07// The pail of Goat blood

Hated. Bad.Not good enough for many.

Laying down on the red-rocky pathway, drenched in blood flowing from my head and voice crackling, I was beginning to think that this was the end of my journey. My journey of life, of being alive. Disappointed was the word to fathom this. Slowly, my mind would twirl in slow-motion like a Ferris wheel rolling. Feeling a word that doesn't cease to exist in my mind right now: kindness.

What can one do to be kind to another? To lack sympathy for a reason was one thing, but no matter how long I'd try to understand them I'd never live in their shoes. No matter how much, I, a human girl, tried to befriend a monster dhatin like Kersen, all I'll get is whiplashed and cruel remarks.

Raindrops rapidly hit my face as the wind snapped against my brown shaggy hair in disgust. It's been what? A mere month living in Semarang, Indonesia, and I've never felt more emotionally drained from such defiance.

With a sigh, I begged my limp arms to help me rise from the ground I lay on. Tired of people around me, tired of people like him was the reason for this pain. It wasn't even the blood that flowed from my brain and the continuous crunching of my heart that was causing me pain. It was the fact that all I've ever encountered in my life was a bunch of rotting assholes like the dhatin of Jenglot, Kersen. I can't do anything right... What was this feeling?

The wind continued to pile onto my face like I was a punching bag used for boxers. "Pow pow" I could almost hear it whisper. My hair, tangled with a mixture of blood and dried-up tears, continued to itch at the roots of my hair, my skull now seems like a ground of a bird's nest laying on top. Do you think I cared enough to think about that brat's feelings?

No, I do not.

Leaves brush at my face as they fly from the ground, and sweep up into the sky. "WHOOSH!" They speak to me, and the wind continues to howl in despair.

" Are you o-okay?" A small voice whimpers and its little body saunters towards my direction, where my body lays still on the ground.

" Yeah. Don't worry about me. I'm alright, I assure you!" My voice squeaks out, using up every ounce of courage in me... To not suddenly cry in front of him.

At the back of my little 12-year-old girl's mind, I couldn't help but feel happy.

" Do you need help, Amity?" The voice says, but I refuse the help. In fact, I refuse to even glance towards the direction of the voice for fear that it was that terrible brat. Even though I was very glad to hear that somebody-at least somebody- cares for me, my inner conscious couldn't help but scowl. Why scowl?

I hate it when more-fortunate-than-me people try to help me.

Emotions sparse and numb, I gently budge out of my position on the ground. My eyes start to re-adjust and I see ahead of me, the sun's bright, shimmering gaze smile down on me. " Hmm, I guess I'm alright now," I say to myself; like the voice wasn't there to hear me say such a phrase.

" Are you sure?"

" Yeah." Looking forward to the direction of the voice, I see it is none other than Mrs.Johannson's son, Henrik. He's wearing the same corduroy overalls and pageboy cap as before, but this time, instead of a small, shy smile, it's a bright and welcoming one. I notice for the first time, that from up close, he has a beautiful smile.

The kind of smile that makes me feel envious.

Why can't I be that happy to smile like that?

Henrik, with his genuine pretty-boy smile, I know that there's a depth to his smile, that somehow speaks of cavernous thoughts, and maybe, ill intentions. But, either way, I can't help but copy-paste his example and smile back. My lips curl in an upwards motion, as I reach my hand forward for a shake.

" I don't believe we've had an actual face-to-face conversation before, have we? Actually no, we did! But...You weren't looking me in the eyes at that conversation did you?" When I see that he hasn't took my hand in for a shake, I grab his puny, pale hand and force him to shake.

" Why should I introduce myself to you again?" He says in a quiet, small voice.

" Well, because we haven't really properly became friends yet, now did we?" My voice is squeaky and loud, with a tinge of happiness.

I mean, of course, it is... I can't let him see through me; my sadness.

Henrik looks over at me with a look that claimed I was a weirdo. He then clears his throat intentionally and says, " Um, actually, wasn't I the one who gave you those roses, Amity?" Gosh, he keeps looking at me in the eyes.

" Yeah! I know! It's just that I never gave you the friendship shake before, now have I?" My giddy, childish self starts peeking in through the hole of melancholy as I giggle like nothing ever happened.

" You do realize that your head is bleeding, right? We need to take you to a nearby hospital quickly!" He starts to ramble like he's one to talk. Walking over to me, he tiptoes on his feet and tries to feel the bruise on my head.

"Oh wow... It's a really deep wound." He says after he's done checking it.

Embarrassed, I flick his forehead angrily saying, " Hey! Whoever told you to touch my head? Mind your own business, will you?"

" Sorry. I didn't mean to..."

" UGH! Whatever." I roll my eyes and start to walk ahead of him, leading him to the way back to the cottage. My feet crunch the leaves as I walk; he tails behind me like a lost puppy. Buried deep inside of me, I longed to stop all the fear that clung inside of the despondency of my heart, but I couldn't show this meek and timid boy that. For me, it was a blessing that boys like him existed. That way, girls like me can at the very least seem more heroic in their eyes: especially a girl who's in pain but seems to brush it off like nobody's business. Kersen, on the other hand, made me feel insecure, with his cocky and loud nature, making it impossible for me, a short and insecure girl, to seem like the more superior one.

The rainbow gum trees of the Requiem Rainbow forests continued to tower over us as we trod among the red-rocky trail. The feeling of accomplishment washed over me whenever we both made it back home.

However, little did I know: that someone was following us.

If I were to tell you how awkward and tiresome this walk home is, it would consist of a long list of just awkward staring-from-Henrik and flicks in the forehead from me to him. Feet crunching into the fallen leaves, my feelings are in a state of obscurity.

From being an unknown orphan to being someone who has transferred the Blight disease to Ms.Nugraha, the word monster would just describe the half of me.

The half of me that no longer can feel emotions nor pain. Crippling affliction would be better used to describe my situation. Ever since that day I came home from the forests of Dismouth with a fallen off-hand, I've never been the same.

But I couldn't let this puny boy called Henrik know of that. Heck, I didn't want this situation to be even more pitiful by allowing myself to give in to grief and bawl out crying.

I don't need a shoulder to cry on, after all. Considering that he didn't even want to utter a word to me, I had to fill in the gaps of silence with me babbling.

" So, you know how I got this here bruise on my head, right, Henrik? Well, you see it was a bloody bruise that I got from this boy named Kersen! That bastard didn't even think twice about slamming that wooden chair on my head. Why, in fact, 'hates' me that much to not even give me a wee bit of mercy. I tell you, I'm going to someday beat the crap out of him once we've grown up and are past our childish ways! (But then again, I'm being quite childish saying I hold grudges, am I?) Anywho, I don't care one mere second about that crappy brat. He's just holding up my chances of besting him and he knows it." I continued to babble like no ones' business. And perhaps, it wasn't anybody's business.

As I continued to walk among the red-rocky trail, all the thoughts that flew through my grudge-holding-brain were thoughts of Kersen getting beaten badly.

Over and over! He'd continue to bleed heavily by my hands, and I'd laugh off with every ounce of merciless joy when he... Wait, why am I thinking about that insolent brat?

Nervousness tingled throughout my body, as my heart started crunching inside my heart all over again. " Yaiii" I heard a voice whisper in my ear. Like a bug buzzing inside my eardrums, the voice spat in my ear, tickling me.

I wanted to itch at my ear.

"No, don't do that!" A voice inside me aggressively whispered.

I wanted to slap that fly that's digging its poop-infested body into my ears.

"What did I tell you human? No, you don't...Want that!" A voice hissed, its snake-like voice lingered on every word, taking its sweet time putting emphasis on every last letter.

******

" What was that?" Henrik spoke and got up from where he was crouched near a blueberry bush, observing a croaking frog. "Ribbit, ribbit! Ribbit, ribbit!" The frog croaked obnoxiously. I could sense that something just wasn't right about the way the frog was croaking. This frog continued to croak in an obnoxious manner excessively. Were frogs always like that?

No.

I think it's just me.

Or is it?

" I think someone's following us," I say to Henrik, and I put a finger to my lips indicating for him to stop speaking if he wanted to stay alive.

" How do you know?" He responds quietly.

" I just know."

" Okay," I observe him walk over to a nearby blueberry bush, out of curiosity to where the noise came from.

" Hey! Don't go over there, hell knows where that monster is lurking," I scold at him, all the while turning beet red for scolding him like I'm his mother.

Was it the monster of Blight from the mirror?

It couldn't be...Right?

The buzzing in my ear continued to ear rape my eardrums. "Buzzzzz.Buzzzz." Is it a fly?

No, it's something much worse than that.

" Yaiiiii. Children, come here! COME OUT!!"

Suddenly, the creature morphed from the blueberry bush. It's razor-sharp teeth, etched in blood, and spewing out earthworms from its throat. Huffing, my eyes go wide at how much bigger and terrifying the creature looks. Now, the creature possessed a head, a shrunken head that looked much too heavy for the weight of its rail-thin neck that supported it. Nails made of tar sprung from its hands and its towering eight-feet body lingered from above.

Henrik is shivering, and I could see the hairs on his arm stand up: in fear. Fear that the monster would devour him, bit by bit, like a piece of candy. Fear that this may be the last time for him to ever cease to live.

For this dhatin of Blight, that was all we were good for, to be devoured as a midnight snack. I observe the sky above us, as my teeth chatter and drops of tears surround my eyes.

"Now, now, are you really going to kill them?" I hear a voice ask, with the same cocky attitude. Kersen! What the heck was he doing here? Unless... Was he here for a reason?

The glimmering midnight sky says it all: they are here to feast. Count Darc's words pound my brain with a thought: could I really be a monster? No, I couldn't be.

The lust for human blood is something that sets me apart from these monsters. Instead of giving in to my desire to stop the crunching of my heart, I've gotten stronger. I notice as my eyes swell from the tears, my heart is growing inside of my chest.

" I see, you really are a monster!" Henrik screams at me as I continue to clutch my chest in pain. Seeing that my heart has now burst out of my chest, blood splatters all over Henrik's face as he looks at me, petrified.

" Yes, very good. I see the human is re-adjusting." The monster hissed and releases its long, spiked tongue into the air. The tongue wraps itself around my neck once more, as I struggle to break free from its grasp.

" HELP! Anybody, hel-" I start to wail, but Kersen stops my words, as he flings a dagger into my heart.

I'm surprised I'm not dead yet.

The crunching in my heart has stopped, but the pain that I feel deep inside has numbed. For a normal human being, that three-foot dagger was supposed to kill me, as the wound is deep. Lounging forward, I refuse to let this hatred of mine subside. My long, brown hair has turned a slate grey color, and my eyes are no longer eyes. And my heart is no longer inside my chest.

I see my beating heart on the ground, covered in blood.

Tears start to spill down my cheeks, as I reach for the dagger in my heart and yank it out. " YOU MONSTER!" I scream as I use all the force inside me to drive my ability to throw the dagger straight at Kersen.

He dodges it and smirks.

" Now, you can't be so hasty, now can you, Amity?" Kersen sneers as he grabs the dagger stuck to a nearby rainbow gum tree. The dagger, rusted from the blood from my heart, is licked clean with Kersen's tongue.

" Delicious." He says and continues walking toward me saying, " Why should we, powerful dhatins, be subjected to the rule of these pathetic beings called humans? Tell me Amity, do you wish to be weak? Or do you wish to be strong?"

He motions towards a terror-stricken Henrik, who then says, " Amity, please! Whatever you do, don't l-listen to him! He's crazy. You are no monster."

Teeth chattering and heart racing, I look back and forth between the two monsters and Henrik. Sweet, lovely Henrik. The only one who ever cared about me to be my friend.

Henrik then takes out a pouch of goat blood from his overall pockets. The wind blares heavily as he jumps up and splashes the goat blood all over the ground.

" You see, you won't win! You just won't!" Henrik says, with a fear-stricken voice. Kersen starts shouting in anguish, as he notices the dhatin of Blight slowly turn into dust. This dust then swirls around the goat blood, and the wind carries it away into the night.

The midnight sky still glimmers ahead, as Kersen runs away, in fear.

Goat blood is used to turn dhatins of Blight into dust, according to the people of Indonesia.

Kersen, using the dhatin of Blight to acquire his food easily... Was a terrible mistake.

*******

" What was that about?" I ask Henrik, as I pick up my fallen-off heart.

" Look, Amity. I think it would be best for you to leave this place." Henrik says as he looks away from me.

" Is it because I'm a monster?" I ask him, in shame.

" No." He says as he takes my hand in his. " It's because your heart will be worth a two million dollar bounty and I don't want to have to be the one to take it from you."

"What? I'm confused. What do you mean?"

" You'll figure it out soon enough. You aren't just any ordinary dhatin of Blight, Amity. You are the first human to successfully survive with Blight disease inside your heart. People are going to want your heart to be sold for bounty, since...It's rare."