The Chronicles Of Vladimir Tod: A Year To Remember Chapter 1: A sweet breeze
Being a vampire in eighth grade was never my choice, my mom was a human, and my dad was a vampire. They met and got married just like any other couple in love would do. But they had a miracle when I was born. I, Vladimir Tod was born half vampire and half human. They raised me and I got to watch them in love. I have never seen anybody more in love than they were. But, one day my dad disappeared. A week later my mom was found dead in her and my fathers' bed. A fire had engulfed her while I was at school. I had found her, ash and all in her bed. I somehow ended up at my 'aunt' Nelly's house; from then on she had raised me, and she knew all about me being a vampire.
I jumped, then I woke up in a cold sweat, I felt weird like I had just told someone my life story, like I just went through all that had happened in my life up to going to Nelly's house. Ugh, my stomach growled. Nelly really should be sneaking more blood from the hospital these days. I don't know how many more bags of blood I can take before my stomach explodes. Ggllrruugglle. Geez there it is again!
I sat up and opened my eyes, I was still drowsy when I jumped out of my bed, ran my fingers through my hair, and yawned. I looked at my alarm clock that Nelly had gotten me almost two years ago. Ugh, I moaned again when my blurry eyes caught a glimpse of the little red numbers that were shining bright right in front of me. The horrible numbers read, 2:00. I knew that if I went downstairs that Nelly would know. I'd been doing this a lot lately and I'm sure that she wouldn't mind if I just slipped downstairs for a midnight snack.
I practically tripped and fell down the stairs still half asleep. I grabbed a blood bag that was looking especially yummy right now and quietly tiptoed out the front door.
I sat on the porch and slurped my bag down 'til the last drop. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and closed my eyes. My face was horribly hot, I hated summer nights, they were always hot and humid. Thankfully, a cold wind blew right in my direction. It felt really good on my face as it blew the hair out of my eyes. It smelled delightfully good, almost like cotton candy and strawberries. That's when I shot my eyelids open. Oh no! My fangs elongated and bit right through my bottom lip. Thankfully I have super fast healing powers. Only one drop of blood dropped off of my lip before it healed its self. It dropped right down to the porch ending with a splash. Just then, another wind came.
Crap that sweet scent was still there. And I knew exactly where it was coming from. That beautiful brown hair was sitting on a park bench right in front of my house. It was the beautiful Meredith. I almost started to cry when I saw tears pouring from her beautiful blue eyes. I felt my fangs suck back into my gums. I had to go over there! I haven't said one thing without stuttering or just staring in silence to her since that wonderful day of 3rd grade when she was the new girl in school. But, I couldn't just leave her there. After all, she was sitting on a bench right in front of me crying. I felt brave; thank god I remembered to put on my pants before coming out here because without thinking I fast walked across the street to where she was sitting.
"Um, hey" Oh My God, I felt like smacking myself when I realized that I wasn't wearing a shirt. My heart started to race faster than it has ever raced.
She almost started to laugh, then her small smile faded and another tear fell from her cheek. "Vlad, why are here and why aren't you wearing a shirt?" I swore I could see another tiny smile building in her full pink lips.
"I couldn't sleep so I came out here, but then I saw you crying, so I walked over."
"That doesn't explain the shirt" Then the smile came. I felt my heart slow down, but just a little.
"Oh yeah, I kind of forgot to put one on." She started to giggle just a little, I smiled, "So, why are you crying, and what are you doing out here at two in the morning?"
"My mom's on a business trip in California, and my dad's drunk. He…" She stopped talking and a little tear rolled off her cheek.
I looked down at her arm. She was wearing a white t shirt and her arms were showing. And under the dim light I could see several dark brown half dollar sized bruises on her arms. I gasped.
"He hit you?" I whispered shocked.
She nodded her head slowly, she was crying a lot now. I didn't know how to comfort someone who was abused by her father. So, I did what my instinct told me to do, I reached for her trembling hand (probably the only part on her arm that wasn't covered in black, blue, and purple circles). She grabbed my hand and laid her head on my shoulder and began to cry again. It felt like only a few seconds that we were bound together on that old wooden bench when she pulled her head off of my shoulder.
"I should probably go home now, you should go back home too, you know because we have school tomorrow and 8th grade math isn't so easy to do when you're half asleep." Why does school always have to ruin the moment?
"What about your dad, won't he be mad? What if he hurts you again?" I thought about it in disgust.
"I'll be fine; he went to his friends' house to watch a rerun of last week's game on the big screen, god I hope he either gets a DUI or gets in a car crash coming home." Something about the way she said it made me believe that, she meant it.
"Fine, but if he hurts you again…" I had to catch my breath from all the anger inside me.
Something in the universe must have exploded and bent all the rules of science because just then something magical happened. She reached up with her puckered pink lips and reached them to mine. I could taste her tears as she kissed me. My lips tingled and my heart raced. Just then she pulled away and whispered.
"Thank you for caring so much." Then she walked off.
I stood there and watched her walk away and I said under my breath "Anytime." Then when she was nowhere in sight, then jogged back to my front door.
I crept back inside and got back in my bed, I kept replaying the moment in my head over and over again. Something told me that I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. I didn't know how to explain what happened. But I knew for a fact that I had deep feelings for her, I just didn't know how to tell her and I wasn't sure if I'd ever get the courage to talk to her again. I closed my eyes I couldn't wait for tomorrow because I knew that I'd see her in math, bruises and all.
