Chapter Five

Chapter Five.

            »»»Flashback«««

He knew he couldn't make it,he felt his limbs go weaker and number,he felt his heart ponder within the walls of his chest, couldn't recognize his own breathing. But he ran anyway.

The leaves in the woods slapped his face and bare arms as he continued to run, trying every possible way to meet the pace of his mother who ran ahead,her hand almost glued to his as he lead them through the bushes.

The darkness always terrified him but he had no time to think about how dark the woods look nor how much pain his feet were experiencing. He hadn't had the time to put on his shoes when his mother pulled him out of the house.

But it's been forever since they started running. He didn't think the bad guys were still coming after them. But his mother won't stop running. He wanted to tell him to stop,to tell her he's tired but he could barely catch his breath.

Suddenly,he could see through the trees at the sides as they continued to run. He could see the figures that ran with them;shadowy black figures, could hear their quiet whispers.

But the loud movements of the waters hitting offshore brought back his attention. Where were they?

A high built wall soon came to view,cascaded with rambling leaves,a darker and narrower passage appearing at the side which was well hidden with more dried branches and climbers. 

Her mother moved faster until they got to the foot of the high wall.....

Until He heard her gasp. Until he saw the pain in her eyes as she slowed down. Until she saw the arrow head that protruded out of his mother's side. Until he saw through the dark the dark red liquid trickling off her dress. 

"Run!"She screamed. But he couldn't bring himself to move. He was too shocked,watching wide eyed at his mother who was slowly turning around to shield him with her body,the arrow ends coming into view. He saw the mark on the arrow tail. It was feathered in blue colour,an unmistakable letter W carved into the arrow body.

He heard the fast shooting arrow and heard his mother's gasp too as the arrow went through her chest.

"Mom!"

Suddenly, he's being dragged into the caved darkness from behind. He struggled and screamed until he couldn't see his mother anymore. As he couldn't see her meet the ground as she fell. And the darkness took over.

          »»»End of flashback «««

Splash!

I jerked up as the cold water hit my face. I shook my hair as the water dripped through my hair and I tried to peel my eyes open. I heard Seth's laughter from a distance, causing me to frown. He's so dead.

I opened my eyes to see Seth holding a half filled bottle of water, Rodger's arms folded across his chest as he stood behind Seth, watching me. 

"You have a death wish?" I growled.

"Vampires don't die,Harden. So technically,we don't have a 'death wish' in our dictionary"Seth replied mockingly.

"Vampires die when stabbed with a stake,genius,"Rodger said tiredly before looking back at me and saying "mom has been asking for you. Why do you always run off like this?"

Yeah. I'd left the house earlier to have a quiet time after returning from school.

School.........

Alessia...... 

I rubbed my face, remembering how I'd come out here and let myself drown on my own thoughts. What was that thing in my head?

"Come on,I wanna show you something,"Rodger said, stretching a hand to me "Annette's waiting"

Seth ran off before Rodger and I followed. I met them back at the house, Annette standing at the front beside a bus. A really bitten up white mini bus with paintings on it.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Meet Fiona!"Rodger said,his hands making an abracadabra gesture towards the beaten up mini bus.

Annette chuckled quietly and rather mockingly as she stepped beside me.

"Wait,why Fiona?"Seth asked as he walked up too "why not.....um... something sexy like....Kim"

"Dude it's a bus"Rodger retorts,hands thrown out.

"I don't know,"Annette cut in "I think Fiona's pretty sexy"

"Thank you!"Rodger replied proudly "so! As I was saying,I got this bus off a store earlier today"

"You got it from a mechanic workshop, Rodger"

"What's the difference dickhead?! Anyways,"he turned back to face me "I got this baby,"he slams it's tire "..with 20% discount and two years guarantee"

"Two years? This bus looks like it's gonna break down by the end of the day" I told him.

"You'll be surprised,"Annette said before Rodger could speak "I think it's pretty cool. Rodger,tell him why you got it"

"Well,Harden,"Rodger started "Seth and I agreed that maybe going to school wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. But hey,I'm still thinking about it so for the main time,I thought I'd drive you two to school with this baby"he gestured towards the bus. I turned a confused look at the odd looking bus seated behind him before looking back at him again.

"Why are we driving this bus to school again?"I asked again.

"Because,Harden,we can't go running off to school everyday with our super running abilities"Seth replied, earning a nod from Rodger.

"Okay,okay. Fine!. Whatever"

"Now,"Rodger pounced on me,his hand falling over my shoulder and tucking me against him "tell me about today at school"

I flipped him off my shoulder and made a super run into the house. 

The instant I appeared inside the sitting room,I came across Ester who had a bowl in her hands, apparently on her way to the kitchen.

"Wow!"she stops on track to steady the bowl on her hand. "Watch it Harden"

"I'm sorry"

It's a shame really,how we have a kitchen that we never use just to avoid people's talk. Vampires never eat solid food unless you choose to. A vampire's food was the human blood. Thinking about it now,I was getting rather used to not feeding off human blood but animals. Rodger calls me a pimp for doing that to myself,for preferring to drink off animal blood than a human blood. But I had my reasons. One he'd never know about,one no one would ever know about. It isn't easy,having to sit so close to humans,with all that surging hunger for blood but just can't do it. Just can't take a life.

"You're looking well,"Ester cut off my thoughts "That school must've paid off. Seth told me"

"I'm sorry I was gonna....."

"That's alright. I think going to school is a good idea. We'll be here for another long time"

I gave her a small smile before taking the stairs to my room. I dumped myself on the bed and shut my eyes. 

Yes,this is that time. I heaved a sigh,ran my hand through my hair and sighed again. 

Today had turned out well. The thought of her voice causes me to smile. How could a human be so beautiful? Her smile was captivating,her words suiting. 

Alessia had been surprised to see me at her school today and she went on and on about why I chose that school of all schools. Behind her mind,among all those thoughts inside her head were compliments I enjoyed listening to even though she'd probably never say them out. I had listed to her heartbeat,heard every thought that went through her mind. It was amazing honestly. 

Her friend who had introduced herself as Ashley had left us alone after cornering a few halls. Alessia had offered to take give me a tour around the school after she had her breakfast. I'd offered to accompany her to the cafeteria and she agreed. There was something about watching her eat, how she smiled, how she thought of the best words to say to me. That was just adorable. Being able to listen to people's thoughts, especially about you can be extremely tiring and nerve wrecking but not with her.

After showing me around, I'd had my first class with her. Biology. And it had went really well than I'd expected. After the biology teacher had thought it brilliant to introduce me to the class, I thought the thoughts from the students' mind were a bit discomforting. A few boys barely cared about the new student while the women went in awe as they whispered to each other.

'oh my gosh,Dina, he's so hot'

'i know right?'

'what homeroom is he?'

'look at his eyes'

While I thought them uncomfortable, I sort for ways to shut them out. 

After the class, Alessia had to leave and I let her. We never got to see each other before the school closed but I knew of her presence at the school, at every spot throughout the day. Her scene clung to my nostrils,the smell of a morning dew mixed with lemon tea. Her scent was unique and so was the smell of her blood. It's constant pumping action kept pulling me closer and closer to her. It felt magical.

But asides from all the looks and everything that kept pulling me even closer to her,there was something significantly alarming about her. My constant need to be with her, her response to me,the way she talked......it's all so odd.

I hand comb my hair for what felt like the hundredth time, surfing through my mind of all the pasts. Until my brain came to a stop at a particularly painful memory.

I can see it all over again like it was happening in front of me again, like it was on repeat.

I remember having sour feet and sweaty palms, holding on tightly against my mother's. She wouldn't stop running and I couldn't have it anymore.

I'm so stupid, I shouldn't have stopped her from running. 

I wished I could travel back in time and save her, and not tell her to stop because I didn't think I could run anymore.

When the arrow shut out through her chest and I heard her gasp,I knew right there that that was gonna be the begging of a nightmare, a nightmare I would never surpass.

I'd turned around as her hand slipped from mine. Why? All she had to do was take another step and be inside that tunnel with me. We were so close.

"Mom!"

Everything sounds so new to me.

"Run!"

I searched the dark forest to see who had shot my mother as if that would help but all I was met with was pitch darkness. But my eyes caught the engraved mark on the arrow head. 'W'. 

Suddenly, there's hands grabbing me and dragging me into the tunnel.

I pealed my eyes open to escape the horrible memory of the past. It's been over a hundred years now and everyday,the event stays so vividly new to me. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I'm definitely going to find that arrow and I'm going to kill them all.

I reached over my chest and searched for my mother's neckless, caressed it and lingered.