𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

Colorado, Denver

October 15, 2020 – 4:18 A.M.

I woke up scared and sweating all over, my hands were shaking and I looked at them slowly, afraid of what I might see, but the blood I had seen in my dream was no longer on my hands. I heard my bedroom door open and I looked up, Liam ran up to me and hugged me so suddenly that I was startled.

My mother was standing outside wrapped in her robe as she looked at us, she looked tired and her gaze remained the same as every other time this happened. It was a look of guilt, and even if it wasn't her fault she still blamed herself for it.

- I'm fine – I pulled away from Liam and got out of bed – It's okay, go back to sleep.

- Jade.

- I'm fine!

He looked at my mother as she stood quietly in the doorway, she looked at me and turned, her footsteps echoed through the house and we heard the bedroom door slam. I looked at Liam and he smiled at me, his eyes were tearful and I looked away to the door again.

- She's just tired – he muttered with a sigh.

- Of course she is, my screams won't let her sleep.

- Jade...

- Go sleep Liam.

- Forgive me.

- For what? – he stood up and walked to the door – Forgive you for what, Liam?

- For not being enough for you, I wish I was good enough for you to trust me – he looked at me – That way I could be a support for you and help you.

He turned his face and wiped away his tears, I looked at the floor and tightened my blouse.

- I'm sorry – I whispered, but it was loud enough for him to hear me – You make my mother happy and I'm grateful to you for that.

- That means a lot to me, thank you Jade.

- By the way, it's not that I don't trust you and I don't hate you, although I act like I do – I sighed and he smiled encouraging me to continue – I just...I just don't want to replace him.

- Oh Jade...

- Sounds stupid, I know.

- No, on the contrary, it makes perfect sense that you feel that way – Liam approached me – I'll never be him, I know and I'm not trying to replace him, I could never do that – he wiped away my tears with his thumbs – But I'm here, I'm prepared to be your family, if you let me.

I was going to answer but a noise in the next room made me shut up, I heard my mom screaming angrily and Liam ran out of my room. I walked down the hall and stopped behind the half-open door when I heard her whimpering under her breath.

- It's my fault – she muttered between sobs – This is all my fault, if I hadn't...

- Morgana, you can't blame yourself.

- What do I do Liam? This is affecting her too much.

I bit my lips, I shouldn't be listening to this conversation, I leaned against the wall and even though I knew this was wrong I was still there listening.

- I think it's time.

- But she's not ready yet.

- Morgana, she's going to turn eighteen, I think she's more than ready to know the truth – I sighed, what are they talking about? – Let's talk about this later – he muttered, no, no, talk about it now, I want to know.

- I thought...

- Let's go to sleep, we're all tired – I turned away from their bedroom door and saw Liam's shadow approaching – Oh, you're here.

- What happened?

- Nothing, she just dropped a few things – he smiled – Don't worry, go try to rest.

- Okay.

I went back to my room without asking any more questions even though I wanted to, I lay on the bed and covered myself with the blanket, I looked out the window and my gaze remained fixed on the moon. A red shadow covered the moon and there was something familiar about that red moon, I got up and walked slowly to the front door, I felt mesmerized.

The door was open and there was blood on the floor, I stepped forward and felt the cold ground on my bare feet, the wind blew hard chilling my body. This didn't felt real, I was having a strange sense of remembrance as if this was a memory, a memory I had no recollection of.

I heard my voice calling for my mother but it wasn't me who had spoken, I looked up at the dark sky with only the red moon lighting my way. I looked straight ahead again and that's when I saw the three figures, I got closer distinguishing my parents and something that was definitely not human.

- Dad? – I muttered in fear.

- Jade!

The monster growled and jumped towards me but the only thing I felt were drips on my face, I opened my eyes and wiped my face seeing the blood on my hands. I felt my knees hit the floor as I screamed.

I stood up as I continued to scream, the bedroom door opened so hard it could have broken, Liam ran up to me and tried to calm me down. I felt my breath crack and my body tremble.

- It's okay Jade, you're safe.

I hugged him so tightly as I cried, my tears flowed non-stop and I squeezed his shirt so tightly that I could feel my nails tear through the fabric.

- It's okay.

He whispered in a soft tone, since when was this a dream? I turned away from him and looked into his eyes, wiped my face and looked down at my hands.

- Liam?

- Yes?

- You were here before?

- What?

- You were here, in my room, before?

- You mean this morning, at four in the morning? – he asked confused, so that was real.

- What happened?

- After the nightmare?

- Yes. In the hallway, what happened in the hallway?

- I told you to try to rest and you came here to sleep, and when I got home you were still asleep so I didn't wake you up.

- When you got home...What?

- Jade, you've been sleeping all day.

- What? – I turned to look at the clock on the wall, 10:37 P.M. – It's night...

- Yes, your mother went out to dinner with her friends, remember? Kathy and Mary were here after school and I just got home from work.

- I slept...

- Yes.

- I slept all day.

- Yes Jade, are you okay?

- I don't know...– I got up and Liam followed me with his gaze, I was pacing back and forth and I stopped in front of the window, I looked out at the moon.

- Liam?

- Yes?

- Have you ever seen a red moon?

- What? What did you say?

I looked at him who seemed uneasy with my question, I took a step forward and repeated what I had said, I saw him take a step back and his lower lip began to tremble. The doorbell rang forcing me to look away to the window again and suddenly a tall figure appeared on the other side of the road, in the middle of the trees. I looked at Liam and looked out the window again, but the figure disappeared.