My Treasure

His threat instantly made my pace come to a halt. And a cruel realization hit me, hard.

He is right. Once I disobey him this time, I can no longer return to continue having this job. Once I disobey him this time, my entire family will starve to death.

Either way I choose, the ending is death.

My heart crashes as I struggle with what I should prioritize first.

I close my eyes and as soon as my vision turns off, I feel an icy air brush past me. The air is soothing, it is comforting. It clears up my mind.

As I open my eyes, I am determined to pick the most important thing for me.

And I choose my treasure. My family is my treasure, and I'm sure I'm not gonna regret this.

Neither looking back nor responding, I calmly stepped out of that door with a drop-dead silence behind me. 

I find it weird since I know that the manager will never give up scolding, threatening, and insulting me just like that. But I have no time to worry about that.

I immediately went out to hail a cab to give me a lift, and I directly hop on to the tricycle that was picking up passengers at the moment.

After giving him the address I intend to go to, he instantly drives away from that place.

I am anxiously sitting inside the tricycle when I suddenly sense a pair of eyes watching me. Somehow, those eyes send me a bad eerie feeling.

'Not again?' I thought as my brows frowned. I just realise that this pair of eyes give me a different unfriendly vibe, unlike the first one earlier.

I peek at the driver, but he is focused on the road. I can't even see his face, only his side profile. 

Then who could it be?

Hold on.

Can't I be too anxious and worried over a lot of things that I am starting to hallucinate or something? Otherwise how am I supposed to explain this thing that is currently haunting me?

I shook my head and breathed deeply. 'This is okay. Everything will be okay.'

After telling myself like that, I closed my eyes. I'm gonna take some rest since I still have ten minutes before reaching the hospital. 

I have no plan to look like a walking zombie in front of my family, and make them worry about me. That will be too much for them to handle. So I have to rest my eyes even just a little while to look presentable in front of them.

As soon as I get them close, something powerful and heavy lands thunderously on the roof, as if an unknown heavy object drops from the sky.

That startled me and the driver who let out a scream.

I instantly clutch the bars on both sides of me when the tricycle begins to wind on the road, as if it is something that can only protect me from harm.

"What was that, Sir?" I asked the driver despite the unfavorable situation, which is so foolish of me, because what I only got from him was a horrific scream as a response.

Exactly as I hastily turned my head to the driver, I managed to catch sight of his legs, shivering violently. Just like how the body responds when the owner is struggling with pain while dying.

Whatever is on the roof, it raises the driver effortlessly.

I try to grab him back by his leg, though my heart is thumping loudly in fear. However, my focus shifts to somewhere else when I notice something from the peripheral view of my eyes and am petrified to find out that we are about to clash against the lamppost.

Subconsciously, my elbow was raised straight to my eyes, blocking my sight as I screamed.

It won't take long before I can hear the sound clashing and feel the wrenching pain surging through my body after an opposing force hits me. But, I waited like forever but nothing happened at all.

I put my arm down and noticed that the tricycle stopped an inch away from the post.

I wonder how it happened, since no one had taken control over the tricycle and it was speeding crazily towards the post.

"No, don't come over."

I hear a low voice of a man behind me, but somehow it carries a hint of panic. 

I assumed it was the driver, so I turned to take a look, only to fill my eyes with the sexy back of a woman in a venetian red dress.

I find a familiar aura in her again, especially as I notice how similar her dress is to the dress of the woman who appeared in the employee's locker at the Starbucks Bar. Even their hair is the same, reddish black.

It is weird, but I shake her off my head, thinking that it is a mere coincidence. Then, I think to interfere with the sole intention to call the attention of the driver since I am in a hurry. "Excuse me, are you guys alright?"

"Pretty alright." The woman spoke up without looking back. Even her voice is enchanting to listen to. Although it sounds cold, it is soothing in my ears. "But not to you."

Her last phrase sends goosebumps to me, and the next thing she does, drains all my blood into my body in an instant.

I can't explain how she clearly moves, but in a flash, she already stands so close behind the man, turning the cold atmosphere into a creepy one. 

Before I can predict what she is gonna do next, she grabs the man's head to the side, and damn shit, I witness her teeth grow sharply into fangs as she aims at his neck. 

Under my astounded soul, she stung her fangs on his neck and greedily sucked his blood.

A sucking sound enters my ears and causes me to shudder subconsciously.

She hungrily sucks his blood as his body trembles, and just after a few seconds, his entire body vanishes into ashes. 

Only she is left standing on the ground. 

At this point, I finally got a closer look at her face and at one glance, I recognized her.

Yes. She is that woman I saw in the mirror.

Real, alive, and dangerous.

Fear, or whatever it is to describe this kind of feeling, is all understatement. Words are not enough to describe how scary it is to witness such a deed, let alone her.

She carries that powerful dark aura that no one can ignore. That alone is more than enough to make me drop on my knees and beg for mercy.

I feel like running away. However, I discover I can't move my legs again. As if I am under some spell, restricting me to escape.

"Who are you?" Shocked, I find myself asking her that again.

A sinister smirk drawn on her bloody lips, and with a piercing gaze at me, she replied, "Your owner. And is here to claim you."