The Last Guardian

Chapter_14: The Haunting of Lisa Munroe

Lisa took out some salad from the fridge and ate it quickly. Billy had asked her to come back ASAP and she had no time to waste. Within a few minutes, she had ate the salad, locked and bolted the doors and windows, packed her stuff in two bags and also strapped on her trusty sidearm to her waist. 

She then hurried to her car and put the bags in and drove off to the church. As she was driving, she put her left hand in her jacket pocket and felt the vintage coin inside- it felt warm. It would take almost and hour to reach the church and her mind began to wander over the things that she had seen in her trance state- the strange village, the people yelling and burning the woman- her screams and that terrifying skinless face! She started to recall everything- the terrifying images began to flash before her eyes- she was starting to feel uneasy.

Somehow she steeled her mind and said to herself that she was only imagining things and there was nothing to be scared because she had the talisman with her- the strange old copper coin. She drove straight into the busy highway and slowly began to feel more comfortable. She then stopped at a busy intersection and waited for the light to turn green. As she sat impatiently in her car, she started to feel hungry. It was strange because not more than fifteen minutes ago she had just finished a huge bowl of salad at home. She ignored her hunger and kept staring anxiously at the traffic light. But her hunger began to grow stronger almost to the point that her stomach began to hurt.

“Ugh!” she cried “god! I’m so hungry-”

The lights turned green and the nearby vehicles began to move. But she sat there in her car- holding her stomach in pain. The cars behind her began to honk viciously.

“Okay-okay- I’m moving-” she cried out to them impatiently.

The strange hunger was making her cranky but she started her car and moved on. She knew this was not normal and she needed to get to the church as quickly as she could. She put her hand in her pocket to check for the coin but to her surprise the coin was not there. She must have dropped it somewhere in the car – Billy had asked her to keep it in her person at all times.

She drove as fast as she could with one eye on the road and the other on the coin. She searched her pockets and the glove compartment looking for it but she couldn’t find it. She got so distracted that she almost drove off the road. After a few moments she gave up- the hunger was driving her mad- she began to look for a restaurant nearby. She had driven out of the busy city and was passing through a small neighborhood. She looked at her watch, it was 9.30 p.m. Most of the shops were closed and for good reason, the area was notorious for gang related activities and the locals preferred to close shop as early as possible for their own safety. Luckily she found a gas station up ahead and she drove up to it. She parked her car and got out. Her phone began to buzz in her pocket. With one hand on her hip, she picked up the call groaning in pain- she felt like she would starve to death if she didn’t have something to eat soon.

“Hello? Lisa? Hello?” Johnny’s voice echoed from the other side.

“Yeah- hello- what is it?” she had no patience to talk. She could see the food in the store- the packs of chips and the ice cream in the fridge- it was getting hard to resist.

“Listen, Billy asked me to tell you that you should come as quickly as you can- something’s not right- don’t stop anywhere-”said Johnny.

“Yeah I’m on my way-” she replied “Just need to get some food-I’m starving-”

“No, Lisa listen to me- don’t get out from the car-you need to come here now! Hello? Hello? Lisa-” Johnny tried to convince Lisa over the phone.

But she had already disconnected the phone- she was getting moody and impatient- no time to listen to anyone- all she wanted was food, which was in the shop next to the gas station.

She rushed towards the shop and slammed the door open and then ran towards the shelves and took a bag of chips- she tore it open and began to consume it like a savage. After finishing the entire packet, she was still hungry, now she took a pack of ice cream from the fridge and ate it – she almost choked on the food but the more she ate, the more she grew hungry. She was going mad with hunger and now she rushed over towards some apples and grabbed some with both of her hands and began chomping down like an animal. The store keeper was observing her and went over to stop her. There was only one other older woman in the store and she was quietly picking up some goods without paying much attention to Lisa. The store keeper was 50 years old man who was starting to get a little worried – he shouted at Lisa from a distance-

“Hey Lady! What the hell are you doing! Stop that!”

But Lisa was too busy to listen. The store keeper approached her and grabbed her hand-

“Lady- are you crazy! You’re ruining these-”he said.

Lisa grunted and gave him such a crazy look that the store keeper backed off. He could see the madness in her red eyes. He went back to his desk to call the cops. After finishing almost half of the crate of apples- mostly half eaten- she stopped and suddenly started to feel a lot of pain in her abdomen. The food she had was hurting her stomach. She felt like throwing up. She kneeled down on the floor and began choking and coughing. Meanwhile, the store keeper had already called the cops and the other lady was still calmly picking up some goods, oblivious to what was happening.

Lisa ran out of the store towards the garbage bins and started puking. All the food she had just consumed was starting to come out. But she noticed that whatever came out was black as tar- she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was black liquid on the ground, pouring out from her mouth. After a few minutes she stopped throwing up and cleaned herself a bit. She was starting to get dizzy and that’s when she saw the lady from the store, standing a few meters from her, quietly staring at her. Lisa couldn’t utter a word, she was drifting away into deep sleep- her eyes got heavier- she felt like her heart beat was getting slower and slower...

Raven had almost arrived at the gas station on her bike, looking for Lisa, Johnny wasn’t far behind. She had earlier picked up her GPS location through her phone and assuming that she was in some kind of trouble, she and Johnathan were coming to her rescue...Johnathan stopped his van in front of the store and in front of the head lights, not to far from him, was Lisa, shivering and choking in pain...He immediately got out of his vehicle and ran towards her calling her name. Raven stopped him halfway, placing her hand on his chest. Johnathan wanted to help her but he understood now why Raven won't let him anywhere near her. The black night sky was beginning to crackle with thunder- there was a storm coming...