Angry droplets from the sky beat their crusted-leaf roofs. The blackest night of the dark, violent wind sways the trees, breaking the roots from the deep soil. The people have questions, but might have known the answer. Has the curse begun?

On a small hut with a lifted wooden floor, a family nurtures faith on the corner. The father arched his arm towards his lover while they embraced their children who coward on the striking flash and roaring thunder. He patted his children, providing assurance for the safety he is not assured of.

One flash, second thunder, lightning thunder, the creaking window which the wind is trying to pull, the spoilage of the storm streaming to the stair from underneath the door, and the light of the night casting through the empty spaces between the wooden walls; this is a regular storm, nothing more.

A thumping sound hits their roof, and it is followed by a rustle. The man tries to sneak his eyes to look for the estrangement, but swiftly retracts on the other sound that is hitting the roof. It does not stop, the bush of the leaves screaming to tell something has struggled to fit inside. The children hid behind their embrace, father stood, walking in measurement towards the roof, a metallic shriek expelled by the struggling creature.

The creature escaped and opened his mouth, planting sharp teeth into his skin. The creature presses his clench harder and lets the knife bloom inside, ripping the flesh below his skin, and sucks his blood. A fast burn spreads to all his body before he screams in agony. The man grip its head and choke its neck, but it know nothing but destined to torture, the creature screech and bursting around the smell of rusted iron, the man strip the creator out of his finger, throw it on the floor and stamp it to death. A small piece of skin from his index finger shredded, animated in the mouth of the creature before halting. His blood embraced the creature on its death.

“What’s that?” asks his wife after unblinding their children

“I have no wisdom to understand, it ripped my flesh, and drank my blood. It does not know mercy for it to live for only a killing”

“My dear, this night has been against its inhabitants; the soil, the water, the sky and the living have lost kindness”

“It is a raging call from its creator, what was warned ignored, painting of consequences displayed in the shadow; now understanding is demanded as teaching is no longer used”

Another sound of the creature hitting the roof, trying to befit itself inside. For it is escaping the rain or sensing the living soul, they do not know.

“Out, now!” cry the father to his family with a long bat pestle in his hand. The children opened the door and ran upon the wet brown soil. The rain shoots the ground mercilessly, for the windstorm can not even break their strength.

The knife-teeth creature at the rooftop’s edge twisted free-spine first, then limbs-streaming down the ridge like liquid before snapping its wings wide, countering the force of the falling and launching its frame towards the man. Its teeth clenched, showing white bones among the dark furs. The man swung the bat and struck the creature, halting its target to total, breaking its skull and twisted its neck before punching onto the wall. The creature fell on his broken wings, its eyes twitched of semi-consciousness. The man gave no chance of observing and stump the creature’s stomach, the screech metalling yelp gurgles with splashes of slimy rust of blood adjoined by the contents of its guts.

Then a wail of a woman thunders, the man skipped to the door by two big jumps. A woman and her children are chased by the same bat creature.

“Help us” cried the woman, her hands reaching the air as she pleaded to the man, she turned back at the creatures and fought with a firm small stick to let her children of tiny feet run faster than her. The man told his family to stay on their mothers ankle, while she watches around for incoming attack. The man came to the woman and fanned the bat to reach the strongest grip before painting the force upon the creatures; after a few strikes, the creature either fell dead or escaped away.

“My saviour, Taz. There are so many of them, the people of the village took refuge at the houses, but I believe it shall not be long. These devils hunt to the smallest creak of the house in the deepest woods. It is, where our ignorance awakens, we have chosen evil the accursed, now God has lifted its mercy and proved his words, for every prayer would not be accepted”. The woman exhaled, embraced the child to her arm.

“My dear, I understand that these signs have been told to us. Their wealth is worth no more, life is. They have taken their games and we all win the trophy, even for us were not adjoined. Accursed of this island and its people, we need to go out and make separations.”

“My husband is not yet arriving… There are other friends who did not partake in this, they must have been seeking refugee as well. We have to look for them before make such choice”

“No, time that is spared is little, the forest rumbles to be one with the sky. We shall go before we are taken to suffer for the forbidden sins we did not commit”.

“My husband, Tabil, we can not go before his presence, I have lost him near the bridge”

“My dear, we have children, our love and burden. We have to leave this island, Bisan, you know this is the end, come with us!”.

Taz and Bisan’s family gather before hurried to the shore. The wind went silent, the rain receded and the thunder unheard, as if a pause settled on the horror. Then in a single blip, a monstrous electric knife parched the earth, a fire burns the night, remaining unextinguished by the pouring of rain.

The children screams in terror and running towards their parent. This, they spare no time and haste to the boat of which Taz benefit in searching for fish and other livings in the sea.

On the turbulent water whirls, Taz raise the boat and setting it free. Taz sat on the front, commanding the motion of the vehicle. Behind him are his children, boy and girl. On the next row is Bisan, her children are at her back, care taken by Taz’s wife. Taz govern the direction and counter the furious waves. His wife is on the back, motioning the tails, thrusting force with her delicate hand to align the ship with the commando. While the Bisan zig-zag on the body, balances the boat from overached curves. The children are not adhere to rest. Their leaf hands must ladle the rainpour that filling the gap of their toes.

There are no chasing bat, the danger now lies beneath.

A hand can kill the bird, but a sailor can so far the hand a bet, none but generousity of luck is what saving them. A horrific light swimming on the clouds, rumbles and rumbles. None of them speak a sentence, the thought of the danger keeps the hand and eyes working in tremble while they plead, all them. They plea for God to save them, to give mercy upon their life. A smell of sprouting blood shed on the air, then in an instant a lighting strikes down, the sorrowful night, morphing with the the sea, cloud, and mountains in white with violent gradation, folding the will of sight to senses and audio. The strike’s tongue kisses the handle of the boat, the smell of brown leaves turns so swift to burning woods. Taz sees his front, a quick flash gives a slow revelation of colors. From white, to dark with tiny red orbs, the view loses its obscurity. The boat has been striked and ignited, the shock of burns push Taz into the ocean. He embraced by the water, the light shone his skin as mirrors before taken aback by the sky, while the thunder cowards itself to rumbles. The darkness is always defeated by light and anger always defeated by calamity.

He got up and sucked the air into his chest, the world expanded and the senses heightened, then he remembered his family and his burden. He shouted their names, their callings.

The strokes drag the passenger to the ocean, they struggle to balance amidst the folding current below and the folding wave that is shielding their mouth and nostril to take air. “Mother…” cries the child that is holding on his mother’s shoulder from the back, tilting his head to the back and opening his mouth widely before the wave passes by. His mother is thrusting his little sister to the sky. She watches her mother and brother’s head appear and disappear, engulfed by the black violent water. She cries and calls for her father, her mother’s eyes trying to look up but she stood the gaze to the front, she is resilient but cold, her feet fight the ocean’s current, not letting her trembling hands fall.

Taz sees his family, launches himself to them and takes his pas bride’s belly and escorts them to the flipped-boat. The other woman’s family with her child are already there, floating, sleeping their hands on the breathing boat. On his arrival, they flipped the boat and paddle its content. His hand pressing his shirt on the broken boat while the women balanced from across, gripping the wood, compassing to the nearest island.

Then a furious thunder gurgled in the sky, something horrific fighting behind the cloud, red infected the light, in a roaring sound, the thunder and rain stopped altogether, the red light went missing. Hour by hour, the rain recedes, the light slides darkness by little, on their screaming chest, on their tangled skin, on their burning eyes, the world brightens.