She sat on the ground; her legs sprawled out over a pool of blood. Her eyes were wet as well as her hands. Tears dripped down her face, rolling past her cheeks with a trail. Her jet black hair was dyed with the stains of red. Her clothes drenched by various human fluids. Her mind was blank and the only thing she could do was sob. So she sobbed. She pulled her hands from her face and stared at them under the moonlight. She was frozen. Red dripped like a watery ink over the groves of her palms. Such a scene and it was completed when the light disappeared and sky started to cry. Tears from heaven poured upon the ground, masking the scent of the dead for a while. Blood flowed away from her. It cleansed her hands, her jeans and her t-shirt but it did not clean her. Such a tragedy and she was only fourteen. She placed her wet hand over her neck and wrapper her fingers around the side. Her thoughts slowly came back to her and she wondered. How did all this happen?
---A few days ago.
"Carmen! Carmen!"
A call came from across the basketball court. Carmen, the short slim girl who was considerably small, turned her attention away from the ball and towards a couple of girls who were running towards the basketball court. She was wearing a red basketball jersey with a big number eleven written at the back and a sport shorts.
The evening sun shone from above between the white clouds. The sky was beautifully painted with a tint of orange but it was as bright as the day. The court was made out of grey tarmac with white lines drawn at the appropriate locations. Wooden benches on each side of the court in front of some trees planted. Two hoops on each end of the court on a large pool and placed in front of a board.
As soon as she turned her attention away, an orange ball flew past her, barely touching her on the nose. She felt the draft blew by on face as the basketball she was supposed to catch landed in the hands of her opponent.
"Carmen!" yelled one of her team-mates.
"Sorry," she apologised and informed them that she would take a break. She headed towards the bench where her friends were standing and grabbed one of the towels on the bench.
"What's up?" she asked as she dabbed the sweat before slinging it around her neck.
"Guess what we got?" asked one of the girls.
"We got tickets to one of the greatest band ever!" exclaimed the other excitedly.
"Really?" gasped Carmen.
"I know! The concert's next Friday!"
The trees rustled as the wind gently nudged it. The three of them chatted as the sun set with the sound of the dribbling of a basketball behind them.
Soon, as it was getting darker, the three of them parted. Carmen exited the court with her backpack and headed for home. The walk to home was about ten minutes since it was just a few blocks away. She decided to take an evening stroll in order to enjoy the relaxing dusk. She walked down the pavement beside the fence which surrounded the court. Thick, leafy trees stood behind the fence before the court. A sudden gust of wind swept by and everything began to rustle. She felt hair stand behind her neck. A cold chill shivered down her spine. She turned around but no one was there. All her friends who were playing basketball had already left. However, she could feel someone staring at her. She picked up the pace and started walking in panic. She kept looking behind to check if something was after her. Her heart began to pound against her chest. Her walk became a sprint. Her body was pumped up with adrenaline gland. Blood rushed through her body, heating her up but she still felt that cold chill. She started to pant. Closer and closer she got to her home and when she finally reached it, she quickly unlocked the gate and entered the house. She ran up the stairs to her room immediately and slammed the door shut. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor. Then she ran for the curtains to close it over the shut windows. She ran her on the side of her neck, rubbing it absentmindedly.
---The Friday after, in the past.
Loud noise and bright lights flooded the scene. It was the day. Carmen and her two other friends stood in line while they waited for the gates to open into the stadium. They were there since the evening so they were first in line. The crowd grew eventually and there were easily a thousand people waiting to get in. Carmen glanced at her watch and continued talking to her friends.
Soon the gates opened. The crowd rushed forward, attempting to squeeze through the multiple narrow entrance of the stadium. Carmen and her friends managed to get in first and ran as fast as possible to the space right in front of the stage.
After a while, the crowd filled up the circular bowl of the stage till its brim. Then, the band came on stage. Then, the people cheered. There was much jumping and screaming and dancing. It was like ecstasy. People pushed against each other as they danced. Carmen was having a time of her life.
Until it happened.
Carmen felt something wrap around her ankles. It felt like appendages of a person's hand, except these ones were cold. She shivered when someone's smooth, chilly flesh pressed against her own. The hand gave her leg a tug and she looked down. However, it was too dark to see anything below her waist. And then there was another tug but she tried pulling back this time. However, she could not fight it. Whatever that was pulling her leg was too strong. She was being pulled down, drowning in the sea of crowd. No one noticed her disappearing. She was just gone.
---She could not remember anything after that. Everything else after was a blur. She struggled to fight the thing that was dragging her. She felt something come down on her, restraining her on the ground. Something pierced through the flesh of her neck. She ended up sitting in a pool of blood on the wet grassy ground next to two dead bodies. But she could not care. She was hungry and she wanted something to eat. She heard a rustle from the bushes far ahead. Something was there, moving and living. And she was hungry.
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