Chapter 1- Elio
'It's… so… cold…' Elio's eyes parted open slightly; his entire body felt cold and numb. As if he were sitting in a bath filled with ice or a frozen lake. He didn't know what was happening; he remembers being asleep not that long ago.
He had come back home from school and lay down before drifting away due to exhaustion. Yet, he had woken up again, feeling like his body was freezing slowly.
His pupils stared left and then right. His breathing was weak and erratic, and he couldn't even move his limbs, as if he were under some sort of spell that controlled his movement.
'I can't… move… Something… is on top of me…'
He felt it. A heavyweight pressed him down to the bed, crushing him slowly. At the same time, there was a stinging pain in his neck, which was coincidentally the coldest part of his body.
Taking a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, he finally started seeing the silhouette. It was a person… A human being. The familiar shape, the arms and legs wrapped around his body like tentacles, and the head buried in his neck, how could he not recognise that?
"Wha-..." He tried to speak, only for his dry throat to stop him. He coughed faintly, making the mysterious person flinch and then raise their heads. Their long hair fell on his face, revealing small glimpses of the person's faces. He stared up in a daze, feeling droplets of a mysterious liquid dripping on his face.
Elio wasn't scared… He oddly felt familiar. As if this had happened to him a thousand times before.
The human opened their eyes, only to reveal two red pearls that peered through his body and shocked Elio into a fully awakened state. His eyes widened, and his heart rate shot up.
"AGH…"
This was no human. The eyes, the facial features, everything about it screamed something else. It was a monster… A very ugly and hideous monster. The creature then opened its mouth, revealing two sharp fangs dripping with…
'B-Blood!'
The creature then screeched again before it sank down again, ready to attack Elio.
"AAAAAAAAH!!!"
The boy screamed and closed his eyes, only to suddenly feel as if he was swept away from that place. Opening his eyes again, he shot up from the bed, still screaming.
For a second, he was still in complete shock. His face dripping with sweat, his body still pumping adrenaline endlessly.
He stared around, searching for the monster. However, all he saw was his familiar room, as it usually is. Rays of the sun peered through the window next to his bed, lighting it up. The birds chirped outside jovially, and the weather was warm and pleasant.
For a moment, he sat there, breathing heavily. His hand moved to his neck as he rubbed it a few times and then stared at his fingers. No blood.
Finally, the boy exhaled a long breath as he laid down on the pillow again. "Nightmare… Huh?"
This wasn't the first time Elio had that exact nightmare. In fact, he had been experiencing these nightmares every single night for the past several years now. It wasn't a daily occurrence, but it was common enough that he grew familiar with it.
Yet, somehow, it still scares him to the core every single time. Something about that monster, its fangs, eyes, blood, and hair… They made him shudder to the bone. He couldn't explain it, or even make sense of it.
Why was he experiencing that nightmare so much? What's so special about it?
It just made no sense whatsoever.
Rubbing his sweaty face, Elio picked up his phone and stared at the time. 7:52 AM. His school starts in an hour or so.
So, he woke up.
"Time to get ready…" He muttered, a bit annoyed that he had to go to school again. Elio hated school, possibly more than everyone else. He naturally had no friends and no girlfriend, so his time there was spent alone, just studying, eating, and minding his own business.
One of the reasons for that was his antisocial behaviour. He had zero communication abilities, with below-average looks, a short and scrawny stature, and black, emotionless eyes. He was the ideal 'loner' as people call it.
However, that was not the main reason why Elio never approached people or made friends. There was another reason, one that he never told anyone else before in his life. A secret so silly, it would make everyone around him laugh or think he is unhinged.
Elio believed that amongst the humans in this world… Monsters lived. Not just one or two, but many monsters. Ones he walks past on the street every morning. He thought they were integrated with society, living and looking like any other human, and they were never discovered or found.
That belief had no basis. Elio had no logical or even remotely normal reason to think that way. He never had any accident where he saw something abnormal. All of it was simply from his own observations of people.
Their smiles, laughs, voices, and most importantly… Eyes. They just didn't look human to him. Something about them just chilled him to the bone.
Walking into the bathroom, Elio stood in front of the mirror, his dead, lazy eyes stared back at him. He had a pale, sickly face and black medium-length hair. Elio wasn't very ugly, but he was far from attractive. Compared to most other people, he was ugly.
"..." Staring at the miserable mess reflected in the mirror before he sighed and washed his face. 'Another annoying day to overcome.' He sighed as he wiped his face and then left the bathroom. Changing his clothes into his school uniform, he walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"... I forgot to buy eggs." He muttered as he rubbed his head. The fridge was empty, except for milk and a bottle of water. So, he drank the milk and then picked up his bag and checked the time.
'... I still have some time before school. I can buy something on my wa-'
Opening his small purse, Elio realised that it was completely empty. "... Right. I still didn't get paid yet."
Elio lived alone in a very small apartment in the city. He worked in a warehouse to pay his rent and food. He had no one to rely on except his grandmother, who lived in the countryside. He left her to pursue his high school education in the city. He didn't like that idea, but he wanted to at least find a stable job to help her in her old age. He couldn't do that without a proper degree.
Elio's parents died when he was a kid from the Blood Plague when he was 2 years old, so he never even got to know them. He learned from an early age how to rely on himself and basically raise himself.
*GROWL*
Elio's stomach growled, snapping him out of his daze. He looked down, sighed and then closed his purse.
"No breakfast today… Great."
Being hungry wasn't something he was completely unfamiliar with, so he simply ignored the hunger and left the house. The rays of the warm sun welcomed him, blinding his eyes for a second. Elio covered his eyes, feeling perturbed for a second.
He wasn't much of a morning person, and he didn't enjoy the sun as much as most people would. He loved the night more than anything else. He was what people call a night owl, someone who thrived in that kind of atmosphere.
After a moment, he turned around and started walking down the stairs from the third floor. In his mind, he was only thinking about how he was going to pass this day.
'Don't we have PE today… As if this day isn't already off to a bad start.' He cursed inwardly.
Reaching the bottom floor, he walked through the path to the door to leave the complex.
"Oh, Elio! Is that you, sweety?"
Elio flinched and stopped as he looked over his shoulder. An older lady approached him from the other side with a warm smile on her face. Her name was Melissa, one of his neighbours and the only person in this entire complex who talked to him regularly.
She was a nice lady who was friends with everyone. Melissa was barely in her 40s, a gorgeous woman with an attractive, curvy body. Clad in a tight dress that emphasised her body, she garnered the eyes of people wherever she went.
"Good morning." She said. "Are you going to school?"
"Good morning, Aunt Melissa. Yes, I'm… heading out now." Elio replied after hesitating for a moment. For some reason, Melissa was one of the few people who didn't give him the same creepy feeling the rest of the world did. She didn't have that eerie look in her eyes, which made her a lot easier to deal with.
"Awww, would it be fine if I accompany you? I'm heading to the supermarket."
"... Yeah, that's fine."
"Yay!" Clasping her hands together, Melissa smiled brightly before she put her hands on Elio's shoulder. "You're such a nice gentleman for letting this old lady accompany you."
"Umm, I don't know about being a gentleman. But, we're going the same path anyway."
"Awww, you shy boy~ Come on, let's go."
Grabbing his hand, she turned around and dragged him out of the complex with Elio barely resisting.
'This isn't too bad of a start to the day… I guess…'