Chapter 3

Arra is walking in a place unfamiliar to her. It seems like she's inside a cave.

"What am I doing here? What place is this? And why did I come here?" she confusedly asked herself.

The last thing she remembered was she and her father were traveling back to her father's house. Suddenly their car stopped because their car ran out of gas. Then, there was a black car stopped beside their car and the driver talked with her dad because they knew each other. And then she seemed hypnotized to stare at the person sitting inside the tinted black car. It was as if she was staring at the person's eyes even though she can't see him. After that, she can no longer remember what happened next. And then, suddenly she found herself alone inside that scary place.

Arra saw a light not far from where she was standing. She slowly walks and approaches the light. And when she gets near to the light, she discovers that it was just a red candle. A red candle that puts over a small altar made from stone.

"Where the heck is this place?" she asks herself again. She only talks to herself because she's no one to talk to in that creepy place. "Dad? Where are you, Dad? Do you hear me? Hello? Anyone inside here?"

But no matter how much she speaks louder no one answered and speaks with her.

Arra walks to search the area and saw a small closed room. She almost screams when the door suddenly opens without anyone opening it. She waited for someone inside to come out but she already waited for five minutes but no one stepped out from inside the room. Out of curiosity, she slowly walks towards the door and takes a look inside the room.

She slowly enters the room when she notices that no one was inside the room. But when she was already inside the room the door suddenly closes by itself. She can't help herself but scream. She runs to the door and opens it but to her surprise, the door won't open.

She tries to open the door but she can't open it. As if someone intentionally locked her inside that small room.

She thinks that no matter what she did the door won't open. She also thinks that it will only open if someone opens it from the outside. And since she can't open the door she decided to explore the small room.

She saw a small vault inside the room. She got curious about what's inside of the small vault so she walks closer. She can't understand why she feels that there is a strong feeling that urging her to open the vault. As if someone is asking her to touch the vault and see what's inside. So she slowly touches the vault's lock. The lock looks like a pair of pointed and sharp teeth of an animal.

"Ouch!" she moans when one of the two teeth slightly cuts her finger. A small drop of her blood drip down through a small passage in the middle of the two teeth. And she's surprised when the lock suddenly opens in front of her.

She saw an old book inside the vault. A dusty and black old book. Her curiosity becomes even stronger. She took the book and sit on the dusty chair. She opens the pages of the book and started to read its content.

"Damien died because of her beloved woman who cheated him on their wedding day. Everyone thought that he really died but actually, he didn't die. He only falls into a deep sleep. And he will rise again once he can drink the blood of a young woman. A special person that has three different kinds of blood inside her body," she stops to read for a moment to catch her breath and then continue.

"And when he wakes up, he will take revenge on the people that put him into a deep sleep. He will be the most powerful creature on earth and everyone will bow under his feet and succumb to his power. Although, Damien will become powerful after he wakes up he has still a weakness that could kill him forever. The sacred dagger mixing the blood of that young woman. Because if she was the one who can awaken him she is also able to kill him," Ylora finished reading it loudly.

"What the heck is this? An ancient story of betraying and revenge? What kind of power he had that everyone will bow under his feet when he wakes up? This is absurd," she said, talking to herself after she read the paragraph inside the book.

Arra stands up, puts back the old book into the vault again, and closes it. She walks to the door and tries to open it again. And she's so glad when she opens the door easily. She rushes outside the room scared that it might close and locked her again inside.

She decides to explore the place where she is. She will not wait for the others to come and rescue her. She thought that no one knows that she's inside and stuck in that place. She will have to find a way on how to get her out of that creepy place.

"Arraa. Come here."

Arra was currently checking a small passage that she saw when she heard a deep and cold voice calling out her name. Her eyes widened and a smile plastered on her face. Finally, someone came here to let her out of this scary place. So she turns around with a smile on her face but only to find out that a scary tall man was standing at her back and staring at her. The man was so tall that she had to look up to see his face. His eye was red and has a dark circle on it. He also has pointed fangs on his mouth and it looks very scary. He wears a long dark coat that covers his whole body.

Arra screamed at the top of her lungs and quickly cover her face with her two shaking hands. She thought that the character of the Hollywood movie "Dracula" came out and appears in front of her.

"Arra...come to me. I've been waiting on you for so long," said the scary man with a deep voice.

"Go away! Please, go away! Daddy! Help me!" she screamed so loud. Hoping that someone can hear her voice.

Her body was shaking in fear as she silently chanting a prayer. A minute had passed and she didn't hear the voice again. She wants to open her eyes to check if the scary man was still there but she couldn't do it. Afraid that once she opens her eyes she will only discover that the man was still there and still staring at her with a creepy look.

Arra has to be brave. She's by herself now and no one will come to help her. So, although her body was still shaking in fear she took the courage to open her eyes. And she feels relief when she saw that the scary man was already gone.

She calms herself and starts to walk again until she reaches a place where she saw a black coffin at the top of a big and round stone.

"What is that?" she asks herself. She's worried that there might be a scary creature that suddenly pops out inside that coffin.

She decided to turn around and change her way. But when she's about to walks, she heard of something that is opening. When she turns around, she saw the coffin was already open. Her eyes widened and tried to run away but for some reason, she couldn't move her legs.

"Arra...come here. Come to me, Arra..."

No! She screamed and protested on her mind. She wants to run away but she felt a strong force is stopping her from running away.

"Come here Arra and wakes me up," the scary voice said again.

"No!" she shouted.

"This is your fate, Arra. You came here just to wake me up."

"No! No! No! Don't talk to me!" she shouted out of fear.

Arra's eyes widened when her two feet started to walk closer to the coffin. As if a strong force is controlling her two feet so it could walk by itself.

"No! Leave me alone! You devil!" she screams with a mix of angry and fear.

"You can't defeat me, Arra!"

Her tears started to flow from her eyes as she gets closer to the coffin. She silently prays that if only this is her dream someone will wake her up so that she can be saved from the devil inside the coffin.

She closes her two eyes when she finally reaches beside the coffin. She can't bear to open her eyes, scared that the man she saw earlier was lying inside the coffin. If that happens, she will surely be scared to death.

"Open your eyes and look at me, Arra!" the scary voice commands her with an angry and dangerous tone.

She just shakes her head. She can't speak anymore. Her body was trembling with fear. Her heartbeats turn wild and her heart wanted to pop out from inside her chest. She's almost out of breath because of extreme fear.

"Please, someone wakes me up!" she said while crying.

"Arra, open your eyes and look at me!" the voice said again, this time his voice was more dangerous and very scary.

She closes her eyes tightly. She will never open her eyes. But just like her two feet, her eyes open involuntary.

"No. No. No," she said repeatedly as her eyes slowly open by themselves. It's her own eyes but she can't control them.

When Arra opened her eyes, the thing that she was scared earlier really happened. She saw the tall scary man lying inside the coffin with his eyes closed. And then his red sharp eyes slowly open and met her gaze.

He smiled at her before he speaks loudly. "I now finally awake!"

After the man said those words, he suddenly gets up, grabs Arra's head and quickly bites her neck using his sharp two upper fangs, and sucks her blood out from her body.

"Noooo!!!" Arra screamed so loudly while moving her hands as if she's pushing someone away from her.

"Arra! Arra! Wake up! You're just dreaming!"

She opens her eyes and realized that she's in her room and not in a dark and scary place that looks like a cave. She saw her father's worried face while holding her shoulder and gently shaking her.

"Daddy? Am I only dreaming?" she asked him. She wants to make sure that she's only dreaming.

"Yes, Arra. You're just dreaming. Maybe it's because this is your first night to sleep here in my house," her dad explained.

She gets up from her bed and wipes her cold sweat around her forehead and neck.

"What did you dream that you seemed very scared?"

"Nothing, Dad. Don't worry about me. As you said it's just a dream. Later, I will automatically forget about it," she replied. She can't bear to tell her father about her dream because she thought they were not closed enough to tell him her worries.

Her father stared at her for a minute before he decides to leave her room. "Okay. Calm down yourself first and once you're okay, you can come out and have dinner with me."

Arra just nodded her head three times but she didn't speak. Her father walks out of her room after he saw her nodded her head. When her father was already left she quickly feel her neck. There's no bit mark on her neck so it means that she's only dreaming earlier. But that dream was surreal. Until now, she can still feel that her body was still trembling. Her heartbeats are still not in normal beats

"That was so scary. I thought I'm gonna die in there," she said to herself. All she can do right now is talk to herself because she has no one to talk to. She has no one to share her feelings with.

After she calmed herself she walks out of her room and joins her father to eat their dinner. While she's eating, her mind was still occupied with her dream. Why did I dream like that? And why the scary man seems to know me very well?

IN the morning, Arra's father sends her to her new school. And she was surprised to see that her new school is very huge, with high and beautiful buildings. She never thought that there was this kind of school in a remote area in the Bicol region.

The school's color was pure white. There were many flowers planted around the school. She also saw a beautiful man-made fountain at the center of the garden. There were also many benches around the field. She feels like she's in another country because of her new school that looks like a palace instead of a school.

"I knew that you would like it here," her father said with a smile plastered on his face.

"How did you afford to enroll me in this kind of expensive school? What if we don't have money to pay for my next tuition fee?"

Her father smiled again. "Don't worry about the expenses, Arra. I have already planned this for a long time. Even if my sister didn't die I will still get you and live with me so you can study in this school."

"Thank you," she said with a sincere voice. Her father's warm smile touches her heart but she still can't forgive him. Not until she hear the real reason why he suddenly pushed her away.

Her father left her after he makes sure that she can go inside the school without him accompanying her to find her room. She's big enough now and she can already handle small things like this.

She enters the school gate and  while walking she saw beautiful flowers. She stop walking and admired the beautiful flowers for a minute before she decided to find her room.

The school is so huge that it's hard for her to find her room easily. She was shy to asked her new schoolmates so she just decided to find it by herself.

Gladly, she found the location of her room through the bulletin board outside the registration building. There was a list of the new students including her name that was listed in the paper and which section did she belongs to.

She's walking in the hallway and busy searching the name of her section when someone suddenly bumps at her.

She slightly bows her head and apologized immediately, though she's not the one who bumps into. "I" m sorry. I'm so—" What the heck! Did a ghost bumped at me just now?" she asked herself when she lift up her head and saw no one in front of her.

She turns around when she heard someone laughing at her.

"He is not a ghost. He is La—"

The guy stops talking when the girl beside him stops him from telling her the name of the person that bumped into her.

"Stop it. He might hear your voice. And once he heard you, you're dead," the girl said.

She got curious about what they were talking about. But when she tries to ask her, she just walks away as if she was in a hurry. And the boy follows the girl immediately. She was left dumbfounded. What the heck are they talking about? And who was the student that bumped into me? Why did they seem afraid of that person? Is he that scary? Scarier than the man  I saw in my nightmare?