The song 'Take Me To Church' played through the damaged speakers, as the newly married couple traveled through the deserted highway in their beat-up car. The sky was painted with a deep shade of Prussian blue and there was an uncanny thickness to it, almost blanketing the entire town. The trees lining the sides of the grey road swung their heads wearily, a wailing sound fluttering through the breeze flowing past them.
But remaining oblivious to the ominous aura of the forest, the woman cheerfully hummed to the song while the husband looked at her lovingly, wondering how he got so lucky.
They weren't the lucky ones when it came to marriage and happy endings. He was a poor lad from the small town of Bishiaca, while she was from the city. The memory of their first meet still brought a smile to his dark brown full lips, a beginning to their forever. However, their love wasn't accepted by either of their families, dampening their spirits but not enough to diminish the fire of their love. So, they decided to get married without their permission and move to a new town to start afresh.
The husband leaned over the divider and placed his rough and warm palm over her small and smooth ones, as the woman looked up at him. A gracious smile curved her cherry red lips and her deep blue eyes held a bright glint of amusement.
"I love you," the husband murmured while maneuvering the steering wheel with one hand, his eyes fixed on the beautiful woman beside him.
"I love you too," she chuckled as she leaned forward and connected her soft plump lips with his full yet chapped ones. Their lips molding perfectly as they felt their surroundings blurring into nothingness. There were only them. He and she. Forever.
However, that small little distraction became the biggest mistake of their life.
As the couple was busy being in their very own happy world, they didn't realize when their car approached a huge humanoid figure, eventually hitting it. They quickly pulled away and a terrifying shriek escaped the woman's red lips as the humanoid figure fell down.
The car abruptly came to a skidding halt and beads of sweat covered the man's pale forehead as he worried about the victim's life. He started to get out of the car, when his wife gripped his wrist and looked at him pleadingly, "Please don't go darling. We don't know what lies in the darkness" she said, her deep blue eyes begging him not to leave her alone here in the dark and deserted highway.
Not paying heed to her warning and pleading, he scoffed at her.
"Are you insane? That man might be dead because of me. It's my duty as a human to provide him with proper hospitality," he wrenched his wrist away from her grip and walked up to the back of the car.
The woman feeling helpless, prayed that the person they hit was genuine and no robber in disguise. She had seen enough horror movies to know how this could end and that thought scared her shitless.
The cold breeze flew in through the door that her husband had left open, and she reached forward to close it.
As she was retiring back to her own position, her eyes caught the rearview mirror. There was neither a sign of her husband nor the man who they had hit. Her breath hitched and her blood turned cold as dread started to settle in the pit of her stomach.
She rolled down her windows and called out for her husband, but there was no answer. Dread and panic had filled every organ of her body as the foreboding feeling crept up on her. With her heart caught in her throat, she eventually got out of the car.
"Honey? Honey where are you? Please come out. I'm scared," she croaked as tears pricked at her eyes.
The cold wind gushed past her body, playing with her golden locks as she hastily tried to tame it. Her eyes wandered in the darkness as she tried to make out any sighting of her husband.
Suddenly, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Her stiff shoulders deflated with relief, thinking that it was her husband. Hence, she turned around with a beaming smile that soon morphed into a shriek of horror and terror as what she saw stole her breath forever.
There lying on the floor was her husband's tattered body, looking as if some animal had attacked him and ate what he could, leaving the rest as if it couldn't take anymore. The bits of flesh and blood festered all over the ground as the woman felt nauseous, and at the same moment heartbroken.
Her heart wrenched and a wave of loss washed over her as she realized that her husband was no more. Their small-lived forever ended so soon, and so horrifyingly.
However, the most alarming scene was that his head was missing and being held in the grasp of a humongous human-like figure who grinned at the woman like his next prey reflected on her agitated face.
Realizing the full brunt of the situation, the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Her previous feeling of loss transitioned into one that of pure shock and horror.
"Please let me go. I won't tell anyone about this." the woman turned to look at the monster with pleading eyes. Her petite body shook like a leaf in fear, not wanting to share the same fate as her husband.
"Please-," her words, however, died in her throat as the humanoid figure reached out for her chest. The impact came faster than she had imagined as she saw her heart getting ripped out, right from her own bosom. The arteries and the veins dangled from her chest as the white linen cloth turned into a deep shade of crimson, turning her white wedding dress into that of a burning red.
And instantly her body fell with a thump while the humanoid figure loomed over her, with an amusing expression on his face.
"I'm sorry darling. This has to be done for the greater good. This has to be done until we find her and kill her so that humans can live peacefully on the earth."
He grinned like a Cheshire cat as he stared at her body.
"Small sacrifices need to be made for the greater victory," he sneered as took out the sharp blade from his satchel, and cutting her body into two halves.
Hence, Victoria Falls was once again bathed in blood.