Blood-sucking vampire. Cannibalistic two-faced demon. Child-eating hobgoblin. Or a monstrous highly aggressive unicorn.

Those were the few things I would have had in my mind if I was asked to imagine what a Morix would look like.

I looked towards Orange Sicko. He was clad in ragged clothes that reached the end of his knees and the cascading orange hair which I have grown to dislike was almost as long as his cloak. On his wrists, thick strands of brown fabric were tied tightly together to form two woven bracelets.

I shook my head as my eyebrows crunched together at the sight. If someone told me that a Morix looked like an old man with insane orange hair and a terrible sense of fashion, I would have been in hysterics. Appalled at my idea of being in hysterics in such a situation, I switched my attention to something more important.

"What's taking the ambulance so long?" I whispered to myself when I saw that the pale moonlight had highlighted a visual map of purple and red on Kian's face. The soaked bandage that was clumsily bound to his head was slightly askew. He looks awful. I pulled my hair.

"Kill me then!" Orange's  outburst frightened a poor owl and a poor Scarlett. I breathed in a  sharp intake of air as I realized I accidentally pulled off a few strands of my hair. I looked up as the owl hooted and  fluttered away hurriedly.

"Do it! It'll save  everyone the trouble!" Orange shouted and tried to spit at Papa's face but missed,  probably due to his pepper-sprayed eyes.

"Trust me, "Papa eyes could have bored a hole into Orange's face. "if we were to have this delightful encounter yesterday, you'll already be dead. Would you like me to change my mind?", a cold shiver ran through my body at Papa's threat.

Suddenly the gravel on the floor seemed much more interesting than the conversation between Papa and Orange.

I opened the palm of my hand and the few strands of hair got carried away by the wind. I reverted my focus on my scrambled thoughts as I watched the strands flew away.

At age 5, I was repeatedly taught to say no to strangers. At age 7, I knew that danger was in front of me, behind me and all  around me. At age 9, I learned which part of a man's body I should kick if they show signs of aggression. At age 11, I learnt that all these were to protect myself from this orange abomination? And Papa! My Papa! The one who had taught me everything I knew to protect myself from Morixes, was currently interrogating a Morix with a gun!

I scratched my head furiously with both hands and continued on even though I felt dead skin accumulated beneath my fingernails and heard the sound of gravel being stepped on.

"You'll lose all your hair if you keep doing that, Scarlett." I turned my head towards the familiar voice and jolted. Mr Albright!

Mr Albright squatted down, "You alright, Scarlett?" I was pulled into a tight hug. "Why do you keep finding yourself in so much trouble?" I sniffed as his voice drone on. The dark pathway and glaring lampposts started to turn into a blur of yellows and grays.  I wasn't sure whether the sudden torrent of tears were caused by finally able to find relief in the familiar closeness of someone besides Papa, or from the accumulated shock and horror received from the experience I had.

Distressed at my outburst of emotions, Mr Albright tensed, "Scarlett... I didn't mean to raise my voice." He held me at a further distance so he could see my face. "It's alright, Scallop. Uncle Harry is here. No one's going to hurt you anymore, alright?" He wiped away my tears, snot, everything and pulled me back into his embrace as I continued to sobbed loudly.

"I'll get you home." Mr Albright, my uncle said to me.

"What about Kian?" I asked as a group of men in black behind Uncle Harry walked passed me in an urgent. "Who are they?" My hands swiped away at my stupid tears. They were all in suits and had the look of someone with a grave mission to accomplish.

"Kian's going to be fine," he said while gazing at the men in suits who began carting a lifeless Kian. "These men are going to take care of him."

"What do you mean? I called the ambulance-"

"These men are going to take care of everything." Uncle Harry repeated with an assuring tone and pulled me by my hand. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait! Where are they bringing him?" I pulled my hand away from my uncle's.

"The hospital, Scarlett." Patience gained from the many years of being a school teacher began to waver in Uncle Harry's voice. 

With the help of a stretcher, the two men heaved Kian into the depths of one of the black vans. Black vans? Three of them. When did they arrive? Drips and beds rattled along when they settled Kian down with a thud. Expecting Kian to jolt up from the rough treatment, my heart fell when I saw that his eyes were still tightly shut. Color drained from my face as a question ran through my mind.

  Is he...dead? 

  I shook my head vigorously.

  Of course he's not dead! He'll wake up...

   Then with a whoosh, the stench of hospitals, medicine and sick people was gone when the doors of the 'ambulance' were slammed shut. I fell back a few steps when hundreds of tiny pebbles flew as the van came to life. When it began moving forward, I knew I had to release the few words that were still stuck in my throat. I took a deep breath and cupped my mouth.

  "Thanks for saving my life!" I threw my voice out before the car made a sharp turn to the right.

  I brought my hands back down to my sides. As the tail lights pierced the dark night with neon yellow, I realized this may be the last time I would ever meet him again. I felt something curled around my heart and squeezed. I stood in silence until the howling tires barreled out of the pathway.

  My lips stretched to a smile but it didn't reach my eyes. I am truly thankful.

   Bye bye, Kian.

  After a short while of staring at glaring lights, I rubbed my eyes to adjust it back to the dark of the night. Then, I turned around to face a problem much bigger than the sharp sting of tears behind my eyelids.

Papa.

***************
I don't deserve an explanation. 😭 I just want to say I came back alive after a huge one-year writer's block and being succumbed with the feeling that what I have written is not good enough and complete rubbish. But here I am again, hoping some of my amazing readers have not given up on Kian, Scarlett and Miao Miao yet.

Happy Reading.

BTW, were you guys surprised that Mr Albright is Scarlett's uncle? 😜You guys probably already forgotten who he is, didn't you? 😭😭

Love
Your horrible writer,
Syuen