Chapter 6

When I got home that evening, Mom told me that Alyssa had called, saying her parents wanted to invite me to dinner at her house. And she would come to pick me up tomorrow night. I asked if it was okay, and Mom simply said, "Yes" without suspecting anything else. What a simple plan my best friend had! But it worked perfectly.

On the next day before we went to the carnival, we actually had dinner at Alyssa's house. I guess it would make us feel less guilty about lying to our parents. After dinner, we hopped into Alyssa's black Benz and drove downtown instead of going back home or school. I sat at the back of the car whereas Cammie and Alyssa occupied the front.

"I thought you had a better light bulb to convince my mom," I complained.

"A better idea!" Cammie corrected me. I forgot that one of Cammie's favorite hobbies is reading dictionaries. She always makes sure that correcting my language is her top priority.

"What? I like metaphors," I said.

"We did have dinner, didn't we?" Cammie reminded me.

"And you think going to that carnival is a dessert?" I asked, but Cammie just laughed.

"Nice metaphor," she added with a sniff.

"But we're still lying!"

"It's not called lying, Vivienne," Alyssa came to declare. "It's called making up stories."

"What a difference does it make, anyway?" I said.

"Lying is bad, but making up story is useful," she replied in her surest voice. I had been taught that lying was universally wrong, but no one had ever taught me about making up stories.

"Just once, Viv, all I'm asking is you go moral-free for a day, okay?" Cammie said. Alyssa was also looking at me from the rearview mirror. I felt like I was a mom whose kids were begging for extra candies.

"Okay, fine," I surrendered, "Let's go loco then," and the two girls cheered. I laughed along, shaking my head.

When we reached the carnival ground, the place was already crowded. A lot of people kept walking around, carrying corn dogs and cotton candies. A parade of women and men with colorful costumes and feathers marched along the crowded street. We looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing excitedly.

Cammie may be a genius girl who knows every word from every dictionary in the world while Alyssa may be a Nobel Prize winner for a new physic theory in the next ten years, and I may be a person who likes to put dead stuff in formaldehyde bottles in our refrigerator, but still, we are just like any ordinary girls, and even the Ultara girls need to have some fun.

We bought Nutella churros and ate cotton candies while dancing to the blasting music with the crowd. All of us had grown on all the fun at the carnival that we almost lost track of time. After hours passed, people began to clear away. Some of the booths along the street were being closed down. Alyssa jabbed on her phone, but then she exclaimed because the battery went dead.

Strangely, I kept hearing a flash of faraway sound every few seconds. I asked Cammie and Alyssa whether they heard something, but neither of them did. But I personally felt like someone was watching me, and that was not a good sign, so I suggested that it was time to leave the carnival.

As we walked toward the parking lot where our car was, the night air got colder with winds blew through our clothes. Along the sidewalk, I heard footsteps coming behind us- four pairs of heavy feet. I smelled alcohol and cigarette smoke. Bad case scenario.

Intuitively, I gripped both Cammie's and Alyssa's hand, urging them to walk faster.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Cammie asked, probably sensing the tension.

"Come along- quick!" I hissed urgently. Then I looked over my shoulder and caught sight of them. There were four men following us. They tried to hide when I turned, but it was too late. I'd already seen them as clear as day.

"Slow down, Viv! It's so dark. I can't even see my own feet!" Alyssa said.

"Hurry up! Some strangers are following us," I finally told them, but the footsteps behind us also increased as we quickened our paces. We reached the parking lot. Ahead of us, I could see rows of cars parking motionlessly, but then those men came to block our way, making our feet screeched to a halt. They had made a shortcut.

"Why so hurry, my babes?" one of the men who was standing in the middle of the group spoke. I came forward, pulling Alyssa to the back. Cammie also did the same. We just knew who we would want to protect the most in time like this. As I calculated the chance of our escape, I knew that at least, Cammie could handle two of them, but I also knew, at most, I could only defend myself. Seeing that as a lost battle, I started thinking of another option.

But then Cammie spoke, "Go away before you regret it." There was no trace of panic in her voice.

"Not unless you come with us," the man said and laughed stupidly with his peers. Suddenly, I felt the tension rose from my feet up to my torso. My hands started trembling. Oh, no- please, not now.

"Vivienne? Are you okay?" Alyssa came to grasp my shoulders, but I found myself unable to speak. My heart started pumping harder. A mixture of hot and cold blood rushed through my veins. It was as if I was coming down with a fever and a cold at the same time. Sweat batted on my neck as I fought to keep myself standing.

"Come on, darlings! Don't waste our time," then the man who was the leader stepped forward. Without a warning, I felt a sharp pain struck in my mouth, like something stretching out of my gum. I doubled over and screamed in pain. The hot blood shot through my head and eyes. I braced myself frantically.

"Vivienne!" Cammie and Alyssa cried in alarm. The men stepped back just out of surprise and hesitation.

"Leave the girls alone!" This time, we heard another voice coming from behind us.

"Octavia!" Alyssa uttered with a small hint of relief. Octavia gracefully whizzed forward in a flash, but I began to worry about her pretty face. The men were stocky and rough. There was no way we could take them down, even with the four of us.

"Oh, the more, the merrier," the man said, eyeing lustful at the delicate body of Octavia. But when the man reached his hand out, meaning to touch her smooth beautiful face, he ended up screaming in agony, because Octavia caught him by the wrist and twisted it, making the guy drop hard on his knees. The other men saw that and stepped away quickly. I didn't know how it was possible to be so beautiful and so strong, but Octavia reminded me of a fierce lioness on the hunt.

"Go!" She turned to us.

"How about you?" Alyssa asked.

"I can take care of them myself," Octavia growled, her eyes flickered strangely, "Now go!"

Cammie and Alyssa hesitated for a moment, but hearing the powerful tone of Octavia's voice, they decided to help each other removing me from the place. Octavia tossed the crying man over a nearby car with a loud crash -- as if the man were weightless. Then other smashing sounds followed like thunders blasting. Suddenly, one of them came to grab Cammie by her shoulder. Big mistake.

Cammie shifted her weight to the side and flipped the man over, crushing him onto the pavement really hard. Then she gave a brutal kick between his legs, his face turned purple. The guy started howling like a dying dog. Alyssa draped my arm over her shoulders, trying to hold me upright as she dragged me along.

We reached our car at last. Cammie followed behind and quickly got into the driver seat. Alyssa shoved me to the back with her. Cammie started the car and backed it out of the parking lot. Then she turned the steering wheel and slammed her foot on the accelerator. The tires made a screeching sound as the car began to race forward.

But I felt even worse. My jaw and teeth ached so much, tears started to stream down my cheeks. My stomach also cramped that I had to clutch myself feverishly as if there was something trying to crawl out of my body. I screamed harder.

"Vivienne!" Alyssa cried in a panicky tone.

"Aaaargh!!!"

I screamed to the point that my voice split. I didn't know what the heck had gotten into me.

"We have to take her to the hospital!" Cammie yelled from the front.

"No!" I managed to blurt a protest. I was still panting and screeching my guts out, but I just didn't want to let Mom know this.

"You are so sick! You need to see a doctor! I mean your mom!" Alyssa insisted in a frightful tone. She squeezed me against herself as I was trembling wildly. I felt my entire organisms twisting and turning like they were waging war against each other. My head felt like a time bomb ticking away towards an explosion.

"No, I...need..." I tried to spit the words out of my mouth, "I need...my milk."

"What?" Alyssa's voice came out in a high pitch.

"Just take it...from my bag," I gestured to my bag under the seat.

"But Viv..."

"Please!" I spoke through my clenched teeth.

"Okay, okay!"

I remember Mom had prepared my milk before I went out. She said just in case. But now, I felt like it wasn't just in case, it was for an emergency! Alyssa unzipped the bag and pulled out a carton of milk. She broke the opening and handed it to me. I took a gulp of it, but as the milk traveled down my throat, I threw it back up. This time, I sensed something horrible rising from the pit of my stomach, like a monstrous desire craving for a mysterious thing.

"Vivienne!!!" Cammie and Alyssa screamed in unison. I felt my canine teeth stretching out so long. Their edges were as sharp as razors.