Everything's lost. Everyone's dead. Their screams woke me up; I left my serene dreams behind to face a reality worse than a horrifying nightmare. Blood everywhere, on them, the ones I love; on me. I feel my heart bleeding, it hurts, it hurts so much and I weep.
Blood is everywhere, on my hands, my skin, my face; I almost taste it on my lips. I shook their bodies, I fondled them, I tried to wake them up, praying, begging for God to hear me. But they wouldn't. My tears mix with blood, my grief with death, why are they dead? Why?
Animals… beasts. Why? Why me? Why us? I run in the corridors of my home, now a massive grave, trying to escape them. They're everywhere, the monsters, in every corner, in every shadow. I can almost hear them, they are coming for me. I cry and I run and I stumble. It hurts. I don't care. I try to escape. Where to, what from? I just want to run away from here and die. Die.
And then I see him in the hallway, it's a man. I'm so afraid... I think I shout and I dash back, balking in a corner, trying to hide behind the curtain. I sit on the floor and hug myself, my tears prevent me from seeing him clearly, I shout at him but he won't listen. He comes to me regardless and he hugs me, he forces me to endure this physical contact. I cry, I cry and I hug back. I don't know why.
"It was beasts," the man reassures me with a steady, soft voice and through my blurriness I can hear his words so clearly… I hold him tighter, I'm scared, scared of anything but him all of a sudden. "Don't be afraid," he whispers. I feel so cold and he knows it, he hugs me so tight that I almost hurt but I love feeling this source of strength. I feel protected. He won't let the beasts hurt me, he won't.
I close my eyes and stay there, in his arms. And time goes by, but I lose sense of everything, of time and place. I feel him lifting me in his arms; I shiver as he carries me around. And then he lays me on my bed, my own bed and caresses my hair. The monsters are gone now; I know it, I can feel it. He drove them away. The man covers me with his body and I feel no threat in this, I am too tired to think of anything, to feel, to react. And the pain I feel on my skin, the pain on my neck that seals my destiny is welcome, almost like a father's kiss.
I think I form the word on my lips, I think through my dizziness I call him father, the syllables slip out of my mouth just like that.
And a father he becomes that night.