Red Week

       She could see through its eyes. The fat, bald man with the greasy red beard sitting on the bench waiting for the bus under the light of the street lamp. He was its target. It stood down the street from him and began croaking. The man looked up trying to find the source of the odd sound. As soon as he saw it, the croaking turned into a melody of sorts. It was beautiful.

       The greasy man noticed how beautiful and he seemed drawn to it. He stood up from the bench and began walking toward it. She could feel its hunger and glee rising as the bearded man drew ever nearer. It seemed to take an eternity for him to finally reach it. It reached down its human female hands and placed them on his face. It pulled him close and kissed him. 

        When it finally broke the kiss, it leaned down and seemed like it was going to kiss his neck. What happened next would scar her for life. Instead of kissing his neck, it ripped his throat out. It started biting chunks out of his flesh. It ripped and tore at the man's flesh. She could taste the warm flesh in her mouth, feel the warm blood and meat mush making in its throat.

        It did this until it was satiated, which took quite some time. She kept trying to wake herself up from the nightmare she was having but thirteen year old Leola Wolfe seemed incapable of not seeing and feeling everything that was happening. 

        The next morning, Leola woke up covered in blood and screamed. This must be the curse her mother had been warning her of her entire life. Her mother ran in and started crying when she saw the state of her daughter.

        "It started," she whaled.

        "This is the curse, isn't it, Mama?" Leola asked.

        "Oh my baby, I was hoping it wasn't going to happen to you. I was hoping the curse would skip you, Lee."

        "What is it? What is it, Mama? What's happening to me?"

        "Why don't we get you cleaned up and then I will tell you," her mother said, taking her by the hand. She lead her to the bathroom and ran her a bath. "Get in, baby. We're going to have to throw away your clothes. There is no saving them. There's too much blood."

        "What's going on, Mama?"

        "Shh baby, lets get you cleaned up," her mom said while washing the blood out of her hair and off her face.

        After getting cleaned up and dressed in new pajamas with a fresh pad in her panties, Leola and her mother climbed into her bed together. 

        "Let me tell you a story about our family. Thousands of years ago, in ancient Greece, three beautiful sisters were tricked by the goddess Hera into a singing contest against the Muses. Now these sisters were known throughout the land for their singing voices. Everyone knew these women could sing more beautifully than any other earthly creature. The day of the contest, Hera told them that they were going to sing for the gods. The sisters rejoiced for this had been what they had always wanted. When they got to the place Hera told them to meet her, they were greeted by the Muses. 

        "Now the Muses were nine deities that gave inspiration to artists, musicians, writers, and other creative souls. They thought they were the most talented beings in the land and these sisters hadn't paid homage to the Muses in quite some time. Hear arranged the singing contest because she wanted to watch the Muses tear the sisters apart. The sisters sang as best they could but it wasn't well enough because they lost. 

        "Before the Muses could tear them apart, Zeus stepped in. He declared that no one could kill the sisters because one was pregnant with his child. Instead of killing them he said that they would be turned into flesh eating monsters. They would draw men to them with their singing voices and eat them and the curse would be passed down to their children which would only be girls."

        "So we're sirens?" Leola asked.

        "Exactly."

        "How does it work? Why aren't we born sirens?"

        "We are born sirens it just manifests at puberty. And we are able to live full lives except for one week out of the month where we eat the flesh of men.It just happens to correlate with of menstrual cycles."

        "So, when we bleed, we crave human flesh?"

        "Male human flesh."

        "Every night?"

        "For the entire week. You will learn how to deal with it. You will, one day, be able to stay awake and when you finish it you won't wake up in random places."

        "I'm scared, Mama."

        "I know, baby. I know."