The clock kept ticking as Haruto stayed inside his room, hoodie rugged, and shorts reaching higher then his knees as a he laid down with phone in hand in his quiet bedroom like a person with no ambition. A handful of raindrops pitter-pattered on his window and an orange light intruded his dimly lit home. The sun was about to set and he needed to buy some groceries before evening. He stood up and stretched for a bit, preparing his belongings before he closed the door behind him and entered the gloomy outsides of the city.
Haruto walked towards the store as cars, cyclists, and people with briefcases were going in the opposite direction. "Must be the end of the day for them." he thought. Once again the buildings had laggardly lit up to reveal a beautiful patterns of colors on them, illuminating the orange-colored streets with its rainbow of intricate colors. As he continued to walk past the fishermen near the sea, a couple of posters that swam in the air caught his attention, it seemed that they came from a light pole that had a homeless man next to it. In curiosity, he decided to jump and catch one of the hovering posters to see what it was all about.
"Another missing person." Haruto looked distraught he glared at the poster filled with details about a lost kid together with information and contacts and as he imagined more of the upset families whose love ones have disappeared. The thought of losing someone you care so deeply without knowing it was going to happen would be enough to send something greatly unpleasant into themselves; fear and despair were the more common ones. It was not something one would ask nor agree for, it was just too painful to even think about it.
"People are going missing boy... You better watch yerself now." The old man next to the pole spoke as he stood up and wiped the liquid from his mouth. A middle-aged looking individual wearing a tattered shirt and some dirty shorts. His white beard had overgrown all over his face, wrinkles showed on the corners of his eyes, and little bits of dirt sat on his serious looking face.
Haruto examined the man before approaching him and spoke, "Sir, this isn't a good place to stay. The local charities and barangay stations can offer you some help. Let me take you—"
"No, I ain't goin with those, I'm fine with what I have right now. I don't need yer concern." The old man hastily interrupted him "I don't need their help, they couldn't even help me with what I lost." He explained as he packed his belongings and finished his drink.
"But sir the authorities are supposed to help..." He continued.
"Not in this case boy. I'll tell you once and right now, get yer ass out of here while you still can. Those free-thinkers ain't gonna help ya either."
Haruto watched as the man walked away and disappeared under the bridge using a long staircase. He held his chest, it wasn't always a pleasant sight to see; people suffering without any help from anyone. Being alone every night on the streets or having someone taken away from you in an instant. These sad abstractions were more than enough for Haruto to somehow comprehend the pain that Sayozane and Kenriki went through, though he does wish that it never happened at all, he knows that he can never turn back the time.
"Good luck, sir..." He spoke under his breath.
After a few more blocks of walking, Haruto arrived at a small grocery shop next to some small buildings that lit up its sign light with a park on the left side of the street with a sign that says Rizal Park. Within the noisy open area, the place was beaming with people and children who were preoccupied with various activities like playing ball or doing tag. Small pine trees covered the outer portion of the park and anyone could only vividly see what was going on inside. Haruto noticed two people sitting on a bench just beside the wall of trees, flirting with each other like some cute couple on a romantic movie. In their hands was a small cone of ice cream that started to drip because of the heat, which only made them laugh.
A bell rang as he pushed the metal handle on the glass door and entered the shop. Already the place was cold and elevator music was playing from a speaker on the upper left corner with a little bit of casual chatter. The usual reflective mirror stood on top of the three large refrigerators to discourage shoplifting, though Haruto thought it was kinda useless since usually only like five people would come and go for the entire day, "Some CCTVs will do you good," Haruto said to himself. The cashier was sitting down, staring at her phone while waiting for a customer to come and pay for their items. Among the few people that were here today; a woman and her child who were checking out vegetables at the organic aisle and a couple of teenagers who were taking pictures of themselves next to the food and knick-knacks.
Haruto grabbed one of the small red plastic baskets and started to shove all the necessary stuff he needed to buy into the red container. Stuff like eggs, rice, vegetables, and many more was what he needed, fortunately this establishment was the perfect place for it. You could find durian today and it would be replaced by dragon fruit tomorrow or even other fruits from other countries. The shop was well-known for being a place that could supply anyone's wants involving food. Haruto could remember the times when his father would take him here and he would ask for a small treat, to which of course Daisuke was a bit hesitant to give, but nonetheless, little Haruto got what he wanted. As he went down the aisle of beverages, their moment of comfort was disturbed when a small shockwave convulsed the entire store, causing the lights to go out for a bit and make some items fall from their shelves. The cashier came running to see if everyone was okay and started cleaning the broken items on the floor. The mother became frantic and decided to hurry outside after paying for her groceries.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Miss you forgot your—" The cashier shouted at the woman as she slammed the glass door behind her. It swung back and forth before stopping and blocking the air from seeping outside.
The teenagers started laughing about what had happened. Gathering at the candy shelves to take some pictures again, Haruto didn't bother to look at them and decided to ignore their childish antics.
"Lettuce... hmm." Haruto thought to himself as he inspected the different green vegetables on the small box. He wanted to find the freshest and biggest lettuce to ensure its quality and lifespan. As he looked and pushed some of the vegetables away, another shockwave shook the store and the lights on top of Haruto started to flicker. One of the lettuces rolled off of the small box and into the candy shelf. The teenagers were gone, Haruto picked up the fallen lettuce and started to peek at the aisles to see where everyone went. The store only emitted the sound of elevator music and the sounds of chit-chats had vanished, it was an uncomfortable experience for him so he decided to rush to the counter. After finally checking the last item on his phone, Haruto let the bored-looking cashier slowly hit them with a red light that made a beeping sound and produced green digits on the small screen in front of him.
"Excuse me, did everyone the group already leave the store?" Haruto asked. Preparing his wallet full of money.
"You mean those teenagers? I think they went outside already. You should be careful when you leave, people have been going missing and some strange events have been spooking everyone." The cashier said as she placed the items into his small bag.
"Strange events?" Haruto asked, curious of what she meant.
"You didn't hear? A couple of weeks ago they say that a bear mauled a registrar when he was heading home. And just last week, a house was destroyed by presumably a large animal." She sneered.
"I know about the registrar, I was there...” Haruto said, stopping for a few seconds as he remembered what he saw back at the temple but continued to inquire his companion, “But I've never heard of this house that was destroyed." he replied. Surprised of the news that he hadn't heard anywhere but here.
"It was reported somewhere near Tanke. Well, the police should start taking care of this soon though." Her hand reached out to Haruto and opened to reveal a few coins as his change.
"Thanks a lot, Angel."
"No problem, take care Haruto."
Outside of the establishment, Haruto was unsettled by complete silence and the lack of people in the area. The park had gone eerily quiet and no vehicles were on the street. The couple still sat on the bench while wearing a pair of soundproof headsets that connected to their phones. Haruto wondered where everyone had gone at this time of the day.
"Time to head home." He thought.
Suddenly, a large monster had erupted from the trees of the park and attacked the couple. The woman screamed as she was being dragged and ripped to pieces. Haruto watched in horror as her hair was ripped from her scalp and her blood drenched her face while she screamed in agony. Her boyfriend tried to run away from the bloodshed but the monster jumped on him and pinned him on the ground, squishing his head, and eating him using its disturbingly morbid set of teeth.
"What the fuck?!" Haruto said as he stood still in shock and fear. Trembling in place as the thing stared at him intensely.
A group of police cars had arrived in the area and were terrified by the scene. Unloading their pistols, they shot away at the monster who effortlessly absorbed and spat the projectiles. In retaliation, it started hacking and slashing away at its attackers. Effortlessly catapulting the cars away while the policemen were ripped apart and eaten one after another. The remaining policeman had started shooting again at the bloodied creature, in response the monster jumped on him and pinned him to the ground, crushing his legs. But the thing didn't kill him yet, instead it opened its mouth to reveal that unsettling sight of teeth once again, out of the small hole in the center of its mouth, a long mixture of flesh and bone that resembled a tongue started to caress the frightened policeman as he screamed in pain from his disjointed legs. In desperation, the man pulled out a knife and started slashing at it, the creature ached in pain, immediately ripping the man's head off and throwing it onto the store's glass.
Angel ran out of the establishment and screamed as she witnessed the feeding that the monster was doing. It ran into her, ramming into the store and collapsing the building. Her screams came to a halt as the building came crashing down, Haruto ran as fast as he could towards the park and tried to contact the authorities. But as he entered the area, he fell on his back as he realized why the park had gone quiet earlier. Blood splattered on the floor and plants, playgrounds destroyed, and everyone who came to enjoy the day here was murdered. No one was left alive, not one person got out.
The monster clawed its way out of the destroyed building and rammed itself again into the wall of trees. It stood there menacingly, surveying the area, looking for its next prey as it licked itself with its tongue. Haruto hid behind a bathroom stall and tried to text the authorities again in desperation. A reply message created a beeping sound that caught the attention of the monster. Haruto's heart leaped in unison to the monster's steps; heavy, massive, and waving of danger. The sound of blood dripping and a terrifying growl made Haruto tremble in fear and despair. His own heartbeat began to cover his ears and it only got faster as the monster's tongue slowly slithered its way towards him, almost touching the surface of his delicate eyeball. But before it could reach him, a group of women screamed at the sight of it.
Its attention had been diverted to their terrified screams, dashing towards them, and beginning to attack them. Haruto watched as he stood in fear, frozen in place, his eyes darted everywhere. Thoughts, ideas, plans, rushed through his head, looking for ways to do something, anything. But he didn't know what to do. How could a 13-year-old boy like him help them against that thing? The more he delved into his thoughts of despair, the louder the screams got, he needed to do at least something, but what? On the verge of tears, a hand suddenly grabbed his leg that startled him, relieved and shocked to find out that it was one of the policeman.
"Ru—run..." The policeman urged him as he coughed up blood. "Get out of here. GO! RUN!" The man screamed as his last breath let out blood.
Tears overflowed his face. There wasn't anything he could do and like the helpless boy that he is; Haruto ran. He ran as fast as he could, the sound of blood-curdling screams slowly faded away as each step took him farther from the scene. It was then that Haruto realised; he must survive.