Chapter 24
1504 Words
Chapter 24
SPRING IS FOR FESTIVAL IV
“This was what happened,” he began. “It was true that this place was named as Presiarella and the people were called as Presiarellans. However, Seth had a mistake about the entire story. The origin of this festival dated back on the thirteenth century of this place where monsters, ghosts, zombies, and other horrifying creatures existed. Presiarellans were often attacked by those creatures. The monsters, either small or big shall not be differentiated by size because both can kill, ate human flesh. They had no schedule. They just visited the homes of the citizens and devoured their intestines and other organs. The zombies, unlike them, only came at night. During daytime, they were silent and only walked in the street like a normal human, but their hunger intensified at night. They ate humans’ brains, so no wonder they can act like humans at morning. Out of all the creatures, ghosts were the least scary. They showed up at night and scared people, but once the humans got used to it, they were no longer afraid of them because ghosts did not kill anyone. But!” He stopped with his forefinger raised and slowly turned his head in my direction. “The number of people killed grew. It started just one.” He shoved his finger on my face. I gently pushed it away, and Seth scolded him, but it had no effect on Drake. He kept a scary face to add effects to his horror storytelling. “Then it became ten… then fifty… then a hundred!” He stomped his foot and made an explosion effect on his hands, forgetting about his girlfriend who clung to him. He once again looked at me. “No one knows how it started.”
“Where is the connection of people wearing a mask and extravagant clothes?”
He hushed me. “Here it comes.”
I nodded and listened. Seth shook his head. “Are you really going to listen to him?”
I chuckled. “It’s entertaining.”
“Even though he looks dumb?”
I grinned. We both threw a glimpse at Drake and his girlfriend. Everyone else did not mind him. “Well, that is one of the reasons why it was entertaining.”
“You’re mean,” Seth commented.
I paid back my attention to Drake. He was frowning at me. “What?” I asked.
“You’re not listening.”
“I am now.”
Seth scoffed on my side.
Drake nodded cheerfully and continued telling the story. “Because of the growing numbers of the people being killed, the citizens thought that those creatures were getting out of control. The brave men tried to hunt the unnamed monsters who eats the internal parts of a human, but another day came, and they had not returned yet. One day, two days, until the days completed the week and no one returned. Another group of heroic humans tried to find the habitat of the unnamed monsters. Their main goal was to bring their townspeople back―dead or alive. Guess what happened?”
“They were killed, too?”
“Who?”
“The second group.”
He disagreed. “No, but they found something. Can you guess what it is?”
“The bodies of the townspeople?”
“Correct!” He snapped his fingers and focused his eyes straight ahead. “They were all dead, all the organs were missing. Their bodies were nearly unrecognizable. They guessed that those were also eaten by the animals.”
“How cruel,” I murmured. “Where did they find it?”
“In the forest,” he uttered slowly, “where the other dead bodies where.”
I pressed Seth’s hand hard. “Then?”
“They managed to bring the bodies back to their place, but little did they know that because of the first group, the monsters craved for more bodies. They attacked frequently and double their kills. The mayor of this town thought of one thing: sacrifice. He believed that, maybe, if they offer the humans’ bodies themselves, then the monsters would not attack their place anymore.”
My eyes grew wide. “Did they agree?”
He nodded. “Yes, because they also thought that it was the best solution at the moment. They initially held kids as sacrifices.”
“That’s terrible!” I shrieked and glanced at Seth who also became interested in the story of Drake. “Why would they use the kids? Why not animals? Or, why they just didn’t think other solutions? I’m sure they were smarter than those monsters!”
“Drake, your story is turning dreadful. Don’t continue that,” Ann commented.
“We know that that’s where Drake is best at,” Mary answered for him.
He turned his head to her and said, “If you don’t want to hear my story, then do not listen.” He expanded his arm to show the distance between him and Ann. “You have your choice not to mind other’s business.”
Mary punched her boyfriend on the side. He breathed out a complaint and turned into an awful-looking puppy. I was mean to even compare him with a cute fur animal when he was nowhere near that. A dinosaur probably, as old as the story he was telling me.
“Do you still want to hear it, Seah?”
Seah, Seah, when did I become close with these people? Elysea was my name. “Sure.”
“What about you, Seth?”
“I’m not interested. Just tell it quick, so we can part ways. I’m tired of seeing your face.”
“I thought we should not go far?”
Seth raised his brow at him. “Dude, you’re an adult. Don’t act like a clingy boyfriend.”
He shivered, but I giggled at the scene. Drake even puckered his lips and made a smooching sound. Drake looked at me. “So this is what happened. Because the kids were not enough to satisfy the hungry monsters, they pick young men and women, and it was successful. The monsters hadn’t visit them since they fed them the flesh of the fresh humans. However, no human would allow himself to die just to become a sacrifice. They rebelled against the plan and made a plan of how to look like they were missing. Others followed. Since there were no young men and women to sacrifice, they had to pick the adults, but the adults had the same thinking as the youngsters. They also went missing until they chose the elders, but the elders’ organs were not as delectable as the younger people’s. The monsters were in rage. The monsters ate everything they saw. The townspeople couldn’t hide forever. They were in chaos. Who will be the sacrifice? Not the kid, not the teen, not the adult nor the elder. They were pointing one another to serve as the feast for the mad monsters. They were afraid they will be chosen, so they wore mask in order to cover their face. It’s hard to identify the age of the persons. A little acting and no one can tell. From that time, the mayor and the sheriff picked anyone to be a sacrifice. No cover could hide their fate. It was death concealed by their fancy masks.”
“All of them died?”
“Yes.”
“If they all died, then who was left to tell the story about what happened?”
He shrugged.
“What happened to those monsters, zombies, and ghosts?”
“They evolved into humans.”
Seth pulled me to change place with me. He inserted his fingers between mine. “Your story had loopholes. Mine was more believable.”
“Probably, since it is a folktale.”
“Monsters, zombies, and ghosts becoming humans?” Seth added.
“Isn’t it true though? Can’t you see?” Drake replied and pulled her girl closer to him. “We are as bad as them. We eat by killing. Who knows who among us have monsters ancestors? No one could really tell.”
I fell silent. Those words seemed to have a double meaning. Is it connected to what Troy mentioned earlier?
Drake shifted his gaze to me and smiled. “See you later. I saw a good spot for Mary and I to spend together.”
He dragged her to a*****e, waving their hands at us. The others were gone, too. I didn’t notice. I found Ayuna and Gabriel wandering their eyes around. We told them that we would visit some stores and booths if there are.
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- Writer
