Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2017 14:27:14 GMT -5
Raphael moved through his studio in somewhat of a daze. That man covered in blood, he had to tell someone about it. The mother called him hysterical. Neither one of them knew just how truly terrible things were going to get. This was the beginning of the apocalypse. Raphael felt a little guilty though, had he seen the man earlier this kid might not be missing. Raphael grabbed the photos from the dark room and slung his bag over his shoulder. Closing the door he didn't even bother to lock it. His coffee was left sitting on the counter half drank. He had bigger problems to worry about.
Running through the rain Raphael unlocked his car and slid into the driver's seat. His bag found it's home in the passenger seat as he closed the door and started the car. It was raining. That wasn't unusual for Seattle, but something about today....The clouds over head and the steady downpour seemed to have an ominous foreboding. As he pulled out of the parking lot his hand slipped down into the pocket of his jacket. Fingers found the familiar edges of his cell phone. He was already pressing the speed dial for Tina before he even pulled the phone out. He brought it to his ear and could here the phone ringing, searching for an answer....
Raphael: Pick up, pick up... Grrr...
He growled in frustration and threw the phone on the seat beside him. Swinging the car around he headed down the next street. He thought he could remember where the house was from memory. The party was last week, but it was near his old stomping grounds. He knew the neighborhood. Raphael had never been rich. He didn't enjoy the lap of luxery with a silver spoon. Though, he did used to hang out with some kids from this neighborhood in his troublemaking youth. Raphael coasted down the street and something struck him odd. There were no cars here.. Usually the cars lined either side of the street. Parking was a bitch on this little residential road. Now it was as if Moses parted the red sea. Raphael drove slowly....
Bits of trash littered the street and fluttered down the road like tumbleweed. A newspaper floated down the street on a light breeze. Raphael was never one to pay much attention to the news. It was always so depressing. The media went out of it's way to try and scare stupid people. Raphael wouldn't have paid attention to any news at all if the newspaper hadn't gotten caught on that breeze. It floated gracefully through the air on a gentle wind and landed on his windshield. It was just the cover story. The rest of the paper laid somewhere on the street, half submerged in a puddle next to the sidewalk.
The paper hit the windshield and Raphael frowned. HE reached out the open window and snatched the paper from his windshield. He was about to toss it aside when the headline grabbed him. "CITY IN PERIL... RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE CLAIM SEATTLE!" What the hell? He thought. His mind drifted back to the man on the fence. The man covered in blood. Pushing the pedal down a little harder he moved more swiftly to his destination. His eyes rolled over to his phone when it lit up. Raphael picked up the phone and answered without checking who it was....
Raphael: Tina! Oh... Que pasa mama? (What's up mom?) No, I haven't been hurt what's going on? Mama! Calm down! Someone bit you? You get it looked at?
Raphael was still driving, trying to console his hysterical mother. He drove past the house of the woman who called. He stopped with the phone still next to his ear.. Only, he didn't hear a word his mother was saying. The front door to the house was wide open. There was blood splatter on the white doorframe. Fine misting sprays traveling up the wall and dripping off the doorknocker.... On the front porch was a woman. It was the woman who called him... Her eyes were staring right at him as she laid on the porch. Blood dripped from the ends of her fingertips that cascaded over the edge of the top step. Her dull lifeless eyes staring at him accusingly. They seemed to say "why didn't you come sooner? You could have stopped this!" Her bright blue eyes, now grey and listless as she stared at him. Her body jerked and twitched as something tore the flesh from her neck. It was a man. He was wearing a tattered brown trench coat stained and ripped. He stood up and turned to face Raphael and the sound of his car.
It was the man from the photo. His face seemed distorted. Discolored. A grey deathly sick shade to his ghoulish hue. His eyes were cloudy and constantly moving like something that couldn't focus. Blood dripped from a smile that revealed all it's teeth. At least it looked to be smiling, but Raphael couldn't take his eyes off the blood dripping down it's shirt.
Roberta Lowiza: Hello? Raphy! Eschuca mi (Listen to me)
Raphael took off down the street without looking back. He ran a nervous hand through his hair.
Raphael: Mama, lock the doors I'll be there soon I have to check on Tina then I'm coming to get you.
Raphael was really worried now. Tina wasn't answering her phone. He couldn't stop picturing her lying in her apartment in a pool of blood with someone leaning over her tearing the flesh from her body.