‘Blood, blood everywhere, not a drop to drink.’

Red was the only colour I could see. Every wall and floor was covered by sticky substance, even the ceiling. Body parts, organs and raw skin decorated the entire room. Eyes were ripped out of their sockets. Hearts bled out of their protected shells and limbs were twisted in unrealistic ways. Brain matter was scattered on the ground. Most of the bodies were bundled together, creating bumps on the flat floor but there were the odd ones that clung to the walls. There was not one body that was whole and not one had a drop of blood that stayed in them.

A severed head was perched right in front of me. I could see the nerves flowing like tentacles coming out of its neck. His eyes were staring at me and his mouth was open in a silent scream. His tongue was hanging, almost touching the ground. His hair was wild and part of his skin on his face was missing. But, no matter how much I closed my eyes or tried to get him to look away, he was still staring at me like it was my entire fault. Like I was the one who brought him misery. I tried to contain myself. I tried to keep myself together but his constant staring and the revolting smell of gore, piss and sweat made my stomach turn. I tilted my head down and vomited yellow substance, completely ignoring the liquid that had landed on my pajama bottoms. I was lucky for the magical shield that kept the blood from touching us because I would have done more that barf if some would have fallen on me.

Even when the noise died down, I could still hear the screams of despair piercing through my ears. And the constant song that was being repeated like a broken record could be heard through the silence of madness.

“Ring around the rosy

Pocket full of posies

Ashes, Ashes, they all fall down”

Only one man was left standing and unscratched: John Chen. The Asian man was frozen in the middle of his men’s graveyard. Blood spattered over him but none of it was his.

Not far away from him was the bane of his existence. She was singing, slowly turning around herself as if she was rehearsing dance steps in slow motion. She tucked a hair behind her ear revealing the flawless face of a deadly porcelain doll. Not a single part of her was blood free. Her clothes were drenched and if I were to squeeze them, blood would drip like a leaking sink. Her pale skin was covered in the realistic make-up and her hair was stuck to her head as if she just came out of the shower. Her creepy smile was glued to her face. It was a mixture of childlike and completely evil. Her dead eyes were searching for any sign of life or any survivor. When she was satisfied, her body turned towards the last living man. She slowly made her way to him by carefully stepping over arms, legs, intestines and body chunks. Her bare feet made a red trail behind her over the few white spots that remained untouched.

“So many questions, so many answers. So many things taught, so many things learned. ” She said while walking. Her eyes never once left their prey. “But, only one is good enough. Which way?”

She started walking around John’s paralyzed body repeating the question. Her red eyes glowed when her body was inside the shadows; two red lights, shining in the darkness. “Ring around the rosy” she said seriously. After her second tour she stopped in front of him and grinned.

“Twenty seven years you owe: nineteen for mommy, four for me”

“That’s twenty three” John stuttered through his shaking lips.

“Four for interest”

“No, no please no. Anything but that, kill me, let me go and I will never bother you again, but please do not send me there” John begged with tears in his eyes. Jimhaya put a finger on his lips and giggled.

“Sweat dreams” she said before pecking him on the lips. John’s body fell limply to the ground.

And then there was silence. There was nothing but the sound of the blood dripping from the ceiling; nothing but the silent madness. It was actually harder to hear the silence than the screams. We knew what was going on when there was noise. We could hear our own heart beats it was so quiet but nobody dared to say a thing, we were just waiting for Jimmy’s next move however, she stayed still. She was standing in the middle of chaos like a goddess statue: a statue that belonged in her surroundings.

Crucial minutes passed and the silence still ventured. My entire body was shaking in fright by the lack of sound until she started moving again. I relaxed a little and let the air that I was holding out of my burning lungs.

Jimhaya picked up John’s body and made her way to us. She stopped before her mother and dropped the body at her feet. Jimhaya crouched down so she was lower than Kelly and tilted her head to the side while showing her neck. She was giving her mother a gift. Like wolves, she brought a kill to her superior as a token of her love or submission. She handed to her mother the man who started everything. He was the one who ordered his brother to brutalized Kelly nineteen years ago. It was his actions that the triplets where who they were today and it was Kelly who was going to decide his fate as he decided hers.

A groan brought us back to reality when one of the men pushed a cadaver off of him. He was missing an arm but it was healing slowly. Jimhaya calmly looked around her shoulder in a predatory manner to see the man who had the erection by looking at her. Completely forgetting about us again, jimmy sped to the man’s side. He had no time to speak when her hand dove down in a blur and came back with his testicles. The man screamed his head off and cried as she grabbed his hair tightly and tilted it backwards. She then shoved both testicles into his mouth and closed it by putting a hand over it. I don’t know if he died of suffocation or blood loss but he went still after a couple of minutes of struggling.

She dropped him and went to Jasmine, whose eyes were sealed shut. She flinched when her sister put her hands on her wrist. Jimmy bumped foreheads with her sister and waited patiently until Jasmine stopped crying. Using her magic, Jimmy dissolved the chains keeping her sister prisoner.

“Safe” Jimhaya said. Jasmine snaked her arms around Jimmy’s neck and kissed her forehead.

“It’s ok. I revoke your permission of killing.” She cried.

“Yes mistress”

“It’s over. It’s over now, let Jamie back in” Jasmine said.

“Not yet. Not over yet” Jasmine nodded and stroked Jimmy’s cheek.

“Come back to us when it is”

“Yes mistress” Jimmy said and stood up to her full height. She walked away, passing the others. She stopped in front of me and my entire body froze. For the first time, I really wanted her to keep walking. I wanted her to ignore me. Her head turned and her eyes pierced my soul. She bent down again putting her hands on my wrists. I dare not move an inch. Jimmy hovered over me and bent down until her lips were to my ear.

“Are you afraid of me now?” her whisper sent shiver to my toes. I was giving everything I had not to start shaking. Jimmy pulled back leaving a red mark on my cheek by dragging her nose on it and walked away. We could faintly hear the sound of bone cracking before the piercing howl.

Jess got up and unchained us. Her parents were consoling themselves while Ren tried to soothe a catatonic Jessica. Jasmine came to me and hugged me tightly.

“Jamie, she can’t be alone right now” Jasmine said to me. She was about to follow her sister but I caught her arm.

“I’ll go; you stay with your family. Hell knows how much they need you right now”

“Don’t forget your coat. The nights are getting colder now a days.”

I had no idea what to say to her after what happened. I couldn’t apologise, nor could I say it was going to be okay. So, I kissed Jasmine on the cheek and smiled sadly before making my way outside. I took my coat and hat and opened my wings. I searched for Jimmy airborne but the trees were too thick. Autumn was on its way so the leaves had not changed colours yet. I flew beneath the tree line and dropped to my feet once I saw paw prints on the ground.

I followed the wolf’s trail all day. I didn’t bother with food because I was not hungry. I couldn’t stop remembering the head that kept looking at me nor the way Jimmy killed them all. I kept hearing their screams and that stupid song wouldn’t get out of my head. I had nightmares that night. It kept me awake in the middle of the forest. I was alone in these woods, waiting for Jimhaya to calm down and come to me. But no matter how much I wanted to escape, I couldn’t leave Jimmy on her own. I guess figuring this out will happen another day.

I was glad I had brought my jacket with me. It was getting cold so I used my wings as a cover to keep me warm. I used my fire magic to start a fire and watched the flames dance before me every time I couldn’t fall asleep.

-

The next day was the same: I followed Jimmy’s trail. I found a small stream where I drank until I was no longer thirsty. It was only on the third day that I saw Jimmy. It was at night, I had just build a fire when the giant brown wolf appeared behind the flames. She looked hesitant to come closer but I smiled and did my best to make my body as encouraging as possible. I hadn’t noticed but she had a dead rabbit in her jaw. She dropped the animal at the hem of my camp and sat down waiting. She looked at me and waited until I figured out she was giving it to me. I slowly got up and picked up the rabbit. I tried to go closer to the wolf but she growled, warning me not to. She kept staring and growling until I got the courage to burn the rabbit and eat the meat. Once I was done, the brown wolf lied down and went to sleep. Knowing she was there and she was fine, I managed to close my eyes and sleep the whole night without a nightmare waking me up.

It took us six days in total before we made it back to civilisation. After that third night, the wolf stayed close to me. She sometimes went off on her own for a few hours but she always came back. Sometimes she came back with food and sometimes she led me to water streams so that I could drink. Every night, she became more confident and slept closer to me until the last night she spooned me with her huge animal body to keep me warm.

I was following Jimmy through the forest but slower because my feet were getting soar. I had not brought the right pair of shoes and I was getting blisters. I healed my feet when that happened but it was still painful.

She stopped in front of me before pointing ahead of her. Spending four days with a wolf has given me the ability to better understand her body language and her way of communication. Ahead of us was a trail for hikers. This meant we were close to town. I just hopped it was ours and not some town miles away from home. We followed the trail until we saw a house in a field. It was the Hundale resident.

Boy was I never so happy to see a house before. This meant hot shower, normal food like fruits and vegetables (I think I might just go vegetarian after all the meat I ate), clean clothes, a toilet and Jasmine. Right now, those were in order of importance. I saw the Jessica sitting on the outdoor porch swing. She stood up when she saw us and yelled through the window that we were here. Kelly was the first out of the house and ran to us engulfing her daughter in a tight hug. She was whispering words in the wolf’s ear but I couldn’t understand them. Red came out next with clothing in her hands. She came to me and kissed me on the cheek and waited until Jimhaya shifted into her human form. Jimmy looked normal except for the amount of dirt on her body and most of the blood had come off but there were still some spots left. Both of her sisters hugged her after she got dressed. Her father was standing away from them and he looked conflicted. I felt pity for him because he had just accepted his daughter when she chose to prove him right when she committed the massacre.

Kelly led the triplets to the house and I let them walk away. Sensing my motive, Jimmy turned around and looked at me with an expressionless face.

“Are you coming” she asked me. I held my tears when I looked at her. My heart was torn in half. Some part of me wanted to follow her but the other wanted to stay away. Now that she was in the arms of her family, there was no reason for me to keep an eye on her.

“Not yet” I smiled weakly. Jimmy took a step forward but stopped. She was trying to read my expression for a clue of what was going through my mind. But, she simply nodded and made her way back to her house with her shoulders slumped and family at her heels. Red lingered longer, looking at me with pained eyes. I really hope she didn’t think I gave up on them. Hell, I hope I didn’t give up either but I had too much to think about to stay here.

With one last glance I flew away from the Hundale house to the only place I knew would help me. I flew for hours, letting the night fall before landing swiftly on the soft grass and looked down at the three tombstones in front of me. It had been a long time since I came here.

“Hey mom, hey dad, hey Ben” I said, teary eyed. “I need your help”