The bodies of Jimmy and Conny were laid out in front of him; pools of blood surrounding each of their bodies. Their lifeless eyes fixated on his as though they were judging him. A moment later, a delicate hand found its way into his and squeezed gently. Oskar nervously turned his head expecting to see his beautiful Eli smiling back at him, but instead all he saw was a monster. A horrific creature made of fangs and scarred flesh that barely resembled the girl he had fallen in love with.
He wanted to scream, to run away from the monster standing before him, but his body would not move. It was as though his body were more terrified than he was; frozen in place by the horror.
The creature that used to be Eli then started to cry. A low, agonizing sound escaped from her mouth, like a mother grieving over the loss of her dead child. Oskar’s mind reeled from that sound. He wanted to reach over and shake her; yell at her to stop, but he was powerless to do so. Instead, the only freedom that was left to him was to watch this “Eli-Thing” slowly move to the left side of his neck. He could feel her hot breath upon his skin as she inched closer and closer to him. The entire time that anguishing cry was still spewing from that ruinous face. His heart fell quickly into an abyss as Eli’s piercing fangs sank into his flesh. He quickly shut his eyes, hoping it would all end soon.
Oskar slowly opened his eyes. He expected to see the familiar surroundings of the cottage he and Eli recently moved into. But instead, a place better known to him met his gaze.
Oskar stood in the courtyard of his old flat. Snow was slowly trickling down from the black sky, and then his eyes dreamily wandered to the most important thing that occupied the courtyard. It was the jungle gym, the metal structure that harbored so many great memories. It’s where Eli was standing when she and Oskar exchanged their first words to each other, it’s where she told him that if he hit back the bullies would leave him alone. Oskar’s eyes trembled slightly as loving tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He looked up into the darkness above and smiled, remembering moments that only happened two years ago.
A hoarse cough snapped Oskar out of his daze and he looked back towards the jungle gym. A boy, who physically looked about Oskar’s age, sat on the top metal bar. He was wearing a faded black sweatshirt and worn down jeans, but that wasn’t what Oskar was focused on. It was the yellow stained bandages that enveloped most of his face. His mouth; his right ear, and his right eye were the only places that were left uncovered. Oskar’s face shifted to one of pity as he stared boy. He could barely imagine what awful thing might have occurred in this boy’s life that caused him to be so disfigured.
The boy tilted his head, and stared at Oskar in a disturbing way. It was as if he were staring at a newly acquired butterfly collection. After a moment the boy started to chuckle. It was raspy and harsh. A cough soon followed; the boy had to lean over and collect himself. Oskar started to take a step back; he wanted to leave this dream and wake up. He wanted to go back to the cottage and find Eli resting against him, her arms draped around his body. The boy turned back up to Oskar, as if he heard what he was thinking. His face grew into a smile and he spoke in a gruff voice.
“Do you think you can fix what’s broken Oskar?”
Oskar stopped moving and eyed the boy curiously. He wasn’t afraid of the boy, he just felt uneasy around him, and the question troubled him.
“What do you mean?”
The smile left the boy’s face.
“Think about it. Can you fix what has been broken for two centuries? Something that shouldn’t even exist anymore? Can you mend something like that?”
Oskar knew the boy was asking about Eli, but he didn’t want to answer the phantom his mind had conjured up. He just continued to stare at the boy, with an annoyed look on his face. The boy noticed this and rose from the jungle gym. He gracefully leapt to the ground as easily as Eli did a couple of years ago and steadily walked towards Oskar, his eyes fixed on his, not moving. Oskar watched as the boy stopped a couple of feet away from him. He started to chuckle in a disturbing way and thrust a bandaged finger out towards Oskar.
“You can’t. You’re still that stupid little boy that needed rescuing from that pool!!”
Oskar’s eyes widened and the boy moved closer and closer until his finger pressed sharply against Oskar’s chest. Now Oskar was frightened, but found he was frozen with terror just as he was before. The boy’s face came to within inches of Oskar’s and it reeked of death. A yellow and fanged grin erupted from the boy’s face, stretching the bandages around his mouth.
“I hope those fangs sink into your flesh soon Oskar. Then, you’ll truly wish to be rid of this world and will do anything to achieve it.”
The boy’s finger started to pierce Oskar’s flesh and blood started to seep from the wound.
“But, you’re not strong enough yet. You’re still just useless…waste.”
Oskar awoke screaming. He was back in the cottage sitting up from the pallet. Eli wasn’t there; she was-- hunting. He brought his hand up to his chest and rubbed it. He whispered.
“It was just a dream...”