Lanes Street.
"Hey, Christa." Mr Richardson poked his head into Christa's room. "you're still up. You okay?" His eyes went up to the wall clock. It read '2:00'
He gave an exhalation that reflected how troubled he is and slipped into the room, tightly closing the door behind him.
Christa didn't even lift her head to look at him as he approached her and sat beside her on her bed.
"What's bothering you?" Dr Richardson asked.
"Nothing dad. I just, I just feel like staying awake," Christa replied.
Dr Richardson stared at her for a while, his mind ruminating a lot of things. Then he sighed. "The recent days haven't been your best, Christa. And I think you should rest."
Christa turned her head to him, his eyes showing a complex emotion. Her steel blue eyes gazed at her father's black as night one, then she looked up to her father's black hair, unlike her Auburn.
Dr Richardson frowned wondering what she could be thinking as he stared back at her. But she looked away from his eyes.
Dr Richardson sighed again. His eyes flashed with a kind of downcast emotion as he said. "The test result showed that your level of anxiety skyrocketed lately. You sleepwalk and you see things. Everything equates to trauma."
"And you believe that?" Christa asked uninterestedly.
"Not that I did, Christa. But I know you have been obsessed with one thing since you became old enough to hold a pen and read comics." Dr Richardson turned his head to her, concern was on his face as he continued. "Because of it, you have no friends."
Dr Richardson sighed and said, "trauma comes from an experience, either what you've seen or heard. So I think you should open up to me if there's anything extraordinary that you've seen lately."
"Dad." Christa turned to face her father. "Will you believe me if I tell you supernatural creatures really exist?"
Dr Richardson smiled, it had no reassurance in it. It reflected the middle aged man's disapproval.
"Christa, I know what you're thinking. But there's no such thing as supernatural. Even though there are hypothesis that such creatures exists but they don't. It's fantasy."
Christa stared at her father, intensely. She already knows this would be his reply. And it breaks her heart to know that the one family she has with her doesn't believe her, even though it sounds crazy.
She can't blame him anyway. Since he was a kid, he has been believing there's no such thing as supernatural beings. So it's natural for him to doubt that they exist now that he's almost forty. As a medical doctor who went to one of the best universities in the world, Harvard meds, believing such a thing is unprofessional.
"Is there anything else you wanna share with me?" Dr Richardson asked.
"No, nothing." She stuttered.
Dr Richardson reached out his hand and held Christa's hand in his'. "No matter what, Christa, just remember that I'm always here for you, okay?"
"Tsk!" Christa scoffed, then said with sarcasm, "like you were there for my mom."
Dr Richardson flinched at this. He bent his head downwards, trying to hide his hurt expression from Christa.
Christa suddenly seemed to realize what she had just done, her eyes holding remorse as she held her hands to her mouth. "I, I'm sorry, dad."
"No, no." Dr Richardson lifted his head and answered quickly as he forced a smile, even though he wasn't able to cloak the bitterness he was feeling completely.
"I didn't mean to say that." Christa lowered her head and fiddled with her hands, in shame.
"You don't need that, okay?" Dr Richardson stood up and faced her squarely, holding her shoulder as he said, with regret tinged in his voice. "I know it's my fault that your mother left us when you were that young and I'm sorry for it. But I want you to know that I'm here for you."
Christa lifted her eyes to look at her father's. Then she nodded.
"Thank you." Dr Richardson mouthed, surprising Christa, then he reared back. "I have to go to work, now. There's an emergency."
"Okay." Christa muttered.
Dr Richardson stared at her for a while then nodded with reassurance, before stepping out of the room, leaving Christa alone in the room and shutting the door.
Now she's alone again.
Even though it's late in the night, she isn't into sleeping at all. Not after all the scary things she's been seeing lately.
To say that she isn't sure herself, if she's still sane is not an exaggeration.
But she's just one strong person, one of the reasons she hasn't broken down. When people tell her that maybe she's not okay, she says this in her mind, 'I am okay and all I have been seeing is real. Because vampires are real'
She sighed and lifted her face to look at her glass window. It's open. She has been having a chilling feeling for hours, perhaps, it's due to the cozy breeze, entering the room through the window.
She sprung to her feet and walked to the door. As she slid down the glass window, she could see, through the glass, some dark figures loitering around in the dark road of the street.
Her face took on a frown as she narrowed her eyes. She thought she saw red eyes- no it's yellow. Or perhaps it void black.
Her heart jumped.
Just at the moment, a blue sedan that belongs to her father swerved onto the road and the headlights shone brightly and she saw things more clearer.
There was nothing on the road.
She exhaled in relief then pulled the curtain to cover the window. She turned from the window and shuffled to her study table at the left corner of her room and stood before it.
Her eyes roamed on the books scattered across the top of the table. She groaned. Just as her father had said earlier, the past few days haven't been her best.
'I. Am. Okay' she thought to herself, more like she's objecting to what her dad said. Then, she began to pack the books.
She took one on her hands and was about to drop it on the pile of other books when her eyes caught the title on it. She stopped and read the title.
"The Death Of Tommorow Night."
Her heart thumped. She closed her eyes and reopened it and was surprised to see, 'Astronomy'.
She took a deep breath and dropped the book. She grabbed another. As if she wanted to check if something is wrong with her eyes, she read the title. "If Cats Disappeared From The World, Genki Kawamura."
She dropped the book and grabbed another. The title was written in red.
"THE RITUAL."
Her heart literally stopped moving. She blinked and saw something else. The red title was replaced by one written in black "Think Like A Freak."
An short exhalation escaped her lungs. "I'm okay." She muttered to herself again.
Then she dropped the book and grabbed another one. Her eyes went wide and the book fell off her hand. Fear kept her from looking down at the book. It's like the book represents a deep hole that would swallow her if she looks down at it.
On que, something occurred.
All of the sudden. She felt light-headed.
Christa turned around and she was somewhere else. It was as though her room had transformed.
Surprise was visible on her face as she looked around.
The place was dark and roots ran around the space. It was like the place is located right under a tree. The roots were thick and sturdy and she wondered that if the roots belonged to a tree, then the tree must be several years old.
But then she wondered how the tree is gonna live, considering the roots aren't covered in soil, which could serve it the nutrients it needs. But if she knew the roots she's seeing, the tree it belongs to and how old it's, then she wouldn't think like that.
However,
Her frown deepened as she swivel around. "Where am I?" The one million dollars raged in her mind.
But she seemed to get it this time. She's seeing things again. "Not again." She murmured.
"Christa."
A voice called. She jolted and snapped her head around, looking for the owner of the voice.
She could find anybody. Her chest rose and fell and her eyes grew more and more bigger, fear coursed through it.
"I'm here."
The voice said again and she swiveled to the right.
Her eyes went wide when she saw who it was. Kylian.
Her mind reflected what she saw the last time she was like this.
It was when Kylian scared her and she was fleeing for her life, but as she went she drowned in a stream but the same person that scared her, drew her out of a stream, preventing her from drowning and then, again, tried to hurt her.
But despite the last experience, something deep within her felt like it's nothing.
'Kylian would never hurt me' - she thought.
And apart from that, he looked… normal and fine, this time. The roundneck and pants he wore wasn't tinged with red blood, his body was intact and there were no void black or red eyes. It's normal silvery, just like his hair.
She felt butterflies in her belly as she took in Kylian's image, in which he's normal again like when she first knew him. She hasn't taken in his look like this, before. She scrutinized it so much that it was as if she wanted to engrave his image deep within her soul, so that she wouldn't forget, ever.
But then her mind clicked. The question that has been troubling her dropped in her mind.
"What's happening to me?" She asked.
Instead of answering her, Kylian advanced towards her, with slow steps.
With every step he takes closer, he seemed to get weaker as the glint in his eyes became more dull.
Christa's forehead creased and confusion flashed across her eyes as she sensed the weakening situation of the person before her.
"What's happening to you?" Her voice was low as she said.
Kylian soon got to her front. His forehead was drenched in sweat as he gazed weakly at Christa.
"Hey, what is-"
Christa hadn't finished her words when Kylian collapsed, interrupting her question.
Christa panicked and her heart banged as she saw this. She quickly squatted before Kylian and lifted his head with her two hands then placed it on her thigh.
"Kylian, what's going on? What happened to you?" She screamed almost at the verge of tears.
The confusion she was feeling skyrocketed when she saw blood spurt out of Kylian's lip. She scanned his body looking for any fatal wound that could make him like this, then she found plenty.
She couldn't bear the sight of Kylian's blood-covered body.
It was as though she hadn't seen him healthy just now. It was as though she had seen wrong earlier.
She could feel her world crashing as she realized how deathly wounded Kylian was. Her eyes went wide and the tears she was holding onto finally gave way.
"Kylian, please stay with me. You're gonna be, you are gonna be okay. Please stay with me, Ky. Please, Kylian," she stuttered, crying as she pressed her hands on his profusely bleeding chest. Her heart thumped with the fear of loss.
"He, hey," Kylian muttered and blood spurted out next. Christa lifted his head a little more, as she wept.
Kylian strained and muttered something.
Christa didn't hear. She screamed, with her face now drenched in her own tears. "I can't hear you."
Kylian weakly stretched his bloody hand up to Christa's Auburn hair and drew her ears down to his lips.
"What did you say?" Christa asked, super attentive as every blood in her body screamed to save the man on her thigh.
"Save. Me. Christa."
All of the sudden, the space twisted.
Everything vanished and it remained Christa.
Christa looked around in confusion and saw that she was back in her room.
Relief washed through her as she realized it's not real. She wiped her tears, happily as she thanked goodness that it's not real.
As she rejoiced in her heart, she felt something warm on her hands. She looked down to check it out. It's blood. Her hand is soaked in blood. Her heart jumped. Her eyes went wide and she jolted.
She felt her feet step on something and she looked down.
It's the book that fell from her hand earlier.
Her heart banged against her ribcage as her eyes ran down from the top of the cover, down to the title.
Then she saw the title.
'YOUR DEATH IS IMMINENT'
Tears ran down her eyes, involuntarily. She finally succumbed to the fear that gripped her soul tightly as she freaked out.
"Haaaaaaaaaaa!"
********