You wake up.
As you try to clean up the tears that are welling up on your face, you feel a hard surface under your fingers.
It was a mask, maybe one made of clay.
Before you could stop to wonder where the mask came from, you are called by your big sister, Menive.
“Lia! Wake up and help me harvest!”
You pack up your things and put the mask in a small bag that you always keep close. It keeps your belongings safe and sound. The small bag contains a notebook full of drawings of different creatures you’ve seen and some that you’ve made up. You also carry the knife that you hide from your sister. Menive tends to have “problems” that she can’t control…
Of course, your art kit is in here too! You may not be the best artist in the world but you still try. You at least have your family to appreciate your art.
You slowly leave the house. It was another beautiful day in the town of Okbuta.
Your family owns a small farm. Here, you live a simple and happy life.
You walk towards your sister and give her a hug, even though she was obviously frustrated by how long you’ve slept in.
“Sister, can’t we eat breakfast first?” you ask.
“We are harvesting breakfast, Soralia,” Menive says as you look over to see some distressed adults having a discussion.
They seem to be holding clay masks similar to what you woke up with.
“Some people died in accidents because of falling asleep. There was some kind of ruckus. It’s like the whole world suddenly went to sleep and then masks just appeared on their faces,” Menive tries to explain.
“Don’t worry I didn’t let them take ours because I thought it would be cool to paint them. We still don’t know where they came from though. It’s creepy but interesting at the same time!” Menive begins to do some harvesting again.
“So where’s yours?” you ask your sister. “It’s in our secret hiding spot. I kept yours on your face ‘cause I thought it would be funny." Menive laughs and you pout.
While harvesting, you strike up another conversation with your sister. You tell her about the dream you had earlier. “So… I woke up crying earlier.” “What? Why?!” “Don’t freak out, sis. Mama might hear you.”
You told Menive about how you felt like you were drowning in this void, and that there was this small glimmer of light you were trying to reach.
“It kept calling out to me. It felt like it was crying for he-” before you could finish what you were saying, both of you heard someone scream.
It was your neighbour.
“HELP! PLEASE! SOMETHING’S OUT THERE!!”
That was all they could say before they turned into dust.
As the dust was blown away, a creature emerged from behind the cloud.
It was pitch black, with so many eyes and mouths, protruding arms and three pairs of large wings. You’ve never seen anything like this before. It was appalling and hideous. You feel a chill down your spine as you watch it gulp something down. Its eyes were looking at everything. The creature seemed like it was searching for something.
Everyone was screaming. You hear a thud on the ground behind you, it was an old book that had fallen to the floor.
“Kosta, hide the children!” your dad commanded.
You quickly took the book and put it into your bag. You ran towards the house and into the secret basement with your mother and sister.
“Mama, what about Papa?” Menive asks as she starts to shake from fear. “He’ll be fine. He and a lot of our neighbours used to fight in the war so it’ll be alright. We’ll be alright as long as we stay here.”
Your mother hugs both of you tightly.
Meanwhile, all the other adults brought out weapons and tried to attack the creatures. Some threw the clay masks at them as well. One of the creatures laughed.
“Foolish mortals! Willfully throwing away your lives, I see?”
More of the creatures came down from the sky and started eating the masks. The attacks were useless.
“What the-?” a number of people start to turn into dust. They weren’t after their fragile bodies, after all. “Tasty and exquisite, as usual! Hahaha!”
Your father’s body froze as he had an epiphany.
“Stop throwing the masks! KOSTA PROTECT THE MASKS! DON’T LET THEM EAT THE MASKS!”
Everyone in the basement was frightened. Only silence came after the shouting. You started feeling nauseous.
“Mama, did Papa just-?” Kosta covered Menive’s mouth as she began to cry. Those probably were your father’s last words. You don’t know what to say. Your body felt cold. So cold.
“Mama, where is your mask?!” you asked without hesitation. Your mom smiled, trying to hold back tears and caressing both of you, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry… I love you both very much. Please take care of each other.”
Kosta turns into dust. You and Menive both cry.
There was silence.
“There’s supposed to be more here, right?” a horrid voice from upstairs was talking.
“I don’t see anyone though. Maybe we ate them all.”
“Oh well, let’s just look for more”
“Those must have been the creatures. What’s going to happen now? What are we supposed to do? I’m scared. I want Mama and Papa back…”
“There’s no one left… There’s no one left…”
Menive keeps repeating this to herself as you try not to cry too loudly. Both of you sit there for an hour or two. You try to comfort your big sister as much as you can. At times like this, you have to be tough or else she’ll... she’ll…
You don’t even want to think about it. Tears are still flowing. You keep wiping them with your scarf but they won’t go away. More time passes, you check your bag to distract yourself. Your sister, still weeping.
You take out the old book that you saw earlier. “There’s no one left, Lia… What do we do now? There’s no one left...”
You move closer to your sister and cuddle her as you distract yourself with the book.
“A picture book, huh? I can’t understand the other words but there’s a message on the first page that I can read. Though it only says, ‘please come find me’…”.
“Those creatures… they look like the ones that I used to see. Maybe they’ve been messing with me all this time. We need to get rid of them. I need to kill them with my own bare hands, Lia.”
Menive, who was shaking from fear earlier, is now seething with rage.
You hug your sister tightly. Menive examines the book as well. “Where did you get this from?”
“From the farm, during- ...during the attack.”
“Some of the places here look familiar, Lia. I think it might lead us to something.”
You look at your sister straight in the eye and whisper, “It’s too dangerous to go outside!”
“We’re safe as long as the masks are safe. Do you still have yours with you?” Menive asks, and you nod.
“Good.” Menive starts packing up.
“We’ll have to avenge mom, dad, everyone…” she says. “But isn’t your mask in our secret hiding spot?” you ask.
“Yes, that’s right. That’s why we need to run. Now.”
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