Spring City has been thriving amongst all the cities in the Philippines, built where once a mountain stood high, a new sanctuary for Felicia after running away from a painful past.
On her first day, she meets an eccentric neighbor, Carlotta claiming...
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Felicia had a nice shower that evening. That day was indeed different. She felt cheery than she had ever been for a long time. The familiar feeling of happiness made her sing in the shower. Chris. Fascinating, smart and handsome Chris, who always smells so nice...
After a long shower, Felicia switched the radio on and along came jazz music. She walks to the kitchen to make green tea, massaged her shoulder and stretched her arms. It has been a long day. The song, Your love is king by Sade was playing on the radio, to which she started singing along. She thought about Chris again as she laid her head on her soft throw pillow (one of the things she brought with her from Santa Barbara). Just as she was about to fell asleep, the doorbell rang jolting her up. It rang again before she could stand up. She wondered who could be in such a hurry at this time of the night, she immediately walked to the door and unlocked it. Could it be Chris? Or Kanor? Or maybe Carlotta?
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see no one. Instead, she felt a gust of the wind against her face that she got goosebumps all over her body. She immediately closed and double locked the door. As she turned around, she almost fainted when she saw two weird looking creatures sitting in her living room. A silent scream escaped from her lips in horror to what was in front of her. The two creatures stood two meters high, huge pointed crooked nose, both wearing red pointy hats and shoes. The male one had a slumped shoulder as if bored to be there. The other one must be a female with her long hair, and soft features looked fierce with its thick connected eyebrows. Felicia gathered herself and almost a whisper; she asked, "W-who are you? What are you doing here? Please, don't hurt me." Felicia had never been scared like this her whole life, but she tried sounding authoritative. As calmly as possible she tried to hold the door knob.
"Woman, this is your fate, and you must accept it whether you like it or not. You are set to die today, and you will be offered to the gods of our world," the female dwarf stated with her squeaky voice.
"Are you serious? Y-you must be out of your minds. Why do people around here dress up like it's Halloween? It's still a few days away! Please get out of the door now."
"Lady, I don't think you understand—" the male dwarf tried to speak, but Felicia cut in.
"I just moved here, of course, I don't. Do you have some kind of a tradition here in Spring City that I do not know?"
"Shall we introduce ourselves to her first? I don't think she understands," Crux asked Garuda.
"I don't want to waste my time, but please have the pleasure. She's going to die anyway." Apologetically, the male dwarf started to speak, "My name is Crux and this is my colleague here named, Garuda. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but we are the soul hunters that only come out every 31st of October. Since you have opened the door for us, you are going to die tonight, you will be our offer to our gods, to the god of the mountain." Suddenly it all made sense to Felicia. She remembered Carlotta's warning to be careful on the 31st of October, and she recalled the killings which Carlotta mentioned. Of course, Carlotta was telling the truth and she wished she took it seriously!
