Ruby POV
It’s late already and I wonder why Nina isn’t coming home. I’ve been trying to reach for like forever now, but her line hasn’t been going through, and it’s disturbing. I picked up my phone and dialed her number for the umpteenth time, but still got the same result, so I was forced to give up. Laying on the bed, I covered myself with the duvet after turning off all the lights as I tried to get some sleep, but heck! My eyes were as bright as sunshine, and I couldn’t sleep.
I kept tossing on the bed, almost in tears. I’m not used to sleeping alone, I’ve never done it before so I’m not used to it. Back at home, I always sleep beside mom, and from the first day in school here, I’ve been sleeping with Nina in the room and it feels comfortable.
A sudden breeze blew in through the window, swaying the curtain violently and my heart skipped like a million times. Gosh! I forgot to close the window. I sprang up from the bed and rushed to close the window, but froze in my spot as I was welcomed by a figure dressed in all black with a big black cloak over the body.
I stood watching it closely, trying to get a better view of it. Waves and sparkles of fear shot through me, as I stood frozen there, wondering who or what could that be. Snapping my head to look at the wall clock, I found out that it was past midnight, which triggered my fear.
Taking my gaze back to the place, the figure was nowhere to be found again. With my trembling hands, I closed the window and dragged my wobbling feet over to the bed, and sat down before putting on the light. I guess I’m just going to sit here till daybreak because I can’t sleep, I’m finding it difficult to.
“I think I should read a book. Who knows, I may just fall asleep while reading it.” I thought. Standing up from the bed, I dragged my feet to the bookshelf and picked out a history book from there before going to sit on the bed.
Opening the book, I almost screamed my lungs out at the image I was welcomed by. There were pictures of wild animals and some were humans with dangerous and scary faces, some had long teeth in their mouths, while some of them had some part of their eyes painted bloodred. I gulped down the lump in my throat, as I flipped the book page by page, checking out the images which getting scarier.
After flipping like ten of the pages, I stopped abruptly as I sight something. ‘History of vampires’ was written boldly on one of the pages, and for some unknown reasons, I found myself getting curious about the previous images and the write-ups, and to clear my curiosity, I was forced to check the content of the book.
“Vampires are supernatural and mythological creatures, which are said to feed on human blood. According to a scientist’s description of vampires centuries ago, the scientist who managed to from a vampire described them to be one of the deadliest creatures. He described them to have bloodshot eyes, claws, and fangs in their mouth. However, the scientist also said that these creatures can be in human form, looking as innocent as many humans. They tend to possess some features, which human doesn’t possess. Though humans may be good-looking, they’re always the best when it comes to facial looks. They are always charming and tempting. They have their ways of seducing their preys.” I read silently, as my eyes narrowed. Fear gripped me, as the fear of being in existence gripped me. Judging from their images in the book, I need no one to tell me that they really are dangerous.
My curiosity came hitting me hard, as I was left with the option of digging more into the book, and flipping to the next page, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the sight I beheld. I saw the image of a vampire, plunging its fangs into the neck of someone. I gulped down the lump in my throat as I managed to control my fear and flipped to the next page, but froze at the sight before me. Laying on the floor in the book, was an image of someone who had marks on the neck. Taking a close look at the mark, reminded me of something. I tried recalling where I’d have seen the mark before, but my brain just seem to be blank.
Slowly, I held my chest which was suffering as a result of my heart beating violently, waves of fear shot through me.
Staring closely at the picture, everything came rushing into my head like a video, I remember where I saw the mark, it was on someone, on the same spot as the person in the image, and that person I saw the image on, was my father. I gulped down the lump in my throat, as I stared down at the image with my mouth trembling in fear.
Reaching the book, I flipped it to the next page, revealing a more shocking truth. The image before me was a woman that has a mark on her body, it was like the bruise gotten from animal claws, but now everything is becoming clear, it isn’t an animal but a vampire.
The thought of my dad flashed through my mind, and tears welled up in my eyes. Even if I was still a child when he died, I can still remember everything vividly. He had told us that day that he was going for hunting but never came back alive, and by the time we found his lifeless body, I saw… I saw the same mark on his neck…, and the bruise from the claws…, I saw it on his body. I tried bringing the pieces together to make a whole sense, but the more I tried it, the more confusing it becomes.
“Was… was dad killed by a vampire?” I stuttered as my hands flew to cover my mouth, the tears I’d been holding back finally found their way out of my eyes as I stared at the book that was laying on my laps.
All these years, I’ve never believed that other creatures exist after humans, but turns out that I’ve been fooling myself all these while and it hurts…