Children of the Night

Chapter Fourteen: Recoiling the Relationship

Evangelia doesn't remember most of the wake and burial. Will held her most of the time and Eva couldn't appreciate him more. She needed some support especially when she stopped in front of Babá's casket and stared at her cold, dead body.

She didn't look most of the time.

Viktoria stayed with Eva as though she is an aunt, but she's always been like one. If only Aleksi held her as a friend and she wouldn't feel this empty pit in her stomach. But she knows deep down that he can't make it. And she respects it although he doesn't been nice to her since she's come to the country.

She can never hate him.

They stood in the heat, as the casket went down and settled in the earth. Eva dabbed her eyes with the edge of the tissue, muttering her final goodbye. It reminds her of her father being buried when he passed. Sudden death of heart attack she never recovered from. Will by her side as well but in a recent relationship.

Eva thanked familiar and unfamiliar faces. Many of the people were local villagers she has familiarized herself over the decades. They all just got older. After, Eva fell on the bed exhausted and told Will she wanted to be alone. Sleeping at an odd hour while the sun set all the way until the moon greeted her swollen eyes and sore feet.

~*~

Will was asleep beside her in the middle of the night. His arms folded over his head and the sheets tangled around his legs. Evangelia jumps out quietly and finds a set of clothes to change into after her shower.

She avoids staring into Babá's bedroom because all she sees is her sleeping face resting in the coffin. Eva takes a long warm shower and gazes at her reflection in the steamed room. Her eyes have cleared, and her face has dulled to her rosy cheeks.

For almost an hour she sat at the table in the kitchen, drinking milk and eating a few cookies someone has given her earlies in the morning. Still awake, she decides to take a walk around the village.

However, Eva knew who she was luring.

As she kicks rocks and gravel off the worn road, she makes her way down to the ocean that separates their village and the city. On the west side of the village and a few miles down is where it wraps around the ocean and takes people in and out of the city and other villages.

Eva and Aleksi used to hang out at the ocean most nights but Babá insisted they never go in at night. Tempted, Eva bites her bottom lip and dips her naked feet in the shallow waves.

No one is around and it is absolutely dead. She should've told Will where she went in case, he wakes up looking for her, but she feared he would keep her inside. He tends to protect and especially in a "foreign" country, he's extra fragile.

Eva wore a plain grey tank top and denim shorts. The night was still, and the heat tickled her skin. She takes another step into the ocean and welcome the cold water. Babá used to scare her and Aleksi about water creatures that used to snatch the kids at night.

Their bodies never to be found. Although they found the story to be humorous from an old woman, they still took her words for granted.

After having her eyes closed for the longest time, Eva snaps them open when she hears a distant splash that sounds almost human like.

Nothing is inside swimming or anybody near her. She is still alone as she whirls around to make sure of it. Her cell phone still tucked in one of her flipflops. Suddenly, something yanks her ankle forward and she falls on her hands and knees.