Night. Part 1. Anna Fox
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in just a second.
Immediately in the morning nothing could be grasped. Before eyes still stood the gloomy dining room and what she took to be wine spilling on the glossy black parquet. She did not even notice that there was a large red spot on the pillow. Blood dripped from her neck, soaking the fabric and her hair. On right cheek stood out scarlet stains. Francesca realized this only when she smelled a distinct metallic smell.
She’d never given much thought to a smell of blood before. But now this distinct feeling is downright cut into the brain.
The girl carefully checked her neck with her hand – the wounds opened. Francesca began to stop the flow with her fingers, but the pungent smell hit her nose, strangely, insidiously affecting her appetite.
In fear, she again threw back the blanket and jumped up. And again, a burning itch ran through the skin. She fell to the floor behind the bed, where there was less light. Pulling the blanket off and wrapping it around her, Francesca hurried to the bathroom.
She even forgot to turn on the light – everything is so perfectly visible… in the dark. Opening the first-aid kit, she hurriedly began to look for cotton and plaster. Blood was running down shoulder in a warm trickle and had already stained half of shirt. Hands in search of fumbled very quickly and deftly. Finally, having found what she was looking for, the girl opened the tap, soaked the cotton wool and wiped the wounds, immediately gluing them up with a piece of plaster.
And then her as if pierced by lightning. The hand with the bloodstained cotton trembled, willfully reaching for the nose. Francesca took a deep breath, lowering her heavy eyelids. A strange sensation stirred her entire being. The miraculous life smell, like warm molasses, spread in the lungs. A taste of salt and metal with a soft chill penetrated deep into the gums. It seemed to Francesca that she was surrounded by an alluring red haze, which asks her to be let inside. Oh, that sweet smell of human life…
Blood flowed out quite a lot. Fainting was inevitable. She understood this, but stood motionless. Thoughts flew at the speed of gunfire. But there seemed to be an invisible wall in her head that didn’t allow all the facts to be tied together. Francesca so stubbornly didn’t want to believe in what she could become… That she might have become… a creature… that had an uncontrollable thirst… for human… blood…
“No. It can’t be. This is unreal… I’m sleeping,” – she whispered, convincing herself.
The skin was burning, the bones was aching, and the ground beneath feet was starting to shake. The air, soaked with blood, filled her lungs and slowly dissolved into them.
“No. I’m sleeping… Just sleeping… It’s just a dream…”
Francesca staggered, fell to her knees, and collapsed onto the shiny ceramic tile floor.
II. Instincts
At noon, the sun stood at the zenith. It scorched a ground and a grass with a bright light. An air was heated to the limit, it became hot, stuffy, unbearable in the city. People were fussing, hurrying, running. In short, life was in full swing like an anthill.
But the bedroom of the girl named Francesca was silent and empty. Only in white rays of light danced small weightless specks of dust. In principle, it was supposed to be like that at this time of day – because she was usually in school. But today was different.
The exhausted girl slept in her own, shrouded in darkness, bathroom. The white sheet and pillows on the bed were dappled with red stains and patches of intricate patterns. There was a bitter taste of shock and despair. Minutes swiftly passed; one took turn to another.
The bell rang. The phone rang once, then a second, a third time…
“Hello!” responded the answering machine. “You called Francesca Dewan! Leave your message after the signal.”
A beep sounded, followed by an alarmed voice:
“Hey, Franky! How are you? You weren’t at school. Today I came for you, but your teacher said that you haven’t been there all day. Did something happen? You okay? Whatever happens, call me. I’m worried about you… Uh… Don’t be a stranger, okay? All right. Bye. Be sure to call! Bye.”
Tammy hung up the phone.
And time went by. The sun had already begun to set off. But nothing changed in the room. Only the light falling on the walls and the floor moved smoothly. Closer to five o’clock, the phone again reminded about its existence, but wasn’t heard. Another beep:
“It’s me again. Will you come to work? If not, then I will say that you are sick, okay? I’ll cover you, don’t worry. Just call me! I hope this has nothing to do with what you wanted to tell me. If you need my help, just tell me. There was no one to look after you, except for me,” there was a short and kind of gloomy chuckle. “Anyway, I’m really worried about you. You let me know about yourself as soon as you can. I’ll wait. Bye.”
A red-hot orange ball was disappearing over the horizon. It was less visible because of the tall buildings. The sky shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow – from bright pink to dark blue. At the very edge of the earth, slowly disappearing golden arrows stretched into different ends. Strips of planes divided the endless expanses of the sky into parts, resembling cracks in the glass. A cool breeze blew from the north, cooling the air heated in a day.
But Francesca didn’t see or feel any of this. Now she felt only a distinct smell of blood. Even in sleep.
She felt tingle under the ribs. From suddenly surging feelings, the girl immediately woke up. Before her eyes stood the darkness, diluted with a slight gloss of ceramic tiles. Covering her face with her hands, Francesca rolled onto her back. Near the sink and shower – it means that she is in the bathroom, lying on the blanket, under which was hiding when she ran here. She didn’t want to get up. The body didn’t obey. The head was buzzing.
The sun, at parting, flashed a fiery scarlet edge of a shining disk and disappeared beyond the horizon. The sky immediately became cold shades of twilight.
Francesca turned back and went down on all fours. Crawling to the doorway, she tried not to breathe, so as not to feel the frantic heady aroma. Looking out and glancing at the window, she realized that the day had already gone to give light to other lands. All the better.
As an outbreak, immediately appeared an idea to hide away smells that irritated the brain. She stuffed the blanket into the washing machine, then walked into the room and, quickly going to the bed, took off the pillowcases and pulled off the sheet. She went back to the bathroom, quickly pushed everything into the machine and slammed the door. It became easier quite a bit. In the air, the persistent smell was still soaring.
Francesca grabbed a bottle of cheap perfume from the glass shelf near the sink and began to spray around its contents. Instantly, the sweet candy-floral aroma dissipated within of the apartment. It permeated the walls and floor, and seemingly hid the irritant in a fragrant fog. But only the blood still invariably was felt by surprisingly sensitive nose. From that the stomach went in knots.
Then she unscrewed the lid of the bottle and in a rush spilled liquid throughout the apartment. The progress has been. But it was too poisonously obvious. Now she decided that it was better to open the window and let the air out, as the smells increased ten times, if not more, and unbearably burned nostrils. Francesca opened the window wide and let in a wave of fresh air into the room. Well? Will this war with smells end or not? She sat down tiredly on the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, pressing them to her chest.
It’s disgusting. And it’s a shame. Francesca was scared, angry, and confused. Everything that happened to her was more like madness. It couldn’t be real.
She looked at her hands, fingers, nails. Straightened and studied the legs, knees, feet. Everything seems to be the same. Only the skin became smoother and lighter. Flawless. Well, in general, there is no change. Warm, so not dead. But the body felt terribly oppressive