Everlies

Chapter 2

***

Neve has just been kneeling below a willow tree for three hours straight, biting her nails and shivering uncontrollably, since she's unable to process what she just witnessed this morning. It was a gloomy day in the rainy season. The sky got dark once again, leaving Neve growing even more anxious. Lightning spotted, thunder could be heard. And as it got progressively louder, "AAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!" Neve screamed, holding her hair, instinctively running towards a building she herself calls "home". She immediately opened the door slowly and took a look at what happened to her house. It's horrendously messy. As if a mega earthquake had struck them. Hayden must have had a hard time battling himself before he completely lost his sanity. She couldn't see nor notice the presence of Hayden. Her heart pounded so fast but spontaneously she got in and looked around with her empty glare, since she's not fully conscious.

"Dad..?" she whispered. But the only thing she could hear was her own breath, her own pounding heart, and the sound of deafening thunder. Soon followed by the pitter-patter of the rain. She tried to find her dad in the kitchen and bathroom, but she couldn't find her. The only possibilities left are two. Mainly her dad's room. But she tried to open her room first. How jolted she was when she saw her room being a nightmare fuel. Sprinkles of broken glass shards, ripped paper, blood stains, and...

Ripped, fresh, pieces of human flesh scattered around.

But Hayden wasn't there. At that point, she was filled with delusions and she was thunderstruck to the point she didn't find it lifelike. But that could only mean one thing. Hayden is in his room. There are four possibilities:

He ran away without Neve noticing.

It's sane Hayden Everlies.

It's a monster in Hayden's physique.

He's dead.

Neve was feeling other-worldly, she couldn't express anything beside showing her empty and hollow glare and pale skin. She stood just right in front of her father's room. Hesitating for a second, holding the door handle, and opening it slowly. She closed her eyes, and when the door was fully opened, she opened her eyes. And at that point, she barely could tell the difference between what she was seeing and hell. Hayden Everlies left his room in a sickening view just to be discovered by his daughter. And that view is Hayden's lifeless body covered in blood, bruises, and missing ripped pieces of his flesh, with a missing limb, hanging on the ceiling. It didn't look like Hayden. It looked like Satan from a black-metal music album. Neve fell to her knees, right in front of Hayden's chopped limb along with the butcher's knife in blood. It was a vassal of horror. Other than that, it looked more or less the same as Neve's room. Neve tried to scream, but couldn't. She tried to stand up and wake her father up, but couldn't. She tried to think of it as a horror movie or play scene, but couldn't. She tried to think that he's faking his death, but failed miserably. Not long after, she fell to the stained floor, unconscious.

It didn't take a long time for the lifeless body to be discovered by people around them through the horrendous rotting smell the corpse produced. Right after just opening the door, the people gave up and called dieners instead. Neve was still unconscious, fainted right in front of his hanged father. After the dieners arrived, and took a look at the horror filling Hayden's room, they weren't able to move for a second out of shock. Even experienced professionals couldn't handle looking at such a view. "Ain't no way that man could be alive orelse zombies are real. But it's possible for this girl. Let me check the pulse." one of the dieners said. "Oh, she's alive. Call an ambulance, NOW!" he ordered. 5 minutes passed by, and Neve was taken to a hospital, in a paralyzed body.

"She didn't get injured. But it seemed like she fainted out of immense shock and she suffered from malnutrition and dehydration. Inject the Intravenous liquid now." one of the doctors said. Neve was admitted to Welevsky Hospital, at approximately 7 PM the day after the death of Hayden Everlies. "She's underaged. Who's her guardian?"