𝙷𝙰𝚉𝚈
𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚'𝐬 𝐏.𝐎.𝐕.
The next morning, I woke up with a pounding in my head. I groaned as I sat up. I tried hard not to crack my neck, a force of habit I developed, and instead just stretched my arms upward. I felt a sting on my neck. I carefully reached to my neck trying to locate where exactly the pain was coming from. As I touched near where my carotid pulse beat against the skin of my neck I felt another sting of pain. Curious as to what was up to my neck, I got up from bed and headed towards the bathroom sink, and looked at my neck in the mirror. I noticed a faint trace of bloodstain in the area.
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗜 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀?" I hissed because of the pain. Cleaning the wound and then treating it, I still searched through my head what really happened last night. I also washed my face in the process and brushed my teeth. On my way to the closet when I noticed I was still in the clothes I had worn the night before. I sat on the foot of my bed again trying to figure out how I got the wound on my neck and how I got home. Everything is hazy in my head though, but I scavenge a few events. It is just that I am not sure if those really happened or just me imagining, desperate to fill up my memories from last night.
I remembered sitting on the swing in a nearby playground. The next scenes were a little vague, yet I could also remember someone pouncing on me, a pair of eyes entirely black staring at me hungrily, a sting of pain on my neck, then the weight was lifted off. Though I am a little hesitant to accept, I also quite vividly remember a set of electric blue eyes and a mop of silver hair. I shrugged off that majestic image in my head telling myself that was no way near real.
"𝗔 𝗴𝘂𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀? 𝗡𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮." I told myself, chuckling.
~***~
It has been a few days since Ji-anne's birthday. Therefore, it has been a few days since that incident too. I tried my best to forget about that night, convincing myself it was no way near possible. I am off from my shift at the bookshop. It was early at the same time and quite late. I finished my shift earlier than usual because there were barely any customers this late and the next person to have their shift turned up quite early. It is already late though it is now a few minutes past midnight. I am taking my usual route home. Though there were a few street lamps working along the way, I am quite comfortable. I am always taking the same route on a daily basis anyway.
I was thinking about a few things concerning my bills when I heard faint footsteps from behind. I turned around just to check if there was someone behind me. Just then someone pounced on me, sending both of us landing on the concrete street floor. "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹?" I said, shocked. I froze upon seeing the 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 who had pounced on me. Though it was a female, her raven hair with a few highlights and complete pitch-black hungry eyes were a little too familiar. The memories from last Friday are coming back to me. I felt myself shiver at the memory. No way was this happening again, I thought that was just my mind conjuring up things to fulfil my hazy memories.
She reached for my neck, the one with a wound, it was still quite fresh and now I can imagine the bandages covered with more blood. She peeled off the bandages and sniffed on them. If I were not so scared, I would have furrowed my brows at what she just did. As if that was not weird enough for me, she squeezed the bandages above her agape mouth and licked the few drops of blood that came from it.
"𝗦-𝗵𝗶𝘁" I cursed. "𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵." I said to myself and tried to get the female off of me. She snarled, making me squirm under her, frightened. "𝗙-𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗜'𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱." Just as I am finally accepting the fact that I might die at the hands of this female beast, her weight over me vanished. I opened my eyes to see where she had gone only to find the female a few feet from me. She was trying to stand up, weakly. She growled at me when she successfully did. I thought she was growling at me only to hear another dominating growl from behind me.
I turned my head to see a set of electric blue eyes and a mop of silver hair, another all too familiar sight for me. The male behind me growled again louder than the female in front of me had. I might have seen a glint of fear in the latter's eyes before she blinked it away and dashed to some dark alley, but I have no time to ponder. I was too shocked to move my entire body except for my eyes. I glanced up to the male who had saved me, twice. Our eyes met and I can feel myself being drawn to his captivating eyes. He gasped when his eyes landed on my neck. The same captivating blue orbs now held hunger in them. And before I could say anything he was already running away.
~***~
A few weeks had passed and a few more of those 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 of the same behaviour had jumped on me almost every couple of nights. I was beginning to wonder if there was a virus spreading and making people somewhat bloodthirsty. I was also trying to figure out who that blue-eyed man was that saves me every time. If his being there, always, was purely coincidental or if he was also after my blood, I have no idea what the answer would be. After all, even if the colour of his eyes and the beasts were different, I always notice the same thirst for blood in his and theirs. What was weird is that instead of pouncing on me after shooing the other away, he would instead just leave.
It was like the universe is just playful making that silver-haired guy cross paths with me whenever a 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 was about to harm me. I am not fully trusting the guy though. It might just be that he only wanted me to be killed by himself lest saving me from one of his 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 friends.