A guest at dusk

Chris had a great influence at the site, reason best known to him. He had secured a spot for me quickly and made sure a light work for a good pay. I couldn't help but be grateful to him.

"so what brings you to the site?" he said when he stopped by at my spot during the hour break.

"the money of course" I replied sitting on a knoll and hissing afterwards, my back did really ache.

"first timer pain" he remarked. "You'll get better"

"after tomorrow, I'm done. Can't keep up" I retorted.

"well, job is not for everyone, you see some prefer millipedes." He chuckled.

My piercing look quietly shut him. "they sell really nice pretzel; can I get it for you."

I did not give a reply. "okay, as an apology, no more millipedes" he smiled.

"fine" I said.

When he left, I relaxed on the knoll and breathed the air that reeked of human sweat mixed with fresh earth. Suddenly my heart's thud turned faster, and I began to hear a faint sound ringing in my ears. After concentrating for a moment I realized the sound was coming from somewhere. I looked beside me, then I realized the chilling sensation I felt earlier was no mere coincidence. Standing pretty a few steps away from me, was the rock I held earlier for support. Dear reader, honestly I started to feel like I was in a human sized jigsaw puzzle, walking between the walls of the pieces yet accumulating more confusion. The ringing sound was not in my head; it was coming from the rock. Curiosity gripping me, I stepped from the knoll, and calmly walked to the rock. Now reader, you will bear with me because describing things like this is not really my thing. But, I can solidly tell you that the moment I stood right in front of the rock, it changed, I really wanted not to believe my eyes, so I shut them and opened, yet it still remained changed. Earlier, it looked like what a normal rock should look like, with rough edges and emblems of years of metamorphosis. What looked back at me at that moment was a clear transparent bubble that looked larger than the rock itself. I didn't know what to do except try to get a better look of what looked like on the inside. Then I saw an almost broken stick holding up an old looking open book with shrinking pages, looking further I realized the rust colored open page was blank.

"would be a great love story, if you stared at me the same way you stare at it" a voice jerked me.

"hmm" I merely said.

"now it is rocks, I used to think it was only mi...

"stop, don't" I warned him, seeing he was not ready to drop the millipede issue just yet. Turning back to the rock or bubble rather, I questioned myself mentally if I was going crazy, cause few minutes ago a large bubble with what looked like a witches' book stood right in that spot.

"if you keep staring at that rock, I will start to think there is something you are not telling" Chris said.

"oh! There is a lot I am not telling you"

"like what?" he asked.

"like how I am going to change my mind from eating that pretzel any second and take back my forgiveness" I replied, trying hard to evade the thoughts that came flooding in.

"you really have a sharp mouth for your age, fifteen you say"

I shot him a glare.

"fine, can we go sit on the knoll" I quickly walked ahead.

"tastes nice"

"told you" he smiled.

"so tell me, last time I saw you at the garden, your hair color was….

"off I know" I interrupted. "I get that on a regular"

"calm down young woman, I only wanted to say captivating though".

"oh, I thought…

"you have always thought wrong about me. I really don't understand why you despise me so much. After seeing you at the garden, you always give me that look in school"

"what look" I asked, eyes wide.

"this look"

"mm" I tried to understand.

"can I see?" he asked.

"what?"

"your hair" he said pointing to the linen scarf that covered my hair.

"sure" I said. Knowing fully well my hair cannot glow at day time.

I uncovered the hair and he tried to touch it, exclaiming how beautiful he thought it was.

"ouch!" He screamed.

By evening I was ready to leave feeling satisfied with my pay; the content of my pants pocket, while waiting for my mother. I secretly hoped Chris would show up, but part of me knew he would probably be scared. Seeing that the explanation I gave him concerning why my hair hurt his hands was not plausible. Because how can I say, when tightly covered it gets really hot and might hurt when it's been touched immediately it's uncovered.

Something caught my eye, two boys about my age stood looking at the rock turned bubble earlier. they turned to leave while giggling. While passing me, I heard scraps of their conversation.

…they say no midwife could be reached"

"yes, she crawled to the rock"

They smiled to me as they walked by.

…birth blood soaked in"

"yes her placenta too. You know…

I tried to link their conversation to the rock as their voices faded. On our way home, my mother assumed I was too tired to talk, but I was only too deep trying to fix the pieces together.

She was about unlocking the front door when we heard a startling sound, dusk was settling in and what was there wasn't clear.

"he….lp plss" a broken voice said. I quickly ran to the source of the sound and I could see a faint face and bloodied hands. All I could do was scream.