1 Chapter 1

Noisy surroundings were being present every time she pass-through the city of Haler but not because of the noise of people but because of the noise of vehicles. Lights are turned on in every street with a two meters distance. The windows of trains were being closed every time like it is always at rest. Cars were running smoothly as if they were afraid to commit mistakes in their driveways. People were as silent as dead, no one would attempt to talk if it is not necessary for them. There's nobody who would give a warm welcome nor goodbye. Everyone must wear clothes that would cover their neck. In this world, they must hide their necks. Everything seems so cold, these surroundings are likely dead.

As she takes a one-step forward raindrop is falling slowly. But this girl doesn't care about the situation of the surroundings. A few people who are walking through the street suddenly run as fast as they can for the rain is getting stronger. Windows and doors of side-to-side houses were being shot forcibly.

An hour bygone the rain stopped then she turns left of the way. Her coat was waterproof but her hair at the front and as well as her forehead got wet. She was wearing all black. The sound of a girl's cry suddenly came out of nowhere and then she stopped. Focusing on the cry would lead to a deep wonder and driving back to anxiety.

"Stop!"

She suddenly holds her head and closes her eyes.

A few seconds later the cry stopped and she slowly opens her eyes and stares at her surrounding. She was starting to remember the brutality of this world. Dead bodies in her mind are getting back again, it is like she recorded every scene of cruelty that she had been witnessed.

She tries to comfort herself and then started to walk again to arrive at her destination.

After half an hour, she finally reached her destination. She felt a little bit of exhaustion from walking a very long distance. She chose to walk the way this time to meditate herself from her concerns.

Facing at the front of an old black door. Above this door, on the right side, there's a written word, 'APARTMENT'. She took one step then starts to hold the knob slowly and tries to open this door but a horrible noise suddenly appeared straight at her back, six meters away.

She makes a turn at her back then saw not very clearly two men who are fighting and the other one was bleeding at his forehead. Her heart starts to beat faster and faster.

The other man is stronger than the other one so he is slowly falling to the ground. The other man's two teeth slowly grow to fangs. Seeing it with her own eyes lead her to tremble. She breathes nervously.

She attempts to hold the knob as fast as she could in a silent way while still staring at the horrible scene. Finally, the man starts to bite the neck of his prey. The neck of his prey has a tattoo that was a rabbit.

She successfully opened the door then hastily entered in. Leaning at the door while eyes are closed. Her mind spells and cries these words continuously, 'Stop... I'm tired', and tears are starting to fall. Of course, all of us could feel the feeling of tiredness but is it a sign for us to stop? We have limitations but it doesn't mean that we are a failure for we are all imperfect, we have weaknesses.

On the other side, the man successfully finished his dinner then stood up. He stretched out his tongue to lick the remaining blood from the outer sides of his lips. His fangs suddenly came back into a normal tooth then took a straight stare to an old black door.

Another horrid night again bygone.

"Cring! Cring! Cring!"

Her alarms from her phone continue to make a sound until she woke up and then turns it off while her eyes are still closed. She finally opens her eyes then stares at the ceiling. Her boots were not taken off because of her eagerness to escape reality. Her coat was being at the floor laying it messy, on the left side of her. She takes a deep breath then turns her head to her right side to see her phone. She picked it up by her right hand then turn it on and saw that five minutes have passed from the time that she had alarmed, at 4:00 am.

Slowly, she takes a seat on her bed then turns off again the phone. She gives time to stare at the walls which were fall of written papers. The written which catches her attention was her name which was being written in a very messy way and colored like rainbows for she wrote it when she was at the age of nine, on her ninth birthday. She remembered again the blurred smiley faces of her parents. She suddenly smiles as if they can see it.

While thinking of her parents, interesting words from the wall begs for her attention. She slowly stands up then stepped towards the wall.

"PREDATORS AND PREY"

"UNSOLVED BIG MYSTERY"

"WHY?"

These are the words that are driving her into more and more curiosity. She wrote it all, wrote it all in the last few years, and right now her interest was being awakened again.

While thinking deep, the sound of a chirping bird suddenly appeared from the window. Her full attention suddenly brought into the present reality and was shocked to know that she forgot to close the only window on this rented apartment that was on the left side of her bed and three meters away.

She hurriedly runs to the window then closed it and fixed the placement of the curtains.

"Gosh... How careless am I?"

Then she sighed and combed her hair with her right hand.

She takes a look at the clock on the right side of her bed. She saw that it was already 4:16 am. She took the towel then walk towards the comfort room and starts to take a bath.

After more than ten minutes she was got finished with her bath then wearing clothes just like what she always wanted to wear. Black boots, black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black coat which was below knee, are the things that she was wearing right now. And she starts to wear the long black fabric very well at her neck. Ensuring that nobody could see it. Staring at her reflection in the mirror was unusual for her. She only gives herself time to have a look in the mirror when there's something special with the day.

Her eyes were brown, her long hair was beautifully wavy and with a slight color of brown at the edges. Her eyelashes were simple and as well as her eyebrows. She has a slightly pinkish lip and a not too pointed nor too blunt nose but just perfect for her cute and lovely face.

She sighed first then get a card from the cabinet which was on the south side of her bed. And put it in the pocket of her jeans. She starts to walk towards the door then stopped. She always does this, every scene of a new day seems yesterday. She closed her eyes, trying to leave behind all the burdens. She holds the knob while opening her eyes and starts to open the door slowly.

The sun from the east has not yet shown itself which leads to a little number of lights to lighten the surroundings. The air was so fresh and she could still feel the cold. One or two cars would pass through the driveway. She starts to step out then closed the door. As she makes a turn towards the direction to the road this old lady suddenly appeared at her back, she didn't know that she was there. She looks at her with a confusing look even if she knows what's the purpose or she's just guessing it.

Her almost white hair was very short and she's as tall as Fontana. She was about seventy and above years of age. Her body was dressed up like her to make sure that all was hidden, from toes to her neck.

"Be careful."

She said coldly. Then she turns back and starts to stepped forward.

"Mrs. Ramirez."

She tried to call the old lady but it seems that she didn't hear it so she just let it then continues to walk to get closer to the road.

Mrs. Liahra Rameriz was the owner of the apartment that she was renting on and she always say to her, 'be careful', every morning when she first stepped from the door. And she didn't care about what she keeps telling her for she already knows. But right now, this is the first time that she mentioned her name. She wants to ask something but it didn't go very easy.

The blue new-like bus stopped at her front. She took a stepped in it then before fully entering in she slides her card at the right side and it beeped.

Continuously walking to the last vacant seats at the very back while some of the passengers looking at her strangely. She just sits on the last left side vacant seat without giving attention to no one. She's the only person sitting at the back. The bus continues to run the driveway to its destination, the city of Haler.

After an hour later she makes a stopped at the front of a hundred floors building with the billboard on the second floor.

"EYRING COMPANY"

The two words are written on the billboard with a lifeless design.

She took a step to the ground then the bus continues on its way. She wears her hood before making any steps towards the entrance of this company. She took the elevator then press the numbers three and one. She's just solo inside this elevator. A few minutes bygone, the elevator stopped then automatically opens and she stepped out then walks towards the straight path and turn left then saw about forty well-arranged small spaces of box-like offices. She walks towards the sixth row then sits there and gets her ID which hangs on the left side of the wall and puts it on the left side of her chest on her coat. She doesn't take off her coat just like all of the employees. Before turning on the computer she takes off first her hood and starts typing.

Eyring Company sells high-quality fabrics and well-fashioned clothing. She works here more than two years ago. Inside this place, no one would attempt to talk with somebody, they are just busy with their works, as usual.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

A man suddenly shouts very loud because of his painful situation. All the attention of the employees is to him. While continuously trembling on his chair, his skin was turning rotten then his eyes are starting to bleed. As he falls to the ground he losses his breath.

Her heart beats a little faster. This was the third time that it happened again inside this place. All employee's attentions were at their works again except her. She keeps starting at the dead body of one of the employees in this company.

"Ms. Swundes, back to work."

She suddenly focused her attention on the computer after hearing the cold voice of their manager in this team.

After how many minutes, two men came and they individually hold the dead's hands. As they dragged the dead body, a black fabric coiled in his neck got loose and the neck revealed a black fox tattoo. Fontana saw it.

"Predator..." She whispered.

The daylight was almost done. Walking towards a bakery while staring at her feet. Somebody just bumped her at the right shoulder but didn't give attention to it. She opens the transparent door of this bakery and walks straight in the direction where cakes are being displayed. She chose the small size cake, its color was pink with three blue flowers on top. As the woman gives her the well-packaged cake she also gives her card. After a few seconds, the woman returned her card.

She went out of the bakery then walked the way to the train station.

She sits down on the chair which is about one meter long and puts her well-packaged cake on her lap. On the left side of the chair that she was sitting on there was a three meters post and at the top, there's a rectangular shape metal that was attached and there was a word which was being written into it, 'CANTANNA'. After almost one minute of waiting the train finally came and one of the entrances of the train perfectly stops at her front. It opens and passengers are starting stepping out.

When there were no more passengers stepping out from the train she walked in and take a seat to the right corner and then wear her hood. She hugs her cake carefully as if somebody would rob it. She needs to wait about ten minutes above before the trip. Just twelve minutes later, the seats were occupied.

"Get ready for the trip."

A girl's voice said twice from the speaker that was at the right top corner inside of this train and it echoes thrice for the windows were locked. The door slowly closed then this train starts to function.

She leans her head to the corner then closed her eyes.

She didn't notice that she fell asleep about half of an hour. She got woke up because of an unintended fall of the woman's bag that was beside her seat and it makes a loud sound. She rectifies the way she sit then looks at the woman who was getting her bag. She was silently felt shocked when the woman slowly looses the coiled fabric on her neck then lucky her for Fontana immediately pull it back again to get it covered. This woman suddenly stares at her badly and then secured her neck from her. She just ignored this woman and when she turns her sight into another direction, the way the man gazes at the woman beside her catches her full attention. It was like he knows what just happened earlier and he's eager to see her neck. Fontana quickly avoids this man's stare when he suddenly changed his sight to her.

This man knows that she helped that woman and it is not usual for them to help someone, that attitude was very rare.

"Arriving in Cantanna."

And it echoed thrice again.

The train slowly stopped then the door opens. Before going out she gets her card then slide it to the right side then it beeped and she walked out.

She successfully arrived at her apartment. She unpacked the cake and gets one candle then put it at the top of the cake. And took a lighter then lighted up the candle. Before taking a seat she sweetly smiles.

"Happy twentieth birthday Fontana Marie Swundes."

Then she closed her eyes and blows the candle. She started slicing her cake then took a one-piece and put it on a small plate which was just enough for its size. She suddenly stopped attempting to eat the food when there was a big sound made by somebody who was being thrown to a rigid wall. This sound came from the back of her exit door. She stayed freeze for a second then hurriedly walks towards the exit door and immediately open the door. What a big shock when she saw the familiar face that was bathing in her own blood.

"Mrs. Ramirez?..."

She said in a sputter way.

She immediately turns her sight at the right side then saw a man who was facing backward at a three and a half meters distance from them. The blood was falling slowly from his fists. Then he rushed to run and took the left way and didn't see him anymore.

Fontana knows who he was for it is very familiar for her. She was very sure that it was Shan Clinton Ramirez, Mrs. Rameriz's son.

She turns back again her attention to the dying old woman. Her head was severely bleeding and her entrails were visible. Fontana didn't know what to do. She felt sorry for her. This old lady looks at her eye to eye while there are tears that slowly fell.

"Trust no one... Be careful... Be always careful." She forced herself to say those words for her. Fontana's tears started to fall.

The old lady just died.

She bows her head then cries for a minute. After lamentation, she wiped her tears on her chicks then take off the coiled long fabric from Mrs. Rameriz's neck.

"A rat."

She whispered.

Mrs. Ramirez has a rat tattoo on her right side of her neck.

Now, Fontana already knew why she was being killed by her son but she still couldn't accept the reality even if she knows just a little reason why these are happening.

She stood up then immediately get her phone from her bed and dial the number, '604'. It starts ringing and just a second bygone somebody answered her call. She never waits that someone would speak so she immediately grabs the opportunity.

"There's a dead body at Mrs. Rameriz's residence. She's dead."

On the other line, they ended up the call.

After just a few minutes of waiting, the members of an organization who has the responsibility to collect dead bodies finally arrived. They put Mrs. Ramirez's body inside a big black plastic then put it inside the van. She just keeps staring at them while doing their work. There are no words to hear from them, yes, they didn't care for anyone. The four men enter the van and leave her alone.

Her birthday was already ruined just like before. You thought that vampires and wolves exist in this world? I say to you, no. No, because there were only two groups that were well-known here, 'predators and prey'. This is a world where everything is a game and is full of rules, this world is called Woe's World.