hungry guy over there?” he said as he pointed his head toward the lying monster on the ground.
    “Yes, I’ve seen and I’m not afraid of you,”
    He smiled at me and disappeared all of a sudden.
    He’s gone.
    I looked at my back and was surprised to see him right in front of my face.
    “Really? You’re not?”
    I was startled by how incredibly fast he was, I didn’t even see him move. What is this guy exactly?
    “Y-yes, I’m not! Why should I, there’s nothing to be afraid”
    “Why should you?” he said as he laughed, “Don’t you see, I can easily crush you or take your heart out without you even-“
    “I-I don’t care! I’m still not afraid of you!”
    Silence was surrounding us now, nothing but the sound of the heavy rain.
    He just stood there, staring at me. But why?
    He was staring hard at me.
    He smirked at me and said, “I don’t have time to play around.” Then he closed his eyes and turned around.
    “Hey, wait. I’m no-“
    My head
    My head hurts.
    Everything is turning into black now, but wait, I’m not finished yet.