4 months ago

"Ava." I heard a voice calling my name. "Ava, wake the fuck up! We are gonna be late for work!"

I rubbed my eyes as I slowly looked up to see who was bickering at me and of course, it was my roommate - Natasha. A forty-something-year-old woman stuck in the same dead-end job as me. Her squeaky voice added to my headache. I didn't know if I had it from the long shifts or the lack of sleep plaguing me lately. There was this awful dream I had every night, it made me dread going to bed even at the times I was utterly exhausted.

"I'm coming. Just give me a sec..." my vision was blurry. My body hadn't adjusted yet to being awake, so I didn't notice the cat who out of nowhere decided to snuggle in my leg and make me tumble down in the stupidest way possible. The other five people in my room stopped what they were doing and took their sweet time to laugh at me.

"When are you going to stop picking strays from the streets, Karin?" I said annoyed. "This room is already way too cramped to fit all seven of us."

"Oh, shut it." Karin waved her hand dismissively. "I pay my part of the rent, I can do whatever I want!"

"Yeah, shut up." Her stuck-up boyfriend backed her up. I couldn't for the life of me remember his name. She brought a new one to the apartment every week, to me he was no different to the cats she "adopts" and then conveniently forgets to feed, so their food has to come out of my salary.

I hurried to the bathroom to brush my teeth, luckily it wasn't occupied. I dressed up in my oversized one-piece uniform, while my eyes were searching for a hairbrush. As soon as I was done I ran down the stairs, all twelve stories. The stupid elevator was out of order again.

The streets were still dark when we went out. Most days I would only catch a glimpse of the sunrise before we started our shift in the factory and leave once night settles in. My life was so mundane back then. Whenever I wasn't at work, I was doing chores or running errands. I barely had any time for myself and on the rare occasions that I did, my roommates would bully me into doing their part of the chores.

I punched in my card and ran through the corridor, looking around if my direct manager was in sight. She would scold me even when I was a minute late. I was at the point where her empty threats of firing me didn't intimidate me in the slightest. They were barely paying me enough to cover my bills anyway. Day in, day out, it was the same crap, like being stuck in a loop. Same as the stupid dream that I had each night.

Even the dreams I once had of getting a degree became too distant and eventually unrealistic. There was always a recession and on the rare occasions that they raised my salary it was always lower than the inflation rate.

How I wished that something would change, anything. Unfortunately that day my wish came true.

"Hey, Ava! How have you been? I was looking for you." My supervisor asked me before I headed to my work post. "See, my in-laws are coming to my house over the weekend and I was wondering if you could cover my shift for me." He looked at me with his big eyes, that failed to invoke any sympathy in me.

"I'm sorry..." I began saying.

"Please, it's just this time." That's what he used to say any other time.

"But I haven't had a day off in two weeks...."

"I won't ask you for anything, ever again. Just please do me a solid."

"I mean..."

"Thanks, mate." He cut me off. "You're a lifesaver!" Before I could say anything else, he was gone.

Natasha used to tell me I'm a pushover because I let people treat me as such, but yet again she would always yell at me when I decided to put my foot down. She was mean to everyone, it didn't bother me since I just took it as a part of her character and nothing personal. One time she got on my nerves and I told her she acted that way because she was nearing 50 and was still unmarried. She smacked the hell out of me, to the point where the rest of my roommates had to intervene to get her off of me.

After that interaction, I hurried down the stairs, checking my watch for how many minutes I had left until my boss entered the assembly hall and saw I was not there. To my horror - there was a construction going on the left wing of the factory and all shortcuts were closed off. If I had to take a detour I definitely won't be there on time. I don't know what possessed me to sneak in, avoiding the workers's eyes to catch up.

I ran underneath the scaffolding, someone must have noticed me since I heard yells. Something along the lines of "What are you doing over there?! Get out!". It was too late for warnings, however. The next thing I knew- there was a sound of something crumbling, the squeaking of metal bending. Dust started falling everywhere around me and then it happened before my mind could assimilate. In a matter of seconds, I found myself buried underneath tons of concrete.

Sirens were going off. Somehow I managed to get out alive. My heart was pounding from the adrenaline, I didn't feel any pain. When the dust settled, I saw all my colleagues looking at me in disbelief. Eyes wide like that of an owl.

The words: "what are you staring at?" slipped through my lips unwillingly. A good number of them were pointing their finger at me with a hand over their mouth. When I looked down there was a metal pipe wedged right through my stomach. I pulled it out, somehow still without feeling anything and I must have looked way too calm while doing it.

"How is she still alive?!" One of them screamed.

"Bloodsucker!" Another one bowled.

I thought the best thing for me would be to get out of there as quickly as possible. I escaped the building through the gaping hole in the wall. Their voices kept following me. Right when I thought I had reached a point where I was safe, I felt someone pushing me to the ground.

"Stop right there, you filthy rat!" It was Natasha, glaring at me with such a deep seethed resentment in her tone that it made me flinch. "How did the night watch let a vermin like you sneak in, hmm?" She pulled me by the hair.

"I'm not a bloodsucker..." I whimpered, trying to look serious, but at that time I most likely came out as pathetic. "Think about it, you haven't seen my skin burn from the sunlight, have you?"

"Then how do you explain surviving that stunt?! To think one of your kind was living under my roof... how disgusting."

"Please Natasha, be reasonable. I haven't hurt anyone. I'm too weak to be a vampire."

"That's right." She smacked me across the face again and kept hitting me after each following sentence. "You're weak. Pathetic. A stupid little girl." My cheeks were swelling, blood started running from my nose. "I can't wait to see your corpse impelled on the town square."

"It's not my fault for what happened to your family..." I pleaded, hoping she would let me go.

"That might be true, but it's monsters like you that keep running lives. I can only pray that my sons find peace in heaven after I kill one of the creatures that ruined mine."

I poked her in the eyes to make her let go of my hair. Part of me wanted to hit her back, but I stopped myself. Instead, I used the moment to run away and never look back.

She was right though. I was too weak and pathetic for a vampire. No, even for a human. I'm sick of people treating me like some defenseless little girl. I'm sick of being seen as a pushover. I'm sick.

Preset day

Ava's eyes turned black. She lay there completely motionless for a few minutes, her pale body covered in black veins. Ruby grew concerned about her friend when she didn't hear her breathing, but then she noticed her hand trembling. It reached up, slowly creeping towards her until it settled on her ankle. The grip getting tighter. Enough to restrict the blood flow.

Ruby didn't even have the time to react before she was sent flying to the wall. Her bones broke along with the concrete behind her. The large paintings hung there, fell from the impact, covering the carpet in thin shards of glass. The woman emerged from the rubble, coughing and spitting blood. Her legs cracked as she struggled to get back on her feet, but instead of being shocked or expressing any signs of being in pain, her face was brimming with excitement.

Her lips formed a wide smile, suitable for the maniac she was and soon enough, the room was filled with her sickening laughter.

"Finally!" She cackled. "Oh, how I've longed for this moment! It's time we finally have a decent fight. Please give it your all!"