Chapter 1: Nocturnal attendance

It was a deep, silent night. The sky was clear with stars, only a few cars drove along the main road.
An unsettling wind was blowing around the corners of the houses, right up to an old half-timbered house that had been here for over 225 years. The canopies of the trees that surrounded the house rustled and drew soft voices from them.
It was as if the trees were talking to each other.
Up in the attic of the old house, a 15-year-old girl named Mai was rolling restlessly on her bed. She just couldn't sleep.
When she finally made up her mind to do so, she turned to one side and took away any thoughts that were preventing her from falling asleep.
She closed her purple eyes wearily, only to open them again.
A strange rumble could be heard from above.
Mai straightened up and looked at the ceiling. Above her was the attic, the side window of which was always open for ventilation.It also sometimes happened that animals hid themselves there to survive the night.
But this rumble didn't sound like an animal. Footsteps were clearly audible, so there had to be a human up there. Much worse: maybe it was even a burglar!
Mai had decided to get to the bottom of the matter. She crept to the door, which was only a few meters away from her bed, and opened it. Unfortunately, she didn't want it the way Mai wanted it. The door opened with a loud creak, and Mai was worried that someone had heard her.
Thank goodness that wasn't the case. With wide eyes, Mai looked at the stairs that led up to the attic. She hesitated at first, a little scared, but her curiosity eventually got the better of her.
Barefoot she took one step after the other on the dusty wooden stairs, which in some places also made terrible noises.
Now she was standing in front of the wooden door.She was now even more afraid than she already was, because what would she expect behind this door?
Her hands began to tremble, her heart beat faster and faster with excitement and threatened to crawl up her neck. However, her curiosity was stronger than her fear and so she put her still shaky hand on the door handle. As if in slow motion, she pressed it down, her heart beating incredibly fast.
When the door was open, Mai entered cautiously. One more step. And another one. Until she finally got to the middle. The dusty, stuffy air came towards her and she had to resist coughing and sneezing.
She put her hand over her mouth and looked around. Suddenly she was frozen. Their legs didn't move an inch.
She was ... paralyzed.
In front of her widened eyes she saw a crouching figure, with its back turned to her, which was rummaging through a few cardboard boxes. When Mai took a step back, the floor creaked tremendously and the figure, who had just been crouching, sat up in shock.Mai only got more scared when the person, a young man no older than 18, walked slowly towards her.
It was dark, but because of her excitement, Mai had such a sharp look that she could tell everything about him.
He wore a black leather coat and black leather gloves. He had blond hair and brown eyes that somehow fascinated Mai, and around his neck he wore a chain with a silver-plated cross.
The man with the unusual eyes came up to her smiling. That smile caught Mai. She continued to stand and let him come towards her.
He grabbed her roughly by both upper arms and looked piercingly into her wide-open eyes. Mai's heart pounded relentlessly against her chest and threatened to burst when he leaned down to her ear and heard his voice, which was so intoxicating that Mai got goosebumps.
"Where is it?" he whispered and an ice-cold shiver ran down Mai's spine.
"Where is what?" she wanted to ask, but not a single word came out of her mouth.Only a low moan flew over her lips when he looked her again with that smile in the eye.
That smile it was so ... mysterious. Although the boy's presence made Mai a little nervous, she had to admit that she found him somehow attractive.
He exuded such an aura, so beguiling and demanding, that Mai was unable to even think clearly.
He leaned down to her one more time. Mai had clearly seen two rice teeth flashing out, which now descended to her throat. Mai shivered more and more when she felt his hot breath on her skin. Her fear was immeasurable.
She wanted to scream, but she couldn't.
Unnoticed, her fingers had digged into the stranger's stiff leather jacket, when suddenly a familiar voice echoed up to them.
It was Mai's father who had noticed that his daughter had gone to the attic.
"May, child, what are you doing up there?You should sleep! "The father called up to her and immediately the stranger let go of her.
Mai sank to her knees as her legs seemed soft as butter. The stranger ran to the open window, turned to her one last time, smiled at her, and finally disappeared into the night.
What remained was a completely confused and absent-minded Mai who paid no attention even to her father's call.