Cursed

Chapter 18: Stories

"I love the origin stories!" Zach, the silent dark-skinned boy, said in his funny accent. 

He had jumped up and ran to me. If he hadn't been so tiny, I would've probably jumped into a more defensive pose, instead I remained still. He stopped in front of me, looked with eyes too wise for someone his age and smiled carefully up at me before he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the table.

Everybody laughed at his excitement. I dared to breathe again now that the tension seemed to have dissolved a bit. Everyone focused on the boy whose eyes sparkled. I was simply someone in the room with them. It was progress, I guess, not getting to be the unwelcomed one to everyone in the room.

What was I even thinking? I wasn't going to stay here, so it didn't matter if they liked me or not.

"Me too, Zach. I think it's a great idea from Sky," Mimi said in her cracking voice. 

The old lady's eyes started to sparkle with the same excitement as the young boy. Everybody turned towards Mimi. Heather stood up and walked out of the room, her blonde hair dancing on her back. 

Mimi's attention turned to me. Her voice softened and silence settled over the room.

"I don't know which stories you've heard, my dear. There are many versions, some true, others only told out of fear. You have to know that stories always have two sides. For example, the stories about how vampires are the worst kind of monsters running around. Yet, the stories about how vampires once helped the humans seemed to be forgotten. Do you know how they were created? For what reason they were created?" 

I stayed silent. I had heard stories in Holt, but only pieces, and I never knew whether they were true or not. 

"They saved many villages from disasters, yet no one ever included that in their stories. The same goes for the werewolf stories. You might have heard a different version, but this is the one that is told over and over again by the werewolf alphas. It might be true, it might be a lie. Nobody knows. But it's important that you know that every story has its own point of view. So if you heard a different version, tell us in a friendly way and don't tell us that we are wrong with the way we tell it." 

I looked at her, impressed and speechless, and all I could do was nod in respect. 

"Well then, let's start." 

Heather walked back in, carrying a pile of paper. She put them on the table in front of Mimi. The old lady smiled at the blonde girl and told her to take a seat. Mimi turned towards the table again. Her face changed from a friendly smile to a dark expression. Her friendly cracking voice turned into a cold and dark sound that made me shiver. Her eyes were now stormy instead of the loving gray. Somebody had put out most of the candles and the room was now only lit by the two big candles on the table. The atmosphere had turned dark and mysterious.

"Long ago, before a time when vampires existed, our world got overruled by terrible monsters. Nobody knew where they came from. The story goes that they appeared one night, out of nowhere, and slaughtered whole villages. Only pieces of the bodies remained. Religious people were praying for forgiveness, others cried in helplessness. Most thought the gods had brought them to the Kingdom to punish Mankind. The religious leaders kept praying but nothing seemed to work. Whole villages had been slaughtered by these monsters, the Shibaura."

Mimi held up a drawing of a village and a big creature of darkness that had a human in its claws. 

"Atheists started to gather people for an army. They weren't going to let them take any more of their families. Brave men fought every night against those murderous creatures, but nobody ever survived an attack. Whole armies had nothing against one single monster and more and more seemed to come every day. People were getting desperate; their strongest men were dead, solutions were running low and hope was fading."