The water gun was a little heavy for Lizza to hold while its contents were full. From her point of view, she
thought she was aiming for her bugfaced brother, but instead, the water stream blasted their dad instead.
Lizza's mind went blank as she stood on the lakeshore, watching the water drip from their dad's clothes. Rydel
looked surprised too, though his expression melted afterwards into a "ooh-you've-done-it-now" look. He
proceeded in trying to create a wall of sand between him, and their dad and Lizza, eager to see where this
would go.
Awkward silence passed, which felt like an eternity to Lizza. She knew their dad wasn't the type to
immediately blow up and start shouting. She knew that he wouldn't yell or shout, or scream at her for doing
something wrong. She knew, deep in her mind, that this trip meant a lot to him, even though it didn't to her.
She knew all of this, and was also aware that she wouldn't be able to get out of this situation easily...
"Lizza."
She twitched. The water gun fell onto the sand.
"Please, come here."
She heard her brother snickering behind his sandy wall of defense.
"...Do you know what just happened?"
His voice seemed calm, innocent, like he truly wasn't aware of what had happened. The question's answer was
painfully obvious. Lizza took a sharp inhale, and held her breath as she prepared to speak.
"Y-yeah. I was, uh... I was--"
"Do you know what today is?"
His voice sounded a little more stern here. Lizza's heart sank.
"...It's been two years since Mom died today." Lizza's eyes lowered to the sand she stood upon.
"Right. So do you know why we took this trip?"
She remained silent, pressured by all of the innocent-sounding questions.
"...Lizza, we took this trip to bond as a family. Back then, your mother and I were working all the time. We
wanted to make enough money so we could all go on a great family trip one day. It was going pretty well,
until..." His voice trailed off. "Until that day happened. They never did find that car that hit her. They
never did..."
An awkward air hung around the family...
Their dad got up. "...I'm going to change into my spare clothes. Be right back, kids." He walked off, towards
the dirt path to the parking lot, when he suddenly collapsed.
"Dad?!" Lizza cried, and rushed over to him.
"Haah... Weird... Diseases usually don't catch on this quick, eh?" Their dad groaned weakly. "Urgh!" He began
violently shivering, his hands clawed into the dirt in pain. "Wha...what is this...? My whole body... s-
started to ache... Aghh!!"
"D-dad!" Lizza instantly began blaming herself for this. "Rydel! Go get help! Quick!" Rydel nodded, and
scurried off along the shoreline to see if anyone else was around.
"Dad, no!" Beads of tears began forming in Lizza's eyes. It's been two years since her mom had left her and
Rydel, and she didn't want her dad to leave them as well. "Dad, I'm sorry!" She leaned in to hug him.
"Lzzzaaa... SsstAaaYY bAacKK!!" Her dad's voice had become strangely warped, sounding much deeper and
gravelly.
"Huh...? Dad?" She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and the snot from her nose, and stepped back.
"Hgrghh...! Gragaagh!!" Growling, snarling sounds began filling the air, as the dad writhed around on the dirt
path. The writhing became more violent as the snarling grew louder. Lizza cautiously continued stepping back,
afraid of what was happening. She watched the event unfold in front of her in horror.
Her dad's upper body swelled with what looked like extra muscle, tearing through the wet clothes he was
wearing like it was a wet paper towel. Sharp, black spike erupted through the back of his shirt. His hair had
grown into a mane along his neck. His fingers gnarled into deadly claws. Purple ooze dribbled from the red
fangs that now filled his mouth. His eyes now seemed to glow a dangerous green as he glared at Lizza, who had
backed up against a tree. The beast let loose a deafening howl, and leapt at her.
Lizza screamed, and ducked out of the way. The beast easily crushed through the tree's trunk, and tumbled
forward from momentum. Lizza took this opportunity to escape as fast as she could.
As she ran, she quickly thought of what to do next. Should she look for her brother? If he had found help,
would this bring the danger to them as well? Or should she try to find somewhere to hide, and take a moment to
rest to reflect on whatever had just happened now?
Lizza...