"That guy, he's no the only monster in this world. I think it's time you know..." Twig trailed off. Their expression was one of guilt and regret. I was confused. How could Twig even know about last night? I never even made it to their house. Twig scratched their forearm, their normal coping mechanism for any stressful situation they encounter. 

My tears were finally all dried from my face, only the aching in my eyes from all the crying remained. I didn't understand what Twig meant by that but I needed to. I put on a courageous mask and stared at Twig until they gave their response. My stare was so intense, it made Twig shudder. 

"Y-you need to believe what I'm saying, okay?" I nodded at Twig's question. Leaning closer, my ears perked up ready to listen. All of my concentration was all on Twig and what they were going to say next. I was nearly sweating from anticipation. They sighed and calmly started talking, "That man that bit you. He chose you for a reason. We, the others, just had to follow what he told us to do." Twig paused and waited for me to think for a bit before continuing. "The reason why people don't talk to you in school is because it was his orders. And it's the reason why I was the only one he let be your friend." 

"Wait a second." I stated as I raised my hand to tell them to stop. It was all too much at once. "Who is the man?" Twig grumbled, I guess it was a question they didn't want me to ask. "And why does everyone listen to him? Why is he controlling my social life?" I could have kept going on with this interrogation, but Twig interrupted me. Most likely in attempt to get me to shut up. 

"His name is Arius. He's been our new leader for awhile now. If we go against him, he would know. I'm only here telling you all of this because it's my job to introduce you into your new life." I leaned back in disbelief and stood up. Taking all the information in, I paced back and forth. I made sure to walk around the dirty clothes pile, which the sweater from last night still hid. I almost forgot about that. 

I stopped walking and reached down to grab my sweater. I lifted it up and showed Twig. "I was bleeding, Twig. That man bit me and this sweater is the only evidence anything happened last night. Strange things are happening to me, I almost ate my mom!" I yelled. Twig was still keeping something from me. I couldn't guess what, I wouldn't even guess. 

"Cass, I-I don't know how to tell you this." Twig paused, as if trying to figure out how to say it for me to believe. "Arius, all of us, are monsters. We eat people..." They trailed off. Them scratching their arm turned into an attempt to pierce their own skin but failing.

I started to chuckle in disbelief. Everything that Twig has told me felt like a fantasy. Crossing my arms, I decided to continue my questioning me. "Drinking people's blood, never cold, immune to any bodily damage. What are you, a vampire?" My question turned more into a joke but Twig didn't seem to take it that way. 

"Well, yeah, that's exactly what we are." Twig got up and stood beside me. They took the blood stained sweater from my hands and dropped it on the floor. "I know it sounds crazy, like a dream. You just have to believe me." They held my hand, rubbing their thumb on the back of my hand. Twig knew that physical touch was my love language, so holding my hand was an unfair advantage. I looked down to our intertwined hands. Vampires? Do I just blindly believe them? Is there any other choice?

I looked back up at Twig and realized that they are also just like me. More of what they have said, especially yesterday hit me. I reached my free hand to the crown of their head. My hand softly rubbed over the short bristles of their buzz cut. Now I know what they meant but not wanting me to make any hasty decisions. "It hasn't grown back?" I asked as my hand fell back to my side. 

Twig shook their head, their facial expression turned regretful. "It hasn't. And it won't. But it's okay, I'll live with it. It was my choice to do that before my turn date." I was a bit confused by what they meant by "turn date" but I decided to not ask what it meant. Twig was my best friend and I know that they will help me. "Oh! I forgot that we have to go to the Burrow." 

"The Burrow?" I asked as Twig pulled me towards my bedroom window. They let my hand go and pushed my cotton curtains to the side. I watched them push the window open and looked outside. 

Twig grabbed my hand once again before climbing through the window and standing on my rooftop. I followed suit. "It's our little hideout. No humans to worry about. Arius protects us, I think you'll like it." They were so excited to show me my new life as a vampire that I couldn't help but have a grin too. We stood on the black tile rooftop and took a moment to breathe. I finally knew what happened to me and Twig didn't have to hide anything anymore. I closed the window but not before calling to mom that I was going to go out for a bit. I heard her okay before I closed the window. I followed Twig as they started walking off. 

'It's so bright out today.' That thought caught me off guard. I stopped in my tracks before leaving the shadow that hit my roof. Twig turned around, noticing that I was standing. I stared at the sunlight that was hitting the charcoal colored roof tiles and gulped. Twig noticed my reason for pausing and busted out laughing. They hugged their stomach. Apparently I was hilarious. I blushed. "W-what?!" I yelled in embarrassment. "Don't vampires, like, die when we touch the sun?" 

Twig had to catch their breath and wiped an imaginary tear from their eye. "No dude." They breathed as they regained their composure. "Don't believe all that folk story shit." Twig raised their hand up high and walked backwards, walking into the sunshine. It caught me off guard, my heart skipped a beat as I reached over to grab them but missed. To my surprise Twig did not turn into dust on impact. Twig was just Twig. They twirled around, showing me that the sun did not affect them. I sighed, happy that my best friend was okay. They turned towards the sun basked in the sunlight while giving the middle finger to the ball of flame in the sky. 

I chuckled. That was Twig, always having that rebellious personality. It gave me the courage to step into the sunlight. I slowly walked into the light, squinting, as if still expecting a bad outcome. I opened my eyes once completely in the light. Twig applauded, noting my bravery. "Okay, what else can we do?" I was so curious to what extent a vampire could really do. I guess I was fully embracing the idea of being immortal. 

"I'll show you, but first you got to eat." Twig poked my belly as they stated. My stomach growled. I almost forgot about the incident earlier this morning. I rubbed my belly and nodded. We jumped off the roof of the house. It was exhilarating, fast and with little to no effort. I felt so strong. I was a vampire.