AFTER SUNDAY PRAISING

I call 911 to ask for help, but the line is dead, and nobody answering. I wonder if my connection has a problem or if it is 911 who can't accommodate all the calls. I need to understand why I can't reach them. I tried to call my mother, who is working right now at the hospital, to let her know about what was happening to my sister. Craven was vomiting blood after the Sunday mass, and I asked her if she had eaten something poisonous, but she just smiled and told me, "No" I checked her temperature but couldn't check any body temperature. I don't know if our thermometer is broken because her temperature was down to zero.

"Are you sure that you are okay?" I asked her, but she smiled and nodded and kept vomiting blood. She is pale and grasping for her breath, but she assures me that she is okay.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked because she knew that I was worried about her. I shook my head and smiled to let her know I was alright, even though I was worried about her.

"Did you feel anything unusual?"

"No. Except that I am hungry," She answered, looking at me and asking, "Why?"

I didn't want to tell her, but she grabbed the thermometer that I was holding and saw it for herself and said, "No way" Even she couldn't believe that there was no body temperature that the thermometer could detect from her.

"This thermometer is broken," She said, and she put it in the sink and started vomiting again.

"Forget about the vomiting," She said while wiping her mouth, and she opened the faucet and let the water drip to clean her blood.

"Remember Betty?" And she coughed hard. The blood went out of her mouth again.

"The pastor's daughter, the girl that was buried last week. I can't believe to see her at the mass a while ago, and she is alive." She said she vomited again, but this time she vomited harder than the first.

Her blood almost filled the sink, and she looked pale already, but she couldn't stop vomiting. I massaged her back to comfort her while still calling 911, but still, the line was unresponsive, and I tried to call my mom again, but her phone kept ringing. I put the phone down when I saw my sister open the fridge and eat whatever we had. The uncooked meat kept eating like she was so hungry, and then she took all the eggs, milk and everything she saw inside our fridge.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes", And she keeps eating like there is no tomorrow.

"I am so hungry," She said and started vomiting again and then she fell on the floor. She tried to call me, but she couldn't talk anymore because she barely breathed while a lot of blood was coming from her mouth.

"Oh, my God. Craven," I said, and I hurriedly ran to her, held her in my arms, and started redialing 911 while looking at my sister. She continues vomiting, coughing, and asking for food after eating all of our stock inside the fridge. She is still hungry and wants to eat more.

I started getting scared and, at the same time, worried about what was happening to my sister. I want to ask for help, but 911 is unresponsive, and my mother, who is working right now at the hospital, is not answering my call. I tried to lift my sister and put her on her bed so she could rest when I noticed her not moving anymore or breathing.

"Craven" I called her name and tried to check her pulse, but I didn't detect any.

"Craven", I called her again, and this time I was scared because she was still unresponsive.

"No! no! no!" I stuttered and tried to dial 911 again, but like my sister, the line was unresponsive.

I don't know if my sister is dead because I can't find any pulse from her, but I don't want her to die for any reason. She just went home from Sunday praising with her boyfriend, Richmond, but now she is sick and not responding. I redialed 911, and this time somebody answered my call, but all I could hear was heavy breathing.

"Hello," I said while shaking because I was worried about what was happening to my only sister.

"I need help," I said, but I got nothing but heavy breathing from the other line.

"Hello... Hello," I said while hoping that someone would answer my call.

"Hello... Hello... put down the phone Alice, everything is alright."

I heard my sister tells me, and she laughed. I looked at her, and she looked different. Her eyes were sunken, and the blood was all over her face. She is looking at me like she is a different person. I tried to come closer to her and touch her to check if she was okay, but she wouldn't let me.

"The judgement day is coming, Alice. You have to leave the belief you have that nature is our temple, and we have God and Goddess because we don't have," She said. I looked at her because I was puzzled by what she was saying. She never told me that or acted odd in anyone's belief.

"The judgement is coming, and we will all be like Lazarus when the dead rise and rule because the demons will come," She said, and she laughed and started vomiting blood again.

"Turn your back, Alice, because your religion is bullshit!"

"Are you okay?" I asked her because I had never heard her talking about belief. She never insisted on her belief because she respected my decision to join and study paganism, but now she looks at me like I am a horrible person for following the path I wanted.

She was staring at me like a hungry tiger that she could bite me soon. She was laughing like a demon, and I never expected her to act like she was not my sister anymore.

"What is happening to you?"

"Why are you scared of me?"

And then she tried to move her arms and legs, which got twisted. She looked at me with a smile in a spider position. I got scared because, at this time. I know she was not my sister anymore, but what happened to her? I don't know.

"I have thousands of hungry souls inside of me," She said, which made me more scared of her.

"Feed me," She said and then ran to me with her twisted body, wanting to bite me. Eat me because she is hungry, but I didn't let her. I tried to push her away and protect myself from her.

"Stop! stop!" I said, but she kept on trying to bite me.

"Repent! repent!" She said.

She grabbed me, and we both fell on the floor. She tried to bite me, but I didn't let her. I fight and hurt her even though I don't want to hurt her.

I don't understand what is happening to her, but I know she is not my sweet and loving Craven. I pushed her hard and stood up, but she stood up and attacked me again. She tried to bite me and eat me because she was hungry, but I would not let her bite me. She jumped on me, and I accidentally leaned on the mirror, which made it break. I grabbed the piece of the shattered mirror and struck it on her heart. She stops from biting me, and I pushed her away from me.

"I am sorry", I cried when I saw her not moving anymore. I went to her to check because I didn't want my only sister to die.

"Craven", I called her, but she was not responding. Her heart is bleeding, and I know at this moment. I killed her.

"No...No... Craven...please," I said, and I started to cry when I saw her hands move. She grabbed me and started trying to bite me again.

"The judgement day is now, and you cannot run away from it! Alice!" She said while still trying to bite me, but I was stopping her.

I looked at her, and her eyes started to bleed as well. Her skin started to melt like nothing to her, and the stabbed wound I made to her was gently curing. I can't believe what I am seeing. She looks dead but immortal now, and I don't know what to do because 911 is not responding as well as my mother.

"Stop, please! stop!" I begged her, in case she was still there while I was fighting for my life.

She is so strong, and I am fighting for my life now. I pushed her harder, and she fell on the floor. I quickly grabbed the car key on her bedside table when I saw her freeze with her body twisted. I looked at her and wondered if she was already dead because I was scared of what was happening to her. She was covered with blood now because her skin was gently melting, and she wanted to eat me.

"Craven", I whispered when I heard a growl, and she started attacking me again.

This time she is acting like a pure wild beast because she can't talk anymore, and she can't recognize me because all she wants to do is to bite me because of her endless hunger. I keep pushing her away from me even though she is heavier and stronger than me. What happened to my baby sister? Why is she turned into something that I can't understand or explain?

The door opened, and Luis, our neighbor, grabbed her away from me, but she started attacking Luis now. He pushed Craven to the wall and grabbed me out of the room. He immediately closed the door and told me to leave.

"What?"

"We are in a serious situation, and we will die if we will stay," He said.

"No, wait," I said because I was still absorbing everything that had happened.

I heard my sister growling inside the room while trying to break the door, but Luis kept telling me to leave now.

"I can't leave my sister," I said, but he shook his head.

"She needs help", I added.

"She is not your sister anymore," He said, which made me look at him.

"Looked at her. She is trying to bite you or eat you," He said, and he was right. Craven is different now, and I feel like something happened to my sister that made her that way.

"Do you have the car key?" He asked,

"I dropped on the floor inside Craven's room when she attacked me."

"Jeezees"

"Can you please tell me what is going on?"

"I don't know." He answered, and then he took a deep breath

"I walked up when I saw my grandma vomiting blood and kept on telling me that she was hungry, and she started attacking me", He said,

"And then I saw you at the window struggling with your sister, who is also attacking you. That is why I went to you," He continued.

"Did your grandma attend Sunday praising?"

"I don't know, but I know she went to the grocery because she keeps telling me about the grocery and what the man she met at the grocery store told her."

"I also locked her in her room", He added.

I fell silent because what happened to my sister before she turned into a beast is what happened to her grandma, but I don't understand what happened to them. I still hear my sister's growl while slamming the door to break it so she can go out and bite us. When the doorknob slowly turned, the young girl wearing a dress went inside crying. Her face is bleeding, and she is vomiting blood like Craven. She is looking for her mother and keeps telling us that she is lost and hungry. Her skin starts to melt like what happened to Craven. She bowed her head and suddenly stopped crying. A moment of silence filled the air when the kid started to attack us. She used her hands and feet to run to us, and I heard a growl from her. Luis and I slammed on my sister's bedroom door while the kid tried to bite Luis.

"Help! help!"

I smashed the vase on the girl's head, but it didn't hurt her. She keeps on trying to bite Luis while Luis keeps on protecting himself from the girl. I am stuttering and scared, and I don't know what to do while Luis is fighting for his life. I grabbed the girl away from him and threw the girl that smashed on the wall, but she recovered right away. Before I asked Luis if he was okay, the girl started attacking us again. We ran outside and immediately closed the door. Like Craven, the girl is slamming the door, too, because she is trying to go out while growing like a wild beast.

"Oh my God," I said when I saw the outside was chaos now.

People are biting people and the one who got bitten rises and starts biting others. What is happening? Is this the reason why 911 is not answering? Who will go to save us now if 911 is unresponsive?? I suddenly remember my mother, who is at the hospital until now. I need to go with her. I need to see her, but I can't lift my feet. I couldn't even move because what I saw left me in shock.

"I killed him! I killed my father for raping me!" The teenager shouted in craze while vomiting blood in front of us.

"Come on, come on, we have to go now," Luis said, but I was still in shock, watching the teenager vomiting in front of us. Until she stopped vomiting and wiped the blood from her mouth, she laughed and looked at us with her bleeding eyes, and she was about to attack us when we ran.

"What is going on? What is going on?" I asked myself while running with Luis. I looked everywhere, which terrified me because the people who ate people were getting plenty, and I felt like there was no place to run and ask for help.

We went inside the grocery store, and Luis immediately put something to lock the door. We tried to hide while thinking about what we would do. I saw people hiding inside the grocery store like me. They looked scared and puzzled about what was happening. I sat beside Luis when I suddenly remembered what I had seen. I checked if Luis got bitten by the girl who had attacked him a while ago.

"Hell no. I didn't get bitten," He said and stopped me from searching for any bite. I looked at him to ensure I didn't see any bite on him. Only his shirt was covered with blood because of the girl who attacked him. Same with me, I am covered with blood too because of my sister.

"What is happening?" I asked.

"I don't know", He answered.

"I need to see my mother. She is in the hospital."

"We need to leave this place."

"But where are we going?"

"To my dad's place. He is in Makati with my sister."

"Claire?"

"Yes",

"The cute kid",

"Not anymore. She is ten now."

"She is still a kid."

"How are we going to go there?"

"Stole someone else's car."

"No way",

"Yes, way",

TUG!

TUG!

TUG!

The noise we heard when the man with bleeding eyes and melting skin smashed his head on the grocery glass wall, and like the others, he was growling too.

"No, " I whispered because the glass wall would soon break if he kept smashing his head there.

The smash is getting harder, and his head is now bleeding, but he doesn't stop smashing his head and snarling.

The people inside the grocery are getting scared again while watching the man continuously banging his head on the glass wall.

Until the glass wall breaks and the snarl turns into a growl, the others like him attack us. I heard a scream while Luis and I ran to save ourselves. He held my hand, grabbed a golf stick, and used it as a weapon if someone attacked us.

I looked back and saw the people inside the grocery get bitten. Some are fighting for their lives and trying to survive the bleeding eyes.

"Don't look back. It will get you scared," He said while we were still running, even though we didn't know where to go to save ourselves because the bleeding eyes were everywhere now.

He tried to open a car that we could use to leave this place when we saw the baby inside crying. The car was locked, and we couldn't open it, no matter how we were forced to open it.

"Come on! come on!" He said and moved.

"We can't leave the baby behind," I said,

"But we can't bring the baby."

I took the golf stick from him, returned to the car, and broke the window to get the baby inside.

"Run! run!" He said when he saw the bleeding eyes running to us.

We ran, looking for the car we could use to leave this place. We run while I am carrying the crying baby because I can't leave the baby alone inside the car with these bleeding eyes around. We kept on running until we saw a perfect car that we could use. The door is open, and the key is left inside. We hurriedly went inside and drove the car away from this place.

"I need to go to the hospital."

"What?" He asked in dismay because he wanted to get out of this place, and now that we already had a chance. I will ask him to go to the hospital with me.

"I need to save my mother."

"But we are not sure if it is safe there."

"I NEED TO SAVE MY MOTHER," I told him with an authoritative voice just in case he didn't get it.

He shook his head and drove to the hospital.