Edward raced through the darkened streets of his neighborhood as if his life were on the line. He ran so fast that he thought he would puke. Above him, a hideous monster with giant bat wings spread from its back and the severed half of a woman with blackish hair. The torso revealed a horrible skeletal-like structure. It roared, eager to attack its prey. Edward ran for his house. Upon arriving at the front door, he fidgeted with his keys, eager to get inside. Thankfully, he had found the right key and pushed his front door open. Running inside, Edward slammed the door shut as the monster once again screamed. Edward's heart pounded as he locked all the doors and shuttered the windows. Fear had taken hold as he was trying to calm his racing heart. He searched all over his house for something to protect himself. By the door, he reached for the poker. As he armed himself, he heard the monster getting further away. This relief had been short-lived, however, as he heard scratching noises coming from the roof. The scratching on the roof sounded like someone was trying to cut their way through. Edward had been scared and wished he knew how he had gotten himself into this situation.

24 hours earlier

Edward and Adam had been having a good time. They had just gotten out of school and were driving down the road; they wanted to head to the bar for the night to celebrate the end of their finals, however, about halfway down the road, the group's car had stalled. Annoyance crossed their faces as the car came to a full stop.

"Adam," Edward said. He was giving his friend a stern look, ready and determined to figure out why they had stopped and what the problem was. "You said you took this car to the shop,"

"I did," Adam said nervously. Edward shook his head. "Okay, maybe I may have done it but the mechanic said that it was good,"

"That's great," Edward said. "Now here we are, stuck in the middle of nowhere in front of some creepy entrance to a neighborhood because you decided it was a good idea to not have it double checked."

"Come on Edward, let's walk," Adam responded. "And don't be such a wuss."

"Fine," Edward responded, although he still had a bad feeling about the neighborhood. The two friends climbed out of the car and pushed the vehicle to the side, leaving the car parked on the side of the road. Afterwards, they walked into the neighborhood, which was overgrown with vines and the neighborhood looked like no one took care of it in years. "Don't tell me we're trying to search for someone to help us,"

"That is exactly what we're doing," Adam answered as the two friends walked into the neighborhood. Wind blew the trees, which looked as if nothing had grown in years. The two friends walked further into the neighborhood when they noticed the lights were on in a house. "Hey! Edward! Maybe there's someone in that house we could talk to," without waiting for his friend Adam took off toward the old run-down house. Edward hesitated for a good while before catching up with Adam, who disappeared into the house. Edward entered the same house and found that it was just as old as the outside of the house. The wallpaper had been peeling off the walls, furniture was practically littered all throughout the different rooms. It was like no one lived in the house for years.

"Adam?" Edward called out. When no answer came, Edward walked further into the house and pulled out his phone. He turned on the flashlight and shone it around the house. Edward walked through the halls when he heard screaming coming from the other side of the house. It had undoubtedly sounded like his best friend. Thinking that his friend was in danger, he ran to where he heard the scream and burst through the doors. On the other side of the door, he had found that he was inside a kitchen, Edward looked around and saw that something hunched over his friend, it looked like a woman but she had a long tongue and her hair was raven black even her hands were shaped like a claw. Edward wanted to scream for his friend but he knew it was hopeless, Edward backed away ever so slowly, however, when he thought he had been in the clear he accidentally stepped on broken glass causing the creature to stop what it was doing and turn its attention toward him. It roared in anger, as it had been disturbed during its feeding.

"Shit!" exclaimed Edward as he turned and took off out of the kitchen. The creature once again roared and behind him, he could hear its body split in half. Edward flinched and dared not to look back. He ran through the halls, careful not to knock anything else down or disturb anything around him. Seeing his chance, Edward ran out of the house and down the road.

That Evening

Edward wasn't sure how long he had run, but he realized he had finally arrived in his neighborhood. He sighed in relief, thinking that he was safe. However, the minute he looked up he saw the creature's severed body flying. Edward ran into his house and closed the door behind him, locking all the doors and shutter the windows. He grabbed the weapon he needed and backed away from the door. He had heard the scratching on the roof like someone wanted to enter the house. Thinking quickly, Edward ran into his room and closed his door. He locked it and felt a sigh of relief. That entire day, he and Adam were stranded on the road. They hoped someone else would have helped them, but that clearly didn't go well.

"Okay Edward, think," he said to himself. "What kind of creature can sever its torso from its lower half?" he powered on his computer and went through anything he could in the search engine. As he searched, he could hear the scratching get closer to his room. Thankfully, the search didn't take long. He had stumbled across the creature and read up on what it was. It was a type of vampire called The Manananggal. The name even meant to separate. Edward read further to find out how he was supposed to defeat the creature. One lore said that he had to salt the bottom half of the body while the other explained he had to cut off its tongue. The creature couldn't survive without feeding and cutting off its tongue was probably the closest thing he could get. He looked at the poker and saw that it would not be enough to cut the creature's tongue off. He looked around his room and saw the katana that his mother had given him in its protective case. While he wouldn't use it to attack anything or anyone, this kind of changed his perspective, he ran over to the glass casing and broke it with the poker making a loud crash, dropping the poker to the side he pulled out the katana and unsheathed it, the scratching drew closer until it was practically right on top of him.

Edward leaned against the wall until he began hearing the scratching on his roof. Before he could react, a long red tongue shaped like a tube broke through and seemed to search for its intended victim. Edward did his best to avoid throwing up and slowly inched toward the creature without blowing his cover. With a quick swing of the katana, Edward cut the creature's tongue off as it yowled in pain. Edward looked through the hole and saw the creature was bleeding out and eventually burned as the sun had also risen. The creature froze and disintegrated into piles of ash, leaving Edward alone in his bedroom and a slimy tongue on his floor. While he knew that his mother was going to ask him questions, he forgot all about it and try his best to relax. Hopefully, the tongue would disintegrate and he wouldn't have any reason to come up with an excuse.