The stench of blood.
No, they are used to it. Basically, they have to deal with it daily. It affects them. But they are used to it. The moon is out tonight. They can see it today. They rarely see the natural light given by the gods or whoever or whatever gave them this wretched life.
No one likes this life.
No one would…and they can't take it away. But at least they are together, right? Well, only an idiot would say that.
A lot is going on through their minds. The youngest stares at the moon with sparkly eyes, imagining what life really is up there for all the kids her age who can see the moonlight every night, with a full stomach, lovely siblings and parents, and generally the warmth of a family. All that could only happen in one of her wildest fantasies.
One of them reminisces about the one time she made it up there; healthy clean people in the streets, plenty food stalls and oh the fresh air!!! Again, this is something she could only fantasize about.
The eldest has one thing in mind: revenge. She wants to kill them all. She will. She knows she will. How? She doesn't care how, but she will. Even if it's the last thing she'll do before she dies.
The moon disappears.
At least they saw it, after a really long time.
"its…. ….gone…." the youngest says.
"Lets head back."
.
.
Their little space is as quiet and as dark as ever. Well, it always is like this, and will forever be. Its their fate after all.
Melda and jess play around as they get in their little space while the eldest watches. A hint of a smile forms around her mouth.
"oh! Jess, look, big siz is smiling after a really long time!"
"shut the fuck up. And….i'm not your sister. Also the two of you had better go to bed now."
"but-"
"it's an order. Now go."
They grumpily slump themselves on the bed as she watches. she smiles as she turns her back towards them and walks towards her little corner. She lays back down staring at the roof. She can't sleep. Not like she should. The full moon is out. So many things could happen. She would never forgive herself if anything ever happened to Jess or Melda. As much as she tries to convince herself she doesn't care about them, she actually does.
More than anything.
She turns her head to look at them. They are all snuggled up both snoring lightly. The night gets darker, and so far nothing is going on outside. It's all peaceful and quiet out there. They are safe for this full moon. She cocks her head to the door and she notices it's not locked. That damn Melda!!!! How many times must she be reminded. She walks up to the door while spitting curses at Melda. Yes. She's throwing her out tomorrow. That damn brat!!!
Just as she is about to reach for the door, it slams wide open. Oh no. what now? Melda and Jess immediately wake up due to the noise. She doesn't see anyone. What is happening.
"Melda, take Jess and run."
"But-"
"I SAID TAKE HER AND RUN, DAMNIT!!!"
"I'm not leaving y-"
" I won't repeat mys-"
Before she finishes her sentence, she id forcefully slammed against the wall. It's not one of them. The power she felt through the kick is not something they can produce in combat. What exactly is that.
"GO NOW!!!"
Immediately, Melda picks up Jess and she goes out through the window.
She feels weak. Now is not the time to feel weak. She coughs out blood. Her vision becomes blurry. Damn it. what exactly is that thing? She can see it walking towards the window. She has to do something about this. She grabs whatever is close to her and throws it with all her might and true to her, it doesn't miss his head. She smiles as blood drips out of her mouth. It turns around slowly and faces her. She tries as hard as she can but it is utterly impossible for her to see its face. And why exactly is it after them?
"come… fight me…"
she struggles to hold herself up. Before she could hold herself up steadily, it already had its hand around her neck and was slowly squeezing the life out of her. Its grip was tight. She slowly felt herself going numb. She tried kicking but she was too weak. Her vision became even more blurry. Is this….it? she surrendered. Maybe this was it. It slammed her against the wall for the second time, this time harder than before.
"You of all people should know why I'm here."
That voice….
She knew exactly what that thing was. She desperately tried getting up but she only fell back in a slump.
It chuckled darkly…
"you just don't die easily, do you?"
"Don't….don't touch that…..that little kid….please…please…"
"please?!!" it laughed sarcastically. She couldn't move a muscle. So it did that for her; it grabbed her aggressively by the hair and tilted her head to look up at it. "I would kill you right now. But that little white haired brat seems important to you. So how about I make you watch her death…then kill you? Huh?" it let her fall to the ground. "or…..that is giving you too much? mh? maybe I should just kill you right here right now." It said drawing a sword out. " any last words?"
She smirked.
" oh you think it's funny?"
She chuckled.
" it really is. You cant kill me."
"OH SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" It then drew the sword towards her. She gently closed her eyes. Yes. At least she knew Melda had taken Jess somewhere safe. Somewhere where it wont find them at least. She could die for all she cared.
Why wasn't she dying? Why wasn't the sword striking her? She opened her eyes to see what was going on.
" I'm here for you siz!!!" Melda?
" the hell are you doing here?"
" I didn't know where to go so I came back…."
" what did you…do?"
" it's a spell I learnt. Its an immobility-"
It chuckled darkly and turned its head to them. It took two steps towards them. "so the little kid is alone?"
Before they could say anything, it was gone.
"JEEEESSSSS!!!!" She screamed out.
No.
No.
She had to do something.
" We have to go after it!!! " she tried standing up but failed miserably. Her body was still so numb. She couldn't move.
" I'll go after it. I shouldn't have left her alone in the first place so I will get her back."
Before she could say anything, Melda had already gone out through the window.
Oh no.
Melda was no match for that thing.
So this was it.
It was heaven.
The moon still shone up here. She never wants to leave this place. It was so beautiful.
She stared through the branches as the moonlight peeked through.
She wont go back even if Melda comes back for her. Was she even coming back? She said she was going to get big siz… when were they coming back? She curled herself up into a ball on one of the branches where melda had taken her to. They were gonna come back. And she would convince them to never go back to their underground home. Home?
Her white hair glowed under the moonlight. She had never seen that before. It was beautiful. She undid the two braids big siz had done the previous day and let her hair down. It glowed. Did that mean she was finally awakened?
"Jess!!!"
It was melda. She was back. But where was big siz?
"No time for questions. Come down now, we have to get out of here."
She was only 8. But she knew better than to ask any questions. As soon as she came down, Melda took her in her arms and was ready to run. But she couldn't move. She couldn't move a muscle. An….immobility spell?
Jess held onto her even tighter.
Then a dark chuckle filled the area.
It was here with them.
" this is cute. Oh right, just to clear the air, I can duplicate any spells used against me."
"oh so now you make me immobile so I wont be able to fight back? TCH!! Give me a fair fight now!"
It circled around melda and took Jess from her arms. Jess screamed, desperately trying to make it let go of her.
'' I won't kill any of you until that brat makes her way here. we'll have to wait-"
" I'm here." She came for them.
Melda sighed in relief. With big siz here, they were safe. But how did she even….?
"welcome." It said. It raised its hand up and released Melda from the spell.
Without another thought, Melda immediately attacked. But before she could get to it, it had a sword drawn out and it slashed across Melda. She immediately fell to the ground…lifeless. Jess let outa scream.
Melda.
Melda was gone.
Big siz gritted her teeth in something between anger, frustration and fear.
" one down, two to go."
She didn't hold back.
She attacked immediately with no hesitation. Even she didn't know where all this energy was coming from. She rendered blows and kicks back to back at it. But it dodged all of them.
"you are so weak for someone whos seeking revenge." It said that as it sent a powerful kick that sent her flying, landing right next to Jess.
Jess looked down at her injured face, looked back at Melda, and turned back to her. She went down to her knees and held her head close to her, she was crying uncontrollably.
She was blaming herself.
Yes, this was her fault.
" J-j-jess….i want you to run…." She said as she coughed out blood.
Run?
No. she wont run.
She stood up. She was going to fight. Just like Melda and big siz.
She looked up at the sky, the moon was still shining bright. She wont let them die here.
"JESS I SAID RUN!!!"
No she wont.
She then took off to the direction of where it stood. She was going to kill it. Her vision was blurry because of all of the crying. She blocked out everything, but she could still hear big siz calling out her name faintly. Should she stop? No. she made up her mind; she'll fight. This is what big siz would do for her. Melda too.
She wiped the tears away to get a clearer vision. Huh….where was it? It was gone. She turned around to look for it but she stopped in her tracks.
It was all painfull.
Huh? What was this?
She could feel a hot liquid burning up from her chest and going out through her mouth.
The stench of blood.
She couldn't see anymore. Everything went blank.
She couldn't hear anything apart from big siz calling her name desperately…and melda too? She wasn't sure about Melda.
At last she couldn't feel anything.
She was still clueless…..What was happening?
She tried calling out for big siz...but she couldn't.
What....was happening?