Chapter 9 : Beginning of the Great Change

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Tangerine didn't know why, but she felt nervous. When she walked inside the house just now, the atmosphere was completely different. It's weird and it felt suffocating. Last time she felt this kind of air was after her grandma died. The wake lasted for a week then. Melancholic air filled the entire house. It was cold yet not chilly. And the wind somehow had a lingering smell of death. She didn't notice it before, maybe because there was her grandma's body inside the coffin, but today... Tangerine can't help but swallow.

What's the matter with her? Tangerine could feel her hands slowly getting wet from nervousness and can't help but wipe them to the side of her pants successively.

Noticing no movements from the other side of the door, Tangerine frowned. She knocked again. *Knock* *Knock* "Hey Zee, I bought donuts. It's from the new store near my office and tried bringing some back. Come on, they said it's delicious!"

Is she sleeping? Tangerine doubted whether Zion heard her or not. She thought that maybe she was reading something again and didn't hear her. Or just didn't want to pay attention to her, so she could finish the chapter she was reading. She knew her sister and she did it to her once, no! Several times! Especially when she is in the middle of a good part, even if she can hear her, this girl will just ignore her beautiful sister and carry-on reading. This infuriated Tangerine many times. How could Zion just ignore this beautiful orange! But she can't do anything about it, that's her sister. That's part of her charm.

If it was before, Tangerine might bang the door harder and stronger until Zion came to open it. But today, Ginger's words were stuck in Tangerine's mind. Coupled with this strange atmosphere, Tangerine can't help but feel more nervous instead.

...

Inside...

Zee can't help but feel annoyed. She was driven out of her sleep because of her nightmares. Her instinct as a human made her breathe hard as if she was deprived of oxygen for a long time. But after she calmed down, her breathing seized to go on as well. Knowing that Tangerine is still waiting outside of her door, she needs to breathe again. Though she was not sure if her sister was that keen to even notice someone's breathing, Zion doesn't want to make mistakes.

Her body felt extremely heavy and she felt tired to the extreme. She doesn't want to move and just wants to sleep...forever. But her sister is outside.

When Zion heard Tangerine knock once more, and heard her say something about donuts. Though she was seduced by the word donuts and her eyes brightened, but then, she remembers how she kept throwing up the food she ate. Her eyes dimmed and frowns can't help but form in her face.

This is such a troublesome body, she thought. She imagines herself being a vampire many times in the past, she really didn't expect to be one. Thinking back from her chuunibyou days...Zion eyes flickered red from excitement as her imagination started to work again. If Zion still has her heart beating alive, then it should've been beating very hard and excited right now.

Zion has been extremely fascinated by vampires before. It started when Zion was still just a newborn Fujoshi, wandering from different genre to genre. Then she found a certain manga, VaSsaL*Rd. That's when Zion started imagining being a vampire and doing all the sucking thingy.

That manga is her favorite, the way Cherry plunged his teeth to Rayflo's skin is way too sexy. He sucks out blood while maintaining eye contact, especially the scenes from when they were at the theater. Cherry seems to be giving Rayflo a blow job and it was super exciting! If only the author didn't skip the smex scene, then Zion will certainly develop anemia every time she reads that manga. Zion complains about it many times and even wonders why the author didn't draw those scenes but she has time to draw hard core scenes for her doujin. And it's even incest, ah!

Zion heave a sigh as if releasing the tension brought by her fantasies. Oh, she's breathing now. She felt relieved but at the same time repulsive. She seems too perverted. Swallowing her thoughts back to her stomach, Zion tried to get up.

Zion doesn't feel anything except for hollowness and exhaustion. Zion does not feel that extreme fever seemingly like your blood turned into a magma and keep flowing through your veins. Maybe because she doesn't have blood? She didn't feel pain, but she felt hungry though. Super, extremely and ultimately hungry.

One thing she's thankful for, though. She didn't turn into a mummy or a corpse looking like a dried squid. Recalling the mummies from a certain movies, those yucky corpse moving around...then replace it with her own face...(─.─||)・・・

Getting up, Zion had to struggle so much. She failed the first time, her arms trembled and it gave up halfway making her body fall. The second time, she can't get up at all. It's like her strength completely vanished from her body and that she is nothing but an empty shell. Zion was completely helpless. She almost cries, but she still remembers her sister that's still standing waiting out of her room. She needs to be strong.

Before attempting the third time, Zion rested for five minutes. Within those times, Tangerine called out two times and even tried to open the door. But it was locked. This made her dumbfounded. Her nervousness got worse thinking how her sister just locked herself inside alone. What could she be doing inside? While her thoughts became chaotic, her mind can't help but project a picture from the video she watched from her friend's phone before she went home. All those destruction and death. Even with just a video, it was permeated in Tangerine's mind.

Then what about those who were at the scene? It must have been traumatizing!

Then her mother's words seem to play in her mind like a broken cassette. Playing all over again and again. "She seems wrong." "Something is wrong!"

With all those things running in her mind, Tangerine seems to have touched a certain conclusion and can't help but feel her blood run cold.

Bang! Bang! Bang! "Zion! Hey! If you don't open the door right now, I will go get the key and barge in myself!" Zion, like a dog, strictly guarded her territory. She hated people barging in without permission and touching her stuff. That's why this threat never failed Tangerine before...even now.

At first Tangerine thought it would fail as well. She heard no response, no sound. It's as if there is no one inside the room at all. She almost run-down stairs to get the key and open the door herself, when the door suddenly opened.

"Why are you so noisy, ah!" Wearing her overall panda style pajama, with a panda earphone covering her ears, Zion looked at her sister and complained insensibly. "I'm watching Uncle Roger. Huh? Why do you look like that? What did mama said to you, for you to look that anxious?"

Zion cheeks have a faint blush, her lips curving up as if she just laughs from her heart's content. Her straight black hair is tangled up– she might have been wearing her hoodie until she opened the door. Tangerine heard faint sounds from her panda earphones. Thinking how loud those sounds are. This girl didn't hear her shouts until she bangs the door loud enough for the neighbors to hear– Tangerine can't help but feel a little pissed off. She felt anxious for nothing! Because of this, she never questioned or thought why she never heard anything from the door. Neither her laughing or movements, when clearly the sound isolation of the house is not that good. That even when their parents are having a great time at night, it will be broadcasted to those who are still awake.

"Donuts!" Zion snatched the donut box from Tangerine's hand and ran back to her room. She left the door open, welcoming Tangerine's presence inside. And without any hesitation, Tangerine followed. She sits on Zion's bed unkindly and watched as Zion opened the box, snatched a piece of donut and directly bit it off happily.

It seems that they were worried for nothing. Her sister is still the same as always. Sighing, Tangerine observed her sister's childish actions of eating and lamented the fact that God wasted giving such a lovely face to her dear sister. Zion is not as beautiful as her, of course. Tangerine is an exotic beauty. She inherited their father's genes in height and skin. She is both beautiful and sexy, with slightly dark skin– she's the well-known black beauty. On the contrary, Zion's exquisite beauty carries a Max level of cuteness and prettiness. With a height of five flat and petite body, adding her milky white skin that hasn't seen the sun for years. Coupled with her strange style of outfits, she seems like a 15 years old wandering lost inside the society for adults.

Maybe this is the reason why they indulge Zion's homebody personality. Nevertheless, Tangerine knew despite how this girl looked, her mind is as rotten as the perverted uncle next door.

Still, no matter how perverted her sister is, Tangerine was still amazed by the fact that her sister is really great with her hands. Looking around her sister's room. This is one of the reasons why Zion hated others going inside her room with her permission. Her room is full of collections.

Unlike the Otaku style room full of action figures, Zion's room is like an artist room. All of these collections were made by herself.

The first time Tangerine came inside this room, she almost stabbed her jaw in between her twin bunnies. Zion's room is not that big, it's just an average room. Her bed is single style and was placed in the corner left, opposite of the door. A window beside it, and a small shelf full of novels hung at the head board of the bed.

The room doesn't have a study table but a huge table almost the same size as a dining table placed on the other side of the corner in front of the bedside. That corner has everything, from tailoring to sculpting. There's also a pile of canvas underneath the table– small and large. Paintings were sometimes drawn there but often it's full of embroidery. On the wall, there's a glass cabinet where Zion stores all her small crochet animals. The big ones were placed on the small sofa in the middle of the room and some were on the floor.

One day, Tangerine asked Zion, "Why don't you just sell these stuff online? Then at least you don't have to trouble yourself in finding a job outside." But Zion's answer almost made Tangerine want to smack this sister hard.

Zion looked at her older sister as if she was looking at an idiot. "This is just a hobby. What's the point of me studying four years if I didn't use it for my career? I don't want to teach, so let me find a job at the office."

...

Now, seeing her sister eating with relish, Tangerine has an urge to persuade her sister to sell her stuff online once again, so that their mother won't ask her to look for jobs outside again. And so, she did.

"Zee, how about I create a page on FB. There are many online sellers right now. Since the pandemic occurred almost everyone turned towards online selling. I could help you manage the site; all you need to do is make something. I'll sell them okay; Ice cream also knows a delivery company. What do you think?"

Smiling faintly, "Okay." Zion glanced at her sister and said, "I'll leave it to you." Then continue eating her donut.

Tangerine linger in Zion's room for a while. Half way, Tangerine stayed in and just talked with her boyfriend, while Zion was either watching Uncle Roger like her excuse and going back reading novels like she always does. At 8 o'clock, Tangerine and Zion went down stairs to eat. Coincidentally, they met their grandpa who always liked to walk outside even when pandemic spread on high. This annoyed Zion so much that she thought of chaining this old man so badly before.

Even if this 86-year-old, old man is healthy as an ox, their mother has asthma and it will be deadly if she caught that virus. Their father decisively quit his job, fearing he will get the virus and spread it to his wife but this old man refused to submit through words.

Now, Zion was irritated seeing the old man sitting on the couch watching news with Max volume. So, without speaking, Zion in haste walked directly to the kitchen. Tangerine on the other hand, stopped to ask whether their grandfather had eaten already or not. But because of the Max volume tv and the degrading hearing of the old man, Tangerine had to ask the question several times with a loud voice before getting a single word answer. Which made Zee annoyed again.

So, after speedily eating dinner, with her good mood wasted like shit, Zion bid her sister good night and ran straight to her room. She locked the door immediately as she went in and strode to the bathroom quickly.

Then...

Zion squatted in front of the toilet, kneeling for almost an hour before her stomach stopped sending food back to her throat. Though, she said that she was not feeling any pain, but every time she went through this throwing up sequence after eating...that's when Zion could feel tremendous pain all over her body, especially her stomach.

Her body was cold all over while her throat felt painfully hot. Her stomach felt like something was stabbing it from within, while her insides felt like they were burning. Zion could only cry silently while she vomited in pain. She trembled and shivered severely. Her eyes looked blank and dead.

After everything ease up, Zion felt dead. Her body feel like a broken doll on the cold tiles. She closed her eyes like a tortured slave finally having been granted amnesty of death.