Chapter 7 SHE’S THE ONE

As if a surreal playlet was transpiring all around her, Emily started to question if she wasn’t in one of her more ridiculous dreams. She witnessed a boy injuring himself, blood was pouring out of him like running water from a tap. Emily’s hands were stained with it, and the lower part of her dress was soaked red she attempted to stop the bleeding and save him only to be thunderstruck when she saw the impossible happen. The mortal wound on Nathan’s neck was somehow closing as if it was like a zip seal freezer bag, the blood flow was stopping, and then suddenly Nathan was gasping in the air and opening his eyes.

All of it was weird. Very weird. But what was weirder was seeing a person dying, then sitting up and talking to you as if bleeding out and dying was part of his daily chore!

“M- monster!” cried Emily. A deep sense of terror was now forming in her body. Nothing about the person sitting in front of her made sense, and it was clear that no human could do what Nathan had just displayed.

Nathan looked almost helpless as he tried to protest as he reached his right arm out to touch her cheek, to reassure her that he was the person she had always known, “I’m not, Emily! I swear to you.’’

“Please stop!” shrieked Emily, retreating backwards. Her face livid with terror. The very thought of being touched by that thing called Nathan twisted the insides of her stomach.

His arm dropped like a limp organ, void of hope. A sigh from the

deepest part of Nathan’s soul escaped his body. He said slowly,

“I knew this would happen. It is always like this! Every single

time! “He then got to his feet and stared at her, his eyes carried a shade of accusation, as if he were trying to tell her how unfair she was being to him. Then, said in a forced calm voice, “Look Emily, please don’t tell anyone about me. A lot of bad things will happen. Things you do not understand.”

“JUST SHUT UP!” shouted Emily, her eyes wide. “PLEASE STOP TALKING!”

Nathan had become an unknown creature in her mind. a source of something that utterly devastated her belief system. Her entire body trembled as she tried to get up from the ground, her knees almost gave out but she managed to stand again.

Seeing her condition, Nathan cautiously took a step towards her, his voice was filled with concern as he said, “You’re disoriented. Please, let me help you” She took a few deep breaths, and studied herself. Most of her body was covered in blood.

Nathan’s blood! She gazed at where Nathan was standing. A big puddle of redness was still spreading through the white floor.

How can someone survive after losing so much blood! She shouted to herself. Her brain was still refusing to accept what she had just seen. Her legs almost automatically began carrying her towards the door while still keeping Nathan in sight. The urge to run away was now storming inside her body. Every single second Nathan was in her view,

her spine tingled with bits of spiked fear.

Emily gasped feeling the exit door on her back, then cried out,

“Monster!

Don’t dare come after me!” Then she turned abruptly, twisted the doorknob, jerked the door inwards and broke into a run through the open door. From behind, she heard Nathan’s pleading scream, “Emily! I beg you! Please don’t go!”

But nothing was crossing her frightened mind now. Her body acting on its own, actions were governed nothing but instincts; instincts to run away from an unnatural thing.

Outside the door stretched a long hallway. Frantically, she ran keeping her focus on the main door at the end of the hallway that led outside. Upon reaching the exit door, she slammed it with her body, and it flew open. Right before jumping outside the building, Emily looked back to see if Nathan was following her or not. And he was! Through the hallway, he was hot on his heels.

“Oh no! He’s following me!” gasped Emily as she set her sights on a thick crowd of trees not far from the laboratory building. Her heart was beating like a drum as she raced along the grass field that melted into the foot of the forest. She did not dare look back to see if the monster was catching up to her least it slowed her down. Her legs dashing with as much speed as they could muster, and soon she found herself in front of a thinly spread bunch of loblolly pines. Trees were scattered here and there before the real forest began.

She did not know this place, neither did she know where she would end up if she kept running. All thoughts in her mind were frozen except for the thought of putting a great distance between herself and the chasing creature.

Rushing past the thinly spread-out trees, she found herself in the midst of a thick forest. Copious bushes had sprouted out of the ground between the tight squeeze of tall trees, making her movement slow. Several minutes passed, then she found herself in a small clearing.

Trees were larger here, but they stood quite far from each other. Emily looked back. There was no one behind her. Letting out a great sigh of relief, she finally stopped under the shadows of a vast tulipwood. She leaned against it, panting heavily. The

insides of her head burning due to fatigue; first it was the shock, then it was the labor of running.

Her knees buckled under her, and her body sagged along the tree, stopping over the soft soil under the tulip. She closed her eyes and sat there, using the tree as a backrest, letting the cool air under the tulip’s shadow bring peace to her tormented soul and weary body.

Time passed as Emily sat there, her appearance as though she had passed out. Some rustling noise from above snapped her senses back to reality. Her eyes shot opened and she gaped upwards, panicked out of her skull in the fear of discovering more evil. And there it was hanging upside down from a low branch of the tulipwood. A thing covered head to toe in pitch

black clothing, almost melted into the dark shadows of the tree’s

thick top.

Protruding out of the hanging evil was a long and sharp stick that shined with the moon’s silvery-silky glow. Emily’s blood froze once more. Staring at her imminent death, all she was capable of doing was gaping at those eyes that stared back at her, cold and piercing. Chilled stream of liquid fear ran down along her spine as the black thing moved. It was descending down with its killing blade bared straight at Emily, vying to penetrate her head. She never felt so helpless in her whole life.

Not an ounce of strength was left in her bones, and fear had consumed all the courage long ago.

In a swift motion, the hanging demon flashed forward baring its glimmering blade. Emily’s eyes closed shut instinctively, and she raised her hands upwards in a feeble attempt to protect herself from a weapon that looked as if it could cut a needle in half.

But the sensation of sharp steel penetrating the human skin did not come. Instead, it was raining. A surprised, Emily opened her

eyes, and saw the glimmering blade halted midair in the grasp of a hand. Blood was oozing out of the cut, trailing down the blade and dripping down on her face.

“Careful Emily!” bellowed a familiar voice. She turned her head in shock to see the pain marked face of Nathan, gritting his teeth as the blade had severed the skin and flesh of his hand and was now biting into his bones.

“Nathan!” Emily breathed out, and the next moment she saw Nathan grabbing the hanging creature’s hand that was holding the blade, then yanking the creature as Nathan twisted himself with a sharp motion.

The force of Nathan’s throw slammed the creature’s body into a tree opposite Emily. It groaned, fell on the ground and lay motionless for a moment, then gasped and jumped back to its feet with blinding speed.

Emily saw Nathan moving, he was placing himself between the blade wielding assailant and her. She looked at the attacker, then at Nathan’s hand. The ripped flesh was closing already and blood stopped flowing out. Hazy memories of another dark forest with her being chased by a humanoid wolf came rushing back to her mind seeing Nathan standing guard in front of her, bloody yet unflinching. He protected her the same way that day. Suddenly, a tremendous pang of guilt began biting.

the insides of her abdomen. How terribly had she treated the person who saved her life not once, but twice! And she called him a monster. A feeling of remorse breathed new life into her. With newfound strength,

Emily got to her feet. She took a deep breath and called softly,

“Nathan?

” Nathan looked back, surprised seeing the change in her. There was no fear about her anymore.

“Yeah?” he said.

“You’re no monster. A monster would not save others even

while being hated by the very people he saves. You’re a hero, at least to me!”. A smile slowly appeared in Nathan’s pain-stricken face, now experiencing a profound happiness. He only

whispered, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Emily. I promise this on my life!”

Emily said through a sweet smile, “Let’s talk! But first do something about that creature, will you?”

Nathan replied while laughing loudly, “That’s no creature, Emily.

That is a human. He belongs to a ninja clan.”

“What’s a ninja doing here?! And why did he try to kill me?”

“I think he’s trying to get to me. And attacked you because he saw you with me, probably,” said Nathan. Detecting motion from the direction the ninja, Nathan shifted his focus towards him.

“Do not move, Emily, not until I tell you otherwise.”

“O- okay!” voiced Emily, feeling anxiety at the unavoidable clash. “Please be careful, okay?”

“I will be!” said Nathan as he slowly brought out a long blade

from his knee pocket. The knife’s blade was made of some kind of black metal, it’s guard was designed with spiraling gold, hilt soft leather, bottom gold.

The knife danced in Nathan’s hand as if it was a part of his limb. “Raise your Katana!” shouted Nathan furiously. “Let’s do this!”

The ninja stared at the knife, scoffed, then raised his sword gripping it with both of his hand. Nathan and the ninja began approaching each other with small and cautious steps. At the blink of an eye, the ninja curled his arms backwards along with

his katana, then brought it down where Nathan was standing. But it only sliced thin air as Nathan slipped to his right, narrowly escaping the slash. He then bent forward in a chained and fluid motion, poking the left side of the ninja’s exposed belly.

Emily watched the ninja jumping back. Astonished to discover that he didn’t even make a sound while bleeding from his wound. The ninja simply jumped forward, slashing violently at Nathan who was now swaying slightly from left to right. Emily thought he was losing strength and being clumsy until she saw him swiftly parrying the slash and poking at the other side of the ninja’s abdomen.

Then began the flurry of swings, parries, blocks, and slashes too fast for Emily to follow. She watched Nathan getting slashed across his chest, blood flying out from his body with the slash’s force. Nathan stabbing and slicing the ninja, putting wounds all over his body. The exchange of slashes and stabs continued for what Emily thought was an eternity, until the ninja was lying on the ground, with the knife buried deep into his skull, only its hilt standing

from his left eye socket, the sword still clutched in his hand.

Over the fallen body, stood Nathan. So much sword wound, as if every single inch of his body were cut. Nathan was covered head to toe with his own blood.

Panting heavily, he rasped staring at the dead man, “Tough Bastard! I have never fought a ninja this strong! “Emily stood up, eyeing over the countless gaping wounds on Nathan’s body, her jaw hanging with alarm and fright. Nathan noticed her approaching him, saw the concern in her eyes and smiled to express assurance.

He said, “Oh it’s nothing! Don’t worry about it-”

Though he couldn’t even finish the sentence as his eyes suddenly rolled backwards, then he was falling. Emily screamed out in panic, “Nathan!” and jumped.

She reached him just in time to catch his falling body and helped him onto the ground. She put his head and shoulder over her lap and cried out, “Nathan! Nathan! Are you alright?”

Taking a sudden gasp of breath, Nathan regained his consciousness. He blinked as he looked around, feeling baffled of how he got into Emily’s lap. Then smiled realizing he fainted.

“Oh, that’s embarrassing,” said Nathan.

Emily smiled, and said softly, “You protected me from that vile killer, and you fought him even as he cut you over and over again.” Then she looked into his eyes and said, “Nathan, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.

Didn’t I tell you that you are my hero?”

Their eyes were locked into each other’s, conveying words for no other,

and as if a hidden magnet was turned on, their heads kept getting closer and closer until two pair of lips engulfed one another, mingling as if trying to quench for a burning thirst.

Moments passed by, then they let go of each other. Smiling, as a giddy feeling had suddenly conquered their hearts.

“You’re very pretty, Emily,” said Nathan. “I think I might be falling for you.”

Keeping her eyes on Nathans, Emily whispered, as if afraid the

forest might overhear, “I think I might be too, Nathan!”

An army green jeep began powering down as it neared the great mansion on the corner of Windrode Street. The mansion’s gates slid open automagically as the jeep came to a halt just in front of

them. Through the gate the jeep proceeded along the serpentine driveway and finally ended up under the shade of the mansion. The doors burst opened, and out came a topless young boy and a young girl with blood covering most of their bodies.

Emily exhaled loudly, now relived having reached a safe place. “Thank goodness your jeep’s windows are black! We’d been in trouble if somebody saw us with blood all over us and called the police!”

“Yeah!” Nathan nodded. “Let’s freshen up inside, shall we?”

The two of them scurried up the stairs and went in through the front entrance. The sight of the interior made Emily forget how to breath for several seconds.

“Is this mansion your parents’?” asked Emily.

Nathan sighed. Then said, “Ironically, no. As I told you earlier, I sort of lived for a long time while others around me sadly passed on.

It’s been a long time since all my family, relatives and friends faded away from the world.” He turned to Emily and smiled, “This is my home. At least for now.”

“S- sorry!”

“It’s alright.” Nathan gestured towards the layers of blood that was covering the both of them He proposed, “Let’s continue this after we’ve freshened up.”

“Yeah, good idea,” replied Emily.

Nathan led her to a guest section of the mansion. And showed her the living quarters and the shower room.

“Here you go. You can freshen up here,” said Nathan. Leaning closer to her face, he said in a low drawing tone, “Do you want me to join you?”

Emily paused for a moment, then replied through a smile, “Some other time!”

Then shot a wink at Nathan and closed the door in between them. Nathan laughed silently, then proceeded towards his own room, dying for a good, long and steamy bath. The need to wash away the day’s fatigue and blood was almost unbearable now. It had been a long time since he had to face a fight that pushed him to such an extent.

A man may not die, yet he could still succumb to exhaustion.

Several hours later, while Nathan was in the dining room setting up the table for dinner, he saw Emily making her way down the stairs. She had ditched her blood-soaked dress and worn a new one by Nathan’s suggestion.

She found it in the closet of the room she was in. She climbed down the stairs and stood near the dining table, then smiled at Nathan who was putting down two plates of lobster risotto.

“These are incredible dishes!” exclaimed Emily, her eyes sweeping over the many items placed over the table, each looking exquisite and delicious.

“Your chef is amazing!”

“I don’t, have a chef” replied Nathan.

Emily stared, astonished. “You mean to tell me you cooked all of

this by yourself?”

Nathan smiled, still working on the arrangement of the platters.

“Perks of living long, I guess.”

“These all looks really lovely! Are you sure you didn’t order these from some five-star restaurant just to impress me?” said Emily in mock suspicion.

“They’re not nearly as lovely as you, Emily,” replied Nathan, noticing Emily in the new dress for the first time. He stood almost frozen seeing her in the sparkling white midi skirt and a glimmering black top, taken aback by her beauty.

The two of them sat side by side at the corner of the dining table. They conversed happily while sending delicious food into their famished bellies.

“So how did you actually become… you know… not being able to die?” asked Emily, taking a bite out of a lamb chop.

Nathan exhaled, putting down his knife and fork, and said, “I don’t know. I mean, it was my mum who first suspected that something was different about me.

Then years passed, and my family and friends got old while I was still looking like this,” pointed Nathan towards his face with an ironic expression. “Then one day, an angry mob showed up at my doorstep demanding to burn me at the stake. They feared I was a demon or something.

My mother helped me run away. And I’ve been on the run ever since.”

Emily reached out and touched Nathan’s cheek, her voice sad as she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine what that

must’ve been like for you.” “Thank you!”

Pausing for a moment, she said in a thoughtful tone, “You know some people that wore the same attire as the ninja we saw today had attacked me the night of Ethan’s party. Why are they trying to kill me? And why are they after you?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for over the past

hundred years!” said Nathan.

“Hmm, I see,” said Emily. “And do you know anything about the people who saved me from the attackers that night outside Ethan’s house?”

“Yes, they work for me,” said Nathan through a smile. “You need people around you if you don’t want bad things to happen on your watch. One cannot do everything alone. That’s another thing I have learned because of my long life aside from cooking!”

They burst out with laughter. Emily taking Nathan’s hand into her own and asking gently, “Why did you try to kill yourself in the laboratory?”

Nathan paused for a moment, then said, “Many craves the life of an immortal. But it is not what they imagine it to be. We humans are built to love, protect, then decay.” Nathan sighed deeply.

“A man robbed of his mortality, is a man cursed. He is forced to see the people he loves grow old and die, while he remains as a ghost, haunting the world.

My life as an immortal is hell. People may envy me, and even if some understand my pain, but no one can truly comprehend my suffering.”

Nathan paused again. Then he looked up at Emily’s eyes, and continued, “The serum is something that I’ve been trying to develop. It’s what you saw me squeezing into my veins right before I hurt myself. The serum’s purpose is to take away my immortality and allow me a final peace.”

Nathan said through a laugh, “But of course, if it worked, I wouldn’t be here, talking to you-”

He could not finish his sentence as a pair of cloudy lips took hold of his and he kissed back. A prefund sense of elation filled Emily

and Nathan as they joined at the mouth, sharing their affection for one another.

Emily took Nathan’s head into her hands and pulled him back. She locked her eyes into his and whispered, “Promise me that you’ll never hurt yourself again?”

Nathan put his hands around her cheeks, now shedding tears.

His smile almost trembled as he spoke in a quivering tone, “How could I when I’ve finally found something to live for in a hundred years!”

The happy winds of spring were brushing the flowers wearing all colors of the rainbow in front of The New Heirloom Café, which was coolly lit by the gentle sun of the morning. It was the most famous café in which people of all ages would converge to share conversations while relaxing over cold beverages, mouth- watering ice creams and delicious treats.

Most of these customers were sworn regulars, and the other lot was students, thanks for the shop being situated at a stone’s throw from the school.

Amidst one of the shop’s outermost rows beside the large semitransparent windows, a table was being occupied by four laughing teenagers, and one who looked like a teenager, but his age was yet Unknown.

To the right side of the table sat the girls, Emily, Claire and Margaret, while to the left side sat the boys, Nathan and Daniel. Glasses of chocolate shakes , mixed berry fruit smoothies and round boxes of ice creams were cluttering around big plates of waffles, cakes and doughnuts.

Claire was showing her two girlfriends the glittering top she had ordered online the other day, while Emily and Margaret

pretended to show interest in the excruciating details with which Claire was praising the gorgeous work of the fabric.

On their opposite side, Daniel was revealing a funny incident that occurred during one of his recent football sessions.

“So, we’ve got this new transfer kid on our team. The guy is six foot tall, but he is so bad that he can’t even defend against a kid half his size!

Anyway, the coach tried to spark some motivation into this timid guy one day while we were practicing-”

“What did he do?” said Nathan through a smile.

“He started calling him names, names you wouldn’t say in front of the ladies (Daniel gestured towards the girls). At one point, the coach said something about his family, which was apparently the one thing that guy could not tolerate.

So, as we were encircling him in a human barrier, trying to hold him down, the guy started screaming out of nowhere and instantly threw us back like we were a bunch of ragdolls!”

Nathan was breaking down with laughter at this point, anticipating what was coming next.

“And then you wouldn’t believe what happened! Our coach isn’t all that tall, he’s five foot five. And when he saw a giant six-foot angry teen charging at him like a bull, he could not hold it in, and wet his yellow trousers!”

Now Nathan was pounding the table hard. Emily and Margaret had torn away from Claire’s dresses, curious about what the ruckus was, then started listening in with a laugh.

“He just grabbed the coach’s’ collar and lifted him up both feet above the ground like it was nothing! You wouldn’t believe the sight it was, the coach hanging in the air, throwing his legs like a

little boy while his piss was running down his legs and going

everywhere!”

All of them around the table began roaring with laughter, empty glasses trembled and threatened to trip over as the whole table shook with the laughing teens sitting around it.

“Looks like you’re all having fun,” came a familiar voice from

near the table.

They all looked up, still laughing, wiping tears from their eyes. In a greenish denim jacket over a white top and a pair of black slacks, stood Ethan.

Unsmiling and watching Nathan with visible irritation.

“You’re back already?” asked Claire in a smooth voice.

“Yeah, landed yesterday,” replied Ethan, not understanding the

subtle scorn in her voice.

“Had fun?” asked Margaret plainly from the side. Ethan paused, confusedly staring at the group.

Nathan cleared his throat, and said smiling, “Oh how rude of me! Come here, Ethan, sit with us!” He slapped the empty seat beside him.

Giving a half smile, Ethan sat down. An odd unwelcoming sensation began creeping into him as the group proceeded with chattering and laughing at each other’s jokes without paying any attention to him.

Soon, it had become awkward for him to just sit there, fidgeting and curling his mouth in fake smile to show that he was listening to them.

To his astonishment, it became even more grueling for him when he saw how much the group was into the new guy,

Nathan, laughing at his jokes, even though they weren’t funny at

all.

And Emily seemed awfully chummy with the dude. But how could this be? He was punishing her for talking to him, and now it’s the opposite of what he had expected.

Emily seemed even more into the guy.

From the eye contact and the tone of her voice as they talked, it added to his indignation and resentment as the worst crossed his mind. And soon the chance came for him to confirm it.

“Man! All these ice creams and smoothies is making my bladder burst!” said Nathan, with a laugh from around as response. Then he looked at Emily and winked as he said, “I’ll be back soon, baby bird. Don’t fly away!”

Nathan stood up and headed to the door with the sign GENTS, Ethan said he had to use the men’s room as well. He followed Nathan and stepped inside the bathroom.

Nathan had already went into a cubicle, so Ethan stood by the wash basin waiting to confront him.

Ethan began washing his hands when Nathan came out of the stall acting as if he had just come out of a stall himself and was cleaning up. With a momentary look of surprise, Nathan proceeded towards the third basin near Ethan.

“So,” said Ethan, looking over at Nathan, “you and Emily together now?”

“What?” said Nathan, taken aback. “Oh right, yeah! Wait… you

didn’t know?”

“Apparently I’ve become an outcast,” said Ethan bitterly. Nathan said, “Aw, come on, it’s not like that dude-”

Ethan cut him across and said, “It’s exactly like that! All my friends have turned against me for no reason at all and welcomed a total stranger!”

Nathan shot him a cold stare as he wiped his hands with a paper towel.

The tone of his voice matched his look when he said, “That’s

really unfair man, Blaming me for-”

“For what?” snapped Ethan, abruptly turning to Nathan and glaring. “For dumping Emily when she was being shady and unfaithful?”

Nathan paused for a bit, then sighed. “Look, if you must know Claire told me what happened. I think it’s unfair how you treated Emily.”

“How should I have treated her, then?” said Ethan, letting out a dry laugh. “She went out with another dude while she was still with me!

That is disgusting! She broke my heart! And she’s nothing but a

slu-”

“That’s enough!” shouted Nathan furiously, now poising

dangerously towards Ethan. “Look dude, you obviously got some issues.

And I don’t know about the other guys, but I’m cool with you around even though you’re such a pain in the ass. But don’t ever talk about her like that, you hear me?”

Ethan remained silent. His glare fixed on Nathan as if trying to set him on fire. His voice was filled with venom as he said, “You can keep those fools as pets, I don’t give a shit. But I want you to know that I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” Ethan moved closer to Nathan, inches away from him, wearing a grim smile.

“There’s something about you that’s not really normal. I can’t put my finger on it, but I promise you that I’ll figure it out. And you’ll rue the day you decided to come to Darthwood, Nathan!”

Nathan watched as Ethan voiced his eerie threat, turning and storming out of the men’s washroom.

He stood, slightly shocked and slightly angry. That same old feeling of invasion fluttered the insides of his stomach as if butterflies were in it. Someone around him, someone close had just made a threat to conduct investigation on him. He will be now under prying eyes.

And since Ethan thinks Nathan had snatched his girl away from him, vengeance will motivate him. A deep sigh escaped Nathan, anticipating the next occurrences. Soon his identity will be revealed.

It was inevitable as he learned throughout his long life, as the same scenario had played out many times before. He would try to settle down, then people would get close to him, then one of them would get suspicious, which would finally lead to him fleeing the area leaving it all behind, running away to someplace to do it all over again.

“What happened?” asked Emily concernedly seeing Nathan

returning, his head drooping wearing a serious expression. “Why do you look so gloomy all of a sudden?”

“Ethan left apparently his tummy was hurting,” commented Margaret. Nathan sat down, smiled, then said in a nonchalant voice, “Oh it’s nothing. He’s just upset at how you guys were being rude to him.”

“What!” said Claire sharply, then snarled, “We were being rude

to him?

What did he expect? A hug and a kiss for his return? After how

he acted like with Emily?”

Nathan chuckled.

“What did he say?” said Emily, looking annoyed.

“I think he’s annoyed at me. Said he’ll make me cry for coming to Darthwood.” Nathan locked his eyes with Emily’s, and said in a hinting tone, “And he said he’d keep an eye on me.”

Catching the undertone in Nathan’s voice, Emily gasped

internally.

Ethan’s family was influential in all of Darthwood, and as a spoiled son of a rich family, Ethan too had a lot of influence. Maybe not telling him that things weren’t working out between us was not a good idea, thought Emily to herself. Maybe I should have broken up with him before I started talking to Nathan.

Then Ethan wouldn’t have been on Nathan’s tail like a mad dog. Emily sighed. It wouldn’t have been a problem if Nathan didn’t have anything to hide.

“Man, stuff that guy!” scoffed Daniel. “He thinks he’s better than everyone just because he’s rich. He’s such a twerp on the football field too!”

The clique of teens continued conversing, unaware that someone had be keeping an ear to their adolescent ramblings. Sitting next to Emily’s table was a rather large man, wearing a dirty mustard checkered shirt and jeans that looked like they had not been washed in weeks. Hiding under a wide and crumpled looking brown hat was his bloodshot eyes, unfocused at a copy of today’s Washington post.

Even sitting in the air-cooled environment of the café, droplets of sweats had gathered all over his glistening fat face, which was half covered in a dirty beard. The man was repeatedly cursing in

his mind, “Goddamn it!” Being forced to listen to a bunch of snot nosed no-good kids was not a job that pleased him. But he had got what he wanted. Now it was time to leave. Time to relay the info for which he was hired to gather.

Folding the newspaper, he attempted to get up from the chair he had found rather small to contain his oversized butt and belly.

He grabbed the arm rests and began moving up while putting the weight of his body on them. The chair protested in loud squeaking under him, summoning all the nearby eyes at his direction. The people suppressed laughter seeing a fat man struggling to get up, but quickly looked away meeting his glare.

“Goddamn it!” cursed the man once more after finally standing on his two feet. As he passed Emily’s table and proceeded towards the exit,

he noticed the teenagers gawking at him, their mouths curved in suppressed laughter. A wish to reach out and slap the shitty brats to blue suddenly came over him but was quickly subdued thinking of the consequence.

Instead, he focused on the black van parked on the opposite side of the café. Shooting a last contemptuous look at the whole of the interior, the fat man walked out through the door.

The van’s inside was cooking as its black surface had sucked in the heat pretty well while the man was away, spying on Nathan. Twisting the ignition key, he brought the engine back to life and stated towards the edge of the town.

After twenty minutes of driving, the black van swerved into a long trail that led to a forest.

After another minute of following a serpentine trail, the van skidded to a halt into a small clearing. The man hastily climbed

out of the van, walked around it, then entered the van again through its backdoors. Inside the back compartment of the van was filled with things of daily use:

A mattress to lie down, shelves full of boxes and folders containing countless paper cuttings, pictures and research sheets, a computer mounted on a side wall, paper cuttings and pictures hanging from the ceiling of the van which served as a telling of his life as a journalist.

After shutting the doors close, only a monitor’s glow preserved some visibility inside as the darkness creped in. Under the shine that fell on a keyboard in front of the monitor, the man fumbled, punching some keys with fast motion without looking. A ring spined in the middle of the screen for a short while, struggling to establish a connection on the poor network that was available in the middle of the forest.

Soon, a middle-aged woman who goes by the name of Alice appeared on the screen.

She seemed to be sitting in a well-lit environment, among flower trees against an open and blue sky. Only her waist up was visible in the screen, her sensual face covered with glossy make up, full lips wearing red lipstick, wearing a long, black and almost translucent gown with a long cut from the neck down was revealing most of her heavy chest.

The woman stared at the man whose face appeared to her as a fat silhouette of a ghost covered with grease that shone from the light emitted by the monitor. The woman suppressed her

disgust and forced a smile, then said kindly, “Oh you look rather weary, dear! Are you okay?”

The man looked taken aback by her caring tone, “Ah- yeah, I- I’m

fine thanks! It- it has been a long day, that’s all. Anyway-”

“Mr. Hunter,” said the woman calmly, “have something to drink.

Settle down first. Okay?”

Hunter looked impatient; he couldn’t wait to finish his report so he could get back to old life, to his beloved wife. But as always, he failed to gather up the courage to disobey the evil that was looking at him through the monitor screen.

“O-okay, sorry,” muttered Hunter as he proceeded to open a tiny refrigerator under the desk. After taking out a beer bottle, he took several fast gulps, and then looked back at the screen.

“Okay, good,” said the woman, now smiling, “Please continue with the report.”

Hunter put down the bottle of beer and proceeded to describe what he had witnessed at the café. A thoughtful expression gradually settled in about her the more she listened to the man.

“You’re sure he sounded like he was having a relationship with this girl Emily?” asked the woman.

“Yep, quite sure,” replied Hunter, nodding. “And from what I’ve been watching them both do for these past few days; they seem to be pretty close.”

“So, that damnable immortal finally has a weakness, eh?” said

the woman, her blood-red lips slightly curled in a smile.

“Wha- what do you mean?” asked a slightly baffled Hunter,

failing to understand meaning behind the woman’s words.

“I’m saying,” replied the woman patiently as if she was speaking to a child, “that we’ve finally found a weakness in him. The great Nathanios Cruisio will be in our grasp soon!”

“Nathanio- what?!” frowned Hunter, his fat face twisting in

confusion.

“You mean Nathan Cruise? The boy you had me follow?”

“Yep!” the woman smiled broadly. “Oh, this is so exiting! I’ve got to tell dad about this! He’s going to be so happy!”

Hunter stared at the woman, his jaw almost dropping while listening to her indecipherable words. He shook his head, then said pleadingly,

“Mam! I did as you asked! Please-”

“Oh, calm down little boy!” said the woman sweetly. “Here, I have the pictures. See?”

The woman brought out several photos and held them in front of the camera. They were the elements with which the woman had blackmailed him into doing her bidding.

Hunter’s soul crumpled seeing the photos of him with another woman who was not his wife, The woman one day approached him with these wildly inappropriate pictures containing several sessions of him visiting the brothels asking him to spy on a kid or else she would send them to his wife, to the press he worked in and to everyone who even remotely knew him.

Fearing the ruin of his life, he was forced to agree. But now life was reinstalled into him as he saw the woman smile and lighting the pictures with a cigarette lighter. She then put the burning pictures into one of the empty wine glasses beside her.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” cried out Hunter as a deep sense of

relief now settled over him.

“Don’t mention it, dear!” the woman said sweetly. “That was a cruel thing to do to you. I want you to know that I’m deeply sorry for it,” said the woman with a look of concern in her face.

“Oh, it’s what I get for being unfaithful!” cried out Hunter again,

his head drooping, looking remorseful.

“Oh, don’t be silly!” said the woman sympathetically, “A man can get bored of married life sometimes! As a compensation for your devoted service, I’ve arranged for you a little payment. It’s not much, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

Hunter looked up at her, smiled flashing his yellow teeth. “Really?! Thanks! Oh- I will not have to go back home empty handed after all! I think I will buy a necklace! Marinda will be so happy-” Hunter stopped speaking as his face abruptly turned chalk white. There was a stupefied look about him.

The payment for Hunter’s devoted service had already came. The airways to his lungs began collapsing in. Failing to take a breath,

Hunter began choking. His chalk white face turned purple. His eyes began popping out, his tongue was extending far out of his mouth, his hands clawing at his windpipes for a single gasp of air. But the poison had already cramped the muscles around his windpipes, the last action of his breathing on the earth’s atmosphere had already happened a few minutes ago.

Purple was turning into a grim shade of blue. Due to a lack of sufficient oxygen, the massive fat rich body of Hunter crashed upon the floor of his van. His face, horrorstruck.

The woman watched closely as the filthy fat man squirmed and chocked. A sense of obscene pleasure had rushed through her body as she maintained an eye contact with the dying Hunter. It was pure elation watching him figure out who and what had been the cause of his misfortune right before his popping eyes rolled back into the skull and he fell.

The woman’s delighted face vanished from the screen after the

connection was severed. And once more, darkness returned to the interior of the black van.