Capítulo 10: CHAPTER IX
Zacharias Dawson, Uncle Zac, is a man with an excessive interest in monsters, ghouls, ghosts, or all creatures that come out of folk legends. His book collection piled up from his floor to the ceiling, all overlapping in the basement of his house. Although not neatly arranged, the man knows exactly where the book he is looking for is located. Only he can find the location of the books when needed. In one corner of the basement, there is a glass cabinet as wide as the range of adults whose height also almost touches the ceiling. Inside, it contains many amulets or cursed objects. Everything in the basement is the most valuable treasure for Uncle Zac. He hopes his nephew’s grandchildren can one day treat the treasure the way he does.
Currently, Joshua Dawson is his only closest relative. Uncle Zac is never married. His youth was spent moving from one city to another. He loves his life and is unwilling to give up his freedom to a woman. Although there may be someone who almost changes his mind, in the end Uncle Zac loves his life as a yeger more. Yeger is his lifestyle. Sometimes, he himself never knows whether he would survive a fight, whether a stranger will find his body somewhere or will he be able to survive and see tomorrow. However, everything changed when the only nephew he had ever raised to become a yeger, who eventually chose to marry and lived an ordinary human life, died ten years ago. That nephew and his wife died in a car accident and made their only son orphan.
Since then, Uncle Zac decided to retire and stay in order to take care of his nephew's child. He resigned if Josh would not love his books and might sell them to anyone who wanted them. But, two years ago, something changed Josh.
One night Josh brought a friend and said he needed to know everything about ghouls. Hope again filled Uncle Zac's life in the form of a young man named Aidan. Although Aidan had never known the yeger world before, that world made him enthusiastic, even affecting Josh.
That afternoon, they gather in the basement of Uncle Zac's house. Uncle Zac deliberately puts a not too big round table with three chairs in the corner of the room, where they discuss the various possibilities of what creature they are facing.
"Do we need Benny's help tonight?" Josh asks. Benny is one of Josh's many friends who they often ask for help. Usually, they ask for Benny's help when it is difficult to find information needed.
"If you do contact him, hopefully we don't interfere with his date," Aidan says, grinning.
Josh snickers. "You mean dating a big-breasted female avatar? He should have tried dating real women in the real world. Don't tell me that he is more passionate about avatar girls than real women."
"Can be," Aidan grins. "You know, I once caught him having fun with himself in front of the computer while staring at the female avatar." Recalling the incident makes Aidan shudders.
"Gosh, Aid!" Josh exclaims, throwing a book at Aidan. "You don't need to tell that kind of thing! Oh my God!" Josh covers his face with his hands. "Arghhhh! Really terrible"
"You think so, what about me who saw it firsthand? Seeing him do... "Aidan lowers his hands down then changes his mind and folds his hands to his chest, "you know what I mean-thing".
"Yea, disgusting!" Josh shouts as he exits the room and disappears. He almost bumps Uncle Zac, who hurries out of the way.
"What's wrong with him?" asks Uncle Zac confused.
"Maybe, he is nauseous."
Uncle Zac looks at Aidan more confusedly. What did these two kids do to make one of them feel sick? Ah never mind. Uncle Zac decides to ignore what he had just seen. He chooses to sit and looks at the notes scattered on the table. "Did you find anything?"
"Yup, three days ago, Bethany Moore, three years old, was killed. Her body was found on the side of Lake Brook, her stomach was torn and her internal organs were missing." Aidan shows Uncle Zac the news he found.
"Do you think it's done by something, not someone? The culprit is not a heinous crazy human?"
Aidan shakes his head slowly. "From the beginning, I had a feeling this wasn't human doing. Her stomach was torn, not slashed. The internal organs were forcefully removed, not cut. I don't think humans can do this kind of thing. Also, I found three other similar cases. Two are in the Valley, another in the Creek. Victims are children aged two to three years. Their stomachs were torn apart with their internal organs gone."
Josh comes back in with three cans of cold coke.
"Josh also got something," Aidan says.
Josh puts two cans of coke in the middle of the table and opens the one in his hand. He sits next to Aidan, sips his coke and says, "Last night, when Aidan said he found another victim, all children with the same mode. I remember reading about this creature once. To prove my theory, I tried to find another case, cases of corpses of women who lost their fetuses. I found two cases at Creek." Josh hands over printed sheet to his uncle. Aidan also submits his searching results.
"So, Josh, what do you think this creature is?" asks Uncle Zac as he receives the news sheets. His eyes search the news one by one. Actually, he could have guessed what creature they are facing, but he wants to hear the opinion of Josh. He feels happy because it seems like he and Josh can finally share the same passion.
"Aswang," Josh comments. "The organs in young kid and fetuses are their favorite food."
"So, you read these books?" Uncle Zac smiles happily, maybe the thing he dreams of is true. "Judging from from the news that you found, I also come to the same conclusion with Josh. Wait a minute…." Uncle Zac gets up and goes to his stack of books and then disappears between the towering rows of books.
"Apparently, I need to read books here more often." Aidan grins.
"Good boy." Josh pats his own shoulder. "But, actually, I know about that creature not because of reading books here," he whispers.
"It's best not to let Uncle Zac know," Aidan answers quietly. "You saw his face, he was so glad you finally picked an interest in his books."
Josh nods. "That's what I think too."
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