Dark is dangerous

Peace felt so far away.

For Szeina, peace was far from her being able to achieve it.

Sitting on the edge of the pool, her legs crossed; she held the necklace in her hand.

The moon was almost full. A group of clouds hovered close to it.

She raised her hands and had the pendant shed in the moon's bright light.

The eyes of the beast glinted as if twinkling. Szeina wanted to confront Yvann as soon as he arrived.

However, it appears that he was coming home late.

The longer she was waiting to ask him her questions, the more agitated she was getting.

Crickets accompanied her outside. For any other sane person, she shouldn't be there.

She could wait for him inside.

And she would have.

Only, staying indoors was making her more uneasy.

There was a certain charm that draw her outside. Being under the moonlight's glow it sent her a small amount of comfort.

Putting her hand down, she clasped her hands around the pendant. If Granola was around, she would have someone to talk to.

She no longer knew what to do. But, above everything that was circling inside her head, she knew she can no longer stay with Lorenzos.

She needed to get out of there as soon as she could.

Playing with the necklace in her hand, Szeina took a deep breath, pulling her knees towards her chest and rested her chin on top of it.

The water in the pool reflected the moon clearly from the sky.

A soft wind created ripples on the water, disrupting the stillness of it.

Minutes continued to pass.

Szeina already thought of how she was going to ask Yvann about the necklace. She had a speech ready.

Nonetheless, when the moment came, she was at a loss for words.

Lifting her head, Szeina watched Yvann approach her. One of his hand was inside his jeans pocket.

Slowly rising to her feet, Szeina gestured for Yvann to stop before he can come any closer towards her.

Confused, Yvann paused and looked at Szeina. It was only at that time that he came to notice the aura radiating from her.

She was feeling a little off, and he didn't know what was going on.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his forehead creasing with concern.

Szeina held out her hand that had the necklace. She let the pendant drop and dangle for Yvann to see.

The tears she had tried to stop from coming came, anyway.

"Please, Yvann," she pushed herself to say. "Tell me… how did you get this?"

Yvann stared at the pendant, the beady eyes of the beast shining, and appeared to be looking right at him.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Answer me first!" Szeina demanded.

Yvann didn't know what she was trying to imply, nor did he have any clue what this was about.

"Listen, Szeina, whatever you're thinking, I have a clean conscience."

"Just tell me, Yvann, how did you get this?"

"I—" Clutching his head, Yvann was unable to finish trying to defend himself.

Hearing the wicked laughter inside him, an excruciating pain erupted inside his skull.

Drowning out any other sound and his surroundings, Yvann gradually fell to the ground.

He curled himself into a ball; the pain causing him to scream voicelessly.

"No… please… stop." He begged, gasping for breath. "Go away! Go away!"

Not knowing what was happening to him, Szeina stepped back. She didn't take her eyes off of him as she made her way back inside the house.

Once inside, there was only one thought that occurred to her: Run.

--

Run.

And she did.

She was running with all her might. The soles of her feet were starting to ache.

Barefoot and almost out of breath, Szeina has no idea where she was heading and right this instance, she couldn't care about the destination. All she knew was that she needed to run.

Fast.

She can't make any delays or the cloaked monster behind her would be able to catch up.

The ground was getting slicker. At any given moment, she could slip or worse, she could hit a cliff and won't be able to stop herself in time.

Death.

She'd be facing death either way.

But why was she running?

Hope.

She has hope that somewhere along the line, she'd be able to survive.

Or by some miracle, someone would swoop in and save her.

The second option was impossible.

She can't even tell where she had run to. When she left the Lorenzo's residence, she wasn't thinking of the consequence.

She should have thought better before leaving without even saying any proper goodbye.

But she knew she couldn't stay. She had no place there. Not after retrieving the necklace she had lost on the night that her best friend, Hope, died.

There was no way that she could make herself feel at ease unless Yvann answered her questions.

However, basing on how he reacted, it was hopeless to pry the answers from him.

She couldn't decide whether he didn't want to answer or if something was seriously wrong with him.

With her thoughts distracted, her legs gave out on the next bend. She tumbled to the ground, scratching her elbow and giving her pursuer the opportunity to catch up.

Pushing herself to get up, Szeina only tumbled the second time around.

"You got nowhere to run girlie." A growl came from behind her.

Turning around, Szeina glared at the familiar flaming eyes that stared back at her.

"Screw you!" She scrambled, making an effort to keep the little distance she can from the cloaked beast.

A guttural laugh echoed in the still forest. The monster took a careful step as he approached Szeina.

Despite her feigned confidence, fear gripped Szeina. She knew that between her and the monstrous beast; she was the one who was screwed.

Looking away and closing her eyes, she accepted her fate, waiting for her demise.

When several minutes passed and nothing happened, Szeina reopened her eyes and met the familiar eccentric hues of Granola, a glowing blade in her hand.

"You're safe now, love."