The Unforgiven Chain

The second Riddle

The unique woody smell was the reason I was pulled out of my slumber state. Stretching my sore body, I realized that Vhid had left the bed.”What time is it?”my voice was hoarse. The temptation of staying in this giant soft bed was strong, but the need to pee was stronger. I found a giant t-shirt lying around his bedroom and used it to cover my naked wobble body.

After using the toilet, I realized that I couldn’t fully reach the mirror. Just the top of my head was on display, and my post-s*x hair was my favorite look. You know, the way it looks perfectly messed up and disheveled, that way we desperately try to replicate but always ends up looking like a crazy maniac that runaway from some creep hospital.

Yeah, today I am feeling good.

Vhid was nowhere to be found, and even hating to admit it, that made me feel kinda weird. I found my dress neatly folded in the kitchen chair. Fresh made coffee was waiting for me and a small note was under my cell phone and keys.

“ Morning Shorty.

I had to go to work, didn’t had the balls to awake you up. But I made you some coffee.

The cake was delicious. Please remind me to fight with you more often, so I can get more treats.

I’ll be back at sometime around 4pm.

V.E.”

His handwriting was flawless, the coffee was perfect and I was left wondering when he left…‘ Vhid must be exhausted.’ We’d stayed up until it was really late.

Dressed and refreshed, I left his house. The garden looked less magic during the day, but was impressive anyhow; something about having a great night made the day especially beautiful.

I still needed to fix a lot of things at home, and I didn’t remember to talk to Vhid about the first floor. ‘s**t’ face-palmed mentally. I completely forgot about the main reason I went seeing him last night.

The first thing I noticed was the unusual number of people. This street never has this number of cars unless something extraordinary happens. Then I realized the majority of the cars parked were police vehicles, reporters, and some curious civilians.

Doing my best not to draw attention, I walked faster to get to my front door. ‘ Should have taken the backyard door….’. This kind of circus brought back undesired memories, and anxiety evolved into a panic attack. ‘ I should’ve stayed in bed!’. Many voices were mingled in a morbid cacophony. Sentences like “Poor thing”, “Cruel”, ”Psychopath”, “What’s happening?”, were repeated by different people.

I will never understand this need to be there when a tragedy happens. If there’s a corpise, anywhere, it doesn’t matter if it is in a crowded city hall or at the end of the world, there will be a huge crowd ready to witness the shocking news. I was already at my door, the key in the hole, when something caught my attention. The voice of a reporter was louder than everyone else. “The second Chain Incident has been confirmed this morning. The remains of the 52-year-old woman identified as Karen Stewart were found by her husband…” I couldn’t believe it. I closed the door fast, locking it. I tried to recompose myself. Resting my forehead on the door, I counted to ten. ' Get yourself together Milla... Think about good things and let the bad things outside.!'

Changing into sweatpants and a tank top, I made my way to the kitchen. Yesterday's mess won’t clean itself and there is no way in hell I’ll go outside anytime soon. Not that I buy any of the Alas Karask nonsense, but no doubt that this town has a pretty efficient serial killer that happens to be a fan of the urban legend and I didn’t want to be dragged by it's show.

‘– I will not say I know what is like. Cause I Don’t. I… I just couldn’t stop myself. I mean…. Come on… You are kinda a celebrity aroun’ here…-‘

Thomas's voice ringed inside my mind, reminding me one of the reasons I dreaded coming back to this place.

I was midway through washing the dishes, when something inside of me snapped. ‘No f*****g way. ‘ -No, no , no ,no - reaching for my phone I saw today’s headlines and the b***h from yesterday, the one that told my family was related to the devil, was the second victim.

“- I’ll be here Sparkle, even when you don’t see me, I’ll be there.

-Like my own stalker?-

-Something like that.-“

Fragments of a conversation I didn’t knew I’ve had with Shadow were flooding my confused, aching head. That nagging paranoid voice in the back of my mind was telling me that everything was somehow connected. The same voice repeating his charade.

“By the rise of November's first full moon. The Unforgiving will cross the bridge under the Dark River, craving innocent blood.’… And that was the first lie.”

I’ve heard it before. This is the beginning of the Allas Karask tale. “They can’t be related, right?” I question to the emptnes of my house.

“– I am whatever you want me to be, an illusion, an imaginary friend or a nightmare…..But I assure you, I AM very real.” Shadow’s voices echoes on my soul.