I looked at my pocket graph and noticed I had 15 minutes left before I had to meet Mikhail and agreed to follow her. While we walked to her home In my head, I thought to myself that if my mom saw me now walking with a stranger to a stranger's house I wouldn't hear the last. The thought swirled around my mind until we arrived at her home. She was right. She lived in the center of the marketplace in a small square house with a little small concrete wall, a large field out back, and a small courtyard in the front filled with the same flowers in her basket. she must have planted them here is what I thought, but I carried on. She invited me into her home and encouraged me to sit in a rocking chair with flower patterns branded into the wood of the chair with dark green paint for the stems and red for the flower petals similar to the flowers in her garden. The elderly lady sat in the chair across from me. She introduced herself and I learned her name is Cereza Silver, a former florist who explains all the flowers and that she has seen this accursed creature before. She told her story.

"well it all started nearly 28 years ago, I lived in this small area years before this marketplace was here with my husband, Darrio, and our two sons Henry (7) and Rainne (11). We were happy where nothing ever happened, and we lived peacefully. The boys and my husband were outside playing while I was in the kitchen preparing lunch when a sudden freak dust storm flowed our way from the distance. My sons and husband ran back into the house before the storm became too enraged and we watched it from the safety of our home. The storm lasted throughout the day and long after we turned in for the night, but we weren't prepared for the outcome that would happen later in the night. I was awakened in a full sweat by a disturbing nightmare I was having and walked downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water to ease my nerves. As I finished, I looked at the storm for a minute watching it still raging with fury when I noticed something in the storm; something black and about the size of a child standing there staring back at me. I rushed to the door and opened it to get a better look at it, only for it to disappear. I walked out on the porch and looked around while the wind continued to blow more aggressively. while I fought with the wind to see, I felt something slice at my leg and I screamed in pain. while holding my injury I glanced and there out in the storm, I could make out eyes. all glowing shades of orange in the storm's cover. As they tried to drag me into the house. I occasionally looked back only to see black creatures closing in on me. I finally made it in the house but not before I received another slice to my thigh.

While thrashing around I kicked one and with a quick movement slam of the door behind to hear only the storm at the door. I screamed for my husband while holding my wounds only to hear panic coming downstairs in the shape of Darrio. "What happened to my love?" he said in a panic. I pointed and said there's something outside. He turned on the lights, grabbed a knife from the drawer, and proceeded to the door. I pleaded for him not to, only for him to open the door and be greeted by a dust storm and my blood on the porch. He shut the door still in disbelief that this happens only to see our sons at the top of the staircase looking over this ordeal in fear at their panicking father holding a knife and bloody mother on the floor. Darrio tried to explain and reassure the boys that this wasn't his doing only for the lights to flicker hastily before blanketing the home in complete darkness. Henry screamed, and I encouraged Darrio to go to the boys. He dropped the knife and ran and only got to the middle of the stairs before we all heard a crash from the window and the thing I saw standing outside was in our house. It stood on two legs and was covered in black short fur with longer fur on its hands and feet. it was about the same size as our son Henry, so around 4 feet in height, with five long claws on both hands. The wounds that were inflicted on me throbbed by just looking at them. It had a stinging pungent smell similar to that of sulfur and iron with sickle-like protrusions traveling down its back. Its orange eyes locked on Darrio and the kids and within a blink of an eye, it ran after them up the stairs. I stood in pain, but I tried to help only to be kicked back down the stairs and knocked unconscious by something on the way down. I awoke to the sun's warm rays showering over my body along with the chirping of birds and a major headache from the fall. I picked myself up and called for the boys and my husband only to get no answer. I continued to call and search until I was hoarse. I wept, cursing myself for being useless and to the creature that has disturbed our peaceful home. I limped outside, tears blinding me until I saw Rainne laying face down in the dust with severe slices and bruises.