Chapter Two
Fearful Madonna
A soft breeze wove its way onto the sunny lunch balcony, flowing through the silken strands of Releena's long blonde hair. She sat primly on a velvet-lined chair at a small circular table, her hands clasped daintily together in her lap. There was a small, soft smile positioned just so on her delicate facial features. She would have been a living 'Mona Lisa', if not for the fact that her cerulean eyes were devoid of emotion. Only the wind gave any evidence that this girl was not a statue of a long-forgotten Madonna worthy of worship in ancient cathedrals. The other students sitting around her did not notice the statue amidst them even though they all seemed to throng about her with strange magnetism bordering on reverence.
My Cerulean-Eyed Madonna, time to wake from your reverie…
Releena slowly lowered her eyes; her lashes laying softly on her lightly tanned skin. The familiar hum of noise returned to her and her smile broadened slightly. Her fingers flexed in her lap like a newborn child experiencing the wonder of movement for the first time. As her eyes opened, her look of oblivious euphoria faded to abject terror.
'Where in the hell am I?' Her mind screamed. Instantaneously, adrenaline began pumping into her veins and her heart started to pound away madly in her chest. The beautiful hum of noise she counted on shattered -- the loud chatter on the balcony distorting into the macabre hiss of cannibals dining upon the flesh of the innocent. She set her terrified gaze on the table before her. The white lace tablecloth was stained with blood flowing from the gold-rimmed china plates of the girls around her. Each plate was heaped with slabs of unmistakably fresh meat. As her eyes descended to her own plate she saw an entrecôte steak made undeniably of raw human flesh.
"Oh God!" Releena cried out as one pale hand flew to her mouth, trying desperately to stop her body from purging itself as if she had greedily devoured the flesh before her and it lay digesting in the putrid acids of her stomach. But the true shock came as her eyes came to rest upon those seated at the table with her. Panic mingled frantically with disgust when she saw the hungry look in her former comrades' eyes. Their mouths, which turned simultaneously into evil smiles as they looked at Releena, were stained with the eternal lipstick of human blood.
"No!" Releena screamed wildly, not waiting for a murderous glint to replace their hungry looks. Her hands locked under the table and pushed it upwards. The china plates flew into the air and shattered menacingly on the stone tiles of the balcony as the table flipped forward onto her monstrous lunch companions. She did not wait another moment to see if her efforts had harmed the cannibals – she fled the balcony through the open French doors behind her and into the school. She slammed the ornate doors shut, causing some of the panes of glass to crack threateningly as she frantically locked the doors.
Releena screamed and jumped away from the doors in fright as the cannibals slammed their bodies against the glass violently, trying to pry the panes from the golden frame. Cerulean eyes wide with fear and a certain morbid fascination, Releena stood transfixed a foot away from the doors. Her blessed hum of noise was gone and she was left with the heavy, primeval panting of the cannibals – a sound laced with hunger and predatory instinct. Only when one of the cannibals' hands brutally shot through a pane did Releena snap to attention, her strange wonder washed away by the all too familiar wave of fright. But this time, the tsunami washed another emotion onto the shores of her psyche: anger. Her hands began to shake as the newfound emotion rose quickly within her. The need to fight whatever evil had overtaken her friends. A cannibal whose uniform was drenched in blood wrenched desperately at the door handle but could not break the lock.
The tide of Releena's anger soon began to ebb as the cannibals began a new assault on the doors by viciously pummeling their bodies against them. The blond-haired girl screamed as the glass began to shatter and the frames began to groan under the weight of the inhuman monsters.
"Stop, stop, stopstop, stopstopstop…!" She cried out, the one word becoming one flowing mantra as she backed frantically away from the doors, not taking her eyes off her assailants. The heel of Releena's Mary Jane like shoe caught on the rug's edge and she tumbled backwards onto the floor. Her palms hit the thin rug to keep herself from dashing her head upon the black marble tiles, sending sharp flashes of pain up through her wrists and into her shoulders. She cried out as if her worst fear had become her reality. Amid her cries her fellow schoolgirls were making quick work of the door barring their way. Their throaty growls became more excited with every groan and shatter of the glass. It would be moments before the door was no longer an issue.
As angry tears began to ravage Releena's face and a sense of helplessness smothered her like a heavy duvet, her attention was drawn to a thick light coming from the end of the hallway where a pair of heavy wooden doors stood closed about ten yards away from her. The gauzy white curtains from an unseen open window to the left of the heavy doors fluttered gracefully in and out of her vision. The light was thick there-it illuminated the airborne dust motes and made them seem to glitter faintly. With a sharp intake of breath Releena realized that her only way to safety was through those wooden doors.
If you hurry, you can make it. This is your only hope. This is your last chance to avoid the pain of being eaten alive by your friends, Releena…
Releena heard the voice echoing from down the hallway. Suddenly, urgency began to undulate through her thin frame. Frantically, she pushed herself up off the rug, her wrists viciously complaining. She ignored that, and the final shatter of glass and metal hitting black marble. She cried out in desperation as she flung herself into a run down the hall, her Mary Jane's clacking loudly on the tiles. The sounds of pursuit rang in her ears and she tried furiously to black out their evil hissing but she could not. Terror filled her body to the very brim as she came closer to the doors. The evil things were right behind her.
Almost skidding to a halt before the doors, she flung the left door open and rushed inside. Just as she slammed the door shut, she saw one cannibal's soft brown eyes twisted evilly by desire and madness. The heavy door shut before her with a dull thud that echoed softly in the room behind her. As if all her energy had been sapped from her in that very moment, Releena fell to her knees and brought her hands to her face. Her sobs echoed just as softly around her as her terror quickly melted into grief. Suddenly, a comforting weight appeared on Releena's shoulder. The weeping girl parted her fingers and saw a hand resting consolingly yet firmly on her shoulder. The hand was tanned to almost a golden color and had long fingers with well kept, if not manicured, nails.
"Don't cry Releena." The hand's owner said softly.
Releena's sobs quelled almost instantly and she turned her head upward to peer at the owner of the golden hand. But all she saw was a flash of sharp sapphire eyes before her world faded into stark whiteness.
