"Name?"
"Mary."
"Last name, please, sweetheart."
"Darling, you have to tell them your full name."
"Mary Alice Brandon."
"How old are you, sweetheart?"
"17 years old."
"And why are you putting her in here?" This question was directed at the two adults standing next to their grimy, dirty, unclean daughter.
"Well, you see, she….she sees…things." The man shifted his weight restlessly, as if ashamed of his daughter.
"What type o' things?" The woman at the front desk leaned in closely, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, she sees things that are going to happen in the future. Especially the weather. She always gets the weather correct." The woman spoke up this time, turning an anxious eye at her husband.
"Do you have an example other than the weather?"
"Yes… well….see, she, my daughter, saw that the next door neighbor was going to die in a fire but he didn't. It's like, it changed and she didn't see the change until later that same day."
"Hmmm…yes, I think we'll be able to admit her then." The woman behind the counter smiled wickedly.
The girl's mother turned to her and bent down on her knee, staring her daughter in the eyes. Her face was filled with pity and sadness at seeing her daughter go into this evil and wretched place.
"You be safe, Mary. We'll see you in a few weeks." Her mother gave her a kiss on the head and went out the door, unable to hold back the tears. Her father pulled her into a hug and walked out the door with the mother, staring back sadly.
"Mother? Father? Where are you going?" Mary's voice finally spoke.
"They aren't going to see you for awhile. You're staying with us, sweetheart." The woman behind the counter leered at her.
"No! Mom! Dad! Help! I don't want to be here! Come back! Mom!" Two police officers came out and took Mary by her arms and carried her to the back of the building. Mary screamed the entire way to the back, clawing at anything to keep herself from being taken away. She screamed, she kicked, she scratched, she cried but nothing would stop them taking her into the back cell. The woman from the front counter was also going back with them.
"Put her in that back cell. The padded one. And don't let her out unless she has to pee." They opened the heavy cell door and threw Mary in there unceremoniously.
Mary cowered in the corner of the room, crying for her mom. She stayed like this for seven days. She was finally able to take a shower and have some food. For three years she stayed like this. She could only have a shower once a week. Only eat once a day. She could only be let out of her cell to go to the bathroom and whenever she did, the young men who guarded her cell would have to watch her. She felt violated, she felt dirty, and she felt alone. But she wasn't. She always talked to a man. An older man. A worker in the place she was in. She didn't know where she was. She just knew that it was dark and scary. But he took care of her. He watched over her and made sure everything was alright that day. She never knew his name, but she didn't mind. He was her guardian angel.
Day after day, she went through the same monotonous routine until one day, it ended.
Still in her daze, she opened her eyes to see nothing. Just pitch black darkness. But something else caught her ear. Shouts. Her eyes went unfocused and she had a vision. Screaming. Blood. Teeth. Laughter. Fire. She screamed out, putting her head in her hands, rocking back and forth on the cell floor. She heard her cell door opened slightly and she looked up to see a bright light. She squinted her eyes, not use to seeing light ever.
"Alice. Please, come with me. We must hurry, before the young one shows up." A man's voice broke the silence. She immediately recognized his voice. It was her helper, her friend.
"What's going on?" She whispered, still squinting. She heard swearing and heard rustling in the darkness.
"Alice, you have to come with me. Before the young one shows up. Before he comes and kills you. Please Alice, hurry!" His voice was scared, frightened. She stood up to walk out the cell with the man.
"I'm coming, don't worry." She started walking slowly toward the door.
"No Alice, stay in there for now!" The man sounded like he was fighting with someone. She heard a crash and then, things just started happening like clockwork.
Suddenly she felt something heavy on top of her, weighting her down. She screamed and kicked, trying to get this man off of her. She thought he was going to rape her. She didn't want to die. Not like this. Not in this place. While she was screaming, she felt a white hot pain in her neck. A pain that she had never felt before. It was worse than the shock treatments. Worse than anything she had gone through. She screamed out, writhing on the floor. The man that had attacked her, picked her up and carried her out of the building, laying her down on the cold snow outside.
"Here, stay here while I protect you. It'll all be over soon. Just stay strong, Alice." With that, the man left her in the snow, writhing and screaming in pain. She closed her eyes, trying to numb out what she was feeling.
Three days later, she opened her eyes, seeing everything in a new perspective. She stood up and suddenly felt thirsty. Amazingly thirsty. She scanned the area looking for something to drink. She found a water fountain and starting drinking from it. She immediately spat the water back out in disgust. It didn't even quench her thirst. She felt herself get heavy, as if she was losing all of her energy.
Suddenly her eyes glazed over in a trance. She was having another vision. She saw, a man. A very handsome man. He was with a family but he was leaving them. She saw them finding each other and then finding a different family. She saw them hunting. What were they hunting? Animals. They were drinking their blood right from the carcass.
She screamed and collapsed to the ground, unable to believe her eyes. What had she become? What was she now? She stayed on the ground for several minutes, thinking to herself about what was going on.
"It couldn't be. There's no such thing. But I can't deny what I saw. They were vampires. I'm a vampire," She whispered to herself, calming down.
She stood up, more determined than she thought possible and set off. She was going to find this man and the family whether it was the last thing she did. She started walking toward the entrance of the building. She saw a sign out in the front. It was vandalised and broken, like the building she was just in hadn't been kept up for years. She looked at the sign and tried to read what it said.
"As...ly..um...I wonder what that is..." She kept walking, paying it no attention. She didn't pronouce it right and she couldn't read, what did it matter to her? She was leaving this place. Suddenly she got another vision. This time, with their names.
"Jasper and...Carlisle. Interesting. I think I'll pay them a visit." With that, she left the entrance of the building, leaving behind her wretched past which she couldn't even remember and moving on to a brighter future, searching for her future soul mate and for a family that she never had.