CHAPTER SIX.

Alijah's head throbbed and her whole body ached her. It felt like someone had hammered her entire body with a heavy object like a sledger or even a rock. The way her body felt like was the same with the way one would feel if the body has been carved in different kinds of wound.

She also couldn't make sense of all the jumble of thoughts that had passed through her mind. Some of them even felt like memories. Memories that she knew that it didn't belong to her. Why she also had them was a mystery to her at the moment.

She had been sleeping when the entire thing started. In only a matter of minutes, she had felt pain and horribleness. Intensed pain that she had wished for death to just take her life away from her so that tormenting could end.

Then, the memories or thoughts had started. The memories that she had done everything in her power to stop from ever appearance in her head since they bring along with them, bundles of sadness.

She saw her memories played out in her mind. Memories of her adoptions and how each family would quickly throw her out, calling her names. How she would sleep in the open and beg for food from people. The few places where the couples hadn't chased her away themselves, Alijah had ran away from the place herself out of fear that she might die of hunger if she remained there.

It wasn't until the last couple who had adopted her had found her almost near to death and they had taken her home, processed her adoption, and accepted her as their own. Memories of how death had quickly snatched them from her, leaving her homeless again.

She had also seen the one dream that had always tormented her sleep play out in her mind too. Dream of an entire village getting massacred by an angry man who had white hair. This time however, it came in the form of a vision like the memories had.

She also saw some odd memories she had no idea about who they belong to. The man in the memories that had played in her mind wasn't someone she knee anything about, she was sure of that. But, he had been there in her mind through every steps of the display.

And if what Alijah saw was true, the man had been through an awful lot. To many tortures. Too many manhandling. The man had also been used by people he trusted a lot before. In essence, the man had been through a lot that had turned him into a hardened man. A man who kills without feeling any iota of guilt.

After the memories had stopped, Alijah had felt like a part of her had been tore out of her body. The intensity of the pain had been so much, she had screamed from her sleeping and had woken up instantly. Before she could understand what was going on though, the pain had stopped.

Alijah felt better now but still confused about everything she saw. She felt something rub itself against her and she bent over to pick up her cat. Peace, as she had named the cat, was the best fur in the world anyone could ask for. Peace had stayed with Alijah all through her ordeal like she knew and could understand what Alijah had been going through in those horrible moments.

Alijah rubbed the ear of the cat, and she meowed, moving even closer to Alijah.

"You are the…" Alijah was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

She dropped the cat gently on the ground, moved to the door, and she opened it. What she saw as she opened her door made her yell and she slammed the door shut immediately. A feeling of dread crept up from the pit of her stomach.

No, no. She was sure that she had seen the wrong thing. There was no way a man would be lying unconscious on her doorstep.

She couldn't control her hands as she opened the door again. They were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm. She peeped and realized it wasn't her imagination. Lying at her doorstep was a man who looked like he was already dead, clothed in all-black attire.

Alijah heard her cat meowed and saw that Peace was moving frantically around the man. As she tried to pick up the cat, the man held her arm. Terror washed over her, raising the fine hairs on the back of her neck and she let out a shocked gasp.

"Please, help me."

Alijah heard the man say. Her cat wouldn't stop meowing while pacing around the man either. The hold the man had on her slackened and the hand dropped down again.

Alijah dropped down and she placed two fingers on the man's nostrils to see if he was still breathing. Although his breathing was slow, she could still feel it on the fingers.

"What do you expect me to do, Peace? He could be a criminal." Alijah asked her cat, who rubbed herself on Alijah's leg and meowed.

Alijah scooped her cat up and she straightened herself. When she was up, she got into the house and closed the door behind her. She was halfway through the room when she stopped in her tracks and she turned back to look at the closed door.

She knew that she could not just leave the man alone since her conscience couldn't take it. She would never be able to forgive herself if the man later died just because she refused to help him. Before she could stop herself, she dropped her cat and she turned around.

It's decided then. Alijah thought, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision.

Alijah dragged the man into the house and shut the door. When she was in, she paced around at first trying to decide what her next line of action should be. She didn't know if she should just call the emergency unit to report the situation or if she should place a call to her doctor friend, Evan.

At last, she decided that calling Evan was much safer since she couldn't explain the situation to the emergency unit people if they arrived. She brought out her phone and placed a call to Evan, who promised to be at her place in 20 minutes after hearing her out.

Deciding that she couldn't just stay still until Evan arrived, she went over to the man and examined him. Seeing the wounds on him, she picked her first aid kit to at least clean up the wounds.

Alijah cut his top open with scissors. As she cleaned the cuts, she noticed the blood was black. Fear took hold of her and she moved back from the man. It was then she remembered that the man was wearing a black top which might have bleached into the wound, tainting the blood. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved back to the man to finish cleaning him up.

Exactly twenty minutes later, she heard a knock on the door. Opening it, she met Evan on the other end. After exchanging pleasantries, Evan checked on the man and declared that the man doesn't need special care and would be fine in a few days.

"Thank you for this, Evan," Alijah told the doctor.

"You're welcome," Evan replied. "He could be a criminal, you know." He asked Alijah.

"I know. As soon as he's up, I'll make sure he leaves." Alijah affirmed.

Evan turned and his eyes fell on the cat. He moved towards the cat, stretched his arms to pick her up, but the cat moved back. Alijah smiled and picked her cat up.

"I don't think she likes you, Evan," Alijah told him.

"Where did you find her?" Evan asked.

"She's a stray."

"Interesting. Just interesting." Evan said, looking at the cat.

"Her name is Peace," Alijah said by way of introduction.

"Nice. Anyway, I have to go now," Evan told Alijah, still eyeing the cat.

"Okay. Let me see out."

He spotted the wools with the black blood sitting in the wastebasket by the door.

"What's that?" Evan asked Alijah.

"Oh. That's the man's blood." Alijah answered.

"Why is it black then?" Evan asked, picking up one of the wool and examining it.

"The blacktop he was wearing must have bleached into the blood," Alijah answered.

"That's true. But, you can't keep it here. I'll pack it up for you and dispose of it."

As Evan picked each of the blood-stained wools, he smiled secretly within himself. Another supernatural being at his tip. When he had lost the two vampire siblings, he had thought his only opportunity was gone. But now, life has given him another second chance and he's not messing it up again.

Evan looked at the man now lying on the couch and smiled.

The show's about to get interesting. Evan thought to himself, before walking out.