THE ringing phone made Zac jump out of bed.
The caller ID showed an unknown number.
He inwardly groaned and answered the call, not knowing who it was.
"Hello?" Zac said, more as a question, still feeling groggy.
"Hi! Is this Zac?", A panicked feminine voice asked at the other end of the line.
"Yeah, It's Zac. May I know who's speaking?" Zac asked trying to recall the phone call etiquette his mother had taught him when he was little.
"This is Leah, Tina's friend." She said in response.
"Oh, hey Leah. Is everything alright?"
"I just needed to ask you something, Zac. Tina usually comes for volleyball classes every Sunday morning. But she didn't turn up today and she hasn't been answering our calls either. We just thought we'd ask you if she mentioned anything because we saw her with you at the restaurant last night." She asked, expectantly.
All Zac's drowsiness was now replaced with panic.
"Last night, she did mention that she was going for the volleyball classes. I don't think she wanted to miss it." He said.
"Oh, then I think I should go check on her and make sure tha-" she was saying but he interrupted her and said, "No, it's okay. I'll go over to her place and check on her."
"Okay, thanks Zac. Bye!" She said.
"Anytime Leah. Bye!" He responded and hung up the call.
He jumped off the bed and threw on on a pair of Jean's and a black T-shirt. He brushed his teeth and headed out to Tina's apartment.
He took a cab to her apartment and as he was being driven to Tina's place, he tried not to panic.
Maybe she was just tired and was sleeping in, he thought.
He tried calling her but she didn't pick up the call. He was 10 minutes away from Tina's place when he realized he didn't check if she sent him a text message.
And she had.
The text message ran like this.
Hi Zac,
I need you to come to my place Asap.
He re-read the message a couple of times feeling confused because Tina messaged him at 9:00 AM and it was 10:30 AM now. Leah had called at around 10:05 AM. Which meant that Tina was awake but hadn't gone for her volleyball classes- even though she had told him, last night, that she didn't want to miss them.
This was exactly what was puzzling Zac.
The cab came to a screeching halt in front of the building where Tina had an apartment.
He payed the driver and got off the cab. He took the elevator and went up to the third floor, the floor where her apartment was.
He was a few yards away from Tina's apartment when he saw that its front door was thrown open already.
Tina usually kept her door shut, he thought.
But maybe she kept it open because she knew he was coming.
When he was a step away from entering the front door , Zac realised that the door wasn't thrown open, instead it had been torn off its hinges and was kept flush against the wall for support, keeping it from falling.
"Umm..Tina?" He said as he entered her flat. "Is everything alright?" He asked.
Zac moved towards the bedroom when he got no reply but suddenly felt a strong- and cold- hand over his mouth and another hand held the back of his neck.
He got startled for a moment but then regained his composure.
"Cristina?!" He exclaimed, but because of the hand on his mouth it came out more as a whimper. When he got no reply, Zac kicked the person holding him, but the person didn't even budge.
The person shoved Zac inside one of the bedrooms. Zac stumbled but regained his balance quickly and faced the other person- who had also entered the bedroom and shut the door behind himself.
The room was illuminated by bright lights and the blinds were drawn shut.
The guy was tall, fair and blonde haired. He looked familiar to Zac. Now where have I seen him, Zac thought.
"I'm Freddie. You may have seen me outside the club you were at last night. I work as a bouncer there." He said, probably because of the confused look Zac was giving him.
"And I'm Zac. And I would really like to know what you are doing here and where Cristina is." Zac said, giving Freddie a cold glare.
The former felt uneasy and annoyed to see Freddie in Tina's apartment. Although, he knew, it shouldn't be any of his business.
Freddie stared at Zac for a long moment. He than sighed as if he was about to begin narrating a long story.
"Last night, when Cristina left the club, she was probably on her way home when-" Freddie was saying, but Zac interrupted him.
"Are you gonna let me outta here? I need to see Cristina." Zac said, impatiently.
"Look, you need to understand that-" Freddie was saying but Zac cut him off midsentence. Again.
"Just let me see her." Zac said. "I don't know what on earth you're doing here in the first place. I'm not listening to you until I see her and make sure she's okay." Zac growled.
"But you need to-" Fred was saying but shut his mouth, saving Zac from the trouble of interrupting him, knowing that it was worthless trying to convince Zac, who had already made up his mind.
Freddie shrugged and sighed.
"Okay." Fred said, after a long pause. "If that's what you want. She's in the other bedroom. But-" Freddie added,"If you're gonna see her then I'm coming with you."
"Whatever. Just let me see her." Saying this Zac motioned to Fred to open the door.
Fred led him out of the room and Zac followed, silently, into the next bedroom, which was pitch dark.
Zac squinted for a moment or two, his eyes trying to adjust to the sudden darkness.
When he did so, he noticed a sleeping figure on the bed.
Tina.
He moved closer to the bed to see if she was Alright but Freddie caught his wrist before he did so. Zac looked up at Freddie, whose eyes seemed to be warning him about something.
"Don't wake her up." Fred said, his voice barely whisper.
Zac nodded and Fred let go of his wrist.
Zac moved closer to the bed and knelt down beside it.
Her breathing was steady but even in the darkness she seemed slightly pale to Zac. Her eyes fluttered in her sleep.
By now, Zacs' eyes were accustomed to the darkness. He observed her carefully for a few minutes more, until he reached to the conclusion that she was fine.
But a few thoughts were still bugging Zac.
Why was Cristina still asleep?
What was Freddie doing in her apartment?
Why was the front door torn of its hinges?
Alot of answers flooded into Zac's mind but he dismissed them, knowing it would be better to just ask Freddie.
He looked back at Tina one last time as he was about to get up, when something caught his eye
Her lower lip seemed to be bleeding slightly.
Maybe she bit her lip in her sleep, he thought. But he was curious to know what exactly caused it so he stood up and stooped over her.
Behind him, he heard Freddie suck in a breath.
Her mouth was slightly parted as she slept.
He looked closely at it.
He was completely taken aback when, in place of her upper incisors, he saw a pair of fangs.
***