Blood Moon: Chapter 4 - Prophecy. Strangers.

Robyn was pressing the buttons on the TV remote. The image on the TV flickered continuously as the channel changed. She finally stopped when Ashley robbed the remote from her.

“You’re gonna spoil the TV.” She switched it to Channel E!.

Her mind was not thinking straight. In fact, she could not think at all. What Jack said in the afternoon was...confusing her. But she had agreed to him. She laughed in her head. Damien is gonna kill me.

Ashley asked her to take the trash out and shooed her off the couch. Robyn was cursing in her head as she took the trash out of the house. She dropped the bag of trash into the trash can beside the mail box and slammed the cover on it. The sound of tin against each other was loud in contrast with the quietness around her. The dark and cold made the silence looming. She was going to go into the house when she had the feeling of being watched. She turned around immediately but there was nobody in the dark.

She was to turn to her house again when she saw a shadow at the corner of her eyes. It came out from nowhere. It was tall, even taller than the man in brown leather jacket. It was a man. It was so dark outside and the moon was hidden by the clouds. He was wearing dark clothes and a long black jacket. She could not see his face but she could tell he was walking in her direction and he was looking at her.

She felt a chill down her spine. She had the same feeling as when she saw the bright red flame on the news. Her natural human instinct was telling her this man was dangerous. The little voice in her head was yelling at her, telling her to run into the house but she could not move. Her feet were glued to the very spot and she felt dizzy.

Maybe this is a dream. Otherwise, why could she hear voices in her head that were different from the little voice she used to hear and were telling her not to run? Her heart jumped to her throat and stayed there, throbbing madly.

Run, idiot! Run!

He was nearing her and was going to grab her. She was going to see his face when she heard a howl.

A dog? Both Robyn and the man turned to the direction of the animalistic howl. It sounded big.

A large animal leaped out from the bushes in the dark. It growled. Such a beastly snarl. It was facing her and the man, standing in a position that made it ever ready to jump if anyone moved. Robyn could not see it clearly but she was sure of one thing — it was not a dog.

It had long black fur and eyes that glowed an eerie yellow like a cat’s. Its body was like a dog’s but taller, with longer and more elegant yet strong legs. Its body was as long as she was tall. Its paws were as big as her hands. She could see its short sharp teeth and two long canines. She could not see them but she knew it had claws.

It was too incongruous that her mind refused to recognise the shape of the animal. But now she did recognise it.

A wolf. A big—black—wolf.

It was so bizarre yet fascinating. She had never seen such a beautiful animal before nor had she ever been so close to one. She was too amazed by the animal that she did not notice when the man had disappeared.

It was she and the wolf alone now. For a moment, she thought it had a humanly stare. It looked at her gently. But the gentle, humanly stare changed into a beastly one in a blink of an eye. It drew its legs beneath its body and it snarled at her, revealing its gum and all its teeth.

Robyn knew what would come next. One did not have to be a genius to know that. Then, from ten feet away, it leaped — towards her. Robyn instinctively turned and ran as fast as she could. It was a surprised that she could move at all.

What are you doing? Scream! Cry for help! A part of her thought so.

But the other part of her thought otherwise. No. People will kill it!

She half skipped and half ran because of her ankle. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her ears. She did not run into the house. It could be dangerous for both Ashley and the wolf. Why do I even care about the beast that is going to eat me right at this moment? Instead, she ran toward the bushes that separated her house from the house at the back.

Oh, good, genius. You just have to choose the house that is left vacant weeks ago. Who’s gonna safe you now?

She jumped through the tall bushes and fell down. Oh, no. Why do I have to fell down now? She was half crawling and half pushing herself up from the ground when she turned back to look at the beast, her heart beating madly in her chest that it almost hurt. When she did, she froze.

It did not jump out from the bushes and lunged at her. It was gone. Just like that. Robyn was still sitting on the grass when she looked around. There was not a trace of it. She blinked rapidly. What the hell happened?

When she was spacing out, the bushes rustled. She wanted to jump to her feet and run but her knees were like jelly. She could not even stand. She used her elbows and legs to push herself away from the bushes. And then, it came out.

“Robyn?”

She looked up at a half naked Damien with only his pyjama pants on. He gawked at her. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“What are you doing here?” He grabbed onto her arm and waist and pulled her onto her feet.

“A man came out from nowhere and was going to hurt me but a wolf jumped out from the bushes and save me from him but then he got hungry and chased after me” was what she wanted to say. But she could not make it out of her mouth. She was still in a daze. All that she said was, “I should ask you the same question.”

Damien looked surprised and confused for a moment. “I...I was on the backyard when I heard noises over here. I thought it was a burglar.”

“Did...did you see it?” Robyn leaned onto him when she lost balanced while trying to walk. He was so much taller than her as she was only at his chest level. His body did not feel like a sixteen-year-old teenager’s. His muscles were strong and firm like a fully grown man.

“See what?” He had an even more confused look on his face. “Don’t tell me there’s really a burglar.” That confused look quickly became a worried one.

Robyn shook her head. “No, no.” She gave him a smile that she hoped was reassuring. “I have to go back inside. Night.” She walked back to her house limping. She was hoping that he would not notice but it was too obvious.

He asked her what happened and she lied to him. She told him she twisted her ankle when she was running down the stairs. And he believed it. Telling him that it was partly because of Jack was not a good idea.

She walked carefully back into the house, trying not to hurt her ankle again. When she walked into the living room, Ashley was still watching the TV, unbeknownst to what happened to her sister a few minutes ago.

And then, she saw the look on Ashley’s face. She was staring at the screen as if she had seen a ghost. Her face was as white as snow. She turned slowly when Robyn called her. She motioned Robyn to sit beside her.

That was when Robyn saw the news and immediately she knew the reason for Ashley’s reaction. Robyn felt frightened herself, too.

Another victim, at the border of Donnsville. But it was not just that that frightened her. The news showed a young girl lying on the dried leaves, under some bushes with her limbs stretched out like a dead doll. She was pale to the point of looking white, literally. Robyn thought for a second that she did not have hair until she noticed there were strands of bright pink hair. The rest of her hair was dyed white.

Her heart stopped. She knew Ashley recognised the girl, too.

“...found by a couple. She was confirmed to be dead for at least 42 hours...” the reporter in the TV said.

Robyn gaped at the image of a decomposing corpse. The rain for the last few days had done its job at making it hardly recognisable. Ashley scooted over and hugged her in her arms. “Promise me you won’t let anything happen to you.” Her voice was shaky and unstable but imperative and commanding. Robyn simply nodded.

That man...was I so close in becoming the next victim? She shivered at the thought. She felt a little grateful to the black wolf, even though it tried to eat her.

****

“Hello?” Robyn shouted. She called out to her parents, Ashley, Damien, Stella and even Jack. But the only answer she got was her own echo.

It was awfully cold and dark. Nobody was around. The only thing she saw was an old Georgian clock, ticking slowly and lethargically, and a blood red moon. Then, she heard breathing. It sounded near but there was nobody around. And she could hear the sound of a wind-up key turning, like someone was winding up a doll or a clock.

The clock struck twelve and the turning-key sound stopped. A melody had filled the air. It sounded like a music box. It was sad and eerie. It was familiar but she could not remember when or where she had heard it. It was strange but she...liked it.

A shadow flew passed her in front of her eyes. She jumped. She turned around but it was gone. And then, it flew passed her again, this time from behind. It was so fast she could not see it clearly. The melody was gone but the breathing became louder and it sounded even more threatening than before. Before she knew it, she was running. Something was after her. It was a familiar feeling. A feeling that she used to had when she was little.

Ghost fear. The fear of something unknown and surreal.

She kept running but it always seemed to catch up to her. She turned around to see its true form but there was nothing. However, it was right in front of her when she turned back and it rushed towards her. It all happened too fast. There was a flash of light, followed by an excruciating pain in her stomach. The shadow had gone right through her.

Robyn jumped in the bathtub. Her eyes wide opened and her mouth gasping for air. The water was all over the place. It was the first time in her seventeen years of life that a nightmare made her so agitated and frightened that she almost screamed out loud.

She was still sitting in the bathtub, eyes unset and heart pounding wildly like she just ran a marathon. The droplets on her face were a mixture of water and her sweat. The dream was unbelievably real and vivid in her mind. She could almost feel the pain still.

She looked at the bathroom clock. It was exactly twelve in the midnight. She had fallen asleep in the bathtub for almost three hours.

Her head felt heavy and her body was so light. She let out a deep sigh. Everything had happened on the same day. It was difficult for her to cope. Everything seemed too illusory and incongruous, and disturbing that she even had a nightmare. And she had ended up not getting a good sleep.

****

The weekends were not any better. Ashley was too afraid to let Robyn out of her sight. Robyn could not imagine how she would react if she ever tell her about Friday night. Then again, even she herself was not in the mood to go out on the streets. The image of that man still lingered in her mind, intending to ravage her from within. And, of course, she remembered the enigmatic black beast. She thought she was going to break anytime as her heart was beating so very vigorously in those couple of days until it was arduous to breathe, and staying in the house, one way or another, made it even more unbearable.

Robyn did not believe in Monday blues until now. It was much worse than terrible. It was atrocious. She could feel her spirit getting exhausted in her every waking minute. She intended to hide it but she was betrayed by the dark half moons under her tired eyes. Fortunately, Damien did not come to school, again.

I wonder who he is visiting this time. She laughed in her heart.

The atmosphere in the school was tense. Almost everyone was worried and timorous. There were still some stubborn, ignorant people who never cared.

Robyn walked into the class to find Jack half sitting and half leaning on his desk, talking with his friends. She assumed they were his basketball teammates because one of them was holding a basketball. He stood up straight when he saw her, smiling softly.

“Good morning.” His golden eyes were searching in hers, anticipating. His friends appeared to be doing the same.

She looked at him quietly for a moment. “Good morning.” And she smiled.

The weak smile on Jack’s face curved into the brightest grin she had ever seen.

The rest of the day went by in a daze. It felt like she had not done anything except walking around like a living corpse. She had not taken any notes nor had she paid attention in the class at all. So she ended up staying in the class copying notes she borrowed from Stella long after others had left. After finishing the notes, she packed her things and left the classroom.

There were a few students still lingering in the hallways. Besides them, it was only her in the hallway. She pushed opened the glass doors and walked down the stone steps towards the yard without paying attention to her surroundings until she noticed something.

The insects in summer were starting to retreat into their nests from the cold. Although they were less compared to the beginning of summer, there were, however, some still loitering in the bushes, calling for one another. But now, it was quiet. Too quiet. There was no people, no insects, no wind, not even a tiny movement or sound.

Robyn could hear the bee-like sound as well as her heartbeat in her ears. It had never been this quiet in the neighbourhood. She could not even hear the sound of cars from the nearby traffic light. It felt like she was sucked into an alternate dimension, completely isolated from everybody else. The bee sound in her ears got louder, and so was the heartbeat. Her heart was pounding fast against her ribs. It almost burst open her chest. She turned and turned to look around for somebody. Even a fly would make her feel better. But there was none.

The silence was intimidating. It was daunting and it made her skin crawled.

She was about to snap and scream when the glass doors behind her flung open. The kids from earlier rushed out of the building, laughing like lunatics. And almost miraculously, the sounds came back. All the sounds she used to hear and was dying to hear a few moments ago came gushing into her ears. She never knew noise was so important. She never knew one could love noises so much. No, they were not noises. They were music to her ears. She laughed in relief.

But there was something that was still bothering her. Something was wrong. Something strange was going on around her.

She needed some fresh air, which could not be awarded by staying at home. She rode on her bicycle and headed downtown. It was not far away. Nothing was ever too far away in Donnsville. It was a small city but it had everything — shopping malls, pubs and bars, hair dressers, restaurants, groceries stores, schools, parks and et cetera. Donnsville denizens never had to go out of town to get something, not even for medical treatments. There were clinics at almost every corner of the city, and also a large hospital, the Donnsville Hospital. All of them were the properties of the Kenningtons, Jack’s twelve years older brother and his wife. They were the kindest and best doctors in town.

The Kenningtons was the wealthiest family in Donnsville. Their house was the most well-known place in town. It was near the woods and people called it the Manor. Its very existence stood in contrast to the rest of the southern style houses because it was the largest house and its style was a mixture of modern and Victorian colonial architecture. Robyn had never been there. She had only met Jack’s family once when Ashley went to the hospital for a minor surgery. The family used to live in England and had only moved here a few years ago.

Robyn was riding around aimlessly until she saw a book shop on Flinders Street. It was small and was painted black-green. It was right in the middle of the row of shops, sandwiched by bigger and brighter shops. It looked old, shabby and worn out. Even its glass windows were yellowed and greyed by age and dust. But something about it attracted her. There was no name but only a wrought iron sign with a black symbol hanging from the wall.

She fastened a chain around a lamp post with her bike and placed a lock on it. She then walked right into the shop. A bell rang when she pushed the door open. It was poorly lit inside and it smelled of rotten pages and old books. The bulb hanging from the ceiling was old and dim and the sunlight from the outside was blocked by stacks of dusty books. Almost everything was aged and dusty. She walked around the tall racks and touched the books. The books were ancient. They seemed to be even older than the books in libraries.

And there were strange, eccentric decorations and furnitures. There was a deer head hanging on the wall, along with weird paintings and old photographs. There were also odd-looking statues that resembled animals, gargoyles or humans with strange features and body parts. The ambience made her skin crawled.

Then, she saw a book. It was much smaller than the others on the rack. Its cover was black but was sombered by age. There were dimmed gold letterings on the somber black cover that read Transylvania. She opened it and flipped through the pages and stopped when she was on the prelude page.

Darkness descends upon the land to wrap the world in night’s black embrace. The restless dead stir within their ancient tombs, and creatures born of shadow rise to quench their savage hungers. Whispers echo from the crypt, beckoning with the promise of dark desire, and those who heed their call are forever lost in the night.

She turned to the last page for the author’s name. It was someone named Nox but there was not a last name. The words sounded like curses that doomed anyone who read it. It did not give her a nice feeling.

“The time is near.”

Robyn was startled by a voice that came from behind her. She gasped and dropped the book. She turned to see a woman in mid thirties with frizzy dark hair and glassy grey eyes. She wore an old floral dress that was long enough to cover her ankles. She was rather pretty but Robyn noticed that she was blind. She must be the owner. She must have been here the whole time but Robyn did not take notice of her.

“I’m sorry?” Robyn added great amount of curiosity in her voice.

The woman grabbed her hands. “The prophecy.” She said it with a hard firmness as if she was saying it was something that she should know.

“I...don’t know what you are talking about.” Robyn tried to pull away her hands but the woman tightened her grip.

“When the moon of blood meets its zenith, heaven shall be tainted by blood. The ruler of hell shall reign the land, and vanquishes the one consecrated to God, until the holy one never subsist again.”

Robyn could only stare. The glassy grey eyes were haunting and they do not look like the eyes of a blind. She finally pulled away. “I really don’t—”

“Please go before the history repeats itself.” She held her hands again. “Please save yourself, Elizabeth.”

Robyn’s eyes widened. The woman was a lunatic obviously, she thought. But she could not deny what she said at all. She swallowed hard. She pulled away her hands and hurried out of the shop. Her eyes were blinded by the sudden brightness.

When her vision came back, she gaped at the lamp post she had chained with her bicycle. The chain was dangling with the lock, which was unlocked. Her bike was nowhere to be found. She took off the chain and lock and leaned onto the post. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She let it out in a bitter laugh.

Why do bad things always happen to me? She dumped the chain and lock into her backpack along with her ribbon bow. She had to take off her blazer and roll up her sleeves because she was burning furiously inside. She cursed the woman for predicting useless things about ruler and such instead of telling her what was going to happen to her bike.

She was about to walk down the street to find a cab when she heard a loud honk. She turned around to find a red Mustang parked on the road side beside her.

“What are you doing here?” Jack stuck out his head from the window and asked in such disbelief and shock.

Robyn was a little surprised. “Nothing. Just hanging around.” She shrugged.

“Alone?”

Robyn simply nodded.

Jack sighed and frowned at her. “Please get in the car. Now. It’s not safe to walk around by yourself at this time, especially on a street this quiet.”

She smiled to herself. Jack had always managed to be a gentleman under any circumstances, even when he was angry.

She walked around the car and went into it. “Did you walk here from school?” Jack helped her to put on the seat belt.

“No, I rode here on my bike.” She replied as if he had just mentioned something ridiculous.

“Where is it now?” He arched an eyebrow.

It was Robyn’s turn to heave a sigh. “Gone. Stolen.” Jack giggled at her answer. “That’s not funny.”

He apologised and went back to his serious self. He drove off the road side and down the road. “Did you go into that shop?” He saw the look on her face and added, “You know, the dark, old one without a name.”

She looked at him for his sudden curiosity. “No.” She had turned away. “It was too creepy.” She did not know why she had lied.

She heard Jack let out a quiet, suppressed sigh. “From tomorrow on, I’ll fetch you.”

Her jaws almost dropped. “What?”

“Frankly speaking, I don’t feel safe to let you be alone. You are such a magnet for bad luck.” There was not a hint of playfulness in his voice. He was serious.

“Okay, for this conversation sake that I’m unlucky, you still don’t have to go through the trouble to take me to school and take me home again everyday. Besides, Ashley can do that.”

“She has to work. No need to trouble her.” He suggested considerately.

“And there’s Stella.”

“Her mother has to fetch her, two little sisters and a brother, for God sake. Do you think there’s time or place for you?” He blurted as-a-matter-of-factly.

“Well, then Damien—”

“Absolutely not.” He cut off her sentence before she could finish. He said it through his teeth.

“But—”

“No more buts.”

And that was pretty much the end of the discussion. The sun was setting when Jack took her home. After taken a nice warm bath, she sat at her desk to finish her school work.

She stared blankly at her French textbook. She was stuck at a sentence. She did not know how to interpret it. She took a deep breath to rest her strained brain. She then turned to the window. She jumped a little when she saw the branches of trees swaying violently in the rain in sync with the strong wind. She thought for moment they looked like thin, crooked fingers stretching out to her.

It had been raining rather frequently for the past few days. It had been awhile since Alabama last had such frequent rain.

She climbed into her bed after packing up. Her eyes were tired but her mind was still too worked up about the things that happened on the last few days. She gazed at the ceiling for almost an hour before she finally fell asleep.

Robyn looked up into the sky. There were only a few distant stars shining dimly. There were almost no clouds. The malicious blood red moon glared at her. She looked away and down on her feet. She was standing on nothing but absolute darkness. Everything around her was pitch black with a red tint.

She waited patiently. For what, she did not know. She knew it would come. And then, an indolent ticking sound echoed in the darkness, and she could see an old Georgian clock with its second hand moving torpidly. When the minute hand struck twelve, a familiar melody rang in the air. It was familiar like she had heard it from somewhere before. Not in a dream, but in reality. The melody was soft and calming, but it made her mood changed. She became gloomy all of a sudden.

Why had not it come? She was anxious. But right afterward, she heard breathing. Whispers, to be exact. They were everywhere. She could not find the direction they were coming from. There was a swift intense feeling of fear pressing onto her. Her chest tightened and she could hardly breathe. She started running intuitively and she had wanted to scream but she had no voice.

She stopped abruptly when a dark misty shadow appeared before her. It was holding a long, sharp and pointed object in its hand — if a puff of dark swirly smoke could be called a hand at all. She glared at it when it darted towards her impetuously. It went straight through her body and then, there was a brusque, intense pain at her stomach. It was throbbing so badly that she could not help but pressed on it. Her hand touched something wet and sticky that was oozing out from her belly. It smelled of copper or metal.

Robyn threw off her blanket. She sat on her bed, panting and sweating heavily. The pain was too real and it stayed. She could still feel it. She pressed onto her stomach to make sure there was nothing seeping out from it. She felt relieved when the only thing she touched was her dry and soft pyjama. She wiped off the sweat on her forehead and was about to lie down when she had a familiar feeling — someone was watching her. She looked up and to her horror, there was somebody standing at the corner of her room. She instinctively turned on the bedside lamp but when she turned to the shadow again, it had vanished.

She swallowed and blinked. It must be the residues from her dream, she thought logically. She felt stupid. And she laughed to herself. She turned to the lamp to switch it off and she took a glimpse at her radio clock. The red digits glowed coldly at her. It was twelve at midnight.