Blood Moon

Chapter 1 : DANTE

My mind went blank for a moment after I felt my last breath escaped my lungs. I can hear the echoes in the water, but after that there's nothing. As my mind comes back to its senses, I think I'm already in heaven, or worse, in hell. But I haven't done anything too bad to condemn me to that damned place. I try to slowly open my eyes, I see darkness, pure darkness. And what puzzles me the most is I can't feel the water pressure anymore. It doesn't feel like I'm still submerging into the ocean floor, but rather it feels like I'm in a cave; my eyes can only see the dark view around me. I begin to realize I'm really dead. And this is what death feels like. But Where's the light? They said I'm going to see a bright light, where is it?

Tears begin to fall from my eyes, "This might be hell," I thought.

Yes! I am certain! I see nothing but darkness, so this must be hell. Oh, why? Oh, why? I have been a good child. I didn't hurt anybody. How about mom? Where's mom?

For hours I cried myself in that darkened place calling my mother over and over and over again. I have never felt so helpless before; even in death I have to suffer like this. All I can hear inside that place is my echoing cries; my own despair and pain. Had I known I would die young, I would have lived my life to the fullest. I have come to hate myself, I hate it to the extent that I even yearn for my soul to just disintegrate, to cease to exist.

On my self-loathing I decided to punch through the dark and release the anger I feel inside. To my surprise, my fist touched something, and that thing burst open; pieces flew in the air and scattered everywhere. Then I heard a man speak not far from where I am.

"So, you are done sulking." he said.

The place is quite dim so I can't clearly see. My whole body feels numbed from being stuck in there for quite a while. I slowly pulled myself up to sit. I noticed he tossed something to me when it landed directly on my lap.

"Here! Wear that." he said. Then he continued, "Don't worry, your eyes will get used to it again. It's just normal because you just woke up. I'll be upstairs if you need me." Then he went somewhere, I can hear his footsteps ascending the staircase.

Unable to see, I tried to manage and put on the clothes using only my touch. I can feel that he gave a long-sleeved turtleneck sweater and fitting jeans. "No undergarments? This is absurd. I cannot go out without any undergarments." I thought as I found my way through the darkened place, groping the walls and the reeling as I went up the stairs and into a more illuminated part of the place. I stopped by the doorway and refused to go on. The man saw me. He gestured for me to come, "It's alright. Don't be afraid. This place is safe."

I frowned. "I can't! Not without any undergarments!" I answered him.

"And? So what?" He looked at me as if he's about to make fun of me.

"So? Well you're a man, I can't let you see me - - -", I stopped halfway through my sentence when I realized there was something wrong with my voice. I can't utter another word. I'm in total shock.

"You were saying?", he approached me with an annoying smile on his lips. "You're embarrassed because you don't have any undergarments? Are you trying to make me laugh? Is that your first joke after sleeping for more than a millennium?" He's laughing at me.

I looked at him. He is about to speak again, and I don't want to listen to him anymore.Not with what he's about to say. "Oh, please! Oh, please! Not what I think it is." I silently prayed.

He gave me the most annoying smirk I have ever seen. "My dear beloved cousin you're a man. You don't need any undergarments."

His words exploded like a bomb and made me a deaf for a few minutes. Did I hear that right? I hold my neck. Then with a trembling hand I inspected my chest and my groin. My breasts are gone! And there's male genitals in between my legs! Eyes wide,I look at him in confusion. What the hell on earth is going on? And yes, he mentioned I slept for a millennium. That's totally absurd! Even bears would die hibernating that long. And I didn't sleep, I died! I can still remember vividly how I died and who killed me. But this man with his blue eyes glowing like the moon looks at me like he knows me and what's going on. I stared at him and noticed that no normal man would ever look like him. That white complexion that seems like a marble stone; eyes as blue as a gem that looks at me like he is about to melt me down; those lips that curved in a perfect smile as if he wore lip gloss; his slender face; and that platinum hair of his cascading down to his shoulders. Undoubtedly, he's not an ordinary man. No, he wasn't a man at all. Oh, mother, what trouble did I get myself into? My thoughts were interrupted and I came back to my senses when I suddenly felt his lips pressed against mine. He gently pushed me against the wall as he deepened the kiss. And through that kiss I can taste a sweet - salty liquid being passed from his mouth into mine. Unknown images flash through my mind as we kiss, if that's what you call what we're doing. After a few minutes he broke the kiss and looked at me. What he said created a major question in my head.