I collapse into a chair that is as hard and unforgiving as the elderly of Shriv. They want nothing to change, they fear the monsters more than anything else. They believe that anything and everything could destroy us. The madness tears at my throat and I feel tempted to pull it out, but I stop myself.

I have to go on. For Calla, for her Mada (mother). For Jame's Caden (father). For Rosa's three children. For everyone who has gone missing. I have to find a solution.

The sky is getting pink and already I'm lost in memories of screams and huddles under the bed, tear tracks on Calla's face, blood staining the kitchen floor Mada Donne (Mother Donne) was so upset at getting dirty and Calla's Caden (father) crying when I had never seen his face bear anything but a scowl before.

Now all it bears is a hazy expression and a reek of alcohol. Both Calla and Mada Donne are gone. Caden Donne has collapsed into disrepair.

The memories do me no good. I wonder if I can take a walk along the forest's edge before it turns to dark out. I rise from the wood and am about to walk straight outside when Samila holds me back, her voice pitched higher with shock. "What are you doing? You know we can't go out after the Bloodsky."

The Bloodsky. A silly nickname given to the second stage of sunset, where the sun splits the sky and it cleaves into the bloodred namesake. "I just wanted to take a walk." my shoulders slump. Samila is right, though I hate it. We should be able to go out, take a walk in our own territory.

But it's not our territory. 

It hasn't been since the day we first heard the monsters.