Suffocating on the devil's pawn

1- ellie and I

C h a p t e r 1 - Ellie and I

A R I A H ' S P O V

:Our city had never had anything spectacular to be celebrated by the world nor by the city itself, it had always been a normal city filled with ordinary people. The recent events made the city a topic of discussion for everyone in the country, with the people of the city left scared and questioning humanity themselves. To prove how unimportant, the city was in people's eyes, we did not get proper teams to investigate the unexplainable events that had been taking place in the last couple of months. It was just like four years ago when the unexplainable happened and no one ever looked back to look for answers.

I am careful to not make a sound as I put the dress on, with my angry mother just beside the mirror looking at me but completely out of her mind. Since the death of her sisters and brothers along with my father's sisters, she had not been the same, her life had been turned upside down with one incident and family members in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Mom", I whispered  upon realizing that tears were falling down her cheeks. She looked at me and wiped her tears away. I could see the sorrow in her eyes as she slowly looked away, it's as if she thought I couldn't see her pain. "Are you done?", she asked with her face away from the reach of my eyes ''Yes", I replied, I badly wanted to tell her everything would be fine, that maybe they would come back and we would find the vampires rumored to have taken them away from all of us. "Ok then let's go downstairs and do this' ', I could already imagine the looks we would be getting from people, they would look at us as if we were dead too, like we needed their sympathy , and they would say words of encouragement like we needed them. I only wondered how we would ever get over this, Daddy was already so distant from the rest of us, he refused to believe that they were all gone, that one gathering caused a stir in the whole city, raised questions but no one was brave enough to step up and answer those questions. I felt the stares we were getting from people as we took small steps careful not to fall down the stairs.

"Ellie it has been four years since....that happened. No one ever stepped up to look for answers or do anything about it, everyone was scared, that is why I think that what is happening now is in connection with what happened four years ago", I said to my best friend Ellie. She looked at me confused, with a facial expression clearly reminding me about the rules of the city, the first one : No one mentions the incidents that took place 4 years ago. The rule has been implemented informally throughout these years, no one in any big position ever stepped up and told the people in the city about it, it had always been people shouting at each other and giving each other weird glares upon the mention of the 'events'. She took my hand into her own hand and looked at me, "Ariah, these things are not to be mentioned number one, and two do not think about that. Remember four years ago people thought it was vampires who did that, and professionals did everything in their power after that to prove that vampires do not exist Riah."

"Ellie don't lie, they never proved that, they just said that. They dumped the information on us and expected us to believe it, mainly because they gave us no other choice", I said taking a bite from my cheeseburger. I knew Ellie was against me speaking against a government her father was part of, her father was even part of the team that made decisions. She looked down and licked her lips nervously, she took a chip and ate it. I wanted to apologise to her but at the same time I knew that if I hid what I felt and how I felt she would never get me and I hated hiding things from her. I looked at her and I fake coughed , " EllieI know this makes you uncomfortable but I am very sure of what i am saying."

"Riah, no vampires have been found ever. And to top it all off, what does the disappearance of girls who come back not remembering anything have to do with them?"

What she was saying mad sense but I didn't think that was the case, the fact that people kept on saying that there was a vampire meant someone saw one, not because they saw fictional vampires from The Vampire Diaries, and I was going to find out exactly what they saw. We ate and left for class before class time started. The day dragged before the school ended.

Immediately after the school ended I went home avoiding Ellie, who was also avoiding me because she thought I was being delusional and that the events that happened years ago are still affecting me, and I am suffering from side effects from the traumatic experience I had years ago.

When i got home, I found mom and dad sitting at the couch watching TV, True Crime Daily. I was glad they were finding their space and I hated that I would be the one taking their peace away from them, no matter how hard I tried to deal with the situation without ruining their peace, they would find out about my plans, unless I didn't proceed with them. Mom noticed I was in the house and looked back to look at me properly, "Hi baby", she greeted me. "Hi mom, hey daddy", I greeted both of them. "How was your day?", mom asked. "Nothing much, just me and Ellie", I replied. "Mom and daddy can I please go to my room and finish some work", I ask mom and dad. Mom nodded, and I ran upstairs to my room. The warmth of my room greeted me, and I felt like I was finally home from the long day I had had. I threw my bag on the table and then threw myself on the bed. The softness of my bed felt amazing and I felt at peace. I looked to the left and I saw a picture of Aunty Liz and I. The memory of her presence felt like a distant memory but it also felt like a day since I last saw her, since I last hugged her.

The looks we were getting from the people I desperately wished I would be able to not pay attention to. The farther down I went, the more I saw the pictures of my aunts, uncles and grandmother. My mother tightened her grip on my hand and I looked at her and I saw her face to the ground, its emotion completely washed off, like it was calling for help but it didn't want to be heard. When we finally got downstairs I was greeted by a big frame that had Aunty Liz's face on it, it felt like yesterday since I had last seen her, heard her laugh and was reminded that I was the favourite niece between her nieces and nephews. Aunty Liz's face was lit even in the picture, her soul was radiating through the frame.

I got up and took the frame from the table. I wanted to say so much but I couldn't.

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15 Feb 

Dear diary

It's been days since the last incident I had with Ellie, she has not been answering my calls nor my texts. There is something going on, unless they also took her away. It's a Saturday today, and Ellie was supposed to come to my house for some school work, I called her mom and dad but neither answered my calls. It has been heavy on my soul since Ellie stopped answering my calls.