BLOOD AND Lightening

"The name of what I am didn't exist" "Father! Please am begging you!" Nimai cried out as her father dragged her up by her hair. she struggled to free herself from his firm grip but the more she tried, the more she felt her hair would pull out. she eventually resolved to begging, even tho she knew the chances of him listening to her were zero. "Father please don't do this" she cried out almost choking on her own words. Hector agonizingly dragged her through series of doorways and finally pushed her into a small storage room, he made sure to put the lock in place before he surged back to his wife, Eirene. "No! please father!, she is sick!" Nimai cried from the storage room as she slammed herself against the wretched-looking door that still managed to stand firm, she continuously banged on the door and cried her eyes out, while clutching her hair. From the storage room, Nimai could hear the sounds of plate shattering, and the tiny whimpers of her mother cries, with the loud groans of Hector, her father..... Half way through the day The sounds of breaking plates dies down and all that could be heard is Eirene's tiny sobs and sniffling. Nimai closed her eyes with her back resting on the door, series of tears streaming from her closed eyes....... * earlier during the day* "You are getting married whether you like it or not," Hector said with a firm voice as he dropped his spoon glaring at his wife and daughter "Am not going to marry a man your age Father!" Nimai raised her voice in an attempt to defend herself, she stood up and left the shabby dining table and ran to her room, locked the door behind her. "Speak to your daughter woman! or you know what happens" Nimai heard her father shouts at her mother, she immediately opened the door and dashed back to the dining area as if realizing a mistake on her side. "Make up your mind before I return," her father said before leaving the house, Nimai scrambled over to her mother who couldn't say a word while letting the whole thing unfold "Are you okay, mother" She asked her mother, she trailed every inch of her mother's body in search of fresh injuries, and breathed out in relief, satisfied with with her findings. sounds of sniffling envelope the room, Nimai knows not to be told that her mother was crying, with her head down, avoiding eye contact with her mother, 'what was I to say to her? to stop crying? I can't,' As the sniffling grows Nimai forced herself to look up and meet her mother's beautiful emerald green eyes which is now tearing up, she couldn't help herself but encircle her arms around her mother in an embrace and joined her in crying "Am so sorry Nimai, I can't even save you from him, am so so.." her voice gave up on her as she broke down "It's not your fault mother" Nimai separated herself from the hug and held her mother's palms firmly "look at me mother," Nimai said looking at her mother "Promise me, promise me not to get involved whatsoever, I will take care of him myself," Nimai said in-between sobs, she knows who Hector is, he won't spare anybody, especially not Eriene his wife All their lives, Nimai and her mother have always been abused by her father, who goes out every day gambling, and drinking, and returns at dusk to vent his anger on his wife, when Nimai tries to get involved she gets beaten too or locked up all night in the storage room. Eriene who used to be a very beautiful woman with fine and delicate skin now a wreck of herself, her skin covered up from her husband's chronic beating, she couldn't even decide to go back to her father's house because, she has no family. Her marriage with Hector wasn't always like this, he would raise his voice at her from time to time in the past after drinking but never raised his hands on her, by dawn when he is sober he would apologize and she would always forgive him, till the day he went for a trading trip and lost all his grains as the cargo carrying them sank in the river, he was managed to be saved with the help of some divers. Since then Hector changed drastically and refused to believe that he will be able to raise to wealth again if he tried, he goes about spending the little money his wife made from farming on people's land, he even went as far as selling his land because of debt he accumulated from gambling and still returns to unleash his anger on his wife and daughter. What they didn't know was that he borrowed money with his daughter as collateral, and now he couldn't pay it back, he wants to marry her off to an older man to pay off his debt, to a man who has been married severally and has children Nimai's age and she will never marry such a man... "No I won't allow that to happen," Eriene said with newfound courage looking at her daughter "you are too young to face him, he is my husband after all," Eriene said wiping her tears, she got up from her chair leaving Nimai speechless, "go pack your things we are leaving this razn tonight," Eriene said lowering her voice, Nimai's eyes widened at her mother's utterances, she has always proposed running away to her mother but she would always say they can't and besides she has no one to run to but how the tables have turned. she watched her mother struggle to lift a tea cup to her lips, her hands shaking vigorously, 'she is ill and still her husband shows no compassion or sympathy and beats her mercilessly all the time,' Nimai let out a tiny whimper followed by sobs, she couldn't help but break down for the fifth time, her mother retreated her footsteps to her room Ignoring her or perhaps hiding her own tears. Nimai stood by her crappy window although still doing its job is worn out and looked like it would easily be blown out if a strong wind comes by, she has packed her sacks like her mother asked, this night they will leave by midnight after her father must have slept off and they will run far away from him, maybe to another land, leave ARVERNIEN completely and go to CIRDEN the land free of status, where everyone is treated fairly. She pushed the window wide open and sat down, made herself comfortable, and looked up to the sky, darkness has swaddled everywhere already, it was full moon. nature was in it full element, shining brightly "how fast the day runs" she said as she smiled bitterly, the night unexpectedly windy, her window going front and back simultaneously sometimes hitting her, she sat down and ignored it completely, all her mind was occupied on leaving tonight, she sat nonchalantly but her ears are keen and sharp eager to hear a sign that her father has returned, every day she prayed secretly that he never returns but today she prayed so much for him to return and pass out like he always does so they can escape, if they flee before he returns he would be alarmed and began searching for them, giving them no time to escape but if he is passed out they would have gone far before he wakes in the morning, the wind unexpectedly becames strong with the big-headed moon going in, all of a sudden, the night becomes chilly, Nimai stared down at her body which is now filled with goosebumps, from her window she could see the woods shaking from the wind, the wind began to form a hurricane in the middle of the woods, Nimai stood up immediately with her eyes wide, fear began to envelop her, she has learned of hurricane and wind tornadoes but never witnessed one and to think it's happening at dusk, she stood her ground with her eyes almost bursting looking at the strange thing happening, it halted abruptly but the fear in Nimai persisted, she became conscious of her environment, it felt like she was being gawked, something from the wood was gawking her, she can't see it but she can feel it, she has lived by the woods her whole life and never feared it, in fact it calms her down Because it felt like home but today all she felt was fear and uncertainty, something was certainly in the woods looking at her " who are you" she mouthed to no one and retreated her steps, the feeling grows intense as she can feel every strand of hair in her body standing, her sensitivity growing too, she immediately pulled her window close only to hear her door sprang open, her father has returned "Here you are!" He shouted with his eyes glinting with anger, he immediately pulled her by the hair dragging her down to the dining where her mother is with her head down. "Were you deaf?" He shouted "do you have an idea how many times I shouted your name" " Am so oo sorry Father" Nimai answered stuttering, a few seconds ago she was in fear of the unknown and now she is in discomfort from the pain her father is causing her by dragging her by her hair, she didn't even hear him return, she was so caught up by the whole thing happening in the woods, 'Did nobody else see that,' she thought while looking at her mother, 'Am I beginning to hallucinate' she smiled at herself in disbelief, 'there is no way that happened and nobody else saw it, or are they just ignoring the topic, father is probably too drunk' "Why are you laughing," Hector asked raising his brows "are you laughing at me, you think am pathetic?you bastard" he said slapping Nimai. Eriene stood up and shoved him with anger "Leave my daughter alone" she shouted at him with tears "what have we ever done to you", she said now hitting his chest and bawling her eyes out, Nimai wiped off the tears threatening to fall from her eyes and raised from her position, she separates her mother from her father but she was too slow because he already pushed her mother " Father!" She shouted "Who is your father, you bastard come here", he said dragging her by her hair "You must get married, tomorrow" while continuing to drag her up the wooden stairs *back to the present * Nimai crouched crying, she raised and began to bang at the door again hoping it opens somehow, she heard the footsteps of someone coming with speed and knew it was her father, she held her breath in anticipation of her share of beating, the door opened and he yanked her out "Go and help your mother clean, bastard!" he shouted at her, she looked down from the shabby wood stairs to see her mother crouching quietly by the dining area, surrounded by broken plates and furniture, a few drops of blood tackling from her head "What did you do to her!" Nimai shouted at the sight of blood, she ran to her mother and held her shaking mother in her arms "Mother," she said in-between sobs "mother talk to me, are you alright" Eriene remains quiet, she just kept looking out into space scaring Nimai more "mother talk to me please," she said while shaking her mother, receiving no response she glared at her Father and dropped her mother quietly, picked up a kitchen knife from the dining table, and walked slowly towards Confused Hector who has his eyes fixed on his motionless wife, perhaps wondering why she wasn't moving anymore "What have you done to her," Nimai asked with the knife firmly in her hand and her eyes screaming vengeance, Hector turned to see the knife in her hands and panicked, he retreated his footsteps and concealed the fear that was in his eyes a few seconds ago "You think that small knife can do anything to me!" he said laughing at her "Yes! It will, I will stick it where it will hurt and I won't stop there, I will do it again and again till you grow cold and motionless and I will laugh my heart off" Nimai said with certainty and kept approaching her father like a menace "I have imagined this day for years, I close my eyes every night thinking of how to end you" " you are a witch, I knew it from the first day I set my eyes on you," Hector said with fear evident in his voice, Nimai didn't stop, she was finally going to end this man that has caused her and her mother pain all their life, The front door spurts open taking the attention of both her and her father, and the room suddenly becomes windy, and everything in the room except her, her mother, and her father, was hanging in the air, her newfound power and confidence were replaced with a familiar fear, the type she felt in her room few minutes, ago, the wind stopped abruptly and a strange figure emerged. A man with pale skin and extremely long silver hair emerged, his eyes glowing brighter than the candlelight in the living room, he moved like lightning, next thing Nimai saw was her father hanging in the air, the strange-looking man lifted her father with a single hand, she watched in bewilderment as her father wiggled in the air fighting for air, she held her palms across her mouth suppressing the screams at the tip of her lips, this man was shirtless, his eyes burning red, his fingernails extremely long and moldy, he flung her father across the room and slowly approached her father with long strides, she watched her father cry and plead for mercy from this man or monster that has visited their home, she knew immediately he emerged that it was him in the woods watching her, she watched him bite into her father's neck and her father turned into a ghost of himself, he sucked every blood from Hector, Nimai stood petrified, she knew this monster will come for her after dealing with her father, her eyes locked with the monster and she panicked, she needs to take her mother's motionless body and leave, she looked over at her mother's previous spot and didn't see her, she let out a scream immediately "Where is my mother!" she regretted her actions immediately because the monster let go of her father immediately and began approaching her, " what are you!" she asked him as she moved back till there was nowhere to go, her back now touching the walls of their home, "Am I going to die today," she said with her eyes closed, hot tears falling from her eyes, she waited for her death, she waited for the bite but non came, she slowly opened her eyes wondering why the delay only to see her mother in an embrace with the bloodsucker. It took her a moment to grasp what was happening, her mother saved her, her mother blocked him from getting to her, and they weren't in an embrace he was suckling from Eriene's neck. Nimai felt her heart break into pieces, she closed her eyes and shouted with everything in her "MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A flash of lightning pushed the creature out of their cottage with Nimai fainting before she could reach her mother