Chapter 2 Panda
PANDA
Lumi-
Two years ago, I woke up on New Year's Day in a pool of blood. I remember blinking through the blur, trying to move my limbs and bracing for pain that never came. My heart thundered in my ears like a drum. Each breath felt hollow, like my lungs had forgotten how to work.
And then I remembered. Anna had crawled into bed with me last night.
My baby sister.
She made me promise her we’d stay awake until midnight.
“Make a wish with me, Lumi,” she giggled, grinning at me over her shoulder when she realized I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Her brown curls bounced as she playfully nudged my shoulder.
“Exactly midnight. It has to be at the same time, or it doesn’t count.
” I promised. We took our midnight selfie, just like we did every year.
I jolted upward and found her curled at my side, still warm. Her favorite panda nightgown was soaked through in crimson. Her hand was still reaching for me, fingers curled in my sweatshirt like she’d been trying to shake me awake. Her lips still parted, as if she’d died calling for me.
There was blood on her lips. There was blood covering her stomach. There was blood everywhere. And her locket—our grandma’s locket—was gone. Anna never took it off.
The police came. Flashing lights pulsed through the window: red and blue, red and blue, until I thought I’d be sick.
Sirens wailed through the pre-dawn darkness.
Curious neighbors stepped onto porches whispering like I couldn’t see them.
I sat on the steps in a blanket someone draped over my shoulders, still wearing Anna’s blood, while officers moved through our apartment like ants dissecting a carcass.
Their voices blurred together—static and procedure.
“No sign of forced entry.”
“Looks like she knew them.”
“Probably let them in herself.”
I wanted to scream, wanted to grab them by their pressed uniforms and make them see her.
My Anna. The girl who checked the locks three times before bed.
Who startled when car doors slammed shut.
Who made me promise to answer my phone no matter what time she called, because she was scared to walk alone after dark.
She wouldn’t have opened that door for anyone–not even God himself.
But they didn’t listen. One of the officers with an unkempt mustache and exhausted eyes blew his stale coffee breath in my face as he crouched in front of me like I was a child.
“I know this is hard,” he said, his voice flat with practiced sympathy. “But the truth is, monsters don’t always come with masks, or claws, or horns, Darlin’; they come bearing smiles and kind words. Your sister probably thought she knew whoever it was. Felt safe. That’s how these people work.”
I studied his tired face. My gaze flicked from the coffee stains on his wrinkled shirt, down to the way he nervously twisted his wedding ring. This—this was who was going to find my sister?
He didn’t know Anna. He didn’t feel the absence in the air after she took her last breath.
But I did.
That was the day the last soft part of me died.
And I vowed I would find the monster who did this, even if it took what was left of me, too.
Months came and went, and I heard nothing from the police.
No updates. No leads. It was like they’d forgotten about her, but I couldn’t.
Nobody was going to help Anna. Not our family—they never gave a damn about either of us.
And not the police, as far as they were concerned, she was just another dead girl in a pile of case files.
If anyone was going to find him, it was going to be me. And this time, I wouldn't be the one waking up covered in blood.
The memory fades as I spot Mark O’Reilly, the devil himself, veering off the road and into the trees.
This is it—this is my moment. The one I've been training for over the past two years. Every sleepless night, every morning I woke up hating myself for surviving—it all led here.
I pull onto the shoulder a quarter mile behind where he disappeared and kill the engine. I grab the knife I bought the day she was murdered and secure it to my thigh. My hands shake as I zip my coat and step into the cold.
The forest is silent except for the crunch of my boots in the snow. I can still see his tracks—fresh boot prints leading into the trees.
I follow, keeping my distance. My breath clouds in the frigid air. Every few steps, I pause to listen for his movements. He doesn’t know I’m here yet, but he’s about to.
I still haven’t figured out how he kept me asleep that night. If I had just woken up—
No. Not now, Lumi. Not again. This isn't the time for self-loathing.
I press my palm against the rough burl mark on a birch tree. The uneven texture bites into my skin, grounding me back in the present. It allows me to feel something that isn’t fury or the pain of losing her, for just one second.
I follow him deeper into the woods as snowflakes start to fall slowly. They catch in my hair and lashes. If this weren't such a goddamn nightmare, it would probably be beautiful… but something feels wrong with the air here, like the forest is breathing down my neck.
The deeper I walk, the more I swear I can hear whispering. Not quite words, but a sound that curls behind my ears and coils down my spine. I spin, scanning the snowbanks, but when I turn back around, his tracks have vanished. It’s like the forest swallowed him whole.
Where the hell did he go?
I break into a sprint. My boots thud against the frost-hardened path. Whispers follow me, growing louder with each step I take. I can’t find where they’re coming from. I near a clearing but stop short when I hear a low, animalistic snarl.
I don't have the time to figure out what just made that sound, so I run. I run harder than I ever have in my life. My lungs burn from the cold, and my brain threatens to break, but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but Anna.
“I know you're in here, motherfucker!” I scream into the trees, my voice breaking with rage— “Come out, you coward!”