Share
Chapter 24: The Job Offer
Related chapters
Vampire of the New World Chapter 25: Flora's Prayer
On her way home after getting hired by Pablo, Flora reflected on what she had just been told inside the interview room. She knew that she should be happy for getting a job with good pay that also allowed her to live with her daughter. Finding a job had been more difficult lately because of the recent typhoon that destroyed the livelihood of many of the people of Cardena. Farms that grew rice and other crops were flooded while fruit-bearing trees were toppled down by the strong winds. Flora knew that many people were looking for a job and she was quite lucky to have been offered one. Surely, she could not let a good opportunity pass. Still, there was something heavy that weighed on her mind that kept on warning her to stay away from Orsica.Confused and very much worried about her future, Flora did what she always did whenever faced by big decisions and events in her life. She went to church.The church Flora went to was almost three centuries old and had withstood the many disasters th
Vampire of the New World Chapter 26: Flora's Surprise
“Surprise!” Flora held her hand against her breast as she felt her heart skip a beat. She had just switched on the lights when her daughter jumped from behind their battered sofa to surprise her. With her mind still occupied with thoughts of an unknown future, Flora was extremely jumpy.“Oh, help!“ cried Flora to all the saints, her face briefly displaying her fright before beaming into a smile when she recognized that it was her daughter who jumped at her. Flora lowered herself to hug Nadi who was only too happy at scaring her mother out of her wits.Flora kissed her daughter and let herself be pulled towards the sofa. She saw her friend Perlita standing up from where she hid with Nadi behind the furniture. Perlita, as always, had her necklace of synthetic pearls hanging around her neck and wore her sarong over a white shirt. She greeted Flora, gently pressing her cheek against hers and joined her at the sofa.“So which one of you thought about scaring me to death?” Flora asked her d
Vampire of the New World Chapter 27: Flora Makes a Promise
The two women were silent for a few minutes as they both processed in their minds what Flora’s future was going to be. In Perlita’s mind, it was akin to a death sentence based on the stories she had heard about Orsica and its infamous resident. How many stories had she heard over the years about the people and the boats that had gone missing while sailing close to the island? Recently, she heard about a relative of a friend who was supposedly hired by the rich recluse but was not heard from again. Some say that the person was still in Orsica and very much alive, enjoying working in the island while properly cared for by the master. Still, there were others who asserted that the person had not communicated with friends in the mainland and was most probably dead. The body would have been kept hidden or buried somewhere within Orsica, but it was more plausible that it was thrown to the shark-infested waters surrounding the island. Perlita’s own grandfather was also said to have sailed to
Vampire of the New World Chapter 28: Flora's Story
Very early morning before dawn, Flora finally closed the door of the house that had been her shelter for many years. She had a lot of fond memories of the house, having lived in it for so long, but she also remembered painful experiences that she endured while living there – the death of her mother as well as the news of her husband’s unfaithfulness.It was a small one-storey house made of light materials with just two rooms. It had a small backyard that used to have cages for chickens that her mother raised when she was still living but was replaced with fighting roosters by her husband, Tunying. There was a vegetable garden that Flora tended from which she would pick tomatoes, bitter gourd and horseradish to augment the food that she bought from the market. Flora hoped that the next tenants would tend the garden and take care of the house as well as she and her mother did. When Flora got married, her husband had come to live with her in the house. She had returned from Malen a few y
Vampire of the New World Chapter 29: Leaving Home
Flora heard a metallic click as she pressed the padlock to the door of her home. She saw that Nadi was looking at her intently as if sensing her sadness at leaving the house. Flora forced a smile and took Nadi’s hand as they walked towards a small truck where Perlita was waiting. “Come on, Nadi! We’re going to our new home!” said Flora, swinging Nadi’s hand as she tried to be cheerful. Nadi looked down at the ground and allowed her mother to pull her towards the vehicle. “Look! Aunt Perlita’s here to see us off.”Nadi glanced at Perlita who was looking at her from the back of the truck. The truck was used to transport fish and other goods to and from Cardena but seats were installed for passengers at the back. Perlita’s brother lifted Nadi to the back of the truck where Perlita was waiting and then helped Flora get on. Nadi yawned, obviously sleepy after having only a few hours of sleep.“Hi, Nadi!” greeted Perlita and moved to the end of the seat to give her friend and Nadi more spa
Vampire of the New World Chapter 30: Crossing the Sea
The crew in charge of security continued to rummage through Flora’s bags and thoroughly searched it for any other devices that were prohibited on the yacht and the island. Flora could only look on as she saw her belongings being searched. She tried to recall Pablo’s instructions and could not remember if he said anything about mobile phones being prohibited. Perhaps they were written in the contract which she was not able to read thoroughly on the day of the interview. Flora knew that Perlita would worry that she was not able to contact her, but there was nothing she could do about it now.The crew found a small mirror that Flora kept in her bag and asked Flora about it. “Do you have any other mirrors in your bag? Mirrors are not allowed either. The master said there’s no room for vanity on the island. We also don’t want you breaking it and hurting anyone.”Flora answered that she kept no mirrors except for the one the crew found. She let the crew take the mirror away. She did not real
Vampire of the New World Chapter 31: A Trending Video
At the mention of the Devil’s Sea, Flora remembered stories about the area of the ocean east of Cardena known for mysterious disappearances of boats and other marine vessels. It no longer bothered her as much as it did when she was younger when Perlita would tell her scary stories during lunch break at school. Back then, Flora got too scared that she would find it difficult to sleep at night, hearing all the nocturnal noises and interpreting them as something more terrifying.One of the most prominent stories that she could recall was the strange disappearance of a research vessel sent by the government to conduct surveys in the area. It was manned by a small crew of scientists and loaded with their state-of-the-art equipment, but the vessel stopped transmitting messages shortly after entering the Devil’s Sea. The vessel was found several days later after an intensive search, but all of the crew were missing. The technical equipment were still on the boat and food had been set on the t
Vampire of the New World Chapter 32: Arrival at Orsica
Flora got more agitated the more that Eva opened her mouth to convince her that the boat they were on was the boat on the video that was trending in social media.“How can you say such a thing, Eva! Surely this could not be that boat. Why would they want to ram small fishing boats?” Flora told Eva.“Who knows? We can’t really tell what their motives are from a short video,” said Eva.They were silent for a while and Flora bowed here head to look at Nadi who was still sleeping on her lap. She was glad that her daughter was sleeping as Eva spoke or she might also get worried with such horrible stories.Eva watched the rock formations as the yacht passed by them. Bored, she rose from her seat and went to the railing to get a better view. She chuckled as she remembered seeing the expression on Flora’s face when she mentioned that the boat there were riding could be the boat on the trending video. She did not really think much about it, she only wanted to amuse herself by triggering Flora’s
Latest chapter
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 169: The Grotto
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 168: Entering the Grotto
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 167: The Way to the Grotto
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 166: Planning Their Morning
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 165: Lisa's Thoughts
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 164: Talk With Celie
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 163: Going Back to the Adobe House
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 162: Apparitions
- Vampire of the New World Chapter 161: About the Devil's Sea
