HALLIE HALLOWS

By: Rosendo Feniola 13

CH. 1
Life is the most fragile thing that humanity has. One wrong twist of fate and that precious life is snuffed right out at your very eyes. Most of the time, Id blame fate for making me what I am today. But after time, Id learned to appreciate it not as a curse but as a gift. But enough of that melodrama because Im not here to lecture you about boring facts about life, but because Im here to tell you the story of my not so fruitful life, or as I use to call it; my dark and miserable existence. My name is Hallie Hallows, or as my friends used to call me Allie. I was 16 years old when that horrible night came to happen. I had loving parents, and a little five year old brother named Ryan who used to call me Awie because he could not pronounce my name correctly and it permanently stuck. At first, I dont want to have a brother nor a sister. Im used to the undivided attention that my parents used to give me. At 11 years old, I had known that my mom was pregnant of Ryan and I threw tantrum after tantrum just to show them my disapproval of her pregnancy. My coldness lasted till the day that my mother gave birth to him and the brought

him home. I could not forget the very first time that I had looked upon his face, that all of the anger and hatred had been washed away only to be replaced with love and care for this little drooler in my arms. Long story short, Ive became the unofficial caregiver of my little brother. We slept together in my bed and Im the one who bathe and even potty trained him. To sum it up, I loved my little brother more than anything in this world and that nothing in the world could ever separate us. Or so I thought. It was Halloween night of 1995 and I am watching over little Ryan while he was out with his friend trick or treating, wearing his wizard costume whom he picked himself when we went shopping the other day. There I am, just tailing them wherever they went to. I felt that Im a little to old to do trick or treating a year ago so I just content myself as I watch them as their bag gets heavier with all of those sweets that was handed to them houses after houses. Its almost ten oclock and most of Ryans friends had gone home already. At that time Ive decided that we should head home as well because its getting late. He wanted to protest but I threw him one of my serious stare that he could never say no to. And so, I gave him a piggyback ride with his bag of sweets slung on his back. The little guy really loved me doing that but I made a mental not to do it next year because hes gotten really heavy.

Weve reached Elyptus End which is not far from our house and that had only few of its streetlamps working. This place is just an empty lot and has an ancient willow tree located at the bend. Ryan was merrily singing London Bridge is falling down while we traversed that road and then out of nowhere, an enormous bat flew straight towards us. It has a murderous glare and its bared fangs aimed straight at my little brothers throat. Out of instinct, I threw my brother to the soft grassy ground, withdrew my Taser from the back pocket of my jeans. (I have to remind myself to thank dad later for giving it to me as a gift for my 15th birthday and forcing me to bring this thing along with me all the time.) As the bat attacked, Ive managed to jam the Taser in its mouth which sent jolt of electricity which had spread to its entire body. The bat fell writhing on the ground. Flapping its limp leathery wings trying to stand up and get airborne once again. I did not waste any moment, I grabbed my crying brother and ran away as fast as my feet could carry me. And thats when he appeared; the creature that made my life truly miserable. A man whom I think is in his mid-twenties; extremely pale and has a long curly black hair was blocking our path. Its eyes as red as amber is fixed upon me and when it spoke, its like his voice is coming from a beneath the ground. It is a cold, cruel voice that I felt scary yet calming at the same time. Give me the boy. The man said and for a

moment, my hand automatically moved like it has a mind of its own offering my little brother to the stranger. But something in my brain snapped out of the trance and pulled my little brother behind me. The stranger threw me a confused glare and again ordered me to hand over my brother to him. But this time, nothing happened. My body did not obey him and act on its own. I just stood there rooted onto the spot with my little brother hiding behind me. The confused look on the strangers face faded only to be replaced with rage and then it happened. In just a blink of an eye hes right beside me sinking his sharp fangs onto my neck. I felt lightheaded as he slowly drained my blood from my body. While the stranger was holding onto my neck, my hair shifted sideways and his hand brushed on the golden crucifix necklace that my grandma gave me the last time she visited us. His hand started to sizzle and he let go of me instantaneously. With his guard down Ive managed to push the now fully charged Taser on his smoking hand and unleashed the last bit of energy from its battery till the strangers body shrank and transformed into the huge bat that tried to attack us earlier. I fell to the ground face first and as my consciousness dwindling, I could hear the cries of my little brother. Awie, please wake up! Dont leave me, please! Awie! He wailed as he tried to shake my limp body and then my consciousness gave way.