Part Two: 'This Night Is Far From Over'
On the way through the twisted and flooded streets of the village I noticed how eerily quiet it was there. For a town full of idiots and thieves, I had expected things to be a bit noisier. All of the signs for an active night life were there, a tavern on every corner, a empty bottles and discarded mugs strewn in the sludge. The town was young but it was built into the ruins of a small settlement, I had heard rumors that the place was torn apart by lycanthropes but I didn't believe it at the time, I was a sheltered child and I wasn't even entirely sure what was going on outside of my home. I heard part of a conversation as we passed a particularly sunken looking house, the lights inside were dim and you could tell that it was flooded. "It hasn't stopped raining for days now, we have to seal up these gaps." A masculine voice started.
"What exactly are we going to plug them with? We've got nothing else!" A woman replied.
My family turned the corner and we saw the house where we would be staying the night and the lake behind it. That man wasn't wrong, the lake was swelling and full of debris. Trash, wooden boards from houses and driftwood from the shore. The house itself may have been nice once, but since my Aunt had moved into Caer Kork it became just another ramshackle pile of junk slowly being filled with water. Father opened the door and we all entered, it was dark and dingy and barely kept the cold out, but it was better than nothing. The floorboards protested with each step onto them and the cracks between them allowed to you see straight into the cellar and my father's torch light illuminated the shallow water beginning to pool down there. Paintings on the wall of figured I didn't recognize were defaced and torn apart. It was clear that my Aunt wasn't the last people to stay in this house because she would never have let it fall into such disrepair so fast…at least, I don't think she would have.
I made my way to the bed I'd be sleeping on, it was small and the sheets were filthy, though I wasn't exactly sparkling clean, either, so I didn't complain. I would be sharing the room with my older sister. Only when I had changed into my nightgown and sat on the bed did it dawn on me that I didn't shed any tears for my Aunt Talia. Perhaps it was the circumstances or the insenserity of the eulogy that prevented me from crying, but it was the first funeral I had been to since my grandmother passed when I was only six years old. I expected to cry at least a little bit. I cried all the time, even at the smallest things. My mind dwelled on that for a time as I tried to fall asleep in the strange room. Although my sister was in the bed beside mine it felt like I was in the room alone. Did she also cry? I tried to remember, I don't think she did. I don't think anyone did. Some more time passed and I remained awake, the cold air was harsh but I was very warm under the blankets. My mind wandered back to my grandmother and what I remembered of her, what I remembered of her burial. It wasn't nearly as fancy as the one I had just seen, but it was a lot more emotional. The entire family was there, aside from Talia and a few cousins. We all wept openly and then that night we had a glorious celebreation of her life to send her off. The adults were all drunk and telling stories about grandma. Why couldn't I remember any of those stories? It had become uncomfortably warm under the blankets, but when I took them off, the chill of the wind would cause me to shiver. Despite the discomfort, I drifted off to sleep.
I vividly remember the nightmare I had that night to this very day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVcOwVD4V30
I awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, I didn't scream, I couldn't. The dream I had, no, the visions I saw, they made my stomach turn. Something forced me to sit up and walk to the window and that is when I saw it. A man, no, a beast. Huge, furred, snarling and holding an armoured man up in the air. The beast tore the man in half and I started to scream. I opened my eyes again but I was still in bed, my mouth was open but I was silent, the night was still but I was sweating and my stomach felt like it was tied into knots. Did I dream the werewolf? I must have, the stories I heard, they were playing with my mind. I turned to the side, I felt my nostrils and my throat burning. I tried to see my sister in the darkness, but I couldn't. I suddenly felt a deep fear that I couldn't look behind me. The wolf, it was there. I could feel it the heat from it's foul breath washing over me. I didn't dare move, I simply stared at where my sister was laying.
Until I opened my eyes again. I had drifted off and turned around during the night and now I was looking up. I felt a heaviness on my chest and on my stomach. I was hot, it felt like I was burning. And there was a woman sitting on my belly. Her face was gaunt and scarred and she was naked, her hands were on my upper chest, pushing down on it. She was smiling at me the way a crocodile smiles at it's prey. My body wouldn't let me move, I was paralyized with fear. I looked around and noticed that the woman was surrounded by shadowy figures standing in each corner of the room and in my periphery.
"This night is far from over" She said in a voice that sounded like claws scraping against a wooden door, before vanishing as quickly as she came leaving no trace of her ever being there at all. Only then, did my heart have enough room to beat, I could feel it violently thumping in my chest. I rolled over and vomited on the floor. What followed was an agonizing few hours of pain as sickness quickly set in and took over. I was completely unable to move, I could feel the disease eating at my muscles and the fever boiling me to my core. I heard the faint sound of cries and violence outside, inbetween the sounds of booming thunder. The door to my room swung open with a crash, I didn't even have enough energy in me to react. My mother and father entered the room and I felt my father's hands over my face, his eyes were open wide, blue as the sky and filled with fear. Then, I heard my mother scream. "No! NO! She's dead! She's dead, Arti, she's dead!"
I closed my eyes again and fell into sleep.
