Karolina Life as a Vampire Chapter 14

Karolina Life as a Vampire Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

It was June by the time my depression hit.

There was no warning. No emotions leading up to it. Just extreme sorrow and guilt mixed with hatred at everything. Especially Erik.

I remember this night like it was no other. That was the night I pulled out my photo albums. Seeing all their faces again was refreshing. For a what seemed like eternity I was back at my human house in my human room with my human life. My reality dissolved around me and I was back. The transition from reality to fantasy was so real I could hear my parent’s voices downstairs and my sister’s country music being played down the hall. I felt like I was finally home.

I flipped through the pages letting my eyes scan over the different occasions and leisure moments. I stopped at a picture of my sister and myself at the zoo. We were posing with a huge plaster gorilla, the paint was clipped around his mouth and one of his eyes was completely scratched off by some wild child. She had put the bunny ears over my head and I pushed my finger into her cheek. I laughed at her face, her cheek indented by the invasion of my finger. The next picture was my parents posing with the gorilla with a blur that could only be determined as my sister, Kayla, flying into the picture at the worst possible second. I flipped the page and now I was staring at my friends. A group photo taken at a laser tag party. The ones that followed it were of Aggie and Meggie pretending to be angels. Cindy, Kelly and KT lying on top of each other with their laughs forever frozen in the frame. Syndie and myself with Aggie with cookies. Cindy in deep concentration with a romance novel at lunch. Another group picture, this time with everyone in the Senior Courtyard all of us were carving our names into the painted wood and writing obscenities with sharpies. There were several pictures that followed that picture, they covered at least the next ten pages. I couldn’t help myself but laugh at our craziness. We had such fun together. My heart ached. I hadn’t seen them since we had graduated a year and a half ago.

And they had their memories erased.

Everyone one of them. Even my parents…and Kayla.

How quickly I forget that little detail.

I sat in front of the window watching my family from the shadows as they ate dinner in the dining room. The cat was on the table begging from my father. My sister seated next to my mother, as always, and my mom sat in between my dad and sister. My chair was left vacant. The place setting was gone and in it’s place was a stack of school books.

I don’t remember getting there and I don’t remember how I came to be sitting there. I just knew that I was watching the most depressing scene in the world.

The tears stared well before I got there and they continued to pour down my porcelain cheeks.

My dad laughed. Music to my ears, for a moment I felt joyful and smiled. It was gone just as sudden as it came. My sister hadn’t changed at all, neither them had. The T.V. was running as usual, my dad’s favorite show was on and he now and then glanced away from his food to view the glowing screen. My gaze followed his. I watched this show with him sometimes, the pictures on the entertainment center held no still form of myself.

I removed myself from the window and went around to where the roof hung over the porch. A leap of faith and I was on top of the roof, landing without so much as a thud. I peered through the window that was my sister’s room. No change. More horse pictures and Breyer’s but no real extreme change. The tears kept flowing as I walked around the back to my room. I closed my eyes and thought of the worst thing and then opened them. Much worse.

My room had been turned into a mismatch, collection room. The blue paint had been covered by sterile white, a tattered couch was shoved up against one wall boxes over flowing with Christmas decorations was thrown next to that and a busted free standing lamp next to that. The closet doors were closed a child’s desk was planted in the corner. Christmas wrapping paper was thrown on the floor with a huge box that was labeled Good Will was in the other corner close to the door. Small boxes of junk were randomly all over.

A forgotten life.

A forgotten room.

I ran into the woods.

My destination undermined. I just ran and it just so happened it was in the direction of my friend Cindy’s house. It was just as I remembered. The paint-faded barn that housed the herd of sheep and on occasion her two horses, protruded from the drought infested ground. The house was shadowed by the immense oak tree, it’s branch like talons strained to grab hold of the roofing. The fence that ran the perimeter of their property was old and weathered, missing rails here and there. An old model car stood statuesque at the end of the driveway branded by a For Sale sign.

I remembered the many birthday sleepovers that took place here. Every year Cindy turned a new age we had new experiences here in her living room. We would stay up until seven in the morning to watch the sunrise and to pass the time we would consume mass amounts of sugary beverages and chips. While we binged on junk that would turn a horse diabetic we stared at the small T.V. set viewing recently released movies, other’s played games like Flash Light Tag and Truth or Dare. At last when the first red-orange rays appeared over the horizon we would run out like maniacs and simple watch. The sugar rush slowly seeping into our fat reserves and twenty four hours of no sleep, at last, creeping in we crashed on the floor. Only to be awakened an hour later to go home and to sleep within the comfort of your own comfy bed.

I cut a path through the tall grass to the backyard where the old rusty swing set stood in all it’s neglected glory. I sat myself on the rusted swing, the metal groaned as it took my full weight, the chain screeched as it moved. Reaching up to scratch my cheek I felt my skin peel and flake under my touch. I pulled my hand away in shock, under my glass fingernails were dark reddish-brown chips. I had stopped crying long enough for my tears to dry, staining my cheeks and favorite dark denim jeans. My shirt, being that it was black, looked untouched but smelled of blood. I rubbed away the crusting remains hurriedly. I realized that as I ran from each destination I was leaving a beard crumb trail to my whereabouts in blood. Any vampire could pick up the scent and follow it to the source, me. The one vampire in particular was making my heart beat uncontrollably in my chest. I needed to find a place far enough away that Chris wouldn’t hurt anyone I loved in the processes of fighting me.

At this moment I heard a meow, my mind jerked away from my thoughts to see a cat at Cindy’s bedroom window. The bedroom light switched on outlining the cat’s figure. Any minute now Cindy would come to the window and see a vampire with scarlet eyes and blood stained clothing.

I ran.

In the corner of my eye I saw the black figure of Cindy approach the window sill to let the cat inside.

The Elementary School is where I ended up, it was not far from Cindy’s house but far enough for her safety. I found a patch of grass by the curb that ran the perimeter of the parking lot to lay down in.

This was the school that Cindy and I first met and others. The others had moved on to better, more popular, groups of friends in middle school but Cindy and I survived. I closed my eyes and watched the movie of my life, things that I had forgotten flashed before me. An intricate dance of my childhood years that took place with these walls. The first failing grade for a quarter and the parent teacher conference that followed it. Field trips and monkey bars. Gym class and book fairs. And Everything in between.

“Why did I make this choice?” I asked myself. “Are you stupid? Well of course you are, here’s your answer Lina! Here I am, a vampire! I had my whole life ahead of me! I could have been somebody, a great future has been suck out of existence because a vampire named Erik seduced me into thinking this was the life. He made me believe that everything was going to be alright-” I sat up abruptly. “WELL IT’S NOT!” I roared. I felt the red hot tears once again running down my face. “I have no life, no future! I’m going to be killed at the age 18...or is it 19? Hell I don’t know anymore!” I pounded my fists into the hard summer ground. “THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED!” I screamed into the night. My words echoing all around me. “Please somebody, anybody, wake me up from this nightmare. I’m through with this life. I want my family back! I want to hold my sister in my arms and tell her that I’m here for her. I need to hear my parent’s voices again, to hear them tell me that everything will be alright and that they love me. That I’m not forgotten.” My voice cracked as I sobbed.

“Syndie….Aggie….Kelly….Cindy….KT….Meggie…anybody….tell me I’m not forgotten.” I curled into a ball on the ground that smelled of rocks, soil, children and chemicals. I dug my fingers into the soil, I wanted to dig myself a hole for my earthy grave so everything would be clear again, everything would be better. My skin began to prickle, the sun was going to come up soon. I had at least an hour before the sun would make everything right again. I started to wonder how it would feel to be burned by the waking sun. I guess I’m going to find out.

Car headlights blinded me for a second before turning away. A black mustang. Emerald eyes. The devil found me. He hoisted me into his arms, I did not fight him. I had given up. He carefully placed me in the back seat and I stayed curled in my fetal position. I didn’t ask him anything. I knew how he found me, the bread crumb trail got him so far, like a dog he sniffed me out. Classic. I should have run through oceans in the hopes he couldn’t find me. I heard the engine purr to life and felt the car turn around to exist the parking lot. We didn’t go too far from the school, there was an old gas station just up the street and he pulled up and around to the back door. The door had not window, in fact the whole place didn’t have any windows. He parked the car and quickly killed the engine, pulled me out of the car onto my feet before I could blink. I sank down to my knees, my skin was crawling. If I have to I’m going to take you with me. I thought. He made no sound at my expense and heaved my limp body, again, into his arms. He marched up to the back door which he kicked seeing as he couldn’t knock. A velvet voice came from the other side. It was a deep voice with a British accent, muddled by the years spent in America. “What is your purpose?”

“It’s Erik, open up!” He growled. The many locks clicked before the door opened to reveal an old vampire, his hair was a light blonde color with beautiful hazel eyes. They seemed to sparkle. He had been turned, obviously, I his old age. I marked his human years around 60. He could have been a little older than that but I didn’t really care.

“What’s going on? Who is that?” He asked.

“THE SUN!” Erik yelled. The older vampire stepped aside, when we were away from the door he locked us in. “Thank you.” Erik said as he placed me on the couch. The place smelled like gasoline and power tools, the couch was no better.

“Is she alright?”

“No, she’s hating life and me at the current moment. She was going to let the sun burn her. Obviously I got to her in time.” The other vampire held out a cloth to Erik which he used to wipe my face clean.

“V.D.? Erik she can’t be your’s can she?” Erik just nodded his head.

“She’s so young.” He looked at me then at Erik. “What made you change your mind?”

“I do not wish to discuss this issue with you right now. Padlock the door and hide the keys.”

“Thinking she’s try to escape?”

“How many vampires do you know of have gone to the sun because of this?” The old vampire looked away. Erik looked into my eyes, I looked away as more tears came. He lifted me up so he could clean off my face again.

“Lina, please talk to me.” He whispered.

“Lena?”

“Karolina.” My voice cracked.

“She speaks!”

“Graham please, could you just leave us alone for a minute.” He shrugged and disappeared into an office like room.

“Where?” I croaked finding my voice had escaped me.

“A safe house, of sorts, this place will keep us protected against the sun.”

“Should have left me.” My voice came as a whisper, I laid back down.

“How would that have solved anything?” He asked.

“Leave me alone.” I cleared my throat, unsuccessful. I hid my face in my hands, I felt him leave though he didn’t go far. He moved my legs so that they were hanging off the edge so he could sit down. Putting his arm between my body and the couch he pulled me up into his chest, enveloping me in arms. I didn’t fight him instead I buried my face in his crisp white shirt. His scent was heaven against the gas station odor.

The sun had risen by now and I could feel my eyelids droop with unexplainable urge.

“You’re stuck with me.” He whispered into my hair as the sleep took us over.

I dreamed for the first time since the inception of this life. The dreamscape took me to a familiar place that my consciousness allowed me to escape the reality of the world.

On a vast desert terrain of gold and silver sand my beasts of myth arose from the horizon. Dragons, varying in size and color, gathered together to welcome me back to my imagination. Young dragonlets stayed close to their mothers but squeaked in greeting, the fathers threw their head up and bellowed thunderously. My dream self smiled. A young adult dragon came up the side of me and kneeled, his wing closest to me pulled aside.. He was a tall as an average size horse, granite color and scarlet eyes that shined with an inner glow. I mounted just behind the wing joints and situated my seat so I was comfortable on his scaly hide. Stretching his wings he turned his head to confirm I was ready before lurching forward to dive into the air currents. The flap of his mighty wings like small sonic booms, I fell quickly into the rhythm of his movements with every wing beat. Protruding horns between his shoulder blades enabled me to stay on throughout the flight. I chanced a glance at the ground below, the desert became transparent. The sky and ground became one, we kept flying. Ahead, over the bobbing head of the dragon, the sun and moon were in an eclipse. We were flying straight for it. As we flew the star and satellite were pulling away from each other, I shielded my eyes from the blinding light.

“Turn back!” I yelled at the dragon, he ignored me.

The space between the two were increasing, I couldn’t understand what the dragon was planning to do. Suddenly the dragon jerked to a halt in midair. His back end dropped as his wings beat in a different pattern to sustain flight but hover in place. I felt myself begin to slip off, I frantically grasped at every part of the dragon I could reach in a failing attempt to stay on. I slide down his tail like a fireman and plummeted. The dragon grew to an unimaginable size as I fell, he out stretched his arms, in each clawed hand he cupped the sun and moon. He roared mightily as he turned around to gaze down at my diminishing form, his red eyes sparkled.

My body jerked awake. The adrenaline tingled up my spine and course throughout my body as I became more aware. My breathing was heavy and I needed to get up and walk around. My plans were obstructed by the iron clad grip Erik had on me. He was awakened by my sudden shudder, he did his best to stretch without letting me have the satisfaction of escape.

“What’s the matter?” He yawned.

“Nothing.” Finding my voice.

“What did you see?” He pushed.

“Nothing.” I turned my face to the side and close them.

“Don’t tell me nothing, vampire’s don’t dream for no reason. Tell me what you saw.” He asked again.

“Nothing!” I broke free of his grasp and sat in the furthest corner. I was fighting sleep as he was, the sun was high in the sky now. Erik huffed as he got up. “Don’t come near me!” I pulled my knees up to my chest. “I hate you.”

“At least you’re being honest.”

“Shut up! Whatever goes on in my head Erik is my business not yours and what I do with my life is MY choice!” I growled.

“You want to die?” He asked. I gave no answer, just glared. “I will not allow that. Once this is over you’ll understand and thank me.”

“What if I don’t? What if I hate you for the rest of eternity?!”

“Possible but not likely.”

“I HATE YOU! Greed over took the night you decided to change me, you wanted me to save you, to love you. Here’s the reality Erik, I loathe you.” I rose to my full height. “You took everything from me! My family, my friends, and my future for what? Obsession? You watched me for years before scrounging up enough courage to present to me a gift. This great gift of everlasting life. I’m stuck in time, I don’t belong here, and neither do you. We should be sent into space to live alone, that’s what we deserve.” I kicked the wall avoiding the vampire I wanted to kick. “I will never have the opportunity to accomplish the great tasks that were set out for me at birth because I chose to believe you’re lies. My dreams are gone, yet all I have left are my dreams to escape to for the brief time I have them. You killed me Erik, you’re a murderer.” Erik dropped his head. I pressed on, “You’re overwhelming greed to keep something pretty under glass didn’t work out for Ryan, but here I am. You succeeded with me. Congratulations.” He rose up off the couch his head still down, his hair blocking my view of his face. “I hate you for everything you took from me.” I saw Erik wince under my last statement. I felt triumphant. His head lifted to meet my gaze, I hid my shock at what I saw. A single blood tear caressed the side of his perfect pale cheek. I hid my shock.

“Excuse me.” He whispered as he made a move to get up, I moved back out of his way. He disappeared behind the door Graham had used. When I heard the door lock I started my assault on the door. My fist made first contact with the door, excruciating pain shot through my knuckles up my arm, I flung my arm to my body, licking my own wounds manner. The door didn’t so much as dent from my punch. I groaned in frustration as I began to frantically scratch at the door, claw marks appeared in the vampire proof metal but nothing else. “LET ME OUT!” I screamed. “I don’t want this anymore! LET ME OUT!” I continued to scratch and repeatedly pound at the door. “LET ME OOOOOOOOOUUT!” I howled. When my strength ran out, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I fell asleep against the door in mid-scratch.

When I awoke again Graham was peeling me off the back door. I was relieved to find it wasn’t Erik. I needed to feed, last night, I had lost a significant amount of blood due to my crying fits. The beast wouldn’t stay at bay for much longer, I could feel it growl with intense hunger. Graham sensed my predicament, while assisting me to the couch he picked up a water bottle filled with the crimson liquid I desired. I wasted no time and gulped down the contents like an emaciated animal.

“Last night I was unable to introduce myself. I’m Graham, Erik and I go way back.” He held out his hand.

“Karolina.” I shook his hand and licked the blood off my lips.

“If I may say, Erik loves you.” His British accent made the word love more elegant. “He wouldn’t have changed you had he not.”

“I’d rather not talk about this.” I grumbled, remembering last night.

“Alright. Tell me about yourself?” He asked, genuinely interested.

“I had a life and he took it away from me. End of story.” I got up. “Where’s the keys? I need to get out of here.” I disposed of the bottle in the nearest trash can. He took the keys out of his back pocket and dangled the tarnished metal in front of himself. I took them from him and unlocked every lock. I tossed the keys back to him. The night’s air filled my smog filled lunges, it was refreshing after spending a day in the gas station.

“Erik says you can drive the mustang back to the house.” He tossed Erik’s keys to me.

“How is he going to get home?” I asked, not really caring.

“I know the way, I’ll give him a lift back when he’s pulled himself together.”

“He trusts me to drive back home and not off a bridge.”

“He doesn’t care what you do.” That stung a bit but I kept my composure. I walked over to the mustang and unlock the driver side door. Graham was standing in the doorway with an arm to support him on the frame. “Maybe the next time I see you, you’ll be in better company.” I doubted that.

“Thanks for breakfast.” I climbing in and revved the engine. I back out and turned the headlights on out of habit. Also it would be awkward for a human to see a car driving without headlights. I switched on my favorite radio station and blared it as I drove off to the nearest bridge.

The car idled on the side of the road as I sat against the concrete barrier. The gum stained side walk gave me no answers to the questions in my head no matter how hard I stared. I ran my hand through my hair sighing. How was I going to drive off this bridge? The concrete would destroy the car before I could brake through, that maneuver only works in the movies. This was not going to be as glamorous as a Steven Spielberg film either. No explosive crash with John Williams composed music to guide me down nor would there be a soul to witness my demise. My only other option was to wrap the car several times around a pole, and even then there was no sure fire way to make sure I wouldn’t limp away from this wreck. Erik would yell at me if I survived and ended up killing his car, one of many.

I threw my head back against the concrete, the pain was numbed by my immortal body. Somehow the door to the safe house was stronger. I should drive into that material!

I heard a chime come from within the car. I lolled my head to the side to stare at the car in the hopes it would speak up, it obviously wanted something. When the chime continued I groaned off the sidewalk. Too lazy to walk to the driver’s side I climbed in on the passenger side. The chime was louder. I looked around confused. My attention was caught by the cancerous device in the cup holder.

“Hello?” I flipped open the phone and pressed speaker.

“Karolina?” A voice asked.

“Yeah.”

“Where’s Erik?”

“Graham has him, gave me the car and I’m now parked on a bridge.” I placed the phone on the dashboard.

“He gave you the car? What happened? Are you alright?” I could feel the panic rise in this voice.

“Obviously he wanted me to drive off a bridge but it’s not going so well, know any good cliffs?” I asked in a disturbingly calm voice.

“Lina, please come back home!” Vance was failing to keep calm.

“It’s not my home!” I shouted, I climbed over the arm rest into the driver seat and put the car in drive.

“Yes it is. Please Lina come back, we can talk and figure something out.” Vance tried to persuade me.

“You’re breaking up.” I pulled back on the road while I hung up on Vance. My eyes burned with tears, I held them back. It began to rain as I pressed the car onward. No destination. I just knew I had to go somewhere, anywhere. Hopefully this time I wouldn’t be saved.

The phone continued to ring throughout my travels. It was beginning to annoy me. I picked up the phone and yelled something that resembled an angry mother in a grocery store and a upset stomach before chucking the phone backwards. Slamming on the breaks was not a good idea. But I did. The car spun around twice before jerking to the passenger side, feeling the car lift a bit, before coming back down. My screams echoed within my own head, pounding every dendrite into oblivion. My fingers were clamped onto the steering wheel and my body was rigid. My eyes probably were bugging out of my face, if not, dangling out of their sockets as if on mini bungee cords.

When feeling returned to every inch of my body I got out to examine the damage. I had miraculously stayed on the road and the mustang was not scratched. I bet it was just as freaked out as I was and possibly screaming I WANT MY MOMMY!

“That was not fun.” I looked up into the rain, the stars looked so beautiful.

The rain poured down. I stood in the middle of the road, soaking wet, with the car still running after having a near death experience. Coming to this realization I yelled, “Why didn’t you flip!” while I pointed an accusing finger. I groaned, stomping my foot in the biggest puddle, splashing myself. I smoothed my dripping hair back out of my face and trudged back over to the car. The phone was still ringing. Angrily I opened the door and searched for the object of terror.

“What?!” I grumbled.

“Get back to the house now.” Click.

That velvet voice.

Damn it.