Twisted

Chapter 1
         Drugs

         I stopped to listen, just one last time. My sister hadn’t come to see me in a while. I heard the crickets outside my window, chirping in the night, leaves rustling in the cold autumn wind, and the creaking of this old house. I put the cold needle against my skin, my heart beat, my mind raced. I had been doing drugs for as long as I can remember, unfortunately, that’s not much. Weed, crack, I had done it, I didn’t drink often, did ecstasy when I was around the right people. I’ve shot up, snorted, smoked, and ingested. I even sprayed some stuff on my eye, stung a bit, but what an intense high, but this wasn’t anything you could buy on the street.
         My sister knew I did them, but she felt guilty for getting me started, so she never told. Annabelle moved out a few years back, got married, moved away from drugs, if only she knew how far I had fallen. Our parents never even knew. As we got older, they started going on more business trips, they were never home. Annabelle was my older sister, she’s twenty-two, four years my senior. When she moved out she started checking up on me, she knew I was alone a lot, but it does get annoying sometimes.
         The thin sliver of metal pierced my skin. As I pushed the plunger, I heard a small click. My thumb stopped, my breath caught in my throat, after a few seconds my T.V. turned on, I had leaned back on the remote. I pushed the clear liquid through the needle, warmth flooded my veins. My heartbeat slowed, my thoughts ceased, I began to fall into a drug induced stupor. I felt calm, relaxed, of course, that’s what this particular serum was made to do. The guy I got my drugs from went by the name Marksman. He was a chemist, you couldn’t get his stuff off the corner, you had to know him, and where he would show up next.
         I know I’m a druggie, but I do have my reasons. When I was younger, I would see things, a shadow creeping across the wall, eyes staring out of the night, a bloody claw, a pointed grin, a figure rushing to escape my sight. I went to three different psychologists, they all said the same thing, “It’s just an overactive imagination.”  The drugs took those away, the more I did, the less I saw, so the harder things I took.
         There was a crash upstairs,” It’s just the cat,” I thought, my mind slipping away. I began to feel heavy, yet weightless at the same time. My vision blurred, my eyes began to close. This had happened the last few times I had used this stuff, I wasn’t worried. That’s when I saw it, or her, a figure in the corner. She was dressed all in black, and seemed to drift across the floor as she came closer. Her face was narrow, her skin a pale white. She had long brown hair that framed her face and fell around her waist. “No!”, I thought, but I was too far under, my mouth wouldn’t respond, I couldn’t speak.  She leaned in and I looked into her dark brown eyes, she smelled of pine needles. She smiled, her pointed teeth showing, then.
         Darkness, sleep enveloped me. The girl haunted my dreams,. Her auburn hair flowed behind her as she ran through the fields of my mind. The scent of pine surrounded me, the needles blanketed the forest floor. The full moon shone high above me, the stars shining dimly through the boughs. The tree limbs swayed in the wind, it swept through my hair.
         A bright light shined in my eyes. I sat up, I was in the living room, the sun hitting my eyes. The clock on the mantle said two-o-clock Wednesday afternoon. “Damn, thought you’d never wake up.” a distinctly British voice said. I turned around, and there she was, sitting in my living room. The smell of pine infused the air. She laughed, a loud, hearty laugh that echoed off the walls, her pointed teeth glinting in the sunlight. “ You should see yourself, you look ridiculous, my name’s Sereph.” she said, holding out her hand. I shook it, it was ice cold. “What are you?” I asked. My mind was reeling. “ Why, I’m a vampire of course.” she answered. “I must still be on a trip.” I said thinking out loud. “Oh, this is no trip,’ she said, leaning towards me,” there’s more going on than what you mortals think, and you stand on the brink between our worlds.”