The small village in Salem where I lived was right near the coast, so the wind flew in with the smell of salt drawing in close. The houses were all clustered together all small dainty looking. The houses were wooden and unsteady. Everything in the area was worn down, we were isolated from the rest of the world. Around the village was a forest which was like a barrier we were all living in this small quaint prison not being able to escape.
The village had always been full of mysteries and secrets, murders and unexplainable disappearances. Last week, two boys went missing called Liam and Adam. This made the village go silent which was never a good thing. All children were locked inside and kept from the outdoors.
A couple of days had passed and there was no sign of them. Fear was set throughout the village. Everyone was cowering, as this exact thing happened seven months before, but that time it was a woman and a little girl. They were found drained of blood with all their hair pulled out. Found decaying, rotting in a dumpster with bruises all over them like they had been thrown in. The weirdest thing was that their organs had been ripped out of their chest, like someone put their hand in and yanked them out with pure force and determination.
This meant that everyone was so scared we got told to stay with our families, but I didn’t have much of a family. I had my mum and that was it. Apart from that, I was all alone, as two years ago my older sister, dad, auntie and cousin went into the forest to try and escape, but it didn’t happen. They were found dead on our porch with blood splattered all over the wall of our house.
After Liam and Adam did not return, I began to get curious. I felt weary and suspicious as I lived in a place with a lot of supernatural history. I always believed in the witches and other creatures but that brought me back to when my grandmother would be babysit me. She told me gruesome stories of men and women who transformed at night to become a beast of the night. They left no trace of themselves, their humanity vanished. When they physically became a monster, they forgot who they were and who they loved. This beast prayed on women, children and babies.
She always described the creature as disfigured and the creature saw no remorse or humanity for the crimes it committed. She used to scare me by saying it would get me as it only hunts at night. There had always been crimes in this village since 1692. At the witch trial, there was an old report of a monstrous demon named the Aswang. It was a Filipino folklore legend that was sighted here but never found but the legend lived on through the generations of the civilians.
That night I was fearful. What would happen to the young boys? Would they turn out the same as the women and children, or will they be digested by animals? I woke up in hysterics, crying and sweating. I was scared so I ran into my mum’s room. I climbed in next to her with a cool breeze blowing in through the window. It was open with the fluorescent orange light glowing through the window. That’s when I heard it: an odd ticking noise. It began to come closer. That’s when I hid under the covers and remembered what my grandmother told me. I remembered the stories of the Aswang, making that incessant noise, coming through your house to kill you.
I got up screaming.
“It’s here! The Aswang is here!”
This immediately woke my mother up from her restless night sleep. I quickly scooted over towards her, wracked with anxiety and nervousness. That did not stop it.
It came in through the window. The anorexic beast, which was purple came in, dragging its long fingers along the wall and the edge of the wall. It screeched as it did this, its eyes were bloodshot and widely opened. As it jumped upon the bed and hovered over us, I tried to steady my breathing as I was panting like a dog. I looked up as its face was burned and its teeth were like daggers.
It looked down at my mother and didn’t even see me as the sheets were translucent. I could see the evil in its eyes and the lack of hair. It bent down towards here then everything went black. Until morning arose.
I got up and was unhurt. I saw blood everywhere all over me and the bed sheets were drenched a crimson colour. The curtains were ripped as were the pillows had feathers flown everywhere. I got up and saw her, decapitated and layed there. I burst out screaming in pain and discomfort; seeing her like this freaked the hell out of me. I had no one I was all alone as she was all I’d had.
Now at this moment in time I was alone. I am now twenty-five and have a family and children, but I will always always miss my mum and family. I was put into the foster care system after this accident and it was so traumatic. I was in nineteen different homes and I never did find a family that lived up to my expectations. I now feel unsteady and uneasy when left alone, as i am still a child without a mother and I always will be.
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Confictionarium 