Waking Up Dead Chapters 1&2

CHAPTER 1

I haven’t been on this planet for very long, in fact I’m still in my teen years. But I have grown up sooner than other kids around my age. While kids my age are out enjoying themselves, alone or with friends, I’m out doing my best to still be here. I can go out and play but side from not really having friends the time when I can go outside is when every other kid is in bed. The only people out at the same time as me are older people in bars and people that others stay away from.
I stopped going to school a while ago but when I did go I loved history, to learn about what people in the past did, how they dealt with problems and things like that. I quickly learned in history that mankind wants two things, one: to kill each other, and two: to live longer, to have a grasp of immortality. I know these two things conflict with each but it is true, if you look back you will see many wars about the stupidest things but you’ll also see things like men curing horrible diseases. I remember the day that I got a grasp of immortality, a firm grasp. I didn’t want it, hell I wasn’t even looking for it; I was still at that age when the words ‘death’ and ‘immortality’ were nothing but words in a dictionary. But I got it. I was fourteen at the time.
The big neighbourhood were I lived was a place most people stayed away from if they could. Gangs hung with each other at every corner and alleyway, they talked to each other about things they want to do and things they already did, each guy trying to make himself look bigger than the others, each only mildly succeeding. I never paid them any attention and they did the same. All the apartment buildings were close together and coloured in the same dull grey that matched the usual cloudy sky, most had many broken or boarded-up windows. The road into the street came to a dead end, only one way in and out, but since the road is pretty wide anyone that went in the street had no trouble getting out. Every week or two there is a new colourful piece of graffiti on a wall of a popular band or symbol, or most times its just some mandible usually saying ’FUCK YOU’ or something along those lines. Most people pay no attention but I liked it since it brightened up the place.
Every kid had to walk to the bus stop at the end of the street; it was an old bus stop with broken windows and a repeatedly fixed roof. Other than me there were six other kids in my street that went to the bus to school. The rest got rides from one of their parents. I was always the last to arrive at the bus stop and the bus was always came just as I got there. Although my stop is the bus’s last one it is easy to find a seat since everyone sits in the same seat everyday; the cool older kids sit in the back seat, the ones that are in their final year of high school and are talking happily about whatever they wanted but secretly are scared to death of what happens when they walk out the front door of the school for the last time. The slightly younger but equally cool ones sit in the seats in the row in front of them, they talk pretty much in the same way as the older kids but they don’t have the fear. The girls that are considered sluts sit a few rows ahead of them, and then ahead of them are the younger kids that only have a small circle of friends and could care less about anyone outside that circle. I sit alone in the forth row front the front, I have a small circle of friends but none of them get on my bus.
The bus takes off slowly then picks up speed as it goes, the engine making a deafening noise to warn other drivers of its arrival. The traffic wasn’t that bad but bad enough to have car horns going off and accusations being shouted by the drivers whenever there was a red light no matter how many cars there were. The bus takes several turns, through all kinds of streets. 51st Street is the busiest street the bus goes through as well as the last before reaching the school; it gets road works frequently so cars had to squeeze through what is left of the road. There are a few stores in the store that gets five or six customers a day, and the customers only buy one or two items each time they visit. The school stands alone on the left side of the street, the building and its surroundings are much more colourful than my neighbourhood. The school is cream coloured on the outside with large doors that have glass from top to bottom and a metal bar in the middle of it and a sign above the metal bar with the words ‘PUSH TO OPEN DOOR’ printed on it with a small diagram next to the words. There is a car park at the right-hand side of the school, most of it is for the school staff, it is big enough for at least forty cars and it’s always full. All the buses stop at walking distance from the school.
As I got off I didn’t really think much of today, I thought it would be normal and boring. Only fun I would have was when I’d be around my friends. I walked towards the school, watching as others passed me by. They talked with their friends and smiled as they did as if they would enjoy school, but most knew they were smiling because of being near friends for the day. Since school hasn’t really started lots of kids or varying ages were crowding outside school near the front door. Some of them wore the boringly green school uniform with the bright yellow school badge on it, but others wore whatever they wanted, I was one that wore the uniform but I didn’t like it, its just that my mom made me wear it.
The clouds above me covered as far as my eyes could see so direct sunlight was out of the question but that’s none unusual around here, and no one really cares about but when the sun could be seen it was a day to be happy.
I pushed my way through the glass doors and entered the school, the interior walls were coloured the same as the exterior but they were a little brighter. The floors were a vomit-coloured hard floor with what would be skid marks all over it, many people (students and teachers) have wanted it changed but nothing has ever been done about it. As you enter the school there is just a long hall that has six classrooms (three on each side) and ends with two turn-offs, one to go right the other to go left. The six classrooms are for math, which I hate the most but only because I failed at it. My old math teacher Ms. Stevens was always very strict and shouted louder and more often than any other known teacher in the school, she was fifty-three the last time I saw her and I always thought she had some grudge against me but I never found out why. I never had the courage to ask, it would have been suicidal to try. Going left of the hall would take you to a staircase that took you to the language hall on the first floor and things like Admin and Accounting on the second. And several dozen lockers are along the left side of the hall, they are small with bluish-green doors, most are in mint condition but there are the occasional broken ones and there is also an empty one with no door. Spaces between them are there and a door is between the leading into an extra math room. Going to the right, which is the direction I headed in, leads to two dozen more lockers and twelve English classrooms. English is one of my favourite subjects but I don’t know why, it isn’t easy with all the different writing techniques to learn, but it’s still by far my favourite. It may be because my English teacher Mrs. Brown is a very nice teacher, but I think it’s more than that.
As I headed down the hall I saw my three friends hanging around just outside my English classroom (or our English classroom I should say since we‘re all in it), there was Jerry Logan; he is the tallest out of all of us but I’m second in line by just one or two inches, he is always serious about his school work but likes to have a laugh every now and then, he always gels his ginger hair so it was always spike-y. We’ve asked him about why he gels it but all he gives is he likes it that way and stops it at that. Leaning on the wall next to him was Eric Clarkson, the smallest of our little group but he is by no means an easy target for school bullies, he has been in a number of fights around the school at lunch time. He never starts them but always finishes them as the winner. He has messy black hair that goes down to his shoulders and covers his ears, he frequently pushes his hair behind his ears but it somehow finds its way back. He is the only one in my friend circle that doesn’t wear the school uniform, he wears a hooded top that has a picture of a popular band like METALICA or SLIPKNOT and a pair of worn-out jeans that have a small rip around the knee area. The final member of my friend circle (and the only girl member) is Lorna McCarthy, who has an obvious beauty inside and out. Lorna was never the type to wear skirts of any length; she always wore black trousers in school and dark blue jeans other times that look more new than Eric’s but all of knew that they were just more cared for. Her dyed dark purple hair is waist length and straight. Many times I’ve thought what it would be like to have Lorna as a girlfriend, I’m sure Jerry and Eric have thought of it too but we aren’t brave enough to try and make the thought a reality, and we are happy the way it is anyway. She has a way of always being in a good mood, even when she has spent most of the day listening and easily ignoring to the hushed voices of those around her talking about her as if she was a mutant dog. The three of us (me, Eric and Jerry) have always envied that about her. I’ve tried to ignore the snide remarks said about me but the problem is that guys have a tendency to say it right to my face and don’t stop until they get a reaction from me so it’s harder to ignore. But I try my best.
As I get closer to them Jerry turns and sees me, his already wide smile gets bigger. Eric and Lorna turn to me, wondering what Jerry was smiling at and they see me too and give me the same reaction as Jerry. I get up close to them and stand next to Jerry, leaning against the wall, next to me is a large dark-green coloured notice board filled with small messages about future events for the school (like a school trip to Paris in two months, which I ain’t going to) on coloured paper and a large poster about jobs that students can get with a big English grade, all of them stuck on the board with too much blue-tack. On the poster next to the boringly made list of jobs is a group of people older than me looking at the camera each with a smile too big to be real.
“You’re early” Jerry said to me still having his big smile, looking straight ahead of him at the door to my (our sorry) English classroom. I stare at him hoping he would turn towards me and see me staring but he doesn’t so I turn away, shaking my head but I gave an open-mouthed smile and chuckled. As I turn my head away I see Lorna also shaking my head which makes me chuckle louder.
“Yeah well lucky for me the traffic weren’t that bad” was my reply, then silence follows, which was neither uncomfortable nor unwanted. A group of three girls pass by us and they give me and Jerry smiles that say ‘one of these days I’m gonna have you any way I want’ and then turn to Lorna and give her glares that say ‘and you‘re gonna be out my way soon’. Lorna pays them no attention which makes the group of girls move away faster. Me and Jerry and even Eric used to think of trying to be with girls like that (the popular ones that hang with lots of other guys that are mostly jocks) but we stopped thinking of that when they started hating Lorna, never be with a girl that hates one of your friends.
“Maybe I should start ignoring evil stares and snide comments” said Eric, we all turn to him puzzled by his remark, he notices our confusion and adds, “Well if ignoring them can do that” he points in the direction of where the group of girls were “then maybe it can work for me.” We all nod, understanding his logic.
“Give it a try, it works for me all the time” Lorna said, looking at Eric. Eric nods, seemingly happy with Lorna’s reply. Suddenly we all jump at the sound of the starting bell, since we had English fist today we didn’t have to go anywhere. Soon a people started to go passed us, only a few at first but that soon escalated to a larger number. The hall became crowded with kids of all ages moving their own direction, clogging up the hall, they moved slowly when the opportunity presented itself, staying close together as if they were chained together. There was many loud screams coming from the younger kids for no reason that I could think of. The four of us try to make ourselves thinner and move closer to the wall so no one would stand on our feet, for me it was a failed attempt.
“OW” shouts Lorna; I guess it was a failed attempt for her too. The crowd began to disperse slowly at first but after a while it became more and more evident. Others that in the class with me and my friends were leaning against the wall around us by the time the crowd was gone, there were some of them that were silent and staring aimlessly ahead of them but most of them were gathered together and talking of what happened yesterday when school had finished. Talking about some of the most boring things as if it was something that should be on the News. There is a small silence in the hall that no one notices but me, I notice it. It reminded me of action movies where there is an almost calming silence before a big explosion happens. The sound of footfalls breaks the silence and everyone turns to the sound, it was our teachers hurriedly coming towards us.
“Sorry I’m a bit late everyone” she said, she reaches in her left jacket pocket and takes out a set of keys. The sound of the jiggling is louder than her footfalls. She unlocks the door and opens it, all of us crowd around the doorway as we head in, mimicking the crowds earlier. The floor pattern in the classroom is the same as out in the hall, the walls were painted white but they’re so old that there are blotches of yellow in variable sizes around the room. The tables are put in several groups with six chairs to each group; two groups near the wall next to the door, one in the middle, and two more near the wall at the other end of the room. Me and my friends sit in the group nearest the door; me and Eric at one end and Jerry and Lorna at the other. Mrs. Brown’s desk is right next to the group in the middle, and a black board is behind that. As everyone sat down all of us opened our school bags, reached inside and took out what we needed; pen(s), a small dark green book, the type of green that grass is at midnight, with lined paper inside it and another bright yellow coloured school book which was filled with short prose in some pages and the others were filled with questions about it. Most of them were too confusing for me or my friends, and whenever one of us would think they have the answer they’d secretly tell the other three at the table.
The lesson went on well, the four of were able to get from question one to question seven, and since there was only eleven questions to do I’d say we did good. The other students in the class did some of the questions but mostly talked, either to each other or to Mrs. Brown, about things like sports, like great things that happened in last night’s football game. I didn’t really pay attention to what they were saying, as dumb as it may seem I ain’t a sports type ’a guy. Although strangely enough a do watch the News from time to time, all four of us do, which I guess is maybe one reason why all four of are together, it’s like we have a joint-likeness of the News. Well anyway on the News last night there was talk of a murder, the victim was a thirty-one year old woman named Claire Daniels, the only physical injuries on the victim were two tiny puncture holes on the left side of the neck. That was now the fifth known victim with similar puncture wounds. Lorna used to joke that it was a vampire killing them, a vampire of all things, we all had laughed at her joke but by the third it just became too horrible to joke about. When the lesson ended, the four of us said our ‘see ye later’ to each other in our own ways, ‘see ye at lunch’ from Eric ‘bye for now’ from Jerry ‘have fun’ from me and a simple ‘bye’ from Lorna. We walked through the hall together until we had to separate (which wasn’t that long) and go to our different classes.
The rest of the day went (pretty much) as well as it did in English, except for Biology which I hate. But I have to do it until I get to that year when I can choose my classes, I think I can survive till then. At the end of the day I walked slowly to the Turning Circle where all the busses are, many other kids walked ahead of me either alone or in small groups (mostly four or less). When I got to the Turning Circle I saw some of people that are on my bus gathered together, I went to them and asked if the bus was here. “No, it’s not here yet.” said Kelly, she’s nice enough but she hangs with her own friend circle (which is much bigger than mine). I raise my arms in anger, but I shouldn’t be so surprised since it’s late a lot of the time.
Since it is winter it is already starting to get dark and probably be pitch black by the time I get off the bus to walk home, depending when the bus actually comes to pick us up. Most of the other busses are full up now with everyone they pick up, there are just a few people left and they are running to find their bus. Everyone who is on mine is now gathered around on the pavement, some of them are talking or laughing (or both) while others are looking out for the bus. When the bus did arrive stars were already visible in the darkening sky, there is a bright red and yellow glow in the distance as the sun gives its final shine for the day then disappears. We all step onto the bus, the driver staring at each of us with a look of discontent as we pass by him. We sat on our own respective seats and after everyone was seated the door closes and the bus leaves the Turning Circle. The volume of the talking and occasional shout or scream from the back starts almost immediately and makes it hard for me to think.
The traffic is worse than it was in the morning as it always is, many of the people in the cars are going home from a hard day’s work, my neighbour Mr. Gibson is somewhere in the traffic to get home from the Royal Hotel where he works as the manger. He’ll be patient in the heavy traffic and take no notice of any angry shouts going his way. It takes a while before we actually get onto the main but finally a nice young woman stops and lets the bus go in front of her. Of course we didn’t move that much once we were on the main road, at first anyway, once we got passed a few stoplights and turned away from a few streets the bus started moving a lot faster. It was very dark when I got off the bus, which was (lucky me) the first stop. There was many street lights but there was a few broken ones. I walked quickly through the street, picking up speed as a passed the broken street lights then returning to the normal speed. Didn’t want to be noticed too much. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched, I looked behind me several times and only saw the other kids that got off on my stop going to their own homes faster than me. I picked up speed, this time not caring if anyone noticed, the feeling grew until it filled me completely, and my quick walking turned to a jog, then to a slow run. I could see the front door to my apartment building, to my safety.
“Daannny” I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks, that whisper of my name. How did the owner of that whisper know my name? It was obviously a woman’s voice, possibly someone my age. I turned to the direction the whisper came from and saw only shadows eerily surrounding me, as if the shadows themselves whispered to me.
“Daannny” there it is again, this time louder, I look around for anyone but see nothing. I take a tentative step towards the shadows and I wanted to take a step back as soon as I did.
“Anyone there?” I know it was stupid of me to say that but it was all I can think of. I wait for a reply, getting more and more worried. I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted a reply.
“Someone” there’s the reply, it sounded like whoever is calling me is enjoying this. I’m certainly not. “Would you like to see something Danny? Something… interesting?”
“Like what? What are you gonna show me?” I didn’t know why I asked the questions and just made a quick run for home, but I was intrigued by what she was saying. Although my fear was much bigger than my peaked interest. I took another, smaller step towards the shadows and the owner of the voice.
“I’m gonna show you something beyond your imagination. I’m gonna show you the world.” The world? I can see the world whenever I want to I don’t need a crazy woman to show it to me. As if reading my thoughts she then said, “The real world.” That really got my interest going. What did she mean ’the real world’? I suddenly hear a sort or click-click sound, the sound made by high heel shoes. They were slowly getting closer, I take a step back, my fear growing to more than I could stand. I look over to the front door to home. Calculation my chances of getting home without dying, they weren’t good and were getting worse with every click-click sound. They suddenly stopped and I looked to see what I never thought of, a girl that looked around my age was standing right in front of me, wearing a long black dress that stopped just above her feet and black high heel shoes. Her hair was as black as her dress (she really likes black) and goes down straight passed the shoulders. Her eyes are a light brown colour and their attention is all on me, her skin is pale. She is, to put it basically, hauntingly beautiful. I was frozen, staring at that pale face that was staring back at me. I didn’t know what to do, do I stay and see what happens or do I make a run for it? Neither sounded like a good idea. She looked to by around my age, except for her eyes, her eyes said something different. Gave a sense of experience, of knowledge. Of age. She takes another step closer to me and I unfreeze and take a step back. She smiles at me, the kind of smile a mother makes when she sees her young child. Comforting, homely.
“You don’t have to fear me Danny, I’m not gonna hurt you.” she takes another step towards me and this time I stay still. I’m frozen again, my brain is telling my legs to move but the message gets lost before it gets there. She walks towards me and stops inches from me, her dress grazing me. She’s a little shorter than me and has to look upward to meet my eyes. Her eyes held me in, hypnotized. “I’m just gonna show you the real world” she said, raising her hands and gently stroking my face. It was almost comforting if it wasn’t for the coldness of her touch. My fear of my somewhat strange situation was diminishing but slowly, I was still suspicious of this girl. I didn’t even know her name and she was acting like we were about to have sex.
She slowly leans towards me as if she was going to kiss me, I wasn’t sure what to do. Before I could decide she moves her face to my neck, I could feel her breath on my skin, it was as cold as her touch. It bring a gasp from my mouth.
“This’ll only hurt a little” she said then I suddenly fell a sharp pain on my neck, I groan in pain and confusion. The pain was intense and I suddenly realised what the pain was. She had sunk her teeth into my neck. I fell to my knees and she fell with me, never leaving my neck. I was getting weaker, ready to faint. Darkness was getting closer and closer. She sucked on my blood as if flowed out of me.
Just as darkness was ready to take me completely she lets go of my neck, which brings another, louder, gasp from my mouth. I fall back to be flat on the ground. I wanted to scream out for help but my voice had taken a vacation. She looks down at me with my blood drying around her mouth, she looks like that was pleasurable to her. She licks her lips, getting more of my bloods in her mouth. I look up at her, my vision blurry and my eyes wide, I could feel some of the blood running down my neck. She raises her right hand to her mouth then cuts her wrist with her teeth then brings the bloodied wrist to my wide-open mouth. I feel her blood slither its way into mouth to the back of my throat, it had a sickly sweet taste to it, almost like coins. I tried to turn away from her hand but she kept me still.
“Shh don’t worry, it’ll be fine” she said in a calming voice, which did work. I felt a little more at ease. She removed her bloodied wrist from mouth and wiped the blood away from it, all that was left of the cut was a scar that looked as if it had been there for days maybe longer. The darkness closed around me again, I could barely keep my eyes open. My head falls to the side and this time she lets me, I could see almost nothing. I take one final large breath that I slowly let out then I was gone, the darkness enveloped me completely.




CHAPTER 2

All I could see was complete darkness, it took me a while to realise my eyes were actually open. I could barely move, I was lying flat in a small box. It try to lift my head but only succeed in hitting my head and falling back down. I moved my arms and found that they couldn’t stretch very far, or at all. Underneath was what felt like a pillow made from silk, it was too dark to tell what it was exactly. I wasn’t claustrophobic but this certainly didn’t help. I needed to get out and fast, I clench my fist and punch upward. The wood above me breaks instantly, it mustn’t have been very strong wood then, I thought for a second, but I had little time as piles of dirt and soil starts filling into the box from above. I broke more of the box and slowly moved upwards through the dirt as it tried to push me back down. I dug through the dirt until I saw light above me, it was a very faint, soft light. The light was from the starry night sky.
I finally got my head out of the dirt then my shoulders, I was in some sort of park, there was a few trees a close distance from me. I couldn’t see much else. I start climbing up again and get both my arms out but then I stop, I felt numb as I realised where I was, it was with the mausoleums and grave stones. I was in a cemetery. Less than two feet from me was a grave stone that said on it:
‘DANIEL STODE 1994-2008’
I was dead, but if that’s the case how am I still moving? How am I still alive? Is this some sort of prank? If it is it ain’t funny. I dig myself out more until I’m out completely, I didn’t what was going on. I could remember the girl, her going for my neck and then the intense pain that followed. But after that I drew a blank. I got to my knees on the grass next to what is my grave for God knows how long. I took a deep breath, watching my chest expand with and then let it out. I felt alive, but I wasn’t sure I was.
“Hey there.” Said I familiar voice from behind me. I turn around a see the girl from before sitting on a grave stone. Now she was wearing more regular clothes: a pair a jeans that looked new except for the tear on the right leg around the knee, a pair of dirty white sneakers and a sleeveless black t-shirt. She looked like any normal girl of her age. “How do you feel?” she didn’t sound concerned, and she was smiling the same smile as before but had something hidden behind it.
“What happened? Why was I in there?” I ask, still getting over the initial shock of digging myself out of a grave. She gets off the grave stone she was sitting on and walks toward me, I was too scared and tired to do anything so I just stayed where I was. When she was touching distance she goes down to her knees and looks at me.
“Sorry about that but don’t worry about it, you’ll soon get over it.”
“How do you know?” I was angry, she doesn’t know what it feels like to wake up in a box only to find out it was your grave.
“I got over it” she said, I guess she did know. I must’ve looked shocked because she suddenly smiles at me. “It’s alright, I had help anyway.” She had help? Who could help you get over digging yourself out of your own grave?
She stood up and looks down to me, I was still on my knees breathing slowly, calming myself. After I thought I was calm I stood up slowly waiting for me to daze and fall, which fortunately never came. She took me hand in hers and led me away from my grave, further into the cemetery. I kept looking down at my feet to make sure they didn’t trip and make me (and probably the girl) fall to the ground. We pass by a tree and further ahead was a narrow road that stops at the cemetery’s entrance. A large rusty metal gate was separating the cemetery from the road. The gate was originally painted white, I could tell since some of the white paint was still there, but most of it was gone by rust or broken off. At both sides of the rusted entrance gate was a high stone wall that covered the entire cemetery, not many people like to see the graves of those long dead. I can’t really blame them for that. We headed to the old gate, slowly at first but as I started getting better we walked faster. We were walking at a normal pace by the time we got to the gate. The gate was locked with a chain wrapped around the gate and a pad-lock on it. She grabs the pad-lock and pulls; it breaks off easily and she lets it fall to the grass. She then opens the gate and looks at me, my face was pretty much shocked I mean she just broke a chain as if it was just a small thin twig. She didn’t seem so shocked, in fact she seemed to think it was a very natural thing she just did.
“What?” she asked me. She walks out and I follow her.
“Who the hell are you?” it was nearly a shout, the sound echoed throughout the cemetery. No one came so we were in fact alone, I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. “And what did you do to me?” That was louder than my first question, and still no other sounds could be heard, no one was anywhere near here.
“Calm down” she raises her hands but she doesn’t look worried about getting hurt, in fact she was smiling. She was enjoying my anger. “I know, it was horrible what I did Danny but I was hungry and I thought I’d turn you because you seemed like a cool guy.” That didn’t really help me. I waved my arms, urging her to tell me more, and a better explanation. Turned me? What the hell is that? She stays silent looking at me as if what she told me was made perfect sense and it was all I was going to get.
“Turned me? What in God’s name does that even mean?”
“It means you’re practically dead, actually you’ve been dead a few days now.” She said, shrugging.
The road goes downhill from the cemetery, there is no streetlights on the road until the turn off to the main road, which is at least a mile or two. It might be because my eyes have adjusted to the dark or maybe the stars light from the stars, but the road leading from the cemetery didn’t seem too dark. I could see the entire road and all the area around. I could see in the dark.
I suddenly turn back to her, “practically dead? What does that even mean? And what do you mean days?” she strides down the road without a care in the world, I was trying to keep up, which meant I had to walk a little quicker than what was considered normal.
“The ‘days’ part I think is pretty self explanatory, it means you’ve been in that coffin back there for at least five days. Hell you had a funeral and everything-”
“A funeral?!” I practically scream, not only am I ‘partially dead’ in her words, but it’s also official and everyone I know and don’t know knows about it. “H-how w-w-was it? Did anyone cry a little or something?” she nods her head, I don’t know why but that made me feel a bit better. But just a bit. It was good to know that they cared that I died and … hang on, how did she know that they were crying? Was she there? We make the final turn to the main road, the only sounds were our voices and stray stones crunching under our feet. She suddenly stops again and turns to me.
“Alright, here’s the deal, you’re a vampire.” she said, “I’m one too, I turned you, you can’t go back to your old life ’cause everyone thinks you’re dead. Now, I’m gonna get something to eat and you can come with me if you want or you can go at this alone. Your choice.” She spoke quickly, then walked onward without waiting for an answer. I stayed still for a few seconds, letting this information sink in. I’m a vampire? I then follow her, she was already halfway across the main road. There was no sign of any cars so she wasn’t being suicidal. I run up to her then slow down to a walk when I get beside her. “So, where’re we going?” I ask.
“I know this great place not far from here, there are times when I have to wait a long time for the food but it’s always worth it.” It sounded nice, and it wasn’t far from here so the wait wouldn’t be too long. Hopefully. I was feeling hungry, but not the usual hunger you get when you spend a long time without eating. This felt different somehow, stronger. I was hungry for something that isn’t conventional foods. “Oh by the way” she said, “the name is Twilight”.
The so called great place was a dark alley a mile and a half from the main road. Water was dripping from a pipe at the far left, leaving a puddle and the gravel pavement. Next to the puddle was four grey Garbage Cans, one of them was overflowing with rubbish, the others were dented or had several holes of varying size randomly placed about them. There was concrete stairs leading to the backdoor to one of the buildings. Myself and Twilight were hiding in the shadows, waiting for our meal. There was only one light in the alley, giving the area a bright yellow glow, but it kept flickering on and off and on again at random times. After about ten minutes I could hear someone coming, the footfalls were very faint at first but closer and louder. “Our meal’s here.” said Twilight, smiling a smile that was both comforting and… almost evil. The loud footfalls then coupled with voices. Voices? It was more than one person, two to be exact. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, it was just mumbling. The waiting was almost too much for me, I was ready to jump out of the shadows and run after them not caring if they saw me or not, but Twilight kept me in the shadows, waiting, waiting. The voices were clearer now, it was a man and a woman, I could hear the smiles in their voices. But I still didn’t know exactly what was being said, I didn’t care. Their footfalls were almost echoes.
“Get ready” said Twilight, she leave the safety of the shadows but still touching distance from me. She puts on an innocent face as the couple turn in to the alley, they see Twilight and their expressions change from smiles and happy to worry and caution. “Hey, can you help me please?” Twilight begs, she pleads the couple with her eyes. She’s good, she must have done it before loads of times. The couple stare at her with concern, then at each other. They walk towards Twilight, giving their best motherly smile, to which smiles back, keeping her innocent face on. Her true intentions were well hidden.
When they got close enough Twilight grabbed the woman and threw her towards me, I caught her as she screamed, she continued to scream so I put my hand over her mouth, muffling she continuous screaming. Twilight grabbed the man by the neck and snapped it before he knew what was happening, then began feeding on him. I could see a trickle of blood running down the side of his neck. The woman’s screams got louder, she saw the blood too. The man was trying to shove Twilight off him, but he was getting weaker and weaker. I wasn’t sure what to do, I mean I know I’m a vampire and everything but… can I really kill someone? Twilight looks at me urging me to feed, the man was unconscious or maybe dead, there was two small holes on his neck were Twilight had been. To kill. The woman struggles fruitlessly out of my grasp, she looks up at me pleading. Her pleads were pure, nothing hidden without, just the overriding desire to survive any way possible. I look from Twilight to the woman, unsure of what to do. I knew I had to do something, but which one do I obey. Do I obey Twilight and take a life? Or do I obey the woman and let her go, but if I do that the Twilight might kill me. The woman starts crying, she looked hopeful thinking her silent pleas were working. I became sort of angry, she was thinking I was easily swayed towards her desires. My anger was visible on my face, I knew that because the woman’s fear grows and Twilight smiles.
I suddenly sink my teeth into her neck, the blood pours out the puncture holes, it went into my mouth like it was sucked it in. The blood flooded my mouth but I didn’t choke. The blood was like a kind of life-force. Like I hadn’t eaten in weeks and then someone gave me this in a bowl and it was the best thing I had ever eaten. I swallowed it quickly, and it just kept coming. The woman, at first, tried to stop me, but after a short time she became weak and fainted.
When I felt I’d had enough and let go of the woman and she fell to the ground with a loud thump. I look to where Twilight was and saw she was looking back at me, with a look of satisfaction that was almost sexual. I’m sure I was mirroring her expression. I could feel a trickle of blood sliding down the edge of my mouth. She walks towards me slowly and stops barely an inch from me. Lust was in her eyes, but it wasn’t lust for me. It was for the kill, for the feel of a victim’s blood rushing to her lips.
“You feel better?” she asked
I did. Much better. I nodded.
“Good, now I know I good place to rest, morning’s coming and I don’t wanna be here when them” she points to the now dead couple, “are found.”
I nodded again.