A Serenade for the Innocent Chapter 4

I always wanted to be a city girl .

AdvertisementLiving in the city and having a great time in an apartment across the flickering lights of the streets . Dreams like this were nice until I realized that I live in the mountains and my house is in the middle of nowhere . Don't get me wrong, I love living here . Eating freshly picked vegetables and drinking the highest grade of dairy I've ever tasted in my life is the best! Everything is a countryside paradise until someone started bothering me . Every time I look down from the window of my room, I sense someone looking straight up at me . I can see them, not clearly but they are there . A dark figure, hidden behind a curtain of fog . I can't explain why but I know they're looking straight right through me although their face remains unseen . Here in the suburbs, it's always foggy . One may never know what some people want or who they are or if they're even real; needless to say, having someone looking up to you while your home resides in the middle of nowhere is a bit disconcerting .

I never suspected anybody in my neighborhood to be the culprit, not even once! All of them are great people, they're all friendly, and they're all amazing needless to say . Believe me, this place is all smiles! I am confident that whoever this person is, they are not from around here . No one would have the time to be spending most of their mornings looking up at me every day without a hint of stopping . I leave my home to do some work on my relative's farm and I come home when the darkness of the night covers the entirety of the mountains . I can only check every morning but every time I do, they are always there: the dark silhouette staring at me hiding behind the comfort of his fog . I felt awkward to ask my neighbors about this matter . Not to mention, I don't have the same confidence as those people in the city . I mean, jeez, I want some answers but I don't have the strength to battle the anxiety needed to unravel it . I had no idea who they are but they made me shiver . Which is oddly comforting with me, I can't see them thoroughly after all . They do not seem to harm me anyway, maybe they are just a shy suitor! Anyway, I can only work out their silhouette . All thanks to the thick fog here .

However, some days are not foggy .

One day, I was rendered speechless as I look down the window, terrified, but I know a huge chunk of me is excited . The fog has lifted . The fog is nowhere to be seen . The mountains strip itself with its satin draped frame . And, alas, after all this time I can finally see the face of the person dedicated enough to be looking at me every day! I ran towards my window and stuck my head out of it, expecting that the man is there to serenade me oh so sweetly . Oh, how naive I realized I was when the fogs have lifted . I was horrified to see a decomposing corpse stuck in a log with a stake in his stomach . I remembered how mortified I was when I saw maggots crawling from inside of his eyes . I was utterly speechless when I saw that there was no more blood in his body for it's all already smothered in the soil . It bewildered me so to see mosquitoes flying all around him . The thing that impressed me was that I was able to look at it for a solid minute before I can respond from the situation at hand . I screamed, all I can do is scream .

I can still hear my breathing and my voice fused together as I ran towards the telephone to call the local authorities . I could still feel the adrenaline in my body when they asked me to hide under the bed . I remembered how my blood rises when I saw lights colored red and blue shone from the distance like in the movies . The hasty movement of the blood in my skin remains in my heart when I heard the siren rang from afar . Up until now, I still don't know what to answer when they asked me how come I never noticed anything . The person has been dead for months, his corpse has been decomposing a few meters away from my home . How can I explain that I did not even remotely realize nor smell the corpse? So much uncertain in me . I know I'm supposed to feel cornered with a hint of vertigo swirling my head all over the place . . . But I feel nothing but a strange wave of euphoria . Is this how it feels like to live in the city? You will experience moments of your life where your sagacity gets tested every day? I wish this excitement! I wish to be in the city! Is this rush of blood what the city-folks feel?

How I wish that every day is not foggy .

Chapter end