Not much to say about this part of the story, but it's amuse me that I set this in America so clearly and I wouldn't do that now as I write everything as if its in my home country and not for mass appeal. Here it is anyway.
Dark Nights, Bites and Bad Luck:
The Wake to Darkness
I woke up with a burning feeling, as though my whole body was on fire. I
couldn't move. I thought the pain meant I was alive, that I had
survived and I was in a hospital. What it really meant was I was
becoming a monster, a Vampire. I hadn't ever really thought about
Vampires. I had never read a book or even see a film about them but it
turn out they were more real than the actors that play them. It wasn't
fair. I was only eighteen, I hadn't even graduated yet. Instead of a
diploma I was stuck with a yearbook page dedicated to me. My life was
gone, I had no real future, I would never have a happy ever after or
even just a happy for now. It was over. I had lost but still had to play
the game.
I would realise where I was when I got movement back. At first I could only move my eyes, it was too dark to see. It didn't make me think any different. I realise the truth when I was able to move my arms again. I reached out in the dark until I soon felt the smoothness of the walls and lining. I could feel the soft yet rough fabric but smooth in a way. Silk.
That's weird for a hospital bed
I continue to feel the sides and lid, pushing against without any movement in return. I was closed in, I was surrounded. I was in a coffin! I did what any normal person would do. I panicked. I started banging on the coffin door. I had heard about people being buried alive and I thought I was just one of the rare few. If only. I had gained superhuman strength and I accidentally broke though the wood. I didn't even think. I tore away the wood and climbed out. I made my way though the dirt quickly, and easily broke though the surface. A normal person would have died from the dirt crushing them. I wasn't even tired. It never crossed my mind how weird that was. I was too focused on my grave stone. It was a strange thing to see, not many people got to see theirs. It said plainly
Katia Stone
Taken too soon
1971 -1989
The flowers from the funeral were still there, it was just too odd. I started to stand up when I noticed the grave next to me. It was Steve's and next to it was Bill's. Only one not there, Angie. She had survived the night. I felt briefly happy that one of them had made it. Very briefly, I got up and started to head for graveyard's gate. I was almost through the gate when I smelled it. It smelled like food, delicious food. Suddenly I had never been hungrier in all my life. The smell was coming from a shed in the graveyard. I stepped towards it carefully. I slowly opened the door, there wasn't anything I would have called food. There was an old man sitting at the desk on the opposite wall. He must have been the groundskeeper.
He hadn't heard me come in. I smelled the air, trying to figure out where the smell of food was coming from. It was coming from the direction of the man. I slowly walked towards him, I could hear his heartbeat and it was making me excited. I didn't know why. I had gently put my hand on the man's shoulder. He jumped up and turned around. I could smell the fear from him, it was when I realise the smell was him and instincts took over. I lunged at the him and biting him, on the only available flesh, his neck. I sucked him dry, without a thought.
It was when I was licking the last drops of his sweet blood from my lips that I realise what I had done. What I was. I started screaming. I had just killed a man, but I was the one screaming. That guy had been a Vampire, I was a Vampire. I wouldn't have ever believed it if I hadn't just sucked the blood of a complete stranger. I had killed a man. I couldn't strand to look at his body; I had to get out of there. I ran from the shed, but I didn't get far before they caught me.
Vampires have a society, a government of sorts. There are rules and laws they... we have to abide by. Its first thing they teach the new offspring. You could only kill people that wouldn't be missed, Oh, they were bloody missed, but no one cared. Only their friends and family would even look. The cops don't give a damn if a couple of druggies went missing or the local homeless population decreased without an explanation. I had actually broke the rules once or twice by killing a rapist and paedophile. I got away with it, mainly because the bastards had never been caught and they weren't that rich either. The Vampires looked after me in the early years. Taught me the rules of survival. I stay close to the main group, I don't see the point in leaving. I have no where to go.
I would realise where I was when I got movement back. At first I could only move my eyes, it was too dark to see. It didn't make me think any different. I realise the truth when I was able to move my arms again. I reached out in the dark until I soon felt the smoothness of the walls and lining. I could feel the soft yet rough fabric but smooth in a way. Silk.
That's weird for a hospital bed
I continue to feel the sides and lid, pushing against without any movement in return. I was closed in, I was surrounded. I was in a coffin! I did what any normal person would do. I panicked. I started banging on the coffin door. I had heard about people being buried alive and I thought I was just one of the rare few. If only. I had gained superhuman strength and I accidentally broke though the wood. I didn't even think. I tore away the wood and climbed out. I made my way though the dirt quickly, and easily broke though the surface. A normal person would have died from the dirt crushing them. I wasn't even tired. It never crossed my mind how weird that was. I was too focused on my grave stone. It was a strange thing to see, not many people got to see theirs. It said plainly
Katia Stone
Taken too soon
1971 -1989
The flowers from the funeral were still there, it was just too odd. I started to stand up when I noticed the grave next to me. It was Steve's and next to it was Bill's. Only one not there, Angie. She had survived the night. I felt briefly happy that one of them had made it. Very briefly, I got up and started to head for graveyard's gate. I was almost through the gate when I smelled it. It smelled like food, delicious food. Suddenly I had never been hungrier in all my life. The smell was coming from a shed in the graveyard. I stepped towards it carefully. I slowly opened the door, there wasn't anything I would have called food. There was an old man sitting at the desk on the opposite wall. He must have been the groundskeeper.
He hadn't heard me come in. I smelled the air, trying to figure out where the smell of food was coming from. It was coming from the direction of the man. I slowly walked towards him, I could hear his heartbeat and it was making me excited. I didn't know why. I had gently put my hand on the man's shoulder. He jumped up and turned around. I could smell the fear from him, it was when I realise the smell was him and instincts took over. I lunged at the him and biting him, on the only available flesh, his neck. I sucked him dry, without a thought.
It was when I was licking the last drops of his sweet blood from my lips that I realise what I had done. What I was. I started screaming. I had just killed a man, but I was the one screaming. That guy had been a Vampire, I was a Vampire. I wouldn't have ever believed it if I hadn't just sucked the blood of a complete stranger. I had killed a man. I couldn't strand to look at his body; I had to get out of there. I ran from the shed, but I didn't get far before they caught me.
Vampires have a society, a government of sorts. There are rules and laws they... we have to abide by. Its first thing they teach the new offspring. You could only kill people that wouldn't be missed, Oh, they were bloody missed, but no one cared. Only their friends and family would even look. The cops don't give a damn if a couple of druggies went missing or the local homeless population decreased without an explanation. I had actually broke the rules once or twice by killing a rapist and paedophile. I got away with it, mainly because the bastards had never been caught and they weren't that rich either. The Vampires looked after me in the early years. Taught me the rules of survival. I stay close to the main group, I don't see the point in leaving. I have no where to go.
I am forbidden to see my family or friends again, but I keep an eye on them. My father died of cancer last year, leaving my mother all alone. I had been an only child. Angie, the only real survivor of that night, is married and has three grown up children. She had named them after me and Steve. In fact, she even has a grandkid on the way. She has everything I wish I could have but never would. I try not to think about them, but they're all I have left of my life. They're the only pieces of the real me unharmed.
Becoming a Vampire changes you and never for the better. Some embraced the monster, don't feel any guilt for the lives they take and enjoy the lifestyle. Actually, most do. I sometimes wish I was like them, that I, too had lost my humanity. The others like me, are rare. They feel guilt, they remember the faces. I remember them but I have killed too many people to count. Why you ask? Because the hunger is too great. It always won and always would. I had given up all hope for control, there was no way to. The only way to stop it was to destroy the monster and it wasn't as easy as the movies make out. To kill a Vampire, it took a great force. The strength of another Vampire. The only way to end this hell, would be to expose us in some way. Sure, they could easily cover it up but no mistakes were allowed. If anyone connected Vampires to a murder, you were dead. I had some comfort to know that the monster that killed my friends and cursed me, had been executed. I had thought of breaking the rules so many times, and joining him, but I could never choose someone to die. The people I had killed, I could always blame it on their bad luck. Like mine.
I've went through that night so many times and the events leading up to it. They were all bad luck. If I hadn't forgot to check the batteries in the torch, I would have never had fallen in the dark. I wouldn't have hurt myself. The Vampire wouldn't have smelled my blood. I would have been home by the time Steve and the others drove by, and they would have been safe at the house by the time of the attack. Yes, it was all bad luck. It was my bad luck that got them killed. It was my fault.
***
I though I was so clever when I came up with that author note. I'm pretty certain that next post will not be a reposted story and hopefully a short story. I'm forcing my self to write.
