I left the mansion and headed toward the spot where he had been standing moments ago. I raised my lantern, but a sudden, sharp gust of wind caught the light. Dry leaves skittered across the dirt, and the lantern swayed on its hook, its rhythmic creaking lost in the gale.
Then, something caught my eye. Dark, wet traces stained the ground. It wasn’t just a drop or two; they formed a jagged, interrupted path leading into the shadows.
“What is this?”
I stepped closer, squinting. It wasn’t water. The color was too heavy, too absolute even against the dark earth. I knelt and brushed my fingertips against it. It stained my skin—tacky and cooling. I held my hand up to the lantern’s glow, and the sight turned my blood to ice.
It was blood. A trail of it.
My gaze traced the red line, horror blooming in my chest. It led toward the corner of the annex. I swallowed hard, forcing my back straight, trying to quell the frantic drumming of my heart. It was an ominous sign. Should I call for someone?
My mind flickered to Lucas, whom I had parted with only a moment ago. He was nowhere to be found in the house. *Surely not.* I hesitated, lost in a whirlwind of impossible thoughts, before hardening my resolve and taking a shaky step forward.
I lowered the lantern. The closer I drew to the corner, the more frequent the stains became, darkening the ground.
A gust of wind caught my hair tie, lashing my face with loose strands. I shoved the hair back, my senses hyper-focused on the darkness ahead. A strange noise began to thread through the whistling wind. It sounded like… voices.
Just as the thought took root, I reached the corner. I caught my breath and rounded the edge, swinging the lantern light forward.
A powerful blast of wind slammed into me, forcing my eyes shut. My skirts whipped violently, and the lantern jolted, casting disjointed, dizzying shadows.
I raised a hand to shield my face, peering through slitted eyes. The flame flickered, desperate and wild, illuminating the ground, the wall, a figure standing, and another figure collapsed beneath them.
Then, a sudden, brutal force struck the lantern.
“Ah!”
The scream tore from my throat. As I tumbled backward, the lantern hit the dirt and shattered. Darkness swallowed my world.
I scrambled on the ground, fingers clawing for the lantern, but I only found jagged shards. I clutched them, shrieking—a raw, rhythmic sound, praying for someone to hear, for someone to come.
Suddenly, a hand clamped onto my ankle. My body was jerked flat against the dirt. I thrashed, kicking wildly, my screams curdling into desperate sobs. I lashed out with the broken glass.
“Ahh! Ahh! Get away!”
“…la, Pau…”
“Ahh! Ahh!”
*Help me! Don’t do this! Go away!* I kicked, I struggled, I fought for every scrap of survival. Then, as I scrambled to retreat, a familiar sound cut through the chaos.
“Paula.”
The voice was a jagged rasp, yet it snapped me back to reality. I froze, turning my head. Tears of raw terror streamed down my face.
As my screams died away, the wind returned to fill the void, carrying that faint, wheezing call once more.
“Lucas?”
“…”
My eyes adjusted to the gloom. I saw a hunched shape. I called his name again, but there was no response, only the wet, labored rattle of his breath. I reached out, my fingers trembling as I felt the hand still gripping my ankle. My skin met something warm and slick.
“Lucas? Is it really you?”
“Pa… Paula…”
“Oh my god. Lucas!”
I crawled toward him. He was collapsed, curled into a ball, his hand still straining toward me.
I couldn’t see his face in the dark, so I fumbled blindly, my hands shaking as they swept over his body. When I touched his stomach, my palms came away heavy and wet. I couldn’t tell what it was, but the scent—metallic and sharp—filled the air.
I tried to lift him, but he was dead weight, his body turning limp in my arms. I sat him up, but he couldn’t hold his own balance, sliding back until he was slumped against me.
My hands grew wetter by the second. I felt the wetness pooling near his abdomen, a constant, viscous flow.
I raised my hand, though I could see nothing. I didn’t need to see. I knew. It was his blood—the life draining out of him, soaking through my clothes, slicking my skin.
I panicked, pressing both hands against the wound, but the blood defied me, surging between my fingers.
“Wh-what is this? What on earth is this?”
“Pa, haa. Paula.”
“Yes. Lucas. I’m here. I’m here. What happened?”
“Haa. Haa.”
His ragged breath brushed my ear, shallow and hitching. He leaned his head against my shoulder, his presence so fragile it felt as though he might vanish into the wind at any second.
Who? Who could have done this?
“Lu, Lucas. Stay with me.”
I shook his shoulder. His eyes rolled, unfocused and glassy. Seeing that emptiness, I burst into fresh tears.
“Sob. Stay with me. You can’t go to sleep.”
“Why… haa, why didn’t you… haa, let me go.”
“Sob. Sob.”
“I was waiting…”
He mumbled, his voice fading like smoke. I slapped his cheek, screaming for him to stay, to stay awake, to stay with me.
“You can’t sleep. Don’t fall asleep.”
“Every day… I was waiting… instead, in place of my brother… to be sent… haa… I was waiting… Haa, ugh, wait, sob!”
He groaned, his body twisting in a spasm of pain. I held him tight, the sound of his struggle too loud in my ears. The blood kept coming.
I shouted for help, but the annex was desolate. No one came.
Tears blurred my vision, and I wiped them away, frantic, looking for a savior who wasn’t there.
“You can’t sleep. You can’t. Please.”
“It was really… good… I really…”
“Lucas. You can’t sleep.”
His voice trailed off into a whisper. I slapped his cheeks again, desperate. His skin felt unnervingly cold. Human, yet cooling. The realization terrified me.
I need to treat him. I don’t have time.
I draped his arm over my shoulder, heaving with every ounce of my strength. He was dead weight, his legs dragging, and we both collapsed into the dirt.
I hoisted him onto my back, stumbling a few paces before falling again. My heart hammered against my ribs—a frantic, suffocating beat. I couldn’t carry him, so I hooked my arms under his, dragging his torso across the hard ground.
“You can’t die. You can’t die. Please. No.”
I pulled, sobbing, my sweat mixing with the blood on my face. I walked forward an inch, then another. I hated my own weakness.
*Please, hurry!*
“I have to go quickly. You can’t die. You can’t sleep. I have to… go.”
“…la.”
“I have to go. Quickly. Quickly.”
“La…”
He wrapped a weak hand around my trembling fingers. I stopped, breathless.
We had reached a patch of moonlight. A dark, glistening trail marked our path through the dirt.
I checked him again. His face was ghastly—pale as a ghost. I pressed my fingers to his nose. There was breath, but it was vanishingly thin.
I covered my mouth to muffle a sob. My hands were stained dark with his lifeblood.
“Lucas. Lucas.”
I wept, begging him not to drift away. I wanted to hear him call my name. Instead, his lips twitched. I pressed my ear to his mouth.
“Run, run, away. Hurry. Run, from my brother. Pa, Paula.”
“Lucas. I’m right here.”
I clasped his hand. He fumbled, trying to return the grip. His brown eyes fluttered, finally finding mine. He blinked, a single, deliberate movement, and I wept in relief.
But then, I felt it. A presence in the darkness.
Footsteps. My blood turned to stone. I turned my head, and something glinted in the distance.
Lucas squeezed my hand, a sudden, desperate strength.
“Go. Run, hurry. Go.”
“…….”
He begged, but my legs were leaden. Fear had paralyzed me, turning my bones to ice. *I’m so scared. Please, someone.*
Lucas writhed, a groan tearing from his throat. He pushed against the ground, forcing his upper body up, clutching his stomach as his strength failed him. He gripped my hand, his brown pupils burning with a terrifying, singular desperation.
A tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
“Go.”
“…….”
“Hurry, go. Run. Go—”
His hand shoved me away with a sudden, violent strength.
“Run away!”
As I saw his face contort—as if he were crying for me—my body took over. I forced my heavy legs to move, standing, turning, and running. I didn’t look back; I ran as if my life depended on it, just as he wished.
‘I will never forget this moment.’
As the darkness reclaimed me, I remembered him standing before the mansion, his eyes curved with that gentle, affectionate smile. A smile that looked only at me.
Did he smile then, too? Is he smiling now, even as I run into the dark?
Tears blinded me.
The whole time I ran, I prayed for Lucas not to fall asleep.