"I've always told you to try sucking the blood from your victims and stop drinking it from a mere cup." Vera whispered and laughed.
Then, just as a knock sounded at her door, she placed the bloodied head on a cremated tree.
"Brother, what are you doing here?!" As the door got opened before she could even touch the handle, she shouted.
"I'm not here to scold you like I do." Slowly, he stepped inside, smiling. "But I just received some strange information about a soldier at the academy you visited this afternoon missing."
"Is that his head?" Gazing at the cremated human spine tree, which had countless human body parts hanging on it.
"Yes!!" Vera hopped in joy as she moved towards it.
"Look how adorable he is." He lifted the head for closer inspection. "Was he screaming when you chopped it off?"
Vera smiled in a shy manner.
"Father will be pleased to see this." As his voice fades, they burst into laughter.
"He certainly will." Vera whispered, bidding her brother goodnight as he left the room.
"Hey Tiger, where were we?" Vera asked as she hopped into her bed with a playful grin.
---
"Hey Lily, where's Mom? Is she asleep?" Upon entering, Leon whispered as he saw Lily sitting in front of the kitchen floor in a desolated manner.
For a while she remained there, unmoving, mute, as if her tongue had been cut out.
"Lily, what's wrong?" As he moved closer to her, Leon bent down to match her level, then rubbed his hand on her shoulder gently.
"When is Dad coming home?" She mumbled with a drowsy face. "Uncle Max said he traveled, but it's been weeks… and we haven't heard anything from him."
Seeing how distressed Lily was becoming, Leon sat close to her on the floor, held and cupped her cheeks countless times. Then, he whispered, "I spoke with Dad when I reached the exam center I told you about."
Hearing those words, Lily's eyes widened with joy. "What did he say? When is he coming back?"
Leon chuckled softly at her sudden shift in mood. "Ah, I forgot to ask him that. But I'll surely ask in two days' time."
"Two days' time? Take me with you when you're going." Lily whispered as she rose from the floor.
"Sure!" Leon lowered his back and slept on the floor as if he was on his bed. "But if both of us go to meet him, who will take Mom to her daily check-up?"
He whispered and smiled upon seeing the meal Lily was holding as she exits the kitchen. "Jollof rice with veggies?!"
He rose, snatched it, and began eating the meal before even sitting properly.
For a while Lily watched Leon eat the food ravenously, then whispered as she headed upstairs to her room. "I'm going to bed. Lock the doors when you're done."
"Mm, I feel alive now." After licking the plate clean, Leon stretched his body on the floor.
Just as sleep crept in, the sky rumbled. He jolted up—remembering the door and the windows weren't closed.
"What a perfect weather." As he peered his head to the window, he whispered, "I'd love to stand in the rain and enjoy every last drop it carries." He flinched as lightning split the sky.
"Whoa! That was close." He watched the storm, mesmerized—until something in the darkness locked eyes with him.
"What… is that?" The shape he had caught was of nothing ever seen or recorded. "I've never come across this in all the books I've read. I think my eyes are just playing games with me."
Just as his voice faded, a strange light burst towards him like a spear shot in a distance.
Before he could say a word, it struck the door-mart outside. Though it missed him, yet he felt every bone in his body melting as he moved towards the door.
For a while, he tried to open it, but on every attempt, the handle remained extremely hot, like molten lava.
"Well, if I can't go outside now, let me just head to my room and sleep. I'd be the first to see it in the morning."
As he climbed the stairs, each step felt precarious, almost like diffusing a bomb. The strange light dimmed with his movements, but since he was already feeling drowsy, it was way out of his league to see it die.
As soon as he opened his door, the sky rumbled again. But this time, all the light in his community went off instantly.
"Whoa! Another power outage? I thought they fixed this the last time it rained." Leon grumbled, swallowed by the thick shadows.
But since he had every imprint of his room in his palm, he could still navigate his way to his bed.
Once he was overtaken by sleep, a blinding light erupted—so bright it brought the entire community back to life.
[Not everyone is what they pretend to be]
Immediately the light died out, the old woman's voice echoed in his mind. Before he knew it, he stood before the same gate he had entered in his last vision.
"Not again!!" Leon cried out, staring at the 'Y' mark on the door.
"Why this place again?! How many times must that beast kill me?" He shouted as he whirled around, searching for the two giant beings who had walked with him in the previous vision.
"Yeah! I said it." Upon a careful look, he saw them just ten meters away—still wearing the creepy smile like before.
Leon scowled. "Fine. Let's see what's waiting for me this time." Slowly, he pushed the door open.
To his shock, the landscape had changed. "At least it's not the same as last time. If I would die, let me die a peaceful death—maybe sickness or just passing out."
He laughed bitterly. "What am I even saying?"
"Is that a temple?" Seeing a vast building-like structure looming in the far distance, he whispered. Then, as the sky cleared a bit, showing him the roof section of the temple-like structure, he began to walk in that direction.
To his surprise, after taking five steps, his foot slammed onto a wrecked wooden bridge, which seemed too old to still perform its function—hanging on a vast lifeless valley.
He narrowed his eyes, trying to discern the bridge's end, but no matter how hard he strained, it remained invisible. Instead, the bridge seemed to stretch endlessly into infinity.
"Why do I have a feeling this will collapse the moment I put both legs on it?" As he pushed forwards, the bridge swayed violently—rotten wooden planks began to peel away from their moorings.