Ephemeris

17 : Unintended and Unforeseen Chapter

Two cruel days passed painfully by. Then another night broke sullenly in. The little boy's misty eyes reflected the panoramic starry light of the indigo firmament through his window. Daniel was like inside an observatory watching the sky through the retracted shutters of the particular structure's dome. Even though he could only observe a fraction of the clear night sky, he felt the incalculability of the cosmos, boundless and extraordinary.

But there was something else besides the mirrored constellations twinkling upon the clear outer covering of his eyeballs. He was searching for something. His stare was a look of longing. He shifted his irises leftward, seeking the remnants of the moon. He spotted it. The shattered celestial orb was glowing faintly, a cloud with a silver lining. He gave a quick smile at it. Up there, where you belong, is the place where good people go after they die. It's lovely, but maybe lonely. It's limitless, but maybe sightless. It's ecstasy, but maybe fantasy, he thought.

The boy cupped his face with his hands. He unfurled his eyelids, peeped through his laced fingers, and admired the starry evening sky once more. The stars were blinking in full luminosity, resembling millions of ogling eyes of mischievous cats. The winking jewel-like eyes above bequeathed him a strange awareness of danger. "Umbrae reeks and breeds all over the world," he whispered. His vision liquefied, shaping figures of black felines with sparkling gems for eyes. The myriad eyes shut in unison, then suddenly, darkness reigned. His auricles twitched, hearing a distant inimical caterwaul. "No," he choked.

I didn't know that Umbrae could morph. They are vicious and unstoppable! How can I fix everything if, one by one, the stars would all go out? he thought.

The eerie felines began sauntering toward the kid's spot on invisible wires. Their crystalline eyes were terrifyingly lacerative that they could cut your soul into pieces. Some hopped on invisible bars demonstrating their balance and contorting their bodies to different obscene and painful postures. These nebulous creatures desired to play with humans, especially little boys and girls. They wanted to be loved and to consume love. Most humans fell from their pleasurable ticklish tongues, giving them a fleeting delight.

But the truth was their playful tongues were lapping up the remaining light inside a man's heart, longing for a second chance. Few Umbrae were unsuccessful; however, most were victorious. They were winning because of such kaleidoscopic deceitfulness coruscating from their eyes. And they always had an alibi and one or two to spare.

Daniel stretched an arm, held it aloft, and let a nebulous cat lick his fingernails. It was sufficiently gratifying. At this instant, he could fetch the feline that was unceasingly passing its tongue over his candle fingers. Then, he pampered it to become a friend. He looked at its eyes, and it was hazed with neon falseness. He shook his head, decluttering his mind. No. I cannot let you win, he thought.

The very thought made the cat offended. It bit his finger. A million eyes above chillingly shifted into his direction, eyeing his face masked with audacity defying their poisonous trickeries. "You can't fool me, two-faced Umbra," he feebly said.

The Umbrae cats attacked him, pouncing, biting, and clawing his arms with feline swiftness. The violence lasted for a few seconds. It was fearsome but painless. He looked at the arms he used to cover the ferocious bout and found a grim discovery. His arms were all but skeletons! He became rigid, horror-struck as he yelped concerning his eaten forearms. His heart pounded so hard that the blood began to stream and spurt from the arteries intentionally left by the carnivorous monsters. He screamed like a helpless kid and never broke for breath. His thoughts grew foggy. His eyelids were getting heavy, sentencing him to embrace the openness of darkness. After all, he was bleeding to death.

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A wrinkly floating head loomed over his face. The kid was badly frightened by it. He stumbled and plunged against the floor. "No!" he screeched, "Don't come near me!" His hands desperately tried to reach for something useful, hoping he could touch whatever was shrouded in darkness. With trembling fingers, he felt the lamp's base and hurriedly fumbled for the string. And as soon as he got it, he pulled it, switching the bulb on. "You can't have me!" he bawled.