Remembrance
It was an early morning, the sun was barely up, the sky was still grim, and chilly wind was breezing through the streets. Sabrina was on her first early morning stroll across the neighborhood since she moved here. This was a slightly rundown and remote community, and the local residents appeared to be mostly lower-middle class families.
On the side of the road, a chubby middle-aged woman was organizing various decorations, furniture and books placed on the lawn. A young girl was looking out of the house through the window with swollen eyes, sniffling. A tall woman was sitting beside her, holding her, trying to console her.
“Yard sale?” Sabrina took off her sunglasses and asked the middle aged woman, smiling: “What’s the occasion?”
“Oh, hello, morning.” The middle aged woman was surprised as she didn’t hear Sabrina coming: “Sorry, I was a bit - occupied. Yeah I’m just their neighbor, poor Samantha there lost her husband about a month ago, so she has to move to a cheaper place with her daughter.”
“I’m so sorry, what happened?” Sabrina took a slow, deep breath in and asked.
“Cancer.” The middle aged woman shook her head and sighed: “It’s terrible, such a good man. Leaving his family like that - ”
“Are these his things?” Sabrina pointed at a vintage phonograph, a carpenter’s tool box, an old wooden chair, and a clearly home-made, waist-high wood carving of a dog in a standing position, smiling with its tongue sticking out, holding a small sword and a shield with its paws.
“Yes, yes.” The middle aged woman chuckled: “These are the things they can’t keep.”
“Okay, I’ll take them all, how much?”
“That would be, let’s see 10 - 20, 80 dollars.” The middle aged woman answered with a bright smile: “Thank you very much, it would help them a lot. Do you need help bringing them back?”
“No need.” Sabrina lifted the wood carving and the tool box with her right arm and the phonograph and the chair with her left. The sun was climbing higher, and she wanted to get back before it got too bright. Unlike her blood sucking distant cousins, she could withstand a certain amount of sunlight. But just like them, she hated it as it caused her pain.
Before she left, she looked back at the young girl and her mother, who were both looking at her through the window. Even through the old, dirty window she could see the tear marks on their faces. The scent of grief, regret and despair filled the air, almost like music to her ears.
With one quick morning walk and measly 80 dollars, she already found some good potential meals. The pain and loss had almost soaked through their entire bodies, and seeing the possession of the husband and father being bought and taken away by a stranger could only have pushed it further.
She had found the right place. A place full of livestock.
The night finally came, and Sabrina awoke from her slumber. Her eyes glowed in an ethereal green light, and she moaned with excitement. This was the second night she was here, and she was starving. She needed blood, she needed flesh, she needed brains and bone marrow.
But just as she glided through her house, she heard music coming from her storage room.
How dare anyone come into her place? Sabrina licked her fangs as she slowly and quietly opened the door to her storage room and slithered inside like a shadow. Her fingers with razor sharp nails sliced through the air, eager to tear through all the flesh and bones that may come her way. The room was dark, just the way she liked it. A creature of the night, she did not need light to see.
It was the phonograph. Somehow, the single record on it started spinning on its own, and thus came a slow, smooth and maybe slightly romantic song. It was not connected to an electrical outlet at all, maybe it had batteries inside?
Magic. Though faint, she could still smell it. Was it a wizard? Or a hunter? Neither made much sense right now, for she was able to hide from them for decades, and there were no signs of them ever being close.
Sabrina sensed movement behind her, and she immediately swung her right claw around. This swing could have torn through metal armor, yet it hit nothing but air.
Her arms and legs grew longer, raising her height, her eyes grew bigger, sharper and her jaws opened wider. She was pissed, someone was taunting her, and she couldn’t wait to turn whoever it was to shreds.
Something fell on her side and her nails sliced it into dozens of pieces before it even touch the ground. It was the toolbox, nothing else
A sense of extreme danger exploded in her stomach, and before she could act, something plunged through her heart from the back. She screamed with agony, her arms flailing in the air. Then, whoever did this kicked her in the back, twisted the blade then pulled it out.
She tried to turn around. Something swiped through her neck and the world spun as she lost her voice. Her left cheek made contact with the ground and bounced and slid to the side. Her headless body collapsed before her eyes.
The shadow that attacked moved in on her, as the last drops of blood and life gradually left her and her world darkened.
The wooden dog, either a Shiba Inu or a corgi, with Sabrina’s thick, dark blood splashed all over its smiling face and exposed tongue, walked towards her step by step like an emotionless robot.
The last thing Sabrina saw, was the dull, wooden sword raised up high before her eyes. And behind it, stood a vague, slightly chubby and bearded shadow. Who or what it was, though, she could never tell.
Listen to this story being brought to life by the ever so talented Ian KirkpattieCake!