Underneath

The moon is already up in the beautiful night sky. The breeze makes me shiver as Nicole and I started to walk down the streets of New Haven. It's been 6 years since my mom left me. My mom is the only family I’ve known, well except for my dad who left me when I was freaking 2 years old! She kinda raised me till I was 10 and she decided to leave me for reasons I do not know. They just dumped me like garbage, like I was nothing to them. One day, mom told me that she’s just going to run some errands, but she never came back. And my neighbor, the Orlandezes, were the ones who decided to help me. They took and raised me like their own child. They have their only child named Nicole, and yeah you guessed it right! We are really close to each other that we treat each other like real sisters. I remember we were really happy when her parents decided to adopt me. We were already friends even before my mom left me. We were childhood best friends. One of our time-killers during Halloween season is to scare other kids by the graveyard. We would hide behind the Mausoleums and make eerie noises when an oblivious innocent kid would pass by. We promised to make this our yearly tradition.

And now we are on our way to the graveyard again. It’s kind of weird for 16-year-old girls to still do these kinds of stuff, but well, it’s our tradition. But this time, we decided to explore the graveyard more than before. While we’re walking and laughing around, jumping from grave to grave, we noticed a grave that we’ve never seen before. Nicole and I gave each other a confused look. We started walking towards the grave and we noticed that the name on it was already erased. Maybe because it’s already old. The grave looks a little different from the other graves, because it has a strange symbol in it. The symbol looks familiar, it’s a circle with a star in it. I think I’ve already seen this before but I can’t remember where. 

As I look at the symbol, Nicole accidentally falls back while removing the grass that already grew around the grave. As I was helping her up, I noticed something eerie. There is light coming from underneath us. What makes it stranger is that Nicole found a keyhole on the ground, right beside the grave. We tried to look for any secret compartments around the grave for a key but we didn’t find any. We decided to just use our hair pins, and I was able to unlock it. The grave turned out to be a secret passage to an even more eerie tunnel. Out of curiosity we decided to go inside. I mean we might find something interesting, right? The tunnel is lit up so we don’t have to use our flashlights to explore. It’s pretty weird though. The tunnel is hidden in plain sight yet it’s lit up? It’s like someone’s been there. I shrugged and gave out a big sigh as I continued walking down the illuminated tunnel.

Along the tunnel, I noticed something written on the wall, “You found it!”

I looked at Nicole who’s walking close beside me. She just raised her eyebrows and signaled me to keep going. She then pushed me to go on.

 As we went forward, we saw another writing on the wall, that says “Your history is your destiny!”

And another that says, “There’s no turning back now!”, Once again, I looked at my companion but she already ran away. I ran and tried to chase her.

I have no idea where this tunnel would lead, but Nicole and I kept on running. I looked back and I noticed that the tunnel is starting to dim. It’s like darkness is following us!

I turned to look at Nicole and I saw her standing in front of a pitch-black door with the same symbol on the grave. Now the only light left is the one right above us. Panic started rushing through my veins and look for anything that could help me open the door but I didn't have any hair pins left. I’M OUT OF IDEAS!

I looked at Nicole but she’s just standing there with a creepy smile plastered on her face. She stared at me for a while then she let out a delirious laugh.

She knocked on the door, rhythmically. Her knock seems to have a pattern or something. The door opened and I stepped back, I suddenly felt Nicole standing behind me. She’s still wearing that creepy smile when I looked at her. She signaled me to go inside. I slowly walked inside the darkened room and I gasped when someone harshly grabbed my hand and led me to the center. The red candle in the middle of the room is the only source of light in the room. I can’t barely distinguish the two people holding both of my hands. When I reached the center of the room, they let go of me and the other candles around the room started to lit up one by one.

My heart started beating faster like it was about to explode. 

When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness of the room, I finally recognized the ones who held my hand. It was Mrs. Orlandez and I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the woman beside her. It’s mom! Tears started to form in my eyes. The woman who left me when I was still child is standing right in front of me like nothing ever happened. She’s just standing there and smiling at me. I feel so mad at her.

Mrs. Orlandez then started to speak, “Welcome, my dear! We’ve been waiting for this night to come”

As she spoke, other people started to gather around us. I looked around me and I started to recognize each one of them. They are our neighbors! They are just standing there and looking at us without any emotion on their faces, just blank.

While I’m lost in trance, I didn’t even realize that Mrs. Orlandez is now talking to me.

“You, my dear, you’re our Queen”

“What?! Me?! I don’t understand!”

Mrs. Orlandez then signaled two of our neighbors to hold my hand and lead me to the throne behind them. I tried to let go of their grip but they’re too strong for me. They started to chant something. Words that I can’t decipher. The chants started to become louder as we approached the throne. They let me sit on it while Mr. Orlandez grabs a knife on the altar next to the throne. It has the same symbol, a circle with a star in the middle. 

I tried to run, but they caught me and pushed me back to the throne. I started to feel anger.

I don’t know why they are doing this to me.

No one is explaining!

No one is listening to my pleading cry!

I looked around and saw Nicole, but she’s just staring at me with a now calmer face. I then saw my mom, I started to cry out to her, begging her to help me but she just smiled at me. I suddenly felt a searing pain on my left hand. They are carving the same symbol on my hand while the people continuously chanted. I cried and cried. Once again, I looked at my mom, she’s still smiling. I started to heat up with anger.

I felt that the pain had started to fade. I looked at my bleeding hand and saw the symbol engraved on my skin. I felt numb and they were all just staring at me. Mrs. Orlandez broke the silence by commanding the people holding me:

“Let her go, it’s time”

This time, I don’t care about the people around me. All I can feel is anger and hatred towards the woman standing in front of me. My mom.

I shouted at her face “Why didn’t you do anything?!” my face was flushed while I shouted and everyone was just watching silently.

Without thinking I grabbed the knife from Mr. Orlandez and went straight to my mom. I pushed her. She looked at me with a blank expression on her face. I felt that the anger inside me had already swallowed my entire being.

“Why don’t you answer me?!” I asked as I stabbed her chest.

“Why did you leave me in the first place?!” blood soaked my hand

“And now all of a sudden you decided to show up and just to let me suffer right in front of you without even blinking?!” I can feel every fiber of her chest rip.

“Is this what you want? For me to suffer?! Huh?!” I let out my final shout. 

I knelt to the ground as I heaved. Looking at her pail body soaking in blood, it finally dawned on me that I didn’t stop stabbing my mom while I told her my sentiments.

I looked up to see my neighbors’ blank faces starting to light up with sweet smiles. I checked my mother’s dead body one more time before I stood up.

I expect myself to feel guilty for killing my own mom, but no! Instead I felt satisfied.

I felt a new kind of strength flood inside me.

Mrs. Orlandez walked towards me.

“You really are the rightful Queen. You did what your father will never be able to do”

They all started to kneel before me and they continued the chant of our kind.

“Our queen! You have returned!”

I smiled at them and went back to sit to the throne, or should I say, MY THRONE.

Days passed and they already explained everything to me. My father’s bloodline carries the curse of an ancient demon. It is passed down from generations to generations. We feed on the souls of those who visit New Haven. The people who are buried in this graveyard are not residents of this place but our so-called “Sources”. They are the normal people we feed on. But one day, my father fell in love with one of our Sources, my mom. They just let her live for a long time because my father chose her to be the carrier of his child. Me, the next heir.

When the day of my birth finally came, my father realized that he wanted to be a normal person and be with us forever. He refused to be the king but he knows that he has no choice. Before killing himself, he revealed everything to my mom. My mom, however, didn’t leave me after my father’s demise. The Orlandezes hypnotized her to be obedient. That explains why she has that blank face when I’m talking to her. All this time, she was kept under that grave by the residents and let her wait for my final test.

Weeks, months, and years have passed but I still felt no regrets for killing my mom. It’s my destiny by the way.

And now, whenever I go to the graveyard, everything stays the same. Except, It now gives me the power that no one else can handle but me.