Chapter 2: The Stranger

After finally falling asleep, I woke up the next morning as though the day before had been a terrible dream. I strained my eyes for a moment, clearing my vision as I looked to see if I really had been dreaming. No, I’m still in this damned attic, I told myself. I looked to my left and noticed bags of food huddled together in the corner. My mother must have brought them up while I was asleep.

I wished I would have been awake for her return. I wished I could have stopped her from leaving me again, alone in the darkness that consumed my mind. I didn’t understand why she wanted to leave me. Had I done something so terribly wrong that she had to go and commit suicide? How could she go to face those monsters alone? I expected to see her lying next to me, cradling me in her gentle arms, sheltering me from the horror that awaited us outside our once quiet home. But she was not with me, she was nowhere to be found. And I was alone to wallow in my personal hell.

I once again pounded on the attic door, yelling, but still remembering at the same time to keep my voice down in case that man had come back for me. There was no response. Over and over again I pounded, waiting for an answer I knew I would never receive.

I cradled myself against the door now, holding my bloody hand close to my face, tightening my legs to my chin, crying to myself. I looked up at the ceiling, as if to ask God why. Why had he forsaken my mother? Why had he shown no mercy in the killing I had witnessed?

I came to the conclusion there was no God. God would never allow such an event to happen. God would strike down the monster that killed the little girl, he would bring my mother back, and he would save me. But I knew I was not to be saved. This was my fate. Dying in this godforsaken attic, alone, cold, and broken.

Countless days and nights I sat here, looking out a hole in my attic wall, watching more and more murders, lying here, hearing the screams of the innocent all night, praying my mother wasn’t one of them.

I wished I would have seen her again, I wished I would have stopped her from going out into the night on her own. Thoughts of her consumed my mind. She was the only family I had left, and now I had nothing and no one to protect me, to save me from this nightmare that had become my world.

I had countless questions in my ever aware mind. I kept wondering about my mother, what would she do, where would she go, what was she planning…and most of all, would I ever see her again. But the question that completely boggled me out of all, was that I didn’t understand how the most evil, the most horrifying creatures could be the most beautiful things I’d ever seen in my life.

All of them were beautiful.

One woman I saw in particular made me feel as though I was unworthy to even be in existence.

I looked out the hole in my attic wall and saw her, crouching on a roof top across the street from my house. She had the most beautiful bright red hair I’d ever seen, I’d never seen that color. It contrasted her pale skin wonderfully. Even from where I was in my attic, I could see her bright crimson eyes, those piercing red eyes I’d seen on the man in the street. They must be the eyes of hunger. There was no other way I could think of how they would be that color. Yes, I’d read my fair share of definitions on the internet about what vampires were, how they acted, what their lives consisted of, but to actually witness these happenings in person, it was very hard for me to believe.

I watched her as she crouched, ready to pounce on anything that moved; any human that moved. And then I saw him. A man, a man mindlessly walking in the middle of the street. I had no clue why any person in their right mind would be walking in the middle of the street when those creatures were out there!

She saw her prey. I watched her closely as she stalked him with her eyes. She pounced.

She ran lightning fast toward the man and tackled him to the ground. He was screaming, gasping for air as I’d seen the little girl do. The woman must have been very strong to hold down a man of that size. She pinned his hands behind his head and went in for the kill. He screamed until his whole body went into convulsions and stopped. He was silent. She had gotten what she wanted. She drained his whole body dry. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it.

The woman stood up, wiped off her chin, and to my surprised eyes, pranced up the side of a building and took her perch once again, as if nothing had happened.

I looked down to the street and watched the man for hours it seemed. I wanted him to get up even though I knew my prayers would not be answered.

He was dead. And he was not coming back.

I cried to myself. I cried for him, for his family, for his life that was lost.

And then I cried for myself.

I cried for my mother, I cried until I had nothing left in my red, swollen eyes.

I wondered if I was the only one left. Were there any more survivors other than me? Had this just happened to our town or to everyone? What was going on? I needed to get out of this attic and I needed to make my move soon. But…how?

I finally fell asleep. I don’t know how I fell asleep, but I did.

I woke in the middle of the night; it was very early in the morning.

I found a man, crouched beside me on the floor, staring at me. He looked like an angel. I’m dead, I thought to myself, it’s finally over.

I screamed but he quickly covered my mouth, muffling the sounds of the terror of my own death. And then I realized, I wasn’t dead. This man was real, maybe he was here to save me!

He looked peaceful, serene almost. He had long, black hair just like the man I’d seen in the street.

But somehow, this man was even more beautiful. He had bright green eyes that sparkled, even in the pitch black of my attic. I became instantly terrified of him. He was one of them. He was going to kill me. I screamed again, “Let me go! Don’t hurt me!”

“Shh,” he whispered, “you must be quiet.”

“Who…who are you?” I asked in amazement and confusion.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Somehow, I believed him. I knew that this man, whoever he was, was sent here to save me. He was an angel in disguise. He was my knight in shining armor. Although he looked like neither. Something about him made my heart stop. Made me breathe slow. Made my mind go blank. But my mind wasn’t blank enough to force out my thoughts of dread and shock. I still didn’t trust this man and I would be watching his every step.

He hugged me tightly and I tried to back away but he held me tighter. He was warm, yet cold at the same time. It was as though all of the feelings of terror I had before rushed out of my body and into his skin as his arms encircled me. I tried to fight the feelings, tried to fight him off of me, but I couldn’t I felt defeated.

I caught my breath just as he backed away. My face felt hot and my breathing was in short, fast gasps. He looked at me, puzzled, as though he'd done something wrong.

“Please don’t hurt me, I know you’re one of them. Are you here to save me or kill me because if you’re here to kill me, I’d rather we just get this over with now.”

"I'm here to save you,” he whispered.

I sighed, unsure how to feel. I was excited, yet also scared of what the outside world looked like now. I hope this man wasn’t just lying. I hope he wasn’t just buttering me up for something terrible he’d have in store for me later. But all I could do was hope and pray that he was being truthful.

Although this place was my hell now, it was also the location of my childhood. The place that held so many of my memories. The place my mother raised me on her own.

The mother I never thought I'd see again.

I wanted to leave so badly but something was making me want to stay. I was sick of all of these thoughts and I wanted to just push them away and leave. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I broke down. I collapsed into a ball of tears. Every frightful night, every feeling of hopelessness, everything I'd known for so long it seemed...all just came pouring out of me into my tears. And finally, I felt relief.

I knew I had to leave. I knew I had to leave this place behind forever, to never look back. But how I'd get the strength...I was unsure of.

I didn't even know this man! I knew he was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen and for some reason something inside of me was telling me to stay with him. But what he was about, where he'd been, what he'd seen? I was unsure of how I'd like what he was. I didn't know if I could handle it. I didn’t know if I could bring myself to trust him fully.

But I knew deep down inside of me that I must. I must leave. And it must be now.