We are at the mercy of life, unsure of what lies beyond it. Perhaps it continues, or maybe it's just our minds playing tricks on us.
That's what Orleans thought, lost in thought.
"Everything isn't lost in the rubble," a voice said from behind them.
They turned around to see who it was.
"Is this what you were looking for?" the stranger asked, holding up the object Elijah had been searching for. She grinned lopsidedly, not showing her teeth.
"Yes," Elijah replied hesitantly, disturbed by the dark aura emanating from the woman.
"It's funny how the dead are never left in peace, even in death," the stranger said. "What gives anyone the right to disturb them?"
"What?" Elijah's heart raced and his brow furrowed. The woman's grin grew wider, showing her teeth mischievously. "Are you joking? I don't know who you are, but I need that diary." He tried to grab it from her hand, but before he could, she did something that left him stunned for several seconds. Rebekah was equally stunned. It had to be a joke, just his imagination. But now he was against the wall, struggling to breathe as the woman choked him. "Let go of me!" he begged, feeling as though her arms were made of spaghetti.
"No one, absolutely no one, will have my diary," she said fiercely.
Between life and death, we persist.
Her eyes, as dark as the deepest night, bore into him, filling him with the worst sense of dread. They seemed to pierce him through his own eyes, as if she could see every thought in his head. The woman's hoarse, hostile voice matched her dark, cold aura perfectly. It was as if his body was frozen in place, paralyzed by fear. The woman's words repeated in his brain like a broken record, as he tried to process what had just happened and avoid panicking. He didn't understand why Rebekah didn't scream or react, just stood there motionless. He heard his father's call, signaling that it was time to leave. His footsteps echoed as he approached, and the sound of debris clattering served as a warning. "No one will have my diary," she stressed every word before disappearing quickly. Elijah stared at a fixed spot in the cemetery, feeling someone in front of him patting his cheeks and hearing his father's voice calling out to him, but it was as if the voice was a mere whisper. "Elijah, son,"
"You're in a bad way, my friend," he said, unable to stop himself from laughing as he entered the social studies classroom. "It's true, Fox," he said to his best friend. "I saw her. I swear I saw her." "Yeah, and I saw Pamela Anderson," said the boy with the light complexion and brown eyes that looked like a touch of sapphire, sarcastically, sitting down at his desk. "Don't you think you're a little off track with this subject?" "No," he replied, sitting next to Fox in the second row. "I'm not out of line. I'm telling you I saw her." "From what you told me, she told you that no one will take her diary," Elijah nodded. "Well, do you think, sir, she could have been a crazy-minded woman posing as the more-than-destroyed Melia?" The other way around, he denied. "I don't think so, Fox. She had a quickness... I can't explain. From one moment to the next, I was up against the wall." "It's Flash," he scoffed and laughed. He didn't take what his more-than-smart friend was saying seriousl
As the days passed by, Elijah spent his free time reading the diary. However, most of the pages of the next diary were blank, leaving him puzzled. He read one page, but when he turned to the next, he found that the author had not continued writing. This intrigued him. "Where are you going?" Elijah asked his parents, peeking his head out of his room as he saw them walking down the hallway. "We're going to your brothers' meeting," his mother replied. His other two teenage sons, Sam and Robert, were twins, and they had a meeting of notes to attend. "We'll come back later, and there's some food in the fridge..." "I know," Elijah interrupted her. "I know how to be alone, mother." "I left you alone once, and you said the fab four wanted to mow you down," Josh couldn't help but laugh. "I was ten!" Elijah exclaimed with a laugh. "It doesn't count." "Yes, it does," they said in unison, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "See you later, dear," said his mother as she headed downstai
When reality hit, it hit Elijah so hard it was like being slammed against a brick wall. He felt every part of his body go numb, and it wasn't just a metaphorical expression. He was more than just scared - his breathing was rapid, his heart pounding in his ears, and he wanted to scream, but his vocal cords seemed to be working against him. In front of him stood a woman whose face seemed to radiate the horrors of a thousand hells. Her hand was tightly wrapped around his neck, choking him, making it hard for him to breathe. He tried to plead, to ask for mercy, but everything seemed to be against him. Then he raised his right hand to show her the diary-book, and the woman's gaze shifted towards it, as if she hadn't seen it for centuries. "I'll call the police," Elijah said, his voice shaking. The woman turned to him, her expression warning him not to say such a thing. "Go ahead," she said with a cold smile. "Let's see who gets there first." Elijah felt a cold shiver run down his spine a
He descended from Elijah's room with the parents of the aforementioned. Upon receiving a call from Rebekah, Fox promptly contacted his good friend's parents, and they all returned home with their siblings. Josh contacted one of his doctor friends, who arrived within minutes and examined their son. The doctor informed them that their son had experienced an alteration, causing him to lose consciousness. Karla and the twins were all concerned, but the 18-year-olds tried to soothe their mother. Josh couldn't comprehend how his son had suffered such an episode in the short time they had been gone. "He'll be fine," Steban, the doctor and friend of everyone, reassured Josh. "His blood pressure has dropped, and he'll sleep for a few hours." "But..." Sam interjected. "What caused it?" "I don't know," Steban replied truthfully. "But whatever he saw, it wasn't good," he sighed, pulling on his black jacket. "I'll come back later," he told Josh as they exited the room. Meanwhile, Karla was so
His gaze travelled to the side of the bed. "What the heck happened to the nightstand?" she asked as she entered the room and carefully picked up what he had said. The lamp had broken, along with one of the science prizes on top of it. "It fell," he answered with a chuckle, and his mother gave him a dirty look. He walked over to her and helped her with the broken glass, carrying them to a small trash can in the corner by the window. He leaned out of the window while his mother arranged the garbage can. Looking down, he saw Melia, their gazes colliding, but she quickly turned on her heels and disappeared. "Why are you smiling so much?" his mother asked, placing the tray of food on the chest. Elijah looked at her. "I'm not smiling."He looked back to the street, and when he did, his brow furrowed as he noticed Melia was no longer there. But at what point...? He only stopped looking for a fleeting second. He closed the curtains and looked back at his mother."I was just admiring the vie
"At the age of twelve, she had won the affection of everyone around her. Not a single soul could bring themselves to hate her, let alone harbor any negative feelings towards her," Professor Collins recited to the class, pacing back and forth with his eyes glued to the book in front of him. He seldom looked up to see if his students were paying attention."Her mother, Karina, had instilled in her daughter the invaluable lesson of loving and appreciating others unconditionally. Every afternoon, Karina would take Melia on a walk around the palace, holding her hand as they explored. Melia was a curious child; anything and everything caught her attention. "'Mother, why does everyone love me?' she would ask Karina at random intervals. Karina would look down at her daughter, her own gaze meeting Melia's bright brown eyes, and reply with a smile: "Because every angel is loved." Melia would beam with joy and Karina would plant a gentle kiss on her daughter's head. Professor Collins pushed hi
Melia observed him with a mix of amazement and amusement, her smile reflecting his own happiness at discovering something he deemed unlikely. It seemed to her that in this day and age, people were easily amazed by the smallest things. She couldn't help but draw a comparison to the way she felt when she first laid eyes on Shakespeare himself, standing before her. "I hear you loud and clear," she heard him exclaim in disbelief, his voice barely above a whisper. She remained seated on the bleachers, watching him with curiosity as he paced back and forth, his fingers running through his unkempt, dirty white hair. Despite the strangeness of the situation, Melia found herself finding his astonishment rather amusing. "Vampire..." he murmured, his gaze shifting towards Melia. "Perfect!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in a rare moment of elation. "It explains everything. It explains why you're still here, alive. Why... Or maybe... How do you become a vampire?" he asked abruptly, his curio