Chapter 1: A fated encounter
Leo Hoffman had led nothing short of an innumerably soporific life. He was born, and then prodded into god's great earth with only his parent's dreams and his preordained talents to show for himself. Yes, he had achieved the High School diploma envisioned, he had gone to a local community College and worked a prosaic, minimum wage job to keep mom and dad from emptying their bank accounts, and he had finished college with a bachelor's degree in Business & Management. Leo had accomplished all these things with the minimalistic drive of a lame mule. It truly did not help the fact that he lived in a ho-dunk town in Louisiana. It was a detrimental fact that he believed, with all honesty, that he had never truly been happy. Those glorious days growing up as a child, celebrating birthdays, not having the complications of adult life pushing down upon him seemed (in a cliché manner) miles away. And oh, was he ever so dramatic about it. Not out rightly so to his parents or his close friends, or even to his lovers…but in his personal thoughts he berated himself with inconsequential melancholy.
It was in this soporific way of life that Leo walked from his work, to his flat at 9:00 P.M every night. Sometimes he would stop by the super market and buy a carton of milk, sometimes a bottle of wine, and more often than not a box of condoms to not-so-subtly hint to his current gal pal that he was unabashedly looking to be laid that night. That night had been one of those unabashed nights and Leo's mind was surprisingly not focused on what sexual antics could go on between him and his interim mate. He strolled briskly through a familiar alleyway, the one that he had always noted to have an unappetizing amount of garbage skewed across the feet of old apartment buildings.
As Inevitable luck would have it, the same alleyway that Leo Hoffman was strolling down, with a plastic grocery bag of condoms thrashing around his waist, was the same one that Fern was inspecting for a light meal. It was, as of late, her favorite place to hang around because many of the people who were brazen enough to walk down such a place late at night were people that high society may have given a rain-check to. Sure, 90% of the people she had cornered had been terribly ugly and unkempt, and one man in particular had even tried to coax her into his apartment… but they were easy catches and if they were wasting their lives away then who really gave a damn if they sacrificed for her benefit. It was an awful lot for Fern to infer about people walking down a dingy alley, but after 260 years she felt that her inferences were more than precise.
So it was Fern who would be doing the coaxing on that night, as she spotted a figure moving down the alleyway at a busy speed. Besides, playing games were still her favorite past time. She made sure to time the escapade just right, so it would enhance the martyr's likelihood to be drawn to her. In a swift movement of tiny limbs, Fern flumped onto the dirty cement and buried her face in her arms. And of course, the final touch- she started to cry softly, making sure the sobs sounded like the unblemished bawl of an 8-year old girl.
Leo was more than surprised when he spotted the tiny ball of a girl wailing against the bricks of a building. Begrudgingly, he knew it was his duty as a member of society to see why on earth a helpless little girl was crying in a shitty alleyway.
"Excuse me," he knelt down in front of the little girl, but made sure to keep a little distance so as not to scare her, "why are you crying? Are you lost? Is your Mom or Dad around here somewhere?"
Leo, suddenly remembering that he was holding a bag of condoms, whisked it behind his back and waited patiently for the tiny girl to stop whimpering.
When Fern was sure that the man was caught in her web, she slowly lifted her head up and looked into the eyes of her next meal. But it was in that enticing moment that Fern was overcome with the beauty of the young man. His large, pale blue eyes had a shallow hint of melancholy in them- his face was angular and unnecessarily shoved into an expression of concern. His flushed lips a perfect pouting shape, and his lightly messed shock of deep brown hair falling lightly over his shoulders. She gasped, a feat that she had most likely not unintentionally done since she was human.
"Oh don't worry! I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help you get home", Leo said calmly when he noticed the girl's eyes widening with, what he assumed to be fear.
Fern couldn't move. She didn't even remember to imitate the act of breathing.
Leo narrowed his eyebrows and leaned in closer to the girl, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
His question shocked Fern's mind back into reality. What's wrong with me, why can't I drink from him. But how could it be that something so trivial as an attractive man could keep her from locking her jaw around his placid neck? She stood quickly, brushed some dirt off of her pale legs and stared down at the man, trying to keep her cool.
Leo looked at the girl incredulously, it seemed as if she had changed into a completely different person than the little girl that was crying in a heap two seconds ago…this one seemed…older, much more mature. He also noted, with a little contrite, that the little girl was unquestionably beautiful and doll-like. Her ringlets of long red hair reminded him of a porcelain doll his mother used to keep on the top shelf of her closet. The girl looked like a porcelain doll, her skin so pale that it practically glowed in the moonlight and her glinting eyes perfectly round aqua orbs. He was frozen by her beauty, just as she had been frozen by his.
"Your name is Leo?" Fern asked…though it was more of a demand. She crossed her arms across her chest, a motion that would have seemed child-like and indignant if it were not for her misplaced maturity.
He could only nod, his eyes still locked on her hair.
"Ah. What a strange and pernicious world it is where I cannot bring myself to drink from a human being…." She sighed. "I'll have you know that being treated like an insignificant twerp for so long begins to take a toll on how much interaction you can actually take with a human."
"I….I'm sorry…I really don't know what you're talking about…uh…do you still want me…to um…." Leo was at a loss for words, though he had the fleeting sensation that this beautiful little girl was not actually upset about being separated from her parents…or lost, for that matter.
"Humans are all the same, you know. If you look into their eyes long enough you can see everything there is to them," Fern reached out a pale hand and placed it on his cheek. Her eyes flickered.
Leo backed away in shocked when he felt how icy cold the child's hands were. It was not like the kind of cold that one can be when they were sick, but the feeling of frozen porcelain.
"You….your hand", he whispered, "you need to be warmed up. I…I'll get you to a doctor or…or-"
Fern smiled faintly. "Ah, now I remember that being alive for only a few short years can affect how perceptive one is. Are you aware, Leo, that it is in the middle of July and nearly 78 degrees out? In what perplexing scenario could I actually be suffering from some form of Hypothermia?"
He backed himself up against the opposite wall, struck by how non-childlike the child was. There was nothing he could say to her that would make sense when it came out of his mind. He tried to put tangible thoughts together. Her black cotton dress fluttered lightly as she took a step towards him.
"Your eyes…your eyes are crying out to me. They are shouting at me that you are unhappy with your life, and that you wish there was something more. You are wanting, hungering for something besides your purposeless life." She whispered, her voice ringing in his ears like the tinkle of bells.
She reached out another cold hand to his face, this time he didn't move away, and brought it to exposed neck.
"The question is, Mr. Leo, do you truly want a different life?"
End Chapter 1.
