He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he be which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he be that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give everyman according to his work shall be.
Revelations 22: 11-12
***
1.STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
They told me they didn’t exist, so how could I know I was venturing on their ground? How come they were so close and I couldn’t notice it, like they told me? I was coming home late from my music classes that evening, when suddenly a shadow passed by me. Of course my sixth sense told me something weird had just happened, but I was still irrational enough to go on walking without bothering about my surroundings. My father would’ve been so mad if he had seen me that evening. It was as if I had no instinct of survival, as if I was blind! Suddenly ‘it’ grabbed my arm. I jumped, but I didn’t scream. I couldn’t see the face of this person; it was too dark and there were no spotlights around to light the street. So even if I was to report what happened that night, I couldn’t possibly give out any helpful clues.
“What are you doing here?! This is private property!”
He said. His voice was husky, but harsh and cruel. I could feel his murderous eyes peering down on me as I stood there surprised and irritated. I pulled my arm out of his grasp, but he caught it back, almost too fast for me to see. I noticed that at least, and I stopped moving.
“I was just heading home.”
I explained of the meekest tone I could ever utter.
“What’s your name?”
He demanded, he crushed my arm, making it feel like he would tear it away if I didn’t answer.
“Micah.”
I answered. And I was hopping with all my heart that he would let go, but he didn’t. It seemed it was his turn to be surprised.
“Micah? Micah Cutner?”
He asked, yanking my arm. I groaned.
“Yes! So what?! Let go of my arm before it starts bleeding out!”
He chuckled and grabbed my other arm instead.
“I’m not letting go of you, because there’s something that I need to show you.”
And he started pulling me farther down the street. I yelled tried to call for help, but of course this street was always deserted around nine o’clock. Why was it that I had never been attacked by freaks like him before tonight? My arm was really starting to throb, so bad, tears started to roll down my cheeks. Next to me, the man seemed to be careless of how slow I was walking as he pulled me deeper into the darkness. He was so going to kill me, I could feel it in my veins, I knew it. We walked for about half a mile, until finally he pushed something in the darkness, something like a door and a faint light dawned on us from inside the building. He threw me inside and shut the door behind us. My arm was bleeding from the places where his nails had dug in my flesh. It was purple. I was lucky it wasn’t broken.
“Stay here. Don’t move.”
I didn’t look at him, his voice was enough to freeze me into place. I nodded. He walked away to the other extremity of the room where another door was and he walked through it banging it loudly behind him. I couldn’t have moved even if I had wanted to. I curled into a ball, terrified at the thought of what was going to happen to me next. I was in some kind of a warehouse where numerous tires seemed to be pilled up everywhere like pillars. Suddenly the door opened, and three men came out of it. Amongst them was my assailant. They walked towards me at a slow pace, giving me plenty of time to acknowledge their looks. They were all thin, wearing random clothes, particularly in dark shades. Their faces were similar; vivid and fine. Their eyes were dark and they were all very tall. They all looked horribly scary, as if they were going to eat me.
“Micah? Micah Tray Cutner?”
Asked the tallest of them. His hair was apparently glued to his head, it was red, like wine. I shivered. I would’ve screamed, but I was too scared to even move or make a faint noise. They all looked so strange and evil. What could they possibly be? How did they know my name?
“Y…yes.”
I answered. My voice was shaking so badly it made my throat ached. He smiled. As if something funny just had occurred to him. He glanced at the others surrounding him. One smiled, the other didn’t react, his expression unreadable. I hadn’t paid particular attention to this one, but now that I looked at him, I found he was the strangest of them all; his hair was white, like snow, and his eyes were shimmering, almost as if they were watery. He was the second tallest and he had the finest features. His fingers that laid perfectly across his sides, were pale and perfectly long. Our eyes met, and then I regretted looking at him at all; looking in his eyes was like looking into a pool of horrified memories. I quickly looked away.
“Do you know why you’re here, Micah?”
Asked the tallest one as he kneeled at my level. Something on him made a stretchy sound, like he was elastic or something. I crawled away as much as I could.
“No, of course I don’t.”
I said. What was happening? Was this some sort of condemnation? Was I going to burn in hell tonight? Most likely, something like that. The one before me sniffed the air and waved as if something was clouding his vision. Then he continued.
“You are here, because you have been followed by one of ours.”
I gulped. I didn’t recall having any freaky friends.
“I don’t…”
He made some sort of a growling sound and at the same time his hand was at my throat, choking me.
“Don’t say useless things. Even your words are counted.”
He smelled the air around me again and inhaled it deeply, closing his eyes. HE smiled faintly. This was all so very disgusting and alien like. Meanwhile he loosened his hold of my throat as if to give me a second chance.
“Nobody…”
I started, but he choked me again. I couldn’t breathe! I really had no idea of what was going on, how could I know anything? I didn’t even live in the neighborhood. One of theirs? Yeah, right. They were clearly mistaken. I had never seen any fake Frank Einstein’s before. He squeezed it longer this time, enough to make me dizzy and see black spots. I had never fainted in my life, was this going to be the first and the last. I focused on the visage before me. He really believed I was guilty, with all his soul. There was no doubt in his eyes. I knew something. Did I? I had to.
“Oh, God!”
I breathed out. I wasn’t at all prepared for what happened next; there was a huge and loud shriek that came from behind the both of us. The hand that was choking me disappeared as well as the face in front of me. For a moment, it was all blurry, so I couldn’t really see what was happening. But clearly, it was some kind of a fight. I saw a spot of white move around the room, clothes too. And then some angry growls, like those of animals. Something fell loudly on the floor and there was a loud sound, like that of an explosion. But there was not any fire or anything that usually happens during an explosion. There was an evil laugh and someone grabbed me from behind. I screamed. It was the red hair freak. I thrust my arm back in his ribs but I think I hurt myself more than him. I moaned. I was hanging in the air, like a ragged doll. Oh…God. Why me?
“Enough, Micah.”
He called. Why was he telling me to stop? I had stopped minutes ago, and I was all too willing to stop breathing if he ordered me to. Suddenly, the white haired one appeared before us, crawling like an animal.
“I said enough!”
He yelled. It was so hard I had to cover my ears. What? This freak had the same as me? You had to be kidding me! The one holding me laughed.
“I should’ve guessed it was you from the beginning. You always were the strongest, but your heart is weak!”
He shouted at him. That ‘Micah’ didn’t move. He seemed to be concentrating only on something. And that something appeared to be me. I was afraid to look at him, not that I wasn’t already on the edge of hysterics, but I felt somehow compelled to do so. His eyes were calling for me. I reluctantly plunged my look into his dark shimmering eyes that made my heart collapse and relapse. I gasped. This time, I saw no memories or pain, but compassion. Incredible compassion. Love. So much that I couldn’t bear it. It made me sick. It was too big. I looked away again. Gasping, trying to calm my heart.
“What? You want her?”
Asked the one holding me. He grabbed my hair and held me up. I screamed with all my mouth. I had never felt something so painful in my life! There was another loud growl and again the sound of an explosion. Suddenly nothing was holding me and I fell. I was thinking of all the people I had to leave behind, of all the ones who would be at my funeral… I landed. But I didn’t die. It was too soft to be the gravel I had been sitting on all this time. It was too warm to be some sort of cushion. Plus it was breathing, and heavily. I jumped up, ready to escape. But when I reached the door, I couldn’t help myself, I looked behind me. And there he was, the white one, lying on the floor where I had just fell. Where was the red one? Was he hurt? Had he done all that to save me? I found myself running back towards him and touching him!
“Hey! Hey are you okay?”
He was so limp I thought for sure all his bones were broken. His eyes were shut, but he was still breathing. I touched his forehead. His eyes flew open. Making me jump and fall back.
“Sorry!”
I shouted. Idiot. Why was I apologizing? I wasn’t the one at fault here. Great. What if he was a bad guy too? Great job Micah, apparently you really have some sort of death wish. He didn’t look surprised at all. He slowly sat up and looked around him, as if he had just woken up from a nap. He stood up and shrugged, getting the dust off his clothes. I was so amazed I believe my mouth fell open. He ignored my surprise and walked towards me. Avoiding all eye-contact with me, he offered me his hand.
“Come.”
He said. It was too much of a command and I was too mesmerized to think clearly. I took it and the next think I knew we were running towards the door and into the dark of night again. But this time I wasn’t being pulled, I was being carried like a rider on its horse. All around me was dark and blurry, making my head spin and making my heart ache. I shut my eyes. Where were going? What was this weird feeling forming in the pit of my stomach? And most of all, why wasn’t I going into shock? I was usually a very tender-nerved person, and I had trouble handling stress. Was I having some major mental crash? Suddenly it stopped. He let go of my hands, I hadn’t realized he had been holding me all this time. I fell. But he turned and caught me. It was inevitable: our eyes met again. But I immediately looked away. Afraid of what I might see in them again.
“You’re home.”
He said. His voice was like the wind, barely a whisper, always as if he afraid of awaking someone close by. It made me shiver. He let go of my hands and I looked around; sure enough it was my neighborhood. Everything here was peaceful and quiet. I could faintly hear the sound of people chattering over their evening occupations.
“Good night.”
He called. Was he kidding? Did he really expect me to have a good night? I turned to look back at him, but he was gone. My knees suddenly felt weak and I fell on the pavement. My arms were aching, my head felt like it was on fire, and my heart was beating at a quick jagged rhythm. These were all symptoms I couldn’t ignore. And while I sat there trying to convince myself that this was all a bad dream, the only words that echoed in my head were these: What the heck had just happened to me? I heard the faint sound of the front door being opened, and the sound of my mother calling me.
“Micah? Thank goodness! You’re late…”
I guess that’s when she noticed the crappy way I looked; she stopped talking altogether.
“Oh my goodness! Micah! Harry!”
She called. And she ran towards me and grabbed my face.
“Micah what happened? Did someone attack you? What? Tell me what happened!”
I guess you never chose the moment you fell into shock, but apparently my body had reached its limit at this point and it couldn’t take anymore trauma. I couldn’t answer. Only long high noises would come out whenever I opened my mouth. My father came, picked me up and hurried into the house. He had the phone in his hands and was talking to a police officer. I was laid on the sofa in the living room. I covered my noise, tired of hearing all the noise everybody was making. Even my older brother. I think I lost it there, because I only recall falling asleep, and then I don’t think I woke up for a day or two.
All these things happened two days ago. Today I’m on bed rest, and my neck and arms still ache. Mother said that the cuts on my neck and arms won’t stop bleeding. That’s why she keeps coming every two hours to change my bandages. Dad came and said that the police hadn’t noticed anything wrong going on in the neighborhood. I told him I couldn’t remember anything. I wasn’t in the mood to tell him everything I had seen. It was just still too much on my mind. Besides, the hospital crew would think I was crazy. The doctors said nothing was wrong with me except for the continuous bleeding and that I was still in a state of great shock, which might explain the loss of memory. It all made sense to them, but I was way back from finding the answer to all that happened to me. That same day, my friends from school came to visit me. But I didn’t do much conversation. In fact I thought it was more of a bother than anything else. I couldn’t think very well when there was all this crying and sobbing around me. I was glad when they left. Night came soon enough and even mom and dad decided to go home. I didn’t even get a wink’s worth of sleep. I kept seeing shadows creeping at me and trying to grab my throat. Somewhere around though, I saw a long perfect hand outstretch itself towards me. Spite the fact I was terrified, I could never resist that hand, even the first time I had seen it. And now I was hallucinating it! I reached for it almost without hesitation. And what’s even more terrifying is that it didn’t disappear, nor did it dissolve. It stayed there, long enough for me to feel the warmth of it run through my skin. Then the other hand appeared and its fingers trailed themselves on the bandages covering the small wounds on my left arm. It tickled as it felt every little hole. Then the hand moved to my neck. I caught my breath loudly, afraid of being choked. But it did no such thing, it simply rested its palm on the curve of my neck. I couldn’t see him through the darkness, but I knew it was him. I knew he had come back just to see how I was doing. Why would he do that? Again, he felt each wound on my neck, then my other arm. Suddenly the door to my room opened and I saw glimpses of him in the brief moment the light flashed into the room. It was him all right. And there was no sign of panic on his face. Maybe he wasn’t even thinking about being found out. His eyes were on me and the way he looked at me in that moment, made me feel like there was nothing that existed in his world but me. Then he was gone. And the nurse looked at me. I caught my breath. Had she seen him?
“Oh my goodness, missy! Your wounds!”
I looked down at my arms. There was no blood on them. The nurse walked to my bed and gently started unwrapping my left arm, and sure enough, there were no wounds to bleed out. I froze. Was that why he had come?
“That’s…very particular.”
Said the nurse. And then she unwrapped all the other bandages and sure enough, there were no traces of wounds or trauma on my skin.
“No way!”
I heard her breathe out. She practically ran out of the room. I squeezed my eyes shut. What trouble had he gotten me into again? Didn’t he have any common sense? What was I going to do now? I guess I couldn’t do anything but faint shock again…man this really sucked.
I was glad to be home. Even though mom and dad kept asking if I still couldn’t remember anything. I kept the answer in my record book: I don’t want to think about it. It seems to me they were captivated about what had happened than the fact that I was alive at all. Tomorrow I would be going back to school just like any other normal kid. It would all go back to normal… but, that’s not what I wanted. Not quite.
Kristen Stewart went a long way from playing the tomboy in action thriller ''Panic Room'' to becoming a vampire seducer and the teenager every teenager knows or has heard about. I admire her for her intense looks and ''allure''. She has great charisma even though she is still at the beginning of her career. Her acting in ''In the land of woman'' was fairly good as well and though I can never bare to see her blond again, she has bee an amazing surprise to us all. Hopefully she'll keep doing so for the many years to come. Her green eyes and dramatic clothing style and make up will keep her on the edge for a long ride.
