After one last check on her
parents, to ensure that they were indeed fast asleep, Sonia slipped out into
the humid night air. She crept quietly
through the yard, glad that the family dog, Beaker, had died years ago so that
her actions were not made known to her slumbering parents. She moved into the forest, heading to the
“secret” meeting spot that she shared with Levi.
Upon reaching the spot, an
unfamiliar coldness washed over her, one that was wholly uncharacteristic of
the hot autumn night. Sonia was able to
make out a shape in the dark, which looked like someone hunched over, on their
knees, on the ground. At first she
though that maybe Levi had fallen asleep, but that was an awkward position for
someone to sleep in. Maybe it was
JJ. It was entirely possible that he
came back out here without her knowledge in order to surprise her and
Levi. She knew how he felt, but didn’t
think that someone that was unable to even meet her gaze would do something as
brash as crash her “date” with Levi.
It must be Levi. He was probably so tired after doing chores
all day, following their late night dalliance of course, that he passed out
here. No wonder his parents came to her
door earlier looking for him. The poor
guy must have come out here and fell asleep hours ago. She thought nothing of it at the time because
it was not the first time that he had gone off for a walk in the forest and not
been home at dusk, but he always managed to show up for their rendezvous, and
usually he brought flowers for her at those times, as the best wildflower spot
was oftentimes what caused him to be out so late.
There were no flowers this time
though, a quick scan of the surrounding ground showed that.
And that icy chill was back.
Against her better judgment she
walked further into the clearing, knowing that once she got to Levi he would
make that ball of fear in the pit of her stomach go away. She approached the slumped figure and knelt
on the left side of it on the ground.
Placing one hand on the ground to steady herself she reached out with
the other and gently caressed the back of the sleeping figure. She felt no movement at all, not even the
shallow up and down motion that accompanies an inhale and exhale.
“Levi,” she said, shaking the
figure, the knot in her stomach had migrated to her throat. Tears started to well up in her eyes as
different scenarios began to race through her mind. Could Levi be dead? Could this be someone other than Levi? How could this have happened? Why was this individual still curled up into
a ball post-mortem?
Sonia breathed a sigh of relief
as the figure moved under her hand. That
relief was short lived though as a clammy hand grabbed the wrist that was
planted in the dirt. This was not a
loving grip of someone that was just roused from a peaceful slumber by someone
that he cared for; this was a grip that said that she was not going to leave
that spot of her own free will. Sonia
moved to break free of the hand but it held firm. The jerking motion to free herself aroused
the rest of the sleeping individual as its head began to turn. Sunken sockets swallowed the eyes, giving
them a look like they would fall out at any moment. The features were equal parts human and
monstrosity. It looked right at her,
straight into her eyes. She saw it, the
little spark of man left in the husk of monster. As much as this, this creature looked like a
pale imitation of her beloved Levi, she could see that flame in there
still. It beckoned to be brought back,
to overtake whatever this monster was that had apparently consumed his physical
body.
“Levi. Levi it’s me, Sonia!” She moved her free hand up to the monster’s
face, the tenderness of her touch to its cheek defied the gravity of the
situation. She was still in the clutches
of this monster, this thing that used to be Levi. Sonia Durant was not about to let the boy
that she loved go out like this though, she could bring him back, she knew she
could bring him back if she just gave him something to grab a hold of. She needed to give the human side something to
anchor it here so that she could slowly reel him back in. “Levi, look at me, stay with me. I will help you.” A look of sadness swept the face of the
creature, as if it realized that what she was trying to do was hopeless. For a split second, the human returned, in
that expression alone, and it prompted Sonia to double down on her insistence
that she could help him.
While keeping the eye to eye
contact in place she moved to sit next to him, taking Levi in her arms, hoping
that the human contact of someone that he loved would save him. This seemed to calm Levi down and he began to
reciprocate the affection. While this
did nothing to alter his appearance, his demeanor became much less
monster-esque as humanity began to return.
Levi placed his head on Sonia’s shoulder, nuzzling her neck like he had
done many times before in this very spot.
As strange as it was for Sonia to have the rubbery skin of this monster
on her shoulder, absent of any semblance of breathing that she could feel on
the skin of her neck, Sonia was willing to make this sacrifice if it meant
bringing Levi back.
As Levi sunk deeper into her arms
the leaves outside of the clearing began to rustle as if they were parting for
something much larger than the standard woodland creatures that would inhabit
the forest at this time. The calmness
that had embraced Levi with Sonia’s arms, rushed out of him as out of the
darkness stepped JJ Haven.
“Sonia! Sonia it’s okay, you can come here now. We can be together finally,” JJ said, holding
out his hand, hoping that Sonia would readily accept his invitation.
“JJ, what did you do to
Levi? What happened?”
“I told your mother, she knows
about you two. She put a curse on Levi
and made him into a zombie with some magical spell, she wants us to be together
Sonia,” said JJ, continuing to hold his hand out.
“No JJ. Why did you do this? Why?”
Tears streamed down her face as she realized the permanence of the
situation. Just as Levi had responded to
the positive, loving energy that she exhibited when they were alone, he also
fed on this new emotion. Levi lifted his
head as the last semblance of humanity left his eyes. Whatever it was that Sonia had seen there was
now gone, replaced by the more primal urge to feed. Levi looked at the tender flesh of the neck
before him, opened his mouth and lowered it on to Sonia. While he obviously lacked the sharp teeth of
more traditional predatory creatures, the force with which he clamped down on
Sonia’s neck drove his teeth into her flesh.
He tore his head back, meat securely between his jaws, severing her
jugular and trachea in one bite. The
blood followed, spraying out of her newly created orifice and raining down onto
the forest floor. No sound escaped Sonia
Durant except for a soft gurgle as blood entered her newly severed wind pipe
and trickled down into her lungs. This
did not stop JJ from screaming though.
He bellowed out in agony over losing the girl that he loved as well as
the fact that he had just witnessed an act of cannibalism. Any sense of loyalty he had for Sonia quickly
fled as he turned and ran from the scene, not even stopping when his stomach
disgorged its contents across the front of his shirt.
With the exit of JJ, Levi quickly
regained the last shred of humanity that he had, looking down at the motionless
figure of Sonia on the ground, her blood seeping into the soil. The horror of what had become of the girl he
loved quickly washed over him. Unable to
sit next to Sonia corpse for one second longer, he stood on legs that struggled
to support his body and made his way through the forest. If he had working tear ducts he would be
crying at the loss of Sonia, but at this point his sorrow was just replaced by
a need to go back home. The little bit
of his brain that was still firing pointed him in the right direction and he
started to walk as briskly as his dead legs could carry him.
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