'Don't you love how quiet it is out here?', Efisha asked. She took a deep breath, as if she tried to smell the silence. With an ecstatic smile on her face she raised her hands to the sky and spun around a few times. Her white hair lit up in the moonlight when she moved, her fingers drew lines in the night.
It was very quiet indeed. But it was a strange kind of silence, as if we were under water, as if a glass bell had been put over our heads. Every sound we heard – the rustling of the grass between our legs, the chirping insects, the sound of our voices – was dull and muffled. The air was heavy and warm and uncomfortable. Breathing it in felt unsatisfying, like lukewarm water doesn’t quench your thirst on a hot day.
Efisha danced in the grass on her bare feet. Her blue dress waved around her slim body. Her skin seemed to reflect the moonlight, and for a moment I was sure she was an elf, or a fairy maybe. If I were a boy, I thought, I would fall in love with her. But when she turned to face me, smiling and gesturing me to follow, I realized I was already in love. I felt so big, so ugly and clumsy when I was with her. I had always thought I was a pretty girl, but compared to her I was a monster. Everything about her was so breathtakingly and disarmingly beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. I wanted to protect her, even though I had no idea what I'd have to protect her from. Who would want to harm someone like her?
'Follow me', she said, smiling. While I struggled to find my way through the knee-high grass, she frisked and danced effortlessly in circles around me.
'Where are we going?'
'I want to show you something.'
How did she know where to go? We'd been walking through the grass for hours now, and there was nothing else to be seen; no buildings, no trees, not even bushes. Maybe she navigated by looking at the stars? I looked up. There were no stars. I don't mean to say it was too clouded to see them, there just were no stars. The moon was there though, bigger and brighter than I'd ever seen it in my life.
'There are no stars', I said. I felt no surprise, I just noticed.
'Will you keep up? We're almost there.'
It all felt like a dream. The sky without stars, the never ending grass, the enchantingly beautiful girl in front of me that almost floated through the night – this couldn't really be happening. I didn't mind. I felt comfortably relaxed, and if this was a dream indeed I had no hurry to wake up.
'Come over here, we're almost there now.'
I reached out for the hand she offered me, but her hand had already changed direction and pointed at something. Four tall boulders stood in the grass, clearly visible and no more than fifteen feet away from where we were standing. I wondered how I could have missed them until now.
Something lay against one of the rocks. When we came closer I saw it was a boy, no more than seven years old, fast asleep. Efisha gestured me to be silent and walked towards him. She picked a blade of grass and tickled his face with it until he woke up. Slowly he opened his eyes and yawned. Efisha stretched out her hands to help him up, but every time he reached for them she pulled back, lazily walking backwards. He followed her willingly, still sleep drunk, to one of the other rocks. Before I realized what was happening, she grabbed the boy by his hair. Suddenly the sluggish expression was gone and he froze at her touch. In one movement Efisha pulled back his head and slit his throat with a large knife that came out of nowhere. Immediately the boy's blood was everywhere, and Efisha bent over to drink it. It was horrible, it was terrifying, but it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Deep dark glistening blood slowly spread over the shades of blue of the moonlit landscape. The beauty of it brought tears to my eyes. I watched her, fascinated, unable to move.
When Efisha was satisfied, she let go of the boy and turned to face me. Her eyes shone with childish bless, completely innocent and truly happy. Her mouth, neck, arms and dress were all covered in glistening blood. I wasn't afraid when she moved towards me. I knew she wouldn't kill me. She would let me share in her happiness. She reached out for me, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. The smell and taste of the blood made me tipsy. She grabbed my hand and took me to the body on the ground.
'Now it’s your time to drink.'
I would have done anything she asked me, but I didn't do it for her, I did it because I wanted it myself. The moment I bent over towards the corpse, Efisha cried out in pain. Startled, I looked up and saw Efisha staring bewildered at an arrow in her shoulder. In a moment, the surprise was gone from her face and she said, urgently: 'you have to drink.'
I hesitated. Where had that arrow come from? Shouldn't we be leaving?
'Drink first.'
Obediently I bent forward again, but this time Efisha pushed me aside. There was an arrow in her back now, one that was meant for me. I saw the pain in her face and panicked. 'You have to drink it', she kept repeating, but I couldn't. I was too frightened. Anxiously, I tried to run and hide behind one of the boulders, but Efisha stopped me. She was breathing heavily by now, but she was determined to stay. A third arrow hit her in her stomach. The blow of it threw her off her feet and she stumbled and fell. I let out a shriek and kneeled beside her. It was a horrible sight, seeing this angelic creature in such agony. I no longer cared about the shooter or the chance of being hit myself. All I could do was sit next to her and hold her hand and stroke her face.
'You have to drink', she said again, gasping. 'Or it will all be for nothing.'
'What will be for nothing?'
'Quickly, before he gets here.'
'Before who gets here?' I panicked. I didn't want her to die. She was far too beautiful to die. I didn't want to drink anymore. I started crying.
A man stepped out of the dark, carrying a small bow in his hand. Efisha breathed in sharply and painfully. The man walked over to us, roughly pushed her aside with his foot and faced me. 'Did you drink from the throat?'
I didn't answer him. How could he be so cruel to just stand there, letting her die, ignoring her pain? He sat down in front of me and grabbed me by the shoulders. His fingers were long and slender. His grip was stronger than I expected.
'Look at me. Listen carefully: did you drink from the throat?'
Behind his back I heard Efisha cry in despair. 'Quickly, you have to drink. Before it is too late.'
The hunter ignored her and studied my face. There was only a little blood on my mouth, from Efisha's kiss. He seemed satisfied.
'Come on, let's get away from here.'
He got back on his feet, waiting for me to follow. I didn't move, still sobbing. Why would I follow this man? Why would I listen to him? I hated him for what he’d done. I had to stay with Efisha. I would drink the boy's blood, granting her at least her last wish. Efisha looked at me and reached for me. I stretched out my hand to touch her, but the hunter was faster. With one hand, he grabbed my outstretched hand and with the other he pulled up the seam of her dress, exposing the white skin of her legs.
'Touch her skin.'
Efisha struggled to stop him as I weakly let him place my hand on her leg. I felt a shock and it was as if I suddenly woke up. The glass bell was taken away. Everything was exactly as it had been before, but now clearer, more realistic. I felt the wind, I saw the stars, I heard the insects the way they were supposed to sound. And I felt Efisha's skin. It was cold as ice. It was as if I was touching a piece of metal. Shocked, I withdrew my hand and looked down on her in horror. She was still beautiful, she definitely was, but she was no longer an angel. The magic had gone.
Her hands, her lips, every part of her body that had touched me had been covered in the boy’s blood and had given her the warmth that her own body lacked. I stared at the man in bewilderment. His face had turned friendlier, he even smiled at me. I looked around, as if I just got here, and saw the lifeless body of the little boy, carelessly dumped by Efisha when she was satisfied. What had happened? I hadn’t done anything to stop her, I had even tried to drink the boy’s blood. I was disgusted with myself. Confused and scared I crawled away from Efisha.
The hunter sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
'It's not your fault, you were under her influence. You would have become like her.'
I shivered and crawled closer towards the man, who felt comfortably human.
'Come on, we have to go.'
I couldn't move. I couldn’t believe that Efisha, who still looked so completely innocent, was capable of something so horrible. I couldn’t believe that I had only just now woken up to realize what had happened. In a futile attempt to make up for what I had done and what I hadn’t done, I crawled towards the blood-covered corpse of the boy, stammering an apology. I moved his limbs in a more natural position, closed his eyes, stroke his hair and tried to clean his face. God, there was so much blood everywhere, and the harder I tried to wipe it off the more it seemed to stick to my hands and clothes, covering me completely. It made me sick to my stomach.
Finally I stopped fussing around, realizing that the damage was done and that it was too late. The hunter helped me get up to my feet. When we walked by Efisha I saw the pain in her eyes, not just because she knew she would die, but also because she realized her magic had lost its charm. There was nothing left that made her special, nothing that could enchant me. And still, I couldn't hate her. She hardly seemed to realize she had done something bad.
'She looks so innocent.'
'She's not really evil, in a way. She has no conscience, no notion of what she does. She follows her instincts.'
I looked down at her, unable to move, her face twisting with pain.
'Can't you.... end it?' I asked, hoping I could still do something for her.
'No. This way she'll pay for what she did to so many others. We really have to get going now.'
As he said that, he placed his hand behind my elbow and gently pushed me in the right direction. We walked away in silence as the pink of dawn calmly took over the night sky. Astonished I looked at my arms, from which the blood disappeared as if it was melting. I looked up at the hunter in surprise, but he just smiled at me. The fear and horror of the night washed away together with the blood. In the distance the first bird started to whistle. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with the fresh morning air.
'Don't you love how quiet it is out here?', the hunter asked.
'Yeah,' I said. 'I love it.'
I was more than a bit overwhelmed by the amazing response I received on my previous post. Thanks so much! So far, Steemit has treated me wonderfully and I'm very happy I decided to join. I only hope I'll be able to live up to the expectations...
For this story, I decided to put some more effort into the art work. I'm trying to improve my watercolor skills and illustrating my stories seems to be good practice. I hope you enjoyed it!