Shadows of the Moon: The Unrequited Journey

"You're such a dick!"

And that's how it all began.

I had expected Angelina to be angry when I told her that I wanted to break up. She had never been one for maturity, and I knew she could be spiteful, but I didn't expect her to show up at my house with a group of guys who beat the living hell out of me. When they left, I was bruised and broken, but most importantly: alone.

I remember sitting there on the floor, trying to wrap my head around what had happened. It was like I was in some sort of daze. The pain in my body didn't register, and everything felt surreal. It took me several minutes before I even remembered that there was something I needed to do.

Angelina had smashed my phone while she was beating me up, so I weakly got up off the ground and hobbled into the kitchen. My hands were shaking as I searched through all of the drawers until I found a sharp knife. That's when I did it.

I don't know how long it took for me to do it, or if it hurt much at all, but suddenly there wasn't any more pain in my body. There wasn't any pain at all anymore. It was as if someone had just turned off my brain and let me fall asleep on the spot. The only thing that kept me from slumping down onto the floor was the fact that I was still holding onto the knife and leaning against the countertop. Before long though, even that didn't seem important anymore and the knife clattered to the floor next to me as my arms gave out beneath me and my head hit the edge of the cabinet door behind me with a dull thud right before everything went black.

I spent weeks floating in and out of consciousness after waking up on the kitchen floor covered in blood, no idea what had happened or where anyone else was. After a while though, I couldn't take it anymore and decided to get up off the floor and leave the house. It was mid-afternoon and very sunny outside in this small town where we used to live together. People walked past me without seeming to notice or care about what looked like an injured young man walking around outside with bloody clothes on looking for help or answers of some kind. Nobody stopped or answered my questions about where Angelina was or even asked why I was covered in blood from head to toe. They just kept walking by, leaving me alone as if nothing strange was going on at all. Some even threw looks of disgust over their shoulders as they walked by like they were scared of catching whatever sickness that had infected me or something like that. None of them would answer any of my questions about where everyone else was either or offer to call for help for some reason. Even stranger than their lack of concern over my wellbeing however, were their eyes...or lack thereof! Not a single person seemed to have eyes anymore! Where their sockets should have been there were only flat empty patches of skin devoid of pupils or irises! It made looking at them almost painful somehow after a while! And yet nobody seemed bothered by it at all!

It took days before I managed to find Angelina's house again after roaming around aimlessly for so long trying to figure out what had happened, but when I finally arrived it looked completely abandoned with all of the curtains drawn inside and not a single sign of life anywhere around it's yard other than myself lurking nearby watching her front door waiting for someone, anyone...especially Angelina herself...to appear so that maybe they would tell me what was going on here so that maybe they would explain why everyone else acted like they couldn't see or talk to anybody else anymore but instead just ignored everybody else until they couldn't stand being around them any longer! Why people never talked anymore unless they whispered things into other people's ears too quietly for anyone else nearby to overhear! Why people never made eye contact with each other anymore! Why people never actually spoke out loud at all anymore but instead wrote things down on pieces of paper or put things into boxes online without ever speaking at all about anything anymore! And why this whole town seemed like a ghost town now with no signs whatsoever left behind by any other humans remaining alive anywhere near here besides myself except for Angelina...and now this kid showing up at her front door who must be visiting her too since he's wearing the same uniform from school as everyone else wears!

I watched from a distance as the young boy hesitated in front of the abandoned house. He seemed lost, just like me. And just like me, he had the same perplexed look on his face, as if he, too, couldn't comprehend the strange happenings in this town. Something about his presence intrigued me. Perhaps here was someone who could offer me some answers, some sense of clarity in this topsy-turvy world.

I cautiously approached the boy, my body still weak and sore from the ordeal I had endured. As I got closer, I noticed the same emptiness in his eyes, the absence of life that plagued everyone in this town. "Hey," I called out, making sure to keep my voice gentle but loud enough for him to hear. "Are you looking for someone too?"

The boy turned towards me, his eyes void of recognition or emotion. "Yes," he answered softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm looking for my sister. She disappeared, just like everyone else."

My heart sank, realizing that he, too, was a victim of whatever strange force had gripped this town. "I'm sorry," I murmured sympathetically, stealing a glance at the abandoned house. "Do you think she might be in there?"

The boy nodded, his gaze fixed on the house. "I saw her come here before... but she never came out."

A surge of determination swept through me, propelling me towards the house with a newfound purpose. The boy followed behind silently, a silent companion in this eerie journey. Together, we pushed open the creaking front door, revealing a dimly lit interior filled with dusty furniture and forgotten memories.

"Angelina?" I called out, my voice echoing in the empty space. "Are you here?"

No response.

We ventured further inside, exploring each room with trepidation. As we reached the kitchen, we froze in our tracks. There, lying on the floor, was Angelina. But it wasn't the Angelina we knew. Her once vibrant and malicious personality now seemed extinguished, replaced by a vacant stare.

The boy rushed to her side, tears streaming down his face. "Sis...wake up! Please wake up!"

I knelt down beside them, my heart heavy with despair. "What happened to her?" I whispered, my voice filled with anguish.

"I don't know," he choked out between sobs. "She was never like this before. It's like...like something drained the life out of her."

Suddenly, the sound of a faint whisper caught our attention. We turned our heads to find a scrap of paper lying on the kitchen counter. The message scrawled on it was barely legible, written in hurried handwriting. It read: "Find the old abandoned hospital. Save yourselves."

We glanced at each other, a glimmer of hope shining through our tears. Perhaps this was the answer we had been seeking, the key to unraveling the mysteries that plagued this town. Holding hands, we made a silent vow to find the old hospital and uncover the truth.

As we stepped out of the house, the world around us seemed to flicker, as if reality itself was on the brink of collapsing. But we pushed forward, our determination unyielding. For in this twisted and desolate town, we were the sole bearers of hope, the flickering flame that refused to be extinguished. And together, we would bring back life, banishing the darkness that had enveloped our loved ones and ourselves.