It was the middle of the night and a time at which you would not find a single soul awake in the entire village. A few hours into the sunset, the entire village had been embraced by the cold clutches of darkness, and the oil lamps used by the noblemen to light up their houses was a luxury that the common villagers could afford. Although darkness appears to be cold and callous, it was also peaceful, especially for the villagers after a hard day of work, where they could surrender themselves to the enticing invitation of sleep, and forget about their fatigue, the worries on how to put bread on the plate the next day, and even their hunger.
Although life was not easy, it was peaceful. But all this changed in just one night.
Ronald who was fast asleep was first woken up by a scream that originated from one of the neighboring houses. He was too drowsy at this point to think too much and just wanted to fall asleep again, and the cold floor on which he slept with nothing but a mat underneath him would do him no favors. The shouts and screams that were commonplace with his neighbors, but usually it happened in the evening, and never this late into the night. He curled up so as to keep out the cold, and hoping that he would soon fall into a peaceful slumber again. Just as he could feel himself fall asleep, screams started coming from all directions. What was supposed to be a peaceful night, had turned into a cacophony of shouts, grunts, and screams.
Before he could try to piece together what was happening around him, his father and mother had rushed towards him.
“Don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay”, said his father. This sentence has become a natural response for his father at this point, who was the personification of optimism. He never could understand how his father could be so optimistic, even when things were bad. But that is how his father was. Although he could not see the face of his mother due to the absence of light, he feels her trembling hands on top of his, trying to shield him from any danger, although she too was just as helpless as him. At this point, he had realized that something terrible must be happening for everyone to be so tensed.
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His father swooped him into his arms and rushed towards the door. What greeted Ronald was not the darkness he was expecting, but a scorching heat that whipped his face. He was barely able to squeeze his eyes open as his eyes had not adjusted to the light, and what lay in front of were dozens of houses that had caught fire. He was able to make out a villager running outside his house screaming and crying for help, and before he could finish, a shadow has crept beside and plunged its claws through him. There were other shadowy figures moving from house to house. Ronald who could barely understand what was transpiring could no longer process anything.
His dad shut the door hastily, and pulled him and his mom to the corner of the house. His mother and father embraced him, in an attempt to shield him from any harm, all the while his father was still muttering that everything was going to be okay.
Ronald who was petrified by fear had long shut his eyes tight. He wished for nothing more but to wake up from what appeared to be the cruelest of nightmares. He had forgotten how to think, and even to breathe properly at this point. It was at this point that he heard a loud bang on the door and with that an influx of heatwave. After a while, he could feel something splatter all over him, and soon after smelt a thick scent of blood. He could also feel the hands that were embracing him slowly loosening and going limp.
Every single fiber of his soul was screaming at him to not open his eyes, to stay still and not move a muscle. In reality, he did not need to see it, he already knew that his overly optimistic father and his caring and gentle mother were no longer with him. But he had to open his eyes and see for himself. So he went against his instincts to cower and curl until everything was over, and what greeted were the bodies of parents, and underneath them, a puddle of blood. He lifted his head and there stood a creature with a pair of ruby red eyes. The creature was staring into his eyes as if it was trying to peer into his soul. The boy and the creature continued to stare at each other for a while, and in with the embers lighting up the entire house, he could see the face of the creature that was almost indistinguishable from a human. The creature then all of a sudden moved and its claws had descended on top on Ronald, and then everything had turned dark for him.