Disclaimer: I don't own the Lost Boys. I only desperately wish I did
"Start somewhere new," they said. "It will be fun," they said. I seriously doubted it, but anything was better than the hell hole I was escaping. I unconsciously pressed my foot a little harder on the accelerator, adjusting my seat for the umpteenth time as I tried to get comfortable. My ass was starting to fall asleep on me, and I just couldn't find a way to grip the steering wheel that didn't make my wrists ache. This wasn't making my already dreaded road trip any easier.
My friends told me my first school wasn't the right fit. Well, that was for damn certain. But, really, how is any teenager supposed to pick the right University on their first go? When I left home, all I was concerned with was picking a school far enough away that I didn't feel obligated to visit home. Truthfully, this departure mirrored many others that happened over the years. I was a runner at heart, even if I had never tried out for track and field. I fled from the person I was in middle school when I graduated to a bigger high school, leaving behind a lot of drama terrible fashion choices. I escaped my first high school to move to a more private institution. I told my friends it was because I was gifted, and we joked that I was heading Xavier's where I would learn to control some sort of hidden abilities I recently discovered, but we all knew the humor was just a cover for the truth I wasn't ready to deal with. We all knew the real reason I left my high school was Joshua.
I turned up the music in my car a little louder causing the rearview mirror to vibrate, blurring out the cars behind me on the highway. I could hardly see out the rear window with all the crap loaded into the back anyway, so what did it matter if I obscured my view a little more?
"The Beginning is the End is the Beginning - Smashing Pumpkins
Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass.
I groaned and I made a move toward the skip button on my dashboard, my finger hovering there with indecision. Would the next song actually be any better? My desktop PC, which contained all the music I had ever collected, was unfortunately zapped just two days before I began my journey. Now the only music I had left for entertainment during this extended drive were the songs I still owned CDs for. The catch was that I hadn't actually purchased a CD since middle school, almost nine years prior to this day. Boy did 2003 suddenly seem like a long time ago. But, hey, I would take Smashing Pumpkins over the Criss Angel: Mindfreak soundtrack any day, which was the only other CD readily accessible to switch over to at the moment. Middle school Brenna really could have used a hug.
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate,
With no more to hate.
"Young Haven State University welcomes you!" The sign snapped me back to reality and I lifted my phone to check the GPS. Only five more minutes and then I would be unloading my entire life into another new room. Moving was, admittedly, exciting the first few times. You got to pick out expressive decorations, create floor plans, and arrange things as you liked them for likely the first time in your life. The novelty wore off the third time I was expected to drag all my things out of my dorm room for a one week spring break, which is still the dumbest policy I've ever heard of. Nonetheless, even those caffeine-fueled, last minute packing frenzies were happier moves than this one.
Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a place cracked.
I could convince everyone else that it was some sort of resurgence of childhood trauma to avoid explaining my rush to get the hell outta' Dodge, but the real reason I left Azuline, my old school, was still probably burned into my retinas if you looked close enough.
"My legs wouldn't stop shaking" is not the type of thing you want to see another girl texting your man when he leaves his phone sitting on the dashboard. A quick swipe through his text messages confirmed that less than twenty-four hours ago he had been in relations with someone else. This wasn't the first time it had happened. I'm not sure why I was so shocked. He chucked the phone out of the car when I told him I had seen, smashing it on the pavement. He begged me to take him back blaming the phone, the distance, and everything else under the sun to avoid accepting that maybe he was just a shitty human being all along. We called it quits a few weeks later.
And in your darkest hour
I hold secret's flame
We can watch the world devoured in its pain.
I don't know how I would have survived the breakup without my Young Haven friends. They helped me find myself again and truly define who I was as a standalone person. They were always there to help me pick up the pieces after another stupid decision came to a close and I could never possibly repay them for all they sacrificed for me. The night I left Ethan, they drove all the way out to Azuline just to try and lift my spirits. I could see William now, pushing his way into my tiny room in the honors residence hall, his shaggy brown hair being flipped in vain as he struggled to keep it out of his face. As he set the drinks down, he pushed it fully out of the way and I realized his intense brown eyes were shooting me a somewhat disapproving look from beneath his slightly protruding brow bone.
"You got another one of those?" He asked, gesturing to my fourth Mike's Hard Lemonade of the night. He had no way of knowing how many I had tossed back so far, but my low tolerance was probably giving me away. "Drinking alone is sad."
When Will and the others asked me to transfer schools to be with them that night, I laughed at them. The very idea was ridiculous. I didn't think anything would ever make me want to come back to this dump. And, yet, here I was on the final stretch of my adventure to the armpit of Ohio. It was renowned for experiencing sunshine just twenty percent of the entire year and was a proud member of the Rust Belt, an area that can best be described as a series of towns unable to bounce back from the steel industry collapse and slowly fading into obscurity. I had decided to move to Young Haven, Ohio. The place Joshua died. Funny how life always seems to move in circles.
Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us,
No one can—
"And, that's enough out of you" I politely told my car radio as I located a parking spot, stopped the vehicle, and cut power to its engine. "Happy thoughts. New place. New life. Change is good." I repeated my mantra to myself while closing my eyes, counting to ten, and taking some deep breaths. I was glad to see a familiar face rushing toward me when I opened them again. She had hardly changed a bit. Her diamond shaped face, deep-set eyes and symmetrical features could have made her a model easily, but she was always too focused on school to even consider pursuing a career outside of physical therapy. Not much had changed about her looks from our high school days except her hair. Long gone was the mousy brown ponytail while platinum blonde, shoulder length waves were apparently the new trend. She always changed her hair color when she got a new boyfriend, and I wondered if this was the case now. I smiled, popping out of the car and saving the question for later.
"Brenna!" she squealed.
"Jordan!" we hugged briefly before, "Ouch!" I pulled away, looking down at my porcelain arms and noting they had turned a light salmon color. "Are you kidding me?! I managed to get a sunburn on my way to the cloudiest city in the United States?!" Jordan laughed and her blue-gray eyes sparkled.
"At least it's a beautiful day!" she always had a way of balancing out my negativity. I had to agree. The August weather was warm, but with occasional gusts of a chilled wind that hinted Fall was fast approaching.
"And my car made it!" I patted the hood of my baby, surprised she was even able to make the trek with the added weight of my possessions. There were a few scrapes here and there in the cherry red paint, most notably the large dent in the back passenger side from where someone performed a hit and run a year ago. It wasn't like she was held together by duct tape, but she was going on eleven years which was old even by Honda standards.
"Come on, let's get you moved in!" I agreed, first deciding to pull my hair out of my face before it got in the way - I had let it grow out of control during my post-breakup moping. I wrapped the tie quickly, pulling both sides to tighten the hairstyle, then grabbed at strands framing my face that I knew would fall out anyway and tucked them behind my ears. I had styled my hair this way for as long as I could remember, even after the layers had grown out long enough that they would have just stayed put.p
"I really appreciate the help, but I can handle it myself," I tried to tell Jordan as we carried the first box load up the singular flight of stairs to our new apartment. "You already spent all day moving. I sat in a car. You take a load off and I'll get the rest of it inside."
"I'm already dressed for it and could use the extra exercise." She smiled, carrying box after box as if they were feather-light. Jordan was being honest about the clothing. She could almost always be found in either a designer dress or yoga gear. Today, it was the latter. However, I had to roll my eyes at the "extra exercise" comment. She had a petite yoga instructor frame I envied for as long as I could remember and it looked like she might have somehow lost even more weight since I last saw her. I let the argument drop, regardless, not wanting to be rude. She swiped us into the first door on the left at the top of the stairs and set her box down in the living room.
"Well, what do you think?" she asked, fluffing some black and white butterfly pillows on a hideously green and red plaid couch. "I tried to do some decorating, but…Nothing really goes along with these things. They said they're replacing them by the end of the year." That was Jordan – always the homemaker. I noticed she had also thrown down a few placemats on the end tables and strewn fluffy blankets across the backs of the couches. The floral centerpiece on the coffee table would likely block the view of our television, which appeared to have somehow survived from the nineties. I mentally shrugged, adding it to the list of things to be done later.
"Aside from the eyesore of a living room set, everything was kept a neutral color: white walls, beige carpeting, light blue counters, and light oak furnishings. It wasn't exactly my taste but, honestly, anything was an upgrade from my old dorm room. Last spring we were kicked out for a week so they could spray for roaches. This new apartment was small, but clean and overall very nice: four bedrooms, two bathrooms, one open layout kitchen, and a living room. Thanks to the large windows, the space was easily lit with natural light even with all the Young Haven clouds. Better still, I would be the third of three residents who would share the apartment. No one ended up being assigned to the forth room so I would get a bathroom to myself!
The other roommate, Colette, was a good friend of Jordan's who I had yet to meet until this moment. Her styled straight "cherry coke" hair, a trendy fashion on Pinterest lately, was a stark contrast to her fair skin which was very similar to mine in tone. Her face was wide, somewhat round, and her nose came to a sharp, downturned point. Her eyes were small, darkening the brown of her irises. She was not particularly tall or short and seemed a little plump, although Jordan had a tendency of making anyone she stood next to look overweight by comparison. Colette smiled, extending a hand, and seemed genuinely happy to meet me. After introductions, she and her boyfriend, Robert, also began pitching in to help me get moved in. Robert was best described as absent and unmemorable after that day. I think he had brown hair…? It doesn't really matter. I never saw much of him around the apartment.
In the end, we were all surprised at just how much I managed to cram into the Accord and my phone screen read 11 by the time we got everything moved in.
"Hey, I think there's only one box left" I called out. "I'll just grab it and be right back".
"Why don't you let Rob go with you?" Did I hear Jordan's voice waiver a little? She hid it well if it had.
"I'm a big girl. I can handle it!" I smiled.
"I'll just get the door for you. It isn't a great idea to wander around this place alone at night." Rob smiled, following me out the door anyway. I chose to ignore the daggers Jordan glared at the back of his head. I knew there had to be something up with this place, and it was just like her to try and hide the truth from me so I would agree to come out to stay. But, after retrieving the final few items, I started looking around. I nodded to the cop sitting in the parking lot, checking on kids walking in and out, and I noticed several security cameras attached to street lights. I was confused. My old university was much laxer in its security. With these added safety measures, I couldn't think of a time I felt more comfortable by myself. So what was the issue I was missing?
I dredged up the stairs for the final time, thanking my lucky stars that I was only living on the second floor. I was just setting the final box down, congratulating myself on a successful move-in, when it slipped.
"Motherfucker!" I yelled, unable to help myself, wincing immediately at my volume. If I hadn't blown it with Colette yet, I probably just did. She seemed like a pretty straight-laced girl. My first impression was ruined.
"What's wrong?" Jordan called from the living room, already getting up. I rushed out to grab a tissue before I had a chance to bleed on anything, realizing the neutral color scheme could become a problem very quickly. Even a speck of blood would show.
"Just a cardboard cut," I grumbled, dabbing at it.
"Ooooh," She cringed. "By the sounds of it, I thought something was in there with you."
"Like what?" I laughed, bringing the cut just below my mouth and making slurping sounds, imitating a vampire.
"No, I meant like a spider! You watch too many horror movies!"
I was going to respond but, turning to my left, I caught a very disapproving glance from a passerby. I had, apparently, forgotten to close the door. "Great, now the neighbors all know I'm weird too" I muttered, kicking the door shut. By the time I turned around, Jordan was already returning with a bandage, shaking her head.
"Thanks," I sighed. "For everything." She knew I was implying much more than the Band-Aid.
"That's what friends are for." She smiled.
"Well, I'm pooped and I still have to unpack enough to uncover my bed before I can go to sleep. I'll catch you tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'm off to bed, too. Night!" And with that, we turned out the lights and closed our respective doors.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when the bike revved behind her, shattering the hush of the evening.
"Hey, girl!" the young man with the wild, blonde hair hollered at her as he sped past. "Let me get your number!" His voice and laughter faded off into the distance as he, followed by three other motorcyclists, disappeared into the night. She rolled her eyes, moving a little faster toward the dining hall and hugging her jacket a little tighter to her body. She wasn't cold – this was a much warmer client she was used to – she was just incredibly uncomfortable with having attention drawn to herself. As if she didn't have enough concerns about going to school all the way out here.
"Asshole!" Someone behind her yelled, and she bristled. She hadn't noticed anyone else around, but as she glanced back, she noticed a curly haired blonde shooting the bird in the direction of the bikers. "Stupid freshmen" he commented, quickly catching up with her. "Here for two days and they think they own the place…"
"Yeah…" She glanced down at the campus map clutched in her hand, crease lines spiderwebbing the image from her anxious crinkling of the paper.
"Oh, sorry…You're a freshman, aren't you?"
"Yeah…"
"My bad." He scratched the back of his neck, grimacing. "That was a shitty way of starting things off. Uhh…Are you heading to dinner?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. Me too. I'll show you the way." The relief visually washed through her. "So, where are you from?"
"Alaska" she brushed some of her light blonde hair behind an ear. "I doubt you would know the town. It's called Barrow?"
"Holy shit!" he laughed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm on a scholarship for track and field. I would have never heard of this place if they hadn't recruited me."
"Damn, Alaska…That's so cool…Oh, man, I heard the nights last forever there!"
"Actually...In the winter, it lasts for about two months." She smiled a little, surprised he was taking any interest. She wasn't used to being flirted with, especially coming from a guy this …Normal. They were typically all creeps. She began to panic, worried she would say something stupid soon. She had been doing well so far, but, this was usually where she tripped over words, choked on her own saliva, or something equally embarrassing. "But then in the summer we get twenty-four hours of sun for almost three months, so it's actually not so bad."
"That's so weird!" he exclaimed. She tried to pull off a convincing smile, suddenly hyper-aware of every muscle moving within her face. Was she blinking a normal amount? He pulled open the door to the Christoff dining hall, gesturing for her to enter first. "You have friends waiting for you here?"
"No…I guess I was kind of hoping I would just bump into someone from my hall or something." Her cheeks burned at the confession.
"Then I guess we're having dinner together." He smiled warmly and she could feel herself melt just a little.
She was grateful that she didn't have to sit at a table alone, and he had her laughing almost the entire time at his stories about his first days of school.
"You'll do fine!" He started off, dismissing her worries about her first days on campus. "You couldn't do worse than I did, anyway. In fact, I challenge you to have a worse first day than I did." He jabbed a fork in her direction for emphasis. "First day on campus, I'm leaving my dorm and totally eat it. Tripped on a crack in the sidewalk, ripped up my jeans...People were everywhere and not one of them stopped to help him up." He noticed the strange look she gave him, then corrected himself. "ME. No one stopped to help ME up. I can be such a ditz." He smacked himself in the head causing her to giggle. "And then, my roommate…I had the worst roommate in the world. He constantly talked about me in Spanish to his friends, was up half the night Skyping SUPER loud with the lights on, and always came home drunk on nights I had early classes. Hell, I hated the whole hallway. They always went out drinking at the bars, and I was stuck in my room because my girlfriend, Rachel, wouldn't let me go out."
"That's ridiculous!" She rolled her eyes while patting off her grease-logged pizza with a napkin.
"And all along, she was paranoid about me cheating on her when SHE was cheating on ME!" He continued. "With my own best friend!" She frowned sympathetically at him, making sure to swallow her food before speaking.
"You deserve better than that."
"Well…Thanks." His expression seemed to soften a little "But, anyway, that's enough about her. What are you up to after this?"
"I have my first eight A.M. Chemistry class tomorrow, so I wanted to get back early." She immediately regretted her words. She wanted to do anything but call it a night here.
"Gross." He scrunched his nose. "What are you even majoring in?"
"Science education." She slapped his arm playfully as he faked a gag.
"Will you at least let me walk you home?" He pleaded as they emptied the rest of their food into the garbage and set their trays on the conveyor.
"Oh, I'm sure I could handle myself." Her eyes were downcast, but he could tell her resistance was a ploy. "Besides – I've inconvenienced you enough tonight."
"But it wasn't an inconvenience," He insisted. "It would be my pleasure to protect you from any more biker weirdos."
"Alright, you have a point." Her eyes returned to his sparkling blue ones as she caved. "I do seem to be attracting all sorts of strange men tonight."
"Hey! I take offense to that!" He retorted in a teasing tone causing her smile to widen more.
In reality, he seemed elated that she took him up on his offer. In turn, he opted to follow a scenic trail back to her dorm which would allow her to avoid people she wasn't interested in talking with in the future, for which she thanked him profusely. Regardless, for all the fuss she made earlier about making it back on time, it was obvious that neither person was in a hurry to reach their destination based on their slow gaits and how they gravitated toward each other.
"You trying to hold hands or something?" he teased after the third or fourth time her hand bumped his while they were walking.
"No…" she trailed off, smirking over at him a bit. He returned the expression, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers.
"Uh huh…" His tone was skeptical, but they continued for a few yards before he pulled her to a stop on a bridge. "You know, you're not like other freshmen."
"Really?" she attempted to hide her surprise.
"Really. There's something special about you." He took her other hand.
"And I'm so lucky I found you on my first day here," she admitted. "I can't thank you enough for all this. I don't know anyone here, and I was so worried I wouldn't make any friends…" He smiled back at her sympathetically, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Enough of that." He murmured. She sighed at the sudden closeness as he wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, I have an idea." He abruptly separated from her. "You said you're a track all-star, right?"
"Yeah?" Her head tilted a little to the side, not understanding where this was going.
"Let's have a race!" He spun her around so she was facing a small pavilion maybe forty yards away. "I haven't had a good run in a while. The first one to the pavilion wins." He was so goofy - it was adorable.
"Ok. You're on." She took off before he could say another word.
He was much slower than her, especially with her head start, but she was really only giving it half of her usual effort. She hazarded a glance back for a second, grinning at him cockily, but when she swiveled to watch the trail in front of her, she immediately ground her feet to a halt, unable to understand what she was seeing. He was already leaning against the railing of the pavilion. She looked back again only to discover that there was no one behind her at all. Somehow he had made it past her without her ever noticing. But that was impossible...Wasn't it?
"I don't think that was really your best shot." He examined the dirt beneath his fingernails sounding disappointed, but she was most taken aback at how the warmth had drained from his tone of voice. It was like he had switched places with an entirely different person. That had to be it, right? There were two of them. This was some kind of prank. "I told you that I wanted you to span style="text-decoration: underline;"runspan."
"I don't understand. What's going on here?" She was rooted to the spot.
"Are you stupid?" He took a few steps forward and she began to backpedal. He scoffed at her but had his hand wrapped around her throat in an instant later, closing the ten-foot gap between them in fractions of a second. "Every night it's the same old fucking game, and I'm so bored with it. Find some girl on campus who looks like she just needs a friend, feed her some information about a made up past or one you stole from your last snack, make her think she's special, get her alone…" He trailed off, finally returning his gaze to her eyes. "Did you even realize you didn't know my name when you agreed to go for a stroll through the park at night with me?" She made a sound of protest, but his grip put a stop to that. She was certain her windpipe was being crushed. She clawed at his fingers, but if it caused him any pain, he wasn't letting it show. "It's like you all WANT to be killed."
Darkness began to creep in at the corners of her vision. She was suddenly very aware of how far from campus they probably were. She hadn't met her roommate yet. No one in this state knew she was out here alone. She glanced around frantically for any way out of this, for anyone who might come to her rescue as stars danced in her head.
"So when I finally decided to spice things up and let you run, to enjoy the thrill of a hunt for the first time in years…You don't even give me your best effort?" Just when the blackness nearly consumed her, he relinquished his hold. She gasped, sucking in all the air she could as she stumbled backward, away from him and immediately starting into a coughing fit. em"Oh, sure, take your time," he waved his hand dismissively as she glared at him, all that she could do for the moment. "Catch your breath. Why not?" As her coughing subsided and her breathing returned to normal, she decided to try and get a jump on him, popping up and sprinting away like a madwoman.
"Now that's more like it!" she heard his cheer from the pavilion. He seemed to be giving her a head start.
With all the adrenaline pumping through her system, she was positive that she was moving faster than she ever had before. It wouldn't be sustainable, but she just needed to get enough distance to lose him. She just needed to make it to civilization and she could duck into a store or call for help. She could see the streetlights and passing cars, and she opened her mouth to let out a shriek, but by then, he was on top of her, covering her mouth and pinning her to the dirt roughly.
"Strike two, kid," he growled in her ear. "No screaming. Tonight is just for you and me, so here are the rules, plain and simple: you're going to keep running - QUIETLY - and I'm going to keep chasing until you don't have a drop of energy left in you; until your feet bleed and your muscles tear. And then, when you can't run anymore…" She felt his cold breath on her neck as he inhaled her scent, shuddering. "God…I don't think I'll be able to wait that long…"
It wasn't until much, MUCH later that I could see my bed, pillows, and sheets, which I spruced up a bit. As I was about to collapse, however, my stomach let out an enormous gurgle.
"Ugghhh" I complained as well. I should have thought of this sooner. I was starving and didn't have any food in the apartment yet. I was sure Jordan and Colette wouldn't have minded sharing whatever they had in stock, but I just felt wrong taking anything without asking and it was either far too late or far too early, depending on your perspective, to go knocking on their doors.
"I guess I'll be exploring this town a little sooner than I expected' I thought to myself while grabbing a light jacket, my wallet, and my phone. I thought about taking my car keys but decided to walk instead. I would need gas and that just seemed like too much work at this particular moment. Besides, the sun would be peeking over the horizon soon. If this was a dangerous place, I highly doubted any of the baddies would be out at this hour.p
"The walk to the McDonald's was quick, but entirely uphill, much to my dismay, and it left me winded. In fact, I was so exhausted that when the figure launched itself out of the bush at me, I didn't have enough energy left to scream.
"A bit late for a walk, don't you think?" they prodded. Literally. I looked down to see I was being poked at with what might have been the leg of a stool, filed into a fine point.
"I was just grabbing a bite to eat." I held my hands in the air, but my head began to pull to one side with confusion as I started to recognize this person. It was the passerby from earlier in the hallway. What the hell was going on?
"I'm sure you were." They jabbed me again and I slowly began to connect the dots. The blood from earlier, being out late, looking for food…I was on the receiving end of a stake.
"You…Think I'm actually a vampire?" I tried to hold a straight face, but I'm sure it was transparent. I've always been told it was easy to determine what I was thinking just by taking a look at me. "Easy there, Van Helsing. It's nearly sunrise." I pushed the stake away from my chest. "If I emwasem a vampire looking for food at this hour, I would be toast." They narrowed their eyes, still a little skeptical. "So…I'm gonna go…" I sidestepped them and continued on my way to my fast food joint of choice. I could feel their eyes on me until I finally broke line of sight.
"I decided to take a different route on my trip back. Even with the sun well over the horizon, which would prove once and for all that I was not some creature of the night, I had a feeling the wacko from earlier would just find another paranormal entity to accuse me of being. I rolled my eyes.p
"Maybe that's why everyone seemed so worried when I tried to leave earlier." I thought to myself "Maybe the school is filled with wannabe Buffy's". I couldn't stifle my laugh which came out as a sort of choked snort.
"Although I knew the walk back to my apartment wasn't going to be long, I couldn't resist the smell of food and a nearby bench was calling my name. It wasn't too far away from the road, so I felt safe stretching my legs out and enjoying my french-fries with a side of sunrise. I sighed, blissfully. All the hesitation and terrible thoughts from just a few hours ago felt like they were hundreds of years away. The area I decided to sit was simple, quiet, secluded, and beyond beautiful. The steel bench I sat on, along with its twin, was anchored into a small wood structure which, I discovered, overlooked the Sowwick Valley River. Its banks, along with the pavilion, were lined with leafy trees, green and full of life. It also came paired with a fantastic view of a large, ornate bridge. Painted bright red and strung with lights, it was striking against the gray of the city surrounding me.
"But, all too soon, I was out of food and my eyes were burning with lack of sleep. I yawned, stretched, and gathered my trash. It was time to head home before I fell asleep on my feet. In doing so, however, I caught a glimmer of something on the ground near the river bank. I bent to investigate and brushing aside the crisp leaves of a previous Autumn, I discovered a bracelet. It looked like the seven beads might have been made from shell, three black and four white, with a small black and white bird-like charm dangling from its center. I was sure the trinket was cheap, something no one would miss, and so I slid it around my wrist without a second thought, never to take it off again. I would leave it there as a reminder to myself of today: of new beginnings. Maybe my luck was finally changing.p
"I decided to linger for just a little longer, gazing into the depths of the lazy river as it sloshed along. My reflection was distorted by small waves and it was difficult to make myself out. I had to laugh - the world seemed full of analogies for my life today. Much like my reflection, nothing seemed to be clear. I couldn't decide how I felt about this move or this place just yet.
"If I was able to see myself in the water below, I would have seen fair, cool toned skin, a heart-shaped face, and wide-set, honey brown eyes, accented with thick-rimmed black glasses. I was often told that my high cheekbones and sharply pointed jaw reminded people of their Eastern European friends and relatives. My hair, naturally wavy and chocolate brown, retained its texture, but not its color. Had it been flowing freely, it would have been apparent that the hair flavor of the month happened to be a strawberry blonde. I wondered what Josh would have to say about it. I wondered what he would have to say about a lot of things going on my life right now. For a moment, I thought I might have seen a face in the water, just above my shoulder. I whipped my head around to check and immediately felt ridiculous. Did I really believe that my dead brother was going to be standing there? By the time I looked back into the river, the face was long gone.
"Aware of the stinging of my eyes again, I rubbed them and became once more convinced that now was the time to leave. It wasn't before long that I found my way to my new room, planting face first into a freshly made bed. There was nothing quite like the smell of clean sheets after a long day. I inhaled the scent, making myself comfortable and attempting to kick off my shoes without sitting up or using my hands. I didn't think I had the energy left in me to change, but I discovered quickly I would need to do something about the window regardless of how lazy I felt. Even with the blinds pulled shut, the sun blared straight through onto my face. For the time being, I repurposed a comforter as a curtain and vowed to purchase something more adequate tomorrow. I was nearing twenty-four hours without sleep and my body had just run out of steam.p
"When unconsciousness found me, it came bearing strange and vivid dreams of shadows flying high over the city. I was on the phone conducting a call that plagued both my waking and sleeping minds. The instant the other person picked up, they began screaming. The screeches continued until they were cut off, abruptly, by a loud horn. This was typically where my nightmare would end, but I found myself unable to hang up. I could hear breathing, then the line went dead. A bell tolled nine times.
July 31, 1987
The powder blue Ford Fairlane's tires slid a little in the dirt as it came to a full stop and the four boys piled out, clearly in a rush. Two of the individuals, one sandy blonde and the other dark-haired, bounded ahead of the others. They looked like they were prepared for war based on their olive and camouflage garment choices. The blonde in the bright blue collared shirt, clearly the youngest of the group, hung behind to keep an eye on the fourth individual. The curly haired brunette was the oldest by a good few years, probably in his late teens, and appeared to be having some issues walking. As they all scrambled to get to the decrepit stairs, the oldest boy stumbled a little.
"Sam," he spoke to the blonde at his side, voice gruff. "If something happens to me…If I don't have the strength to go on, promise me you won't let them hurt Star." Sam swallowed hard, not able to answer. It was clear that this would be something difficult for him to go along with.
As they descended into the caves on the side of the bluff, disregarding the many "No Trespassing" signs plastered around the mouth to the cavern, they were all clearly awestruck by the grandeur of the sunken hotel. No one was certain what they were walking into, but this was nothing close to what they expected. Sam shivered, not sure if it was the ocean spray or the thought of what was coming that made his hair stand on end.
"There's got to be a sleeping chamber around here someplace…" The sandy blonde boy began scouring the lobby with the aid of the dark-haired youth and Sam.
The eldest male, on the other hand, bolted directly to one of the back corners of the cavern with a sudden renewed strength. He was relieved to find the curly haired brunette female, close to his age, laying in the out of place bed in a deep slumber. Her face was angelic and he hated to disturb her but knew it must be done. He began to shake her gently.
"Star," he whispered. "You're coming with me." She began to stir somewhat, clearly losing a battle against her fatigue.
"Michael?" she asked softly, eyes cracking open a hair, but he's already moving again, searching for something. He plucked a floral shawl from a bedpost.
"You've got to put this on" Michael pleaded, attempting to wrap her in it.
"Take Laddie" was her immediate response.
"Huh?" Michael seemed oblivious to anything but this girl.
"Save Laddie first" she insisted. Michael glanced over to where the young boy should have been sleeping. Instead, he was surprised to find him sitting up, a look of concern plain on his young face.
"Edgar! Sam!" The dark-haired boy called from across the lobby. "You have to check this out!" The two children followed his pointing finger toward an opening in the top of an elevator. "Feel it? Feel the draft?" Edgar shined his flashlight into the darkness, evaluating the potential lead.
"It's an opening, all right." He confirmed. "Somebody give me a boost."
"What are you saving me from?" Laddie pressed Michael. It was clear he wasn't going anywhere without an answer.
"Laddie, those other guys…" Michael struggled to explain. "They're not good people." Laddie didn't seem to understand what he was saying.
"But they're nice to me." He argued. "They let me stay up as late as I want. They say I never have to grow up!"
"Laddie, I don't think you understand…It's not that simple."
"Come on, Alan." Edgar and Sam both offered a hand to the dark haired boy, yanking him up into the darkened shaft. As they began to walk, Sam swatted around his head. A buzzing filled his ears and his skin crawled.
"We're on the right trail" Edgar growled, nowhere near as perturbed by the sudden appearance of insects. "Flies and the undead go together like ham and eggs." In response, Alan produced a can of bug spray which he began to shake, covering the sounds of the argument back at the cave entrance.
"What isn't that simple?" Laddie demanded. They're my brothers, not you! I don't even know you! Why would I ever trust you over them? You've just caused trouble since you got here!" Michael glanced over at Star, hoping for some backup, but she had already fallen fast asleep once more.
Edgar and Alan grabbed each of Sam's shoulders, yanking him back suddenly.
"What?" Sam asked, oblivious of the steep drop off he nearly walked into. Edgar cautiously tipped his flashlight over the edge. The ground at the bottom was littered with skeletons of the past patrons of the hotel, many still wearing the uniforms and outfits they died in when the earthquake hit. The trio bolstered their courage and turned to find a different path through.
"Where did everyone else go?" Laddie asked, suddenly no longer interested in insulting Michael. The little boy hopped off the bed attempting to run toward the elevator shaft, but Michael caught his arm just in time.
"Laddie," he pleaded. "You're too young. I can't explain. You just have to trust me." The boy only persisted.
Sam, Alan, and Edgar found themselves at a large opening in the tunnel. A frigid wind tousled their hair and clothes and the volume of the buzzing increased considerably.
"What's that smell?!" Sam plugged his nose.
"Vampires, my friend" Edgar confirmed. "Vampires." They all stepped through into the smaller cavern where jagged rock protruded from both the ceiling and the floor. Spider webs and vines that roped themselves between the formations obscured the area further, but from somewhere in the distance, they could all plainly hear the hollow sound of dripping water. They frantically swang their flashlights in search of life. Or, rather, unlife. Another dead end.
"I understand just fine!" Laddie gave another futile yank. "You're going to hurt them, aren't you?"
"Of course we're not…" Michael faltered, his lie hanging plain in the air. Laddie's eyes widened. His mouth dropped open.
The three spelunking boys, as though linked, slowly began to look up toward the cavern ceiling and all three felt their stomachs begin to crawl into their throats.
"I thought they'd be in coffins" Sam muttered, refusing to remove his eyes from the four vampires hanging from the ceiling like some form of human bats.
"That's exactly what this place is: one giant coffin." Edgar began to climb toward the living corpses. "Let's stake 'em."
It was here, just feet away from his target, that Laddie's piercing scream reached their ears. It seemed like he was in the very room with them the way the sound reverberated off the stone walls and within their own skulls. In fact, they were so distracted by the grating sound of the child's screams that not one of them noticed the four sets of yellow, glassy eyes quickly set upon
Author's Note: Hey, welcome to my first finished fanfic! This chapter kind of feels like a doozy to me. I think I might have made it too long, but what do you guys think? Should I chunk it up in the future? Regardless, I hope you're enjoying this alternate universe adventure so far! Leave a review to let me know what you think!
