"Mom! Dad! Are you al–"

I stopped myself suddenly. I had no parents, at least not anymore. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down and forget the nightmare, but it still was playing on a loop inside my head.

The screaming of my parents, my muffled crying, the sound of someone's hand clasping my parents hearts and ripping them from their chests. It echoed through my head every night.

Why anyone would kill my parents was just one of a million questions that remained unanswered and probably would forever. The investigation given up on, was no longer table talk among other families but was just "old news" as they put it.

And then there was me. The lonely senior, now left to wallow in her grief. Of course I had friends, but they'd either graduated as juniors or moved on. No one pitied me, and it was fine that way. It was just Mowgli and I from now on.

•

"Who's hungry?"

Mowgli meowed before sitting down in front of me. I placed his food dish on the floor, and watched as he finished it in nearly ten seconds.

"Pig," I muttered, walking to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Thankfully it was a Sunday. No school, no lessons. Though all the day had in store was watching tv.

Waltzing dramatically into the kitchen, my eyes grazed over the lopsided calendar hanging on the wall.

"Holy shit," I muttered. "Mowgli is it already the 22nd?"

Mowgli couldn't answer. Instead he was busy hacking up his breakfast onto the floor.

"Aw Mowgli you shouldn't have! How did you know I wanted a pile of cat vomit for my birthday?"

Mowgli looked at me sympathetically while licking the sides of his mouth.

"Ew," I laughed, walking to get something to clean the floor. "I don't think the house buyers wanted cat vomit included in their deal."

Mowgli meowed again, still sympathetically.

"I know, I know. I'm going to miss this place too, but I have no way to afford it. Besides you and I can start somewhere new!"

This time Mowgli didn't meow, but walked off wagging his tail irritably.

•

"How the hell am I not sweating?!" I yelled.

Mowgli meowed in response.

"I've been lifting boxes all morning. Why am I not sweating?!"

I set another box on the floor beside me, rubbing my head again to see if any sweat was collecting there.

"Wait a minute. Not sweating is a good thing, but it's also not healthy and... you know what never mind. Come on Mowgli, it's lunch time!"

Mowgli followed me eagerly into the kitchen. I set his food bowl, this time with less food, onto the floor for him to eat, while I heated up a slice of pizza.

The microwave beeped, signaling my cheesy slice of heaven had finished heating. I took it out, set it on a plate and walked to the couch.

There wasn't much on tv, there never was, so I just decided to watch cartoons. Taking a bite of my pizza, I chewed it slowly, just as a person who was eating something they hated would, but that was weird because I absolutely loved pizza.

After a few more chews I had to spit it out. The taste became too unbearable to fathom. If I had a mirror I'm sure my face would seem as disgusted as I was, but I'd already packed it already along with most of my other things since I had to be moved out by Wednesday.

"Alright, no pizza, let's try something else," I said opening the fridge. "Chicken. How about chicken?"

I heated up the chicken, just as I'd done with the pizza and taken a bite, and just like the pizza it tasted repulsive.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!"

I raised my hand to my forehead, expecting it to be hot or at least warm, but instead I found it to be cold.

"You need a nap," I said to myself, grabbing Mowgli and walking to my bedroom. "Just a quick nap."

•

I'd ended up sleeping through the night, if you could call tossing and turning sleeping really. I don't think I ever actually feel asleep. I felt restless and I was starving, but no matter how hard I wanted to I couldn't eat or sleep.

Dragging myself into the kitchen, I tripped over Mowgli knocking me and my handful of antique china onto the floor.

"Ow Mowgli look what you did! This is super old and now it's all broken!"

Mowgli ran away quickly, his fat stomach jiggling.

"Ughhhh– OW FUCK!" I screamed, stepping on the shards of broken china.

"Ow ow ow ow!"

Hobbling over to the last unpacked chair, I sat down and lifted up my foot. Three sharp pieces were stuck into my skin. Slowly I pulled out the shards, trying not to scream in pain.

Hobbling to the cabinet, I took out the first aid kit and sat on the floor. Looking at my foot, I saw that my cuts had completely disappeared.

"What. The. Fuck. What the actual fuck?! Where did it go?! Something is wrong with me!"

My phones alarm rang, signaling it was time to go to school.

"Ughhhh shit! I'm not even ready!"

Jumping up from the floor, I completely forgot about my foot and ran into my room to get dressed. Somehow within only a minute I managed to get dressed, do my makeup, even without a mirror, and pack my bag.

I threw a small carpet over the shards of china, so Mowgli wouldn't get hurt while I'm gone. God knows that cat gets into any trouble he can.

"Bye Mowgli! Behave and don't you dare eat through the food bag again! Love you!"

I heard a loud meow before I slammed the door shut, locked it and ran to the bus stop as fast as my legs could carry me, which seemed to be much faster than I remember.

"Alright play it cool! There's nothing wrong with you! You're fine! You're normal! Just get through one more day of school." I whispered to myself, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.

The bus arrived a few minutes later than usual but it was still dark out. Then again, I liked it that way.

Stepping on the bus, I climbed the few steps and looked for a place to sit. Only one seat was open, but as I walked to that seat I felt the eyes of two boys on me. As I sat down their eyes followed me, burning holes through my head.

"Excuse me?" I whispered. "Is this seat taken?"

"Is anyone sitting there?" The girl occupying half of the seat asked.

"Well no–"

"Then it's not," she replied, kind of harshly.

I scooted past her and sat closest to the window. She seemed to be studying me, almost as if she was planning on kidnapping me or eating me.

"Umm.. do the two boys in the back always stare at everyone?" I asked, trying to make polite conversation.

She sat up a little, looking over the edge of the seat to the back of the bus. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Shit," she muttered quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. "Oh yeah. Better stay away from them. They're loonies."

I chuckled a little, but she didn't seem to think it was funny, so I stopped myself abruptly. Before I could ask her anymore questions, we arrived at school, and she leapt up to get off.

•

"School was slow. History was boring, math was even more boring. How was your day?"

Mowgli meowed as usual, but made no more sounds.

"That's nice," I replied.

"Just one more year," I sighed. "One more year and then no more school. I'll find a good job and you can I can live wherever you want."

Mowgli meowed, this time louder to say he was hungry. I rolled my eyes, and set down his bowl.

"Please don't throw up this time."

I watched as he ate his food, wishing I could do the same. I'd give anything to be able to eat, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep it down. I felt starving, but for what I didn't know.

"Night Mowgli."

•

"Morning Mowgli. I didn't sleep at all!"

If I had a mirror I'm sure I'd have baggy wrinkles under my eyes and my hair would be all over the place. Not to mention my throat now hurt immensely and my gums were incredibly soar.

"Ughhh Kill me please," I whined, taking some aspirin from the cabinet.

I took the pills dry, not even sure I could keep water down anymore. After a half an hour of waiting, I realized the pills weren't going to work, and I'd just have to suffer through the pain.

"Time to go to school," I moaned, rubbing my eyes and sliding on my boots.

It was still October but it already felt like winter, though when I opened the door I didn't feel very cold at all, but not wanting to get sick I grabbed a jacket anyways.

"My fucking goodness why can't it be Friday?" I yelled into the cold air. "Tuesday is not a fun day."

Again, I waited at the bus stop, not shivering as I normally did. I feel cold to the touch, but I'm not cold. Maybe I should see a doctor.

The bus pulled up, full with even more children as yesterday. Still the only seat open was next to the one girl. Before I could even move to my seat the girl looked up suddenly, just as the two boys in the back of the bus stood withdrawing crossbows from their school bags.

"Vampire!" The yelled, pulling the triggers on their crossbows.

The arrows seemed to fly in slow motion. Slow enough for me to catch them in both of my hands.

The girl I'd sat next to jumped from her seat like lightning, grabbed me by my coat collar and dragged me off the bus.

I didn't even realize we were running until we stopped.

"Are you stupid? What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to reveal our kind?!" She yelled, shoving me slightly.

"Our kind?" I asked, confused.

"Yes, our kind! Vampires! We can't let the world know we exist! Do you live under a rock!"

"Vampires...? I'm a VAMPIRE?!"

I nearly fainted. Collapsing on the ground, I tried rocking myself to calm myself down.

"Wait.. you didn't know? How the hell did you not know?!"

"I-I-I... Im a VAMPIRE?!" I repeated again, still unable to grasp the concept that vampires were in fact real.

"Yes, you're a vampire! How do you not realize that?!"

"My... my parents were killed... I... I never... I never knew anything," I muttered.

"Hold on a second.. you're Natalia Lavaire?"

"How do you know me?"

"I knew your parents. I'm.. I'm sorry for your loss. This is probably really confusing and it's going to take a lot of explaining, so why don't we go somewhere?"

"I'm a vampire?" I repeated for the third time.

"Yes, yes you are."