July 3rd

Julia and her little brother Izan always spent the summer in the country, at their aunt Ana's house. It didn't matter that she was 17, she would always love to spend time there. On June 15^th of that year, the aunt called the niece.

- Honey, school's out next week, right? I'll wait here for you, you know, gladly! We're having a visitor this summer, I wanted you to know in advance…

- Who? - Julia asked, excited. “More people, less boredom,"; she thought.

- Her name is Elisabeth. I don't know if your father told you anything about it… Elisabeth is my partner.

The girl was not surprised, but rather happy for her aunt. She wouldn't be alone in that big house so far from the city anymore. Julia was devoted to Aunt Anna, she was fun and loving. She was sure she shared such attributes with Elisabeth. 

In the morning of 25^th June, the two brothers loaded their suitcases into their father's car and set off for the countryside. When they arrived, the two women were already waiting for them at the gate with a wide smile. As they got out of the car, everyone greeted each other with hugs and kisses. His father stayed for lunch and left in the afternoon. 

That first week was spent among board games, movies, popcorn and animals. Aunt Anna raised her own chickens and rabbits, and the boys helped her. Elizabeth was fantastic and her aunt seemed enormously happy in her company.

But in the morning of July 3rd, Julia regretted getting up to get water. From the corridor, she saw a faint orange light coming through the windows and from the outside. She peeked out and what she saw left her cold. There was Elisabeth, alone, sitting on the grass, surrounded by candles, drawing some strange symbols on different sheets of paper. She was reciting some kind of prayer that the girl couldn't decipher. In front of her was a small shape on the floor. When she lifted him up, Julia found that he was one of the rabbits from her aunt's pen. Elisabeth pulled out a knife and cut off his head without flinching. 

The girl, frightened, ran back to her room, closed the door and hid under the sheets. She was shaking. What had that woman done with the poor animal? She heard footsteps in the hallway. Someone was coming. Would Elisabeth have seen it? He was supposed to tell his aunt. The footsteps went by.

Three days passed and three more rabbits disappeared. Elisabeth performed that strange ritual every night. Julia didn't dare tell Aunt Anna. One afternoon she used an old padlock she found in the shed to lock the gate to the corral. And that night, Elisabeth didn't sacrifice a rabbit, but a chicken. The next day, the girl closed the door of the chicken coop with a rope, tying as many knots as she could. That night, there was no ritual. Julia looked out of her bedroom window and the outside was deserted and quiet. She breathed a sigh of relief. If Elisabeth could not open the pens, she would not kill any more animals and would leave behind her macabre hobby. 

Then, Julia made out a silhouette outside, in the dark. She was walking towards the house slowly. The girl continued to observe his approach until she recognized Elisabeth. The woman stopped in front of the porch. Julia's heart was going to come out. Elisabeth raised her head in his direction and looked her straight in the eyes. Julia had her heart turned upside down. That woman was Elisabeth but her face had changed. Her features looked like someone else's, it was as if she had suddenly aged. From her right hand hung a sickle covered in blood.

And then she went into the house. Julia woke up her brother and they both ran to her aunt's room, she had never been so scared, panic invaded every muscle in her body. But her aunt wasn't there. Where would he have gone? Elisabeth's footsteps on the ground floor echoed ever closer. 

- Aunt Anna! AUNT ANA! - shouted Julia down the hall. But no one answered. 

She had no choice but to go down and run to the nearest neighbors' house, which was a 15-minute walk away. She didn't think twice and went downstairs quietly, with his brother on his back. When she looked down she didn't see Elisabeth, it seemed clear. She wasted no time and ran to the front door. She went out and what she saw outside left her petrified. A large group of dark, hooded figures surrounded the porch, raised their faces at the sight, and their faces were illuminated by the dim light of the candle that each held in his hands. They stared at the siblings without moving a muscle. 

- Help! Help me! That woman wants to hurt us! - But no one was disturbed, they seemed not to listen to his pleas.

And Julia ran off with her brother. She crossed the imaginary circle that those individuals seemed to form and went out across the field, without looking back. She ran and ran, squeezing her brother's hand tightly until something made her stop abruptly. 

A few meters away from her, she could make out Aunt Anna. There she was, motionless, tied to a wooden pole, face down, arms in a cross, as if she was a macabre scarecrow. The girl came up to her and called, "Auntie, are you okay?"; there was no response. She couldn't see her face, it was too dark. She decided to touch her face and a cry of horror echoed in the middle of the night. She had no eyes, they had been removed and Julia could feel the wet and bloody hole in its place. She ran, she ran, she ran without stopping. She wasn't aware of the fatigue until she got to the neighbors' house. She pounded on the door until the owner came out. And Julia started crying. 

The neighbor invited them to rest on the couch and offered them a couple of blankets. Julia breathed a sigh of relief and decided to try to forget the spermy image of her aunt, looking around the room, but suddenly she stopped looking at a framed image hanging over the fireplace...

What was that? That symbol was familiar to her... Where has she seen it before? 

- Are you okay, honey? - asked the neighbour, who had just entered the room with a cup of hot milk. 

- Nothing, I'm just scared. Have you called the police?

- Sure, they're on their way. 

Julia drank and as she felt the stupor invade her senses, the image on the mantelpiece took shape in her memory. It was the strange symbol that Elisabeth drew endlessly on the night of July 3rd?

The Chapter Hunter