Woe's Lullaby

Introduction

"Never thought I'll meet you again like this"

That was the thought that came to his mind when that creature appeared in the middle of his apartment. Before that moment, he had been living his life the best he could, at least in the circumstances in which he was.

You could say the world was different, not the city itself but the people in it. Aside from the regular people roaming around the streets, he began to see other things...things that were not normal. At first, he thought it was his imagination, probably from the shock of what had happened, but as time went by, he started to freak out.

Most of them looked like normal people, at plain sight you wouldn't figure out they were different but it only took a little attention to spot the differences. Color and shape of their eyes. Some mark or detail on their skin...color of their hair or even more bizarre things like horns, fangs or claws. Some showed other kinds of things that made them stand out even more and for Caleb, it was like being stuck in some sort of nightmare.

The first few weeks were the hardest. Suddenly being thrown into that new reality where creatures he thought only existed in dreams, became real, it took a toll on him. He started to believe he had lost his mind and went really close to the edge, almost becoming really insane until one night in his building, something changed.

Like any other night he was taking care of the trash, doing the best to keep himself out of sight, even though those creatures rarely paid any attention to him, still he tried to not be seen. He was almost done with it when he heard a voice behind that almost made him knock down all the trash cans.

"Caleb? Is been a while since I saw you"

He recognized that voice, it was one of his neighbors, a girl that lived in the apartment below his.

"Oh, yeah, it's been a while. I have been a little busy lately" He responded while turning to her, almost screaming when seeing her face.

For the most part it looked like he remembered her, the same face and kind smile...even those beautiful green eyes were the same and even though, he couldn't ignore the horns coming out of her red hair.

"What's wrong? It seems like you just saw a ghost" She said slightly laughing but it didn't help Caleb at all.

"No... it's nothing. Don't worry" He tried to shrug it off, but flinched when she tried to get close "Please don't hurt me. I don't want any trouble, please" He blurted unable to keep that fear under control, even falling to the ground as he tried to get away.

It took a moment for the girl to realize what was going on and immediately took a step back, rising her hands into her hair and putting them over the two dark horns "You can see them, can't you?" She asked while trying to maintain her voice calm.

"Of course, I can!" He yelled again trying to get away but he hit the wall behind him, against which he curled into a ball, clearly terrified.

Maybe he didn't talk to her as much as a neighbor should do, but he was sure the last time they saw each other, she didn't have those things over her head. It was totally insane, that was more than he could take, simply he was done with all of that.

"Caleb? Please stay calm. I'm not going to hurt you" He could hear her voice again and even though he wanted to believe in those words, his body just wouldn't move "Just come with me, ok?"

Next thing he knew, she managed to pull him out of the floor and took him into the elevator. Luckily because of the hour, there was no one in the building lobby, so his panic attack was just witness by her.