3-2

3-2

As I aimlessly followed along James, I still can't get over the thing that I saw last night.

It wasn't only hideous, it was terrifying and traumatizing. I have a brown skin but the paleness on my face is pretty visible to the point that I look anemic. Seriously, what was that thing supposed to be? The home owners?It was so disgustingly horrific that all of my deepest and darkest fear placed into one thing.

"Hey, Dar, are you alright?" James noticed my paleness,

"Are you sick or something?" Claire asked,

"Huh? Um... No, I'm fine. It's just a lack of sleep... I guess." I replied with an excuse,

"If you're not feeling fine, just rest for a while. Don't force yourself." Jefferson suggested,

"... Yeah... I better get some. Excuse me." I accepted Jefferson's offer and carried myself back to the estate,

I sat down on the couch in the living room when I heard Nadia's hectic and loud voice coming from the kitchen, it's a bit vague; I can only grasp about what she is blabbering about.

I think she's trying to describe, in complete details, about the thing she saw last night to Gregory and others.

I went to see to confirm if what I saw is the same as hers.

"Are you serious?" Gregory doubted,

"I'm serious!" Nadiawailed,

"If that's the case then... Kevin... Carlo... Ryan..." Gregory became staggered,

"We shouldn't just jump to conclusions." Kristen stated as convincing as possible,

"Yeah. They could just still be trying to get back here." Jasmine calmly reasoned,

"Oh Daryl, since you were there when Nadia saw this 'MONSTER', have you seen anything? Anything at all?" Kristen noticed me and immediately asked,

"Monster? What does it look like?" I asked back,

"Why are you trying to ask about its appearance? Don't tell me you've seen something and you're just trying to confirm what you saw?" Gregory deduced,

"Umm... You could say that." I confirmed Gregory's suspicion,

"So you did saw something?! It's kind of relieving knowing that I'm not becoming crazy or hallucinating unless you saw something different then maybe I am indeed becoming crazy." Nadia held her bosom and took a deep breath then immediately panicked,

"I would still believe in you, Nadia. After seeing the basement door magically disappears right before our eyes, I can already say that anything is possible now." Jasmine said,

"Well can you tell me what you saw?" I asked Nadia,

"A MONSTER! It had a wrinkly skin; it had no face, just mouth. It had claws... And hoofs...And… Ugh! It was too scary; I don't even want to imagine it anymore." She described the thing but suddenly rubbed herself as she shivers just by thinking about it,

"Hmm... Yeah, I also saw the same thing." I confirmed,

"What?! Then it's confirmed then... But what are we going to do now? We can't go out and look for Kevin and others knowing that those things are running rampant in every corner." Gregory exclaimed,

"But I think it's afraid of the light." I speculated,

"REALLY! How can you say that though?" Jasmine got astounded and followed with a question,

"Well, last night, I was holding the flashlight and somehow pointed it to the 'thing', as I pointed the flashlight, the 'thing' was burning as smoke appeared on its skin and screamed a noiseless screech as it ran back to the forest." I elaborated,

"I was with you last night. When did you saw this thing?" Jasmine questioned,

"After we said good night to each other, I didn't immediately go inside my room that night as I was looking outside from the window, hoping I could see Kevin and the others. I never really expected that I'd saw that thing after I pointed the flashlight to it." I explained,

"So basically, they are vampires." Kristen said,

"A retarded looking vampire, that is." Gregory added,

"If we search right now maybe… we still have a chance to find Kevin and others..." I hesitated,

"NOPE! I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THE FOREST! NOPE! NEVER! YOU SAW IT TOO RIGHT!? SHOULDN'T YOU BE TOO SCARED TO GO OUTSIDE NOW?" Nadia exclaimed,

"Yes, it traumatized me somehow but thinking that they have a weakness makes them a little less scary. What I am afraid of is the possibility of a horde lurking in the forest." I said looking confident but the truth is that I am just forcing my body not to be shaken of the thought,

Everyone tensed up. That possibility is indeed too horrendous if it's true.

"If you say it like that then it's a NOPE for me." Kristen said,

"I can tag myself along. If they are indeed afraid of the light, then we can also look for its hideout and lock them there and never have to worry about them again. It's not like there's a panther in this forest. We are the only living thing living here. Us and those, whatever we should call them." Jasmine said,

"Okay. Once everyone is back, let's tell them this thing and start the search. The sooner, the better. We need all the sunlight we could stay under." Gregory said.

Gregory, Jasmine and Kristen continued cooking while chatting about the 'creature'. I specifically left out one distinctive detail because I don't want anyone to speculate and place their minds with a scenario that I myself don't want to admit. I approached Nadia as I still had one more thing that I wanted to confirm from her if what we both saw was the same 'thing'.

"Nadia… The thing that you saw… Was it… Covered in some sort of… Liquid?" I muttered as I try to sound as vague as possible,

"Liquid? Hmm… No, I don't think so. Was the thing you saw was covered in liquid?" She looked at me with a puzzled look,

"No… I was just asking if what you saw and what I saw has a distinction. Just forget that I ever asked." I answered as convincing as I can,

I don't want to believe that what I saw is another thing which becomes proof that more of its kind exists and I also don't want to acknowledge the possibility that it was covered in blood of one of our friends. If the blood came from Kevin and others, then… No! I don't want to believe that something like that would happen. But there are no other creatures in this fucking place so you could conclude that it came from… NO! The blood may come from its own kind. Yes! Maybe they are just eating each other. Hahaha! That must have happened. For all I know Kevin and the gang are happily strolling around the forest, picking mushrooms and asking people about directions. Yes, that must be it.

I tried to be optimistic throughout all this because if the worst case scenario really did happen then… I don't know if I could handle it. I took a glance at Nadia, she is still looking at me in a very puzzled look, it is as if she thought my question is weird and out of place. Maybe she noticed that my face just became more and more paler with grimaces that keeps on shifting for every second has passed. I smiled forcefully to her so that I would look convincing but the doubt on her face isn't fading anytime soon. In order for her to not pursue me any further with her questioning, I immediately exit the kitchen and went back to rest in the living room.