.
[And the winner of the art contest tonight is…]
The young woman felt nervous and held onto her white dress. If she won the contest, the reward would give her enough money to finally go live overseas with her family. Due to their poverty, they couldn't go back to Germany, where they originally came from when she was 5 years old.
She stopped breathing as the suspense felt like an eternity.
Then, the man in front of everyone finally spoke.
[Sasha Thomas! Congratulations! Please come to the front to receive your reward.]
Loud applause flooded the whole place and Sasha didn't believe it. At first, she only joined because her best friend, Yuri, suggested her to. She lacked confidence in her artistic skills and hesitated a lot, but got convinced after a week. Her friend - another one - gently punched her shoulder with a bright smile and told her to get up. The woman could see her friend's eyes shine with happiness and pride as if she was the one who had won.
Sasha felt like crying of happiness. Her dream could finally become reality.
She deserved the price.
The painting she made was inspired by her childhood memories. Even if that was more than ten years ago, she could still remember the deep blue sky and the fluffy clouds, the mountains fading away in the distance and the pretty flowers covering the ground like an endless and colorful sea of pretty rainbows. She could still remember the sweet and soft scent of those and the way she would make crowns out of them and put them on her dog's head. All those sweet memories could be felt through the painting and anyone who saw it could tell it meant a lot, even if it was all simply represented.
After receiving the reward, the rest of the night passed quickly. Once she came back home, she was about to fall asleep but suddenly remembered Yuri, who didn't know her achievement yet. He was probably busy studying, but she couldn't wait for the next day to share the news with him. She texted him and at her surprise, he answered a few seconds after.
[Yuri: What seriously? Congratulations! I'll probably have some free time from now on, so we should throw a party some day.]
she didn't think much of it at first. She was just glad he was thoughtful like that. But right after, she got reminded of him getting a new job recently, and got worried. ''Don't tell me he lost it?...'', She thought.
[Sasha: Wait.. Don't you have that job at the convenience store? What happened????]
[Yuri: About that… It was doing great I guess. But a girl was able to steal alcohol and now I'm definitely gonna be fired.]
[Yuri: It kinda sucks too, since there weren't many people coming and I could spend more time studying.]
Poor guy. Studying even at work. She never saw him taking a rest and she was worried for him. Sasha, her, dropped her studies a few years ago and was an independant artist. She kind of regretted her reckless choices she made as a youngster, but with the reward from the contest – which was 10 million dollars – , She had plenty of money and could worry about other things.
[Sasha: Whaaat? I wish I could help you with that… But I don't understand anything about medicine stuff haha. I hope you'll get a new job quickly.]
[Yuri: Isn't it really late right now? Don't worry about me. Just go to sleep, I'll update you tomorrow. I'm probably going to be fine anyways.]
She sighed. She knew he just didn't want her to feel bad. But she was an adult now, she could deal with it. He was truly a great and thoughtful guy, but he needed to love himself. She smiled at her phone and told him good night before closing it.
She turned the lights off and started making scenarios where she would tell her family members about the great news. Her brothers would scream in excitement and run all around the house, her parents would smile and congratulate her. They could finally go back to their real home and spend the rest of their days peacefully.
As she started falling asleep with those happy thoughts, a loud explosion arose from the so far quiet night. It was loud enough to wake up the whole town.
She got up by surprise and immediately ran out of her room. She didn't think of bringing her phone, in the sudden panic.
Downstairs, her family members were already in the living room. They all looked worried and really tired.
Her younger brother, Noah, ran in her direction once he noticed her. In his timid voice, he said:
''S-Sasha… What is happening? Mom and dad don't know either. Are we in danger?''
She looked at his frightened eyes and put her hand on his shoulder. He was trembling.
''Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing too bad. We're not going to die, I'll protect you.''
He was quickly convinced, since she had a black belt in both taekwondo and karate. She could fight pretty well.
He smiled and joined the rest of the family while holding his big sister's hand. All they could do is wait for news.
As time would pass, they played a few games.
The second oldest brother, Lucas, put his hand up in the air and said with a loud voice:
''Alright. I have an idea.''
''What is it?'', asked the other brother, Finn.
''Basically, we say a word and the other person has to say another word related to it.''
''Oooh so like, I say flower and Sasha has to say plant?''
''Exactly. Noah, you start.''
''Oh okay! Uhhmmm shower!''
''What kind of word is that??'', laughed Lucas.
''who cares?? Sasha you say it next''
Hearing her name woke her up from the sleepiness that was taking her away. She lifted up her head.
''Oh hum. Shower right? Then I'll go with water.''
Then it was Finn's turn.
''River.''
Then Lucas.
''Fishes.''
''Animal.''
''food.''
''Are you hungry?''
They kept playing as the hours passed. Sometimes, one of them would doze off and the others would wake them up. They still didn't know if going back to their sleep was safe, and there was no internet to check the news.
Then, Sasha remembered the big news she had to tell them. She went to her mom who was looking at them with a smile and started speaking.
''Mo-''
She couldn't even finish her word. She smelled a rancid scent and covered her nose. Then she heard a loud noise and something exploded near the entrance of the house.
''I'll go check it out. You guys stay here.''
Her dad got up and walked toward where the noise could be heard. The smell was getting stronger and they all looked at eachother, worried and petrified.
They waited like that in complete silence for a short moment, but a terrorized scream broke it.
No words could describe how she felt in that instant. Her mom and siblings all got up in a jump but didn't make a noise.
In the dark, they saw a huge, deformed looking hand touching the wall from the entrance's hallway. The thing had a pale glowing skin and had red substances all over it. Sasha, in true horror, recognized the substance. It was blood.
.