“The Golden Dawn Society?” Rosha asked with confusion.
Dane shook his head with an expression as if he had swallowed bitter medicine. Rather than giving Rosha an explanation, he seemed to have a negative reaction towards the mention of the Golden Dawn.
“Father said that it’s a crazy cult. They appear in newspapers a lot these days, and they sound absurd.”
Dane was negative, but his reaction was rather actually propelling Rosha’s curiosity further.
“What do they say?”
“They asked if there are strong evil forces scattered all over the world, if people disappear from the village for no reason or get sick, or if the sinister persists, contact them. They would resolve the issues. But it’s not for free. It sounds like a scam to me.”
“…..”
“Anyway, you don’t need to be interested in it because it’s a strange group.”
After he had finished explaining, Dane hurried again to see if her interest in the content of the newspaper had ceased. Rosha was not particularly intrigued by the content of the newspaper, so she followed Dane without a doubt on her mind. Then, it was the time to climb the hill.
Ruff! Ruff!
“Polly, what is it?”
Suddenly, Polly glared intently at somewhere and barked furiously. Her barks were somewhat unusual. Extreme aggression was revealed in her gaze.
“What’s wrong with her all of a sudden?”
In astonishment, Rosha stared at the direction where Polly was barking. It turned out that Polly was barking in a frenzy towards a house that was barely visible from where they were standing, with lights leaking from its window, in the distance.
“Polly, stop it. Let’s go.”
She was forced to push Polly to climb the hill. “Come on! Come on!” But the more she did it, the more rebellious Polly became. After a while, Polly stopped her misbehaviour and started to tremble with her tail down, she even made painful sounds. Somehow, something around them had frightened her. However, it was getting late and they had to go home, so Rosha and Dane were forced to push Polly forward. Eventually, Polly escaped from their arms and rushed down the hill.
“Polly!”
Roscha called anxiously, but Polly didn’t stop.
“Polly is acting strange. I’ll go after her. Tell father that Polly had ran away!”
“What? Wait! Rosha!”
Dane tried to stop Rosha but she was so focused on chasing Polly down the hill that she could not hear Dane’s call and did not look back.
‘Neither of them listened.’ Dane grunted and sped up towards their home.
He was worried about the path Rosha and Polly were heading to.
****
“Polly! Polly!”
Rosha tracked down Polly’s footsteps, and continued to shout her name, but the dog had scampered away so fast that Rosha lost sight of her.
“Rosha!”
“Huh? Oh, Uncle!”
“Isn’t this your dog?”
Rosha glared at Polly, who was dragged by a leash in the uncle’s hand. Polly was still quivering with her tail close to her.
“All of a sudden she barked a lot and ran away like she saw something scary.” Rosha said.
“What could possibly scare this big dog?” Her uncle asked.
“I know, right? Anyway, Polly. Let’s go home now.”
Rosha finished talking to a village uncle whom she had known since childhood and tried to take Polly. But, Polly avoided her touch.
“Polly, what’s the matter?” Rosha sighed in frustration.
“It looks like she doesn’t want to go home, you can leave her with me today. I’ll give her some left over food and you can pick her up tomorrow.” The village uncle suggested.
“It’s not that I don’t love you, but I can’t stay here with you, Polly.”
Rosha gazed at Polly with resentful eyes, and eventually nodded.
” Thank you, uncle.”
“Yes, come down here with your father tomorrow.”
Rosha greeted the uncle goodbye and turned around. As she was about to leave, Polly caught her sleeve.
“Polly, what do you want me to do?”
Rosha asked frustratedly, but Polly kept biting her sleeve, not letting go.
“No, Polly. I have to go home.”
The village uncle pulled the leash forcefully but it was of no use, and eventually, Rosha’s sleeve was torn by her.
“Polly! You! I’m going to tell mother and father how bad you are!”
Rosha was upset with her torn clothes and dashed away in tears. Suddenly, the anger she had for her parents disappeared, and her only desire now was to haste back home and complain about it. It was completely dark as the sun had long gone, but there was yellow light shining faintly in the distance and the way back home was not so difficult. Moreover, she was so familiar with the road that she could even find her way home with her eyes closed.
The distance was getting closer, but suddenly, Rosha could hear the fierce cries and struggles of the farm animals. All of the livestock on the ranch, which were usually gentle, quarreled and called out fiercely, trying to get out of the fence, and not a single person could be seen outside. Instinctively, Rosha realized that something was wrong. She hurried her steps and opened the door to her house which seemed to be strangely peaceful.
“Well, I’m back ..”
Nonetheless, the serenity of her world was shattered without warning. As soon as the door was opened, a fishy smell pierced her nose and made her stomach upset, as if she could throw up at any moment. And there was more to the sight than to the smell.
‘Why is there a snake in my house…?’ With the dining table, the sofa, and all of the furniture broken, a large pit appeared in the middle of the house. It was huge, hollow, and of the same thickness of Rosha’s waist. It was round and still. Rosha’s gaze started at the snake’s tail, all the way up to the trunk. As her eyes went up along the serpent’s upper part, she saw the body of a person being swallowed halfway into the snake’s mouth. Rosha knew who the person was.
“Oppa….!”
The serpentine, the abominable creature, who was holding Dane and devouring him in her stomach, quickly raised her head. Only then could Rosha see the body of her parents, who were headless, lying on the ground behind it.
[Don’t you know Ramia?]
Rosha recalled Dane’s story earlier in the day. The upper body appeared like a woman with very long black hair, and the lower body resembles a monster with a snake tail long enough to stretch over their ranch.
Why did Dane’s nonsense story suddenly come to her mind? No, how could this unimaginable scene unfold in front of her eyes!?
****
Sponsored Content
